Dual enrollment has multi-faceted benefits

With 16 accredited community colleges in four different states, the ability for incoming freshman to start college with completed credits can be beneficial to minimizing the time spent earning a degree.

High schools have the opportunity to offer dual credit courses. This means that a high school student can take a class within their high school and, upon the completion of that class, earn college credit.

Chadron High School allows junior and senior students to take classes at CSC.

Chadron High School Student Liaison Carolyn Hinrichs supports dual and college credit classes.

“The classes allow students to get generals taken care of as well as an exploratory route for students taking introduction classes in their possible major of choice,” Hinrichs said.

The availability to take introductory classes gives students the opportunity to decide if that is the area of study they would like to major in before they get to college, Hinrichs explain.

With a large number of high schools, not only allowing, but promoting dual and college courses the process of transferring those classes comes into play.

START Office Academic Adviser Danielle Hencey, says transfer credits are beneficial to incoming freshman as long as the credits are coming from an accredited school.

“We have articulation agreements with community colleges in the area,” Hencey said

The list of accredited schools is located on the CSC Transfer Student page on the Chadron State College homepage, Hencey said.

“There is a process a student must go through to transfer credits and the Transfer Student webpage is very helpful,” Hencey said, “However, this is a general overview. If a student is planning on transferring credits they need to come talk to us.”

With high school students spending seven hours maximum in the classroom plus sports practice and extra-curricular involvement it can be demanding to be taking a college course on top of an already hectic schedule. However, Hinrichs does not see a downside to dual credit availability.

“It gives students confidence that they will be successful in college,” Hinrichs said. “They have a support system here. If they have trouble logging into Sakai or with the class we can help them.”

Lane Swedberg, sophomore of North Platte, said the transfer of his 24 credits from high school was a smooth process. The secondary math education major was able to become a math tutor at the STRIVE Learning Center because of his transfer credits.

“I didn’t have to take the classes here in order to qualify as a tutor which allowed me to start tutoring earlier,” Swedberg said.

Even if a student comes in with a college credit from a non-accredited school CSC will recognize most classes as long as the student gets a “C” or above as an elective credit if the college does not have an equivalent class, Hencey said.

“We are doing our best to streamline the process,” Hencey said.

There are many different motivations for incoming freshman to earn college credits during the duration of their high school career.

“I wanted to get as many generals out of the way so I could start in on my major,” Swedberg said.

“I think offering college courses to high school students is very beneficial to the students that take advantage of the opportunity,” Swedberg said.