Concurrent enrollment plan: What to take from freshman to senior year
- Mama Mathis
- Apr 22, 2024
- 3 min read
In my other posts about concurrent enrollment, I talked about the benefits of doing concurrent enrollment as well as I gave you a better look into how to do it as well as the many benefits of it.
In this post, I wanted to give you a game plan as to what to take and when to easily take classes throughout high school to obtain your AA before high school graduation.
Now, depending on what subject your child is into, will depend on what Associate's degree they are going after. This guideline will give you the classes to take for an Associate's degree in communications.
Here is a visual as to the classes to take:
To see my free printable pdf concurrent enrollment plan for an Associate's Degree in Communication from freshman year to senior year, click this below.
There’s a few tips to give you before you start this journey. Planning early is important as there are deadlines as well as forms that need to be completed and submitted with enough time to be inputted.
So here’s a quick rundown:
In the spring of eighth grade contact your child’s soon to be high school counselor to obtain their high school student ID. You will need this for the application process. You will need to apply to your community college as well as submit forms to your high school counselor so they can sign off on the concurrent enrollment.
To see what forms are needed, simply click on my previous concurrent enrollment posts and there you will find all forms you need to submit a guideline on how to do it.
For example this form gives you the check list as to what classes are needed for your Associates Degree if you are planning on Transfering to a 4 year college. It is Plan B (there is a plan A, B and C to chose from)
Now once you complete their application and you have been approved, you now have access to their student portal in the community college website. You can start adding classes to your shopping cart. A hiccup that I have run into is when it comes to classes that have a prerequisite. In our case, it was Spanish. In our district, you can take Spanish one in seventh grade, Spanish two in eighth grade and complete Spanish three as a ninth grader. My daughter wanted to complete Spanish three during the summer through our local community college. However, when I tried to put this class in her shopping cart, it would not allow it as she needed to have a transcript showing that she had already completed the prerequisite classes. If you are in the same boat here is what you do. You will need to go in person to your community college admissions department and ask for a challenge form. In our case we needed the challenge form for Spanish. This form is to be filled out in order to take the challenge exam. The challenge exam if you pass will show the admission department that you are good to go to advance to the next class.
All of this may seem a little bit daunting, but truly it is not. It’s all about just having a game plan submitting a few forms and getting a couple approvals and you’ll be on your way.
It is also all about starting early. If you are starting after eighth grade graduation, it only takes two classes per fall and spring semesters and then one additional class that you can squeeze into one of those semesters. You will find that many of these classes also have eight week options. I have followed along as another daughter has taken the eight week route and they are very doable .
Getting your child their associates degree during high school gives them a big leg up. Here in California, the community college is free while you’re in high school which as a parent gives me a up on paying for their college tuition. I encourage you to do it. I have been there and I do know that.
Xo,
Mama
