Concurrent Enrollment: Where high school and college classes unite!

I had heard rumors that you could graduate high school while obtaining a college associates degree, but I will tell you his information certainly was not advertised through the high school my kids attended. I have never understood why you take classes in high school only to repeat them as a undergrad. Well my friends, I was a lucky lady when I met with a community college dean and he gave the start to my tips and tricks to having my own kids attend college classes while in high school.

There's so many reasons to do this:

1. Save a TON of money! Not only are you taking college classes, but as a high school student in California, you're taking them for FREE. Yes, FREE! I will say there's some minor fees that I really can tell you what they are for other than admin fees, but guess how much those added up to for this semesters (2) classes my daughter is taking... a whopping $21 bucks. Yes, two classes for less than what we spend on a movie ticket!

2. Save a TON of time! Unless you want to pay for 4 years of college and that's if you are really focused, you can save a ton of time by getting your AA out of the way and just focusing on the real reason you are attending college in the first place.

3. Don't take the same classes twice! Yes, in your junior and senior year of high school not only will you take classes like history, government and Econ in high school, but I hope you liked them because you will be taking the exact same classes as a undergrad when you start your college journey.

4. Taking a college class while in high school counts for both high school and college all at the same time! Yes, one class can kill two birds with one stone.

5. Community college classes we have found to be easier than the class that is offered at our high school. Granted, the high school that we are at is a very academically challenging school, why struggle through the high school class, or the AP version of the high school class when you can do it very easily at the local community college.

Now that's only 5 reasons, (for me I was sold on FREE) but let's keep giving you the in's and out's.

I have outlined in this FREE PRINTABLE all the info that you need!

Simply print out the Mama Might Know Concurrent Enrollment notes and you can see the classes that I have my own kids take. You can use this as a starting point to see the type of classes that might work for you well as page two of my free printable that has all the notes for some tips and tricks when you are making your schedule.

Concurrent Enrollment How to.pdf

Download PDF • 161KB

Next you will need to enroll your child into the local community college. To do this,

simply log onto your local community college's website and enroll your child as a Concurrent Enrollment or Dual Enrollment student. You will need this first as they will assign you an ID number that you will need for your high school forms. For our local high school (San Dieguito Unified High School District) attached is that form that your counselor will need in order for your student to take the class off campus. You will also need the concurrent enrollment form itself that has your classes that your student is wanting to enroll in.

Print both forms below to see what your school will be looking for. These are specific for my school district and my local community college, but by having these forms, you hopefully will know what you need.

concurrent-enrollment-form college.pdf

Download PDF • 309KB

OffCampusCoursePermissionRequestForm.pdf

Download PDF • 143KB

Now that you have your college student ID number and your concurrent enrollment form...

The next step is to take it to your high school counselor as they need to sign the form and emboss it with the school seal. This sounds like a big step, but really it should be easy peasy. You may now send them into the community college so you can be admitted as a concurrent enrollment student and you will be able to start registering for those classes!

In my next post, I will teach you how to know what classes to choose if you already know the University that your child is hoping to attend. There is a way to find out what classes are the equivalent from college to college. Be on the look out for that post

Until then, digest this info and get as excited as I have been about having my kids complete college for less and in a faster amount of time. After all, I have four kids to get through college so this is something I really have done in my own home. Therefore, I might have been there, I might have done that.

Xo,

Mama