Dear nex+Gen Community,

The time has come to start thinking about the 2025-2026 school year, and pre-registration is just around the corner! This is an excellent opportunity to continue the conversation with your student about their college and career aspirations. Whether your student is just beginning to explore their future or has already set their sights on specific goals, now is the perfect time to start planning ahead.

Like many families, you may be considering dual credit options for your student. At nex+Gen, most of our students take at least one dual credit course before graduating. Dual credit courses are a fantastic way for students to get a taste of the college experience, explore their career interests, and earn both high school and college credits simultaneously. Not only does this help students get a jumpstart on their higher education, but it can also give them an edge in future academic and career endeavors.

That said, while dual credit offers many advantages, there are some potential downsides that are important to be aware of. Below, I’ve outlined a few key considerations to help guide your decision.

Here are the latest updates:

• Spring Dance: Get ready to dance the night away in a fantastical fairy garden, filled with lights, flowers, and magical creatures! On February 22 from 7pm to 10pm the gates to this garden will be open, tickets before the dance will cost 15$ at the stand, and 20$ at the door.

• Pre-Registration: Pre-Registration for the 2025-2026 school year will occur in February. Here is the schedule:

On Monday, February 3rd, students will receive an advisory overview of all of the electives we hope to offer at Nex+Gen. 

On Tuesday, February 11th we will hold an electives fair where students can attend a short presentation about the electives that most interest them. 

On Monday, February 24th students will fill out the pre-registration form with their advisor. 

• SAT :  The SAT will be administered to all juniors on Wednesday, April 2nd. Students who are not taking the test will have a release day.  

Things to Consider When Considering Dual Credit

It is the time of year for students to think about selecting courses for the 2025-2026 school year. As you know, we encourage our students to take the most challenging coursework they can handle. Most of our juniors and seniors are thinking about dual credit. Dual credit provides a fantastic opportunity for students to experience college academics and independence. However, dual credit, if not understood, carries significant risks for the student. Here are some important things to consider when thinking about dual credit: 

• Dual credit applications, meeting deadlines, and following through with taking the class are done independently. As staff members, we can coach students through the process, but ultimately, the students are responsible for applying to the dual credit institutions in a timely manner, meeting the deadlines, and making sure they release their final grades to us.

• We know that levels of maturity vary wildly among high school students. It is important to know about our student's ability to complete and turn in assignments independently. How much monitoring is needed? If we are doing more monitoring than coaching, we may not be setting our students up for success. They may need more time to mature. 

• There are sometimes prerequisites for a dual credit pathway.  We advise that all students with less than a 3.0 average take their dual credit requirement on campus with a Nex+Gen teacher. In addition, there are requirements for taking dual credit at the College Enrichment Center (CEC) as well as at CNM and UNM. Please read these prerequisites before applying.

• With any college course, professors do not contact parents when a student is struggling. Often, the first indicator a parent gets that there is a problem is when they see an F on the student’s transcript. At the college level, parents sometimes may not be aware of student grades at all. Dual credit high school students have an opportunity to receive guidance from the adults in their lives, to prepare them for future college classes.

• It is important to remind students that dual credit courses create their first college transcript. Poor grades in dual credit classes hurt their GPA on their high school transcript, but that is not the only effect. A college transcript follows students much longer than a high school transcript.  In addition to their permanent college transcripts, students who receive poor grades in dual credit classes may put their Lottery or Opportunity scholarships in jeopardy.  Students have the fall of their Freshman year to earn a 2.5 and get on the Lottery scholarship.  However, after that fall they need to maintain a cumulative 2.5 GPA to maintain the scholarship.  Poor grades received in high school lower that cumulative GPA and can make it difficult for students to keep that scholarship.  Even merit-based scholarships can be impacted by these grades; many of them have a cumulative GPA requirement. 

• Another thing we want parents to be aware of is keeping up with deadlines. We have dealt with several cases where students fail to drop a class by the deadline set by the college offering the dual credit. In these cases, the student has received a W or a WF on their college transcript. Each college sets its own policies around dropping classes. These email notices go to the student and not the parent or the high school.

• Some students have opted out of taking Nex+Gen elective courses because they are going to take dual credit instead. Every year we have students who, for one reason or another, do not complete the dual credit course and are behind on credits to graduate. For this reason, we recommend that students take 1st-period elective classes at Nex+Gen until all elective requirements for graduation have been met.

• We do not typically allow students to drop classes at Nex+Gen because this leaves holes in the students’ schedules. When students are in the building without classes, they should not be left alone without parental supervision, which may lead to unproductivity.

• Taking one (1) full high school dual credit course is recommended for graduation. One college credit is only worth .33 high school credits, so students must select a three (3) credit dual credit course to equal one (1) high school credit.  Some courses offered for dual credit by colleges and universities are only worth one college credit and .33 high school credits. This will not satisfy the dual credit requirement.  Make sure that the course selected will award one (1) full high school credit.  

Please be aware of these issues and concerns as dual credit registration decisions are made with students.  If you have any questions about dual credit, do not hesitate to contact our counselor, Bethany Headley, at bethany.headley@aps.edu or you may call her at 505-878-6400, extension 43256.