What is Dual Credit (DC)?
Dual credit refers to courses in which high school students simultaneously earn high school credit and college credit. It is designed to help ease the transition from high school to college. Dual credit allows students to experience the rigor of college classes and boost their confidence to succeed both academically and socially once they transition to a college campus.
Criteria for a dual credit student:
In order to be considered for dual credit a student must have a minimum of a 3.0 GPA or higher on a 4.0 scale. RES requires that students have an attendance rate of 85% or higher for the semester prior. In the case of transfer students, the attendance requirement may be waived by the campus director. They must be admitted by the partner college or university.
The student must demonstrate college readiness on the TSI test. They must not have received high school credit for the course previously. For example, a student who takes U.S. History as a junior may not take the same course for dual credit as a senior. In accordance with House Bill 505 any student in grades 9-12 may take dual credit as long as they meet the other criteria.
Dual Credit and GPA
Dual credit courses become a permanent part of a student’s college transcript. Students may not retake classes for a better grade unless they fail a course. A student who fails a dual credit class may have to retake the class in order to graduate from high school, however, retaking the course will not remove the failed grade from the student’s college or high school transcript. Thus, it is very important that students take their dual credit courses seriously.
Most colleges will provide the high school with a numeric grade for dual credit courses at the end of each semester. Schools will use that grade to calculate GPA. If a college provides letter grades, then GPA should be based on the following conversion: A=95, B=85, C=75, and D=70.
What college or university does STEM Academy use for dual credit?
Stem Academy currently works in partnership with NCTC (North Central Texas College)
Cost of Dual Credit
Through NCTC the current rate for dual credit classes is $132 per credit hour. Most classes are worth 3 credit hours so that means the total for a 3 hours class would be $396. As long as funds are available, ResponsiveEd will pay for one class the first semester a student takes dual credit. After successfully completely a class, ResponsiveEd will pay for two classes. Please note that RES only pays for classes in the fall and spring semesters. Any classes over the total of what RES will pay is the responsibility of the student’s family. Students may take dual credit classes in the summer or mini mesters but the payment for that is the responsibility of the family.
Will all of the dual credit courses I take transfer?
For the most part, yes. In the state of Texas, if a course is taken as a component of the Texas Core Curriculum, then public colleges and universities in Texas will be obligated to take the course. For out-of-state and private institutions it will be up to the ‘receiving’ institution as to what credit and how much that college/university will take as transfer credit.
How does a student enroll in Dual Credit?
In order to be enrolled in dual credit at STEM Academy of Lewisville, all students must go through these basic steps: