Dual Credit Courses Austin Community College

Lake Travis High School juniors and seniors may enroll in college courses to earn college hours and/or satisfy high school graduation requirements. Students must obtain counselor and parent approval and have test scores that meet College Readiness before enrolling in a college course. Dual credit courses with a grade of B or better may be used to meet one Advanced Measure on the Lake Travis Scholar Program. A grade of C or higher is required to receive high school credit in a dual credit course. Four Dual Credit courses may be used to count as a Multidisciplinary Endorsement. 

Enrolling in an Austin Community College (ACC) Course Lake Travis High School students may enroll in up to twelve dual credit courses with a fee waiver prior to high school graduation. Courses taken on the LTHS campus are tuition free; courses taken online or at an ACC campus are $150. ACC tuition/fees may change at any time according to ACC regulations. To enroll in a course, students must be a junior and demonstrate TSI college readiness in reading, writing, and math. See a counselor for required readiness for ACC classes. Potential students must also satisfy college course skills prerequisites.  

TSI – Texas Success Initiative Assessment

The Texas Success Initiative (TSI) assessment is a three-part computer-based knowledge assessment covering Reading, Mathematics, and Writing. Texas law requires all entering college students to be assessed for college readiness in these subjects unless the student qualifies for an exemption. Registration information is available in the counseling office.  Students can be exempt if they meet one of the following standards: 

• SAT – Critical Reading minimum score of 480 and a Math minimum score of 530

• ACT – Minimum 23 composite with 19 or higher in both Math and English 

Dual Credit Courses Outside of the School Day:  Juniors and seniors may enroll in college courses to accumulate college credit and/or satisfy high school graduation requirements. Students taking dual credit courses are enrolled with the college for the course and are thereby subject to the policies and procedures of the sponsoring institution of higher education. Please see the counseling office for more details.

Dual Credit Courses not offered at Lake Travis High School:  Juniors and seniors may only enroll in college courses not offered at Lake Travis High school with prior approval.  Please complete this form and see the counseling office for more details.

Dual Credit Courses during the School Day: Lake Travis High School Juniors and Seniors who meet TSI eligibility criteria and are admitted to ACC may take Dual Credit class work on the Lake Travis High School campus. Although these courses are taught on the LTHS campus, Dual Credit courses are taught by ACC faculty and grades are earned and posted to an ACC transcript. Grades are then transferred from ACC to LTHS and posted to an LTHS transcript However, those grades will not be part of the LTHS GPA calculation. A student must earn a grade of C (70) or better to earn high school credit and a grade of B (80) or better is necessary to earn credit for an advanced measure. Courses are taught during the regular school day and are blocked in a series of two classes to accommodate the A Day / B Day schedule thus students may not drop from a single class. All curriculum, grading standards, textbooks, and costs are determined by Austin Community College. Both obtaining textbooks and the cost of the textbook will be the responsibility of the student. All courses are contingent on meeting ACC minimum enrollment requirements and availability of ACC faculty. Please refer to the ACC link on the LTHS Counseling website for further details on the application process for ACC Dual Credit classes.

Articulated Courses

Students who take designated Articulated courses can receive college credit and earn advanced measures to meet graduation requirements. In order to receive college credit, at a minimum, students must earn a B or higher, sign up in CATEMA, and complete one course at ACC.  Some courses have additional requirements.  Once students earn credit in their first ACC course, the college credit for the equivalent courses will appear on their ACC transcript at no cost.  Many of these credits may be transferable. This credit is awarded by ACC after the student graduates and sends ACC a final high school transcript. Contact the Counseling office for more information.

Dual Enrollment Courses University of Texas OnRamps 

OnRamps dual-enrollment courses offer the opportunity for high school students to earn high school credit from Lake Travis High School and the opportunity to earn college credits from The University of Texas at Austin through a distance education course. Students are taught by an LTHS teacher in collaboration with a UT professor and take college assessments over the course of the year. If they average 75% on the fall assessments, they are eligible to earn college credit for their coursework in the spring. High school grades and college grades are recorded separately. The high school teacher evaluates student progress and assigns grades in accordance with the course standards. The student receives high school credit in the same way a student receives credit for any other high school course. The student’s high school grade will be recorded on his/her high Lake Travis High School transcript. OnRamps courses will be categorized and weighted as an Advanced course in accordance with EIC (Local). For more information see the Student Handbook. The student enrollment fee for OnRamps dual enrollment courses is partially subsidized by state funding.