<p>Nonetheless, a student can be full-time with as few as 12 credits. Having those extra credits from AP/DE/IB frees a student to take fewer classes if they want to take particularly challenging or time-consuming classes or supplement their class work with EC’s, research, jobs, or internships. Or, a student can drop a troublesome class if they are taking 15 credits without having to worry about overloading in a subsequent semester to get enough credits to graduate in eight semesters.</p>
<p>THere is no one answer to your question regarding how this can save money. For starters, it depends on how much you spend on these classes. If these classes are accepted by the 4 year university. What you child chooses to major in.</p>
<p>My children have taken community college classes while in high school and also earned CLEP credits while in high school. These credits helped two of my children to finish college in less than 4 years so for us (2 1/2 and 3 years), they were a huge money saver. These extra credits allowed one of my children to attend college part time for a few semesters (due to health reasons) but she didn’t get behind in her graduation date. </p>
<p>Mostly, college credits earned during high school give a student flexibility during the college years. In addition, they may save money but not always. YMMV.</p>
<p>It would save money if he can take enough of the right classes to graduate early from college, and he wants to do this (as opposed to spending the extra time taking additional classes). It would save money if the college he is planning to attend has more expensive tuition than your local public college. It would save money if in addition to tuition, he is paying room and board while in college (but you say he won’t be). It will save money if he is able to get into the workforce earlier. But there are a lot of if’s in terms of those classes actually being useful to him. If you have to pay regular college tuition for it, and if the school system isn’t going to subsidize, then you are basically gambling that things will fall into place to save this money, and they might not, for a lot of reasons. If your interest in the dual enrollment is just to save money it doesn’t sound like it makes any sense for your son.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine why your high school is suggesting to families that taking dual classes at full 4-year college price is going to be a great money-saver.</p>
<p>The AP classes, on the other hand, are a pretty modest financial investment. They might provide the same benefit as the much more expensive dual, and even if not able to graduate early, it’s a relatively low-cost way to minimize the chance of needing more than 4 years to graduate.</p>
<p>^ I’m thinking if enough kids take dual enrollment then the school district doesn’t need to pay for teachers for those students. So in the long run it saves the school district money…</p>
<p>I’d go with AP classes they should only cost what the test costs which I think is around 88 dollars per class. </p>
<p>It depends…my DD did the IB Diploma and ended up graduating a year and a half early from college. Her IB credits were used as General Education Credits. Her school, SUNY Binghamton, is generous with IB credits, She new what she wanted to major in (Math). We told my DD not to rush her self, but she was going to go to grad school for teaching so she was ready to move on.</p>
<p>The problem with generalizing about dual enrollment is that it depends a lot on the classes you’re taking. Transferring credits from a College Algebra course will probably be a lot harder than transferring credits from a Multivariable Calculus course, since the former is not even taught at many schools (especially the type of schools people on CC are considering). I’ve seen many cases where people take dual enrollment courses that are significantly less rigorous than a seemingly corresponding AP (or even honors) course. But dual enrollment can also be used to take courses that aren’t offered and/or are much more advanced than what’s taught in most high schools, even those that have many AP and post-AP courses.</p>
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<p>And the college one attends. Some of the most selective colleges will not provide credit for DE courses taken on a HS campus…</p>
<p>It also depends upon what major the student will pursue in college. My D took quite a number of AP courses in high school, earning 5s on all of the exams, as well as one dual-credit course (that cost me under $100) in which she scored the highest grade in the class and won an award for it from her HS. She was a vocal performance major at a top tier conservatory which also had gen ed requirements because it is affiliated with a larger university. She was able to use all of those extra classes from HS to fulfill the gen eds. Because of the music theory, music history, lessons and performance requirements she wasn’t able to graduate early, but she did have time in her schedule to take classes in areas where she could pursue an interest and, as an upperclassman, to concentrate extra time on role preparation and on her Senior Recital. It worked out very well for her.</p>
<p>My older son had 13 APs – 11 5’s and 2 4’s. He used his APs to fill in most of his gen. education requirements, which allowed him to double major and double minor as an undergrad. His kid brother is a HS senior. He will take 10 AP exams before graduation. Again, he’s filling in lots of gen. education requirements, which is a good thing since he may want a little lighter load his first semester in college. He also will be a college athlete. Double majoring is still an option for him, because of his AP and 18 hours in DE. Both sons loved the challenge of AP/DE, as well as the opportunities offered because they had/have so many credits going into school.</p>
<p>And it depends on the child’s high school’s definition if dual enrollment. College course taken at a high school? No, they’re taken at a college here. A real college. Not a trained high school teacher. </p>
<p>AP teachers are also trained high school teachers.</p>
<p>Yes, AP teachers are trained high school teachers; however it is known the CollegeBoard curriculum is not the equivalent to an actual college course. </p>
<p>In my area, the students go to an actual university or community college where they are surrounded by college students, and, essentially, are college students for that length of time. </p>
<p>All I am putting in the pot is another “It depends”. </p>
<p>Different colleges prefer AP/Dual Enrollment/IB and give credits/extra GPA weight, etc. based on their preferences. My DD’s experience was to take Dual Enrollment Courses her senior year, in a state that provides free tuition and greatly reduced fees. She earned 22 college credits, which were all accepted at the college she enrolled in. </p>
<p>She attended classes at the college, taught by college professors, and learned that she could handle “real” college level course work. I, as the nervous mom, saw that she was ready and able to move on to college. It was like having a college student living at home. The emotional comfort I got from this transition was as big a benefit as my daughter walking into college with 22 hours of credits.</p>
<p>She did not have to take any end of year exams like you do with AP courses, and that was a huge relief to us. And in our state, one semester of college credit counted as an entire year of High School credit. If we had been required to pay full tuition for her dual enrollment courses, I’m not sure we would have made the same decisions.</p>
<p>We have only positive things to say about our dual enrollment experience. We have another child about to enter high school and plan to use dual enrollment with him as well.</p>
<p>If you have any clue as to where your student might like to enroll after high school graduation, it would be helpful to contact that college(s) and ask how they weight different types of classes.</p>
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<p>In some cases, a high school may bring in an adjunct to teach an AP course, where the adjunct is an instructor from a local college.</p>
<p>Regarding equivalency, it depends on the course. Some are considered “close enough” in content that students with such AP credit may skip some frosh-level college courses. Note that this is about the content, rather than the differences in typical course format between high school and college.</p>
<p>In my area, the dual enrollment program representatives were able to say, “We save you money.” based on Florida’s tuition rate and system. </p>
<p>Dual enrollment courses, fees, and books are free for students. It sounds similar to how powercropper’s area handles it. A student can save as little as $300 per credit hour. </p>
<p>@ubc What your saying sounds like another “It depends…” to me. </p>
<p>At our school, most of the kids enrolled in AP are applying to somewhat selective private colleges, and/or the best state schools. I haven’t heard of a single AP classmate of my daughter who headed to cc after graduation. There is a real difference in the quality of students in these two groups. I would expect the classes taught at our high school, whether AP or dual, to be more rigorous than their equivalents at our local cc. The students are much better.</p>
<p>I think AP courses save more money than dual enrollment. Part of the reason they save more money is that the AP exams cost under $100 (I forget the exact amount). Many schools do not give college credit for dual enrollment classes that were used to satisfy HS graduation requirements. However, they do give credit for AP courses that were used to satisfy HS graduation requirements.</p>
<p>One thing that the OP’s child should consider is taking AP courses in areas that they are not interested in studying in college. My son took AP Physics and Chemistry and did not have to take science at all in college. My son took 6 AP courses in HS and got almost a full year’s worth of college credit. He will be able to double major and still graduate a semester early, which will save us a considerable amount of money. </p>
<p>Depending on what the student’s major is, AP/DC type courses may not be of all that much value, or they could be.</p>
<p>Unless the student is a certified genius in math/science classes or going to a humanities type major I would not AP/DC math or sciences in an engineering/science type major and usually they may not allow it for major/core courses unless by placement test. My daughter’s friend had taken all kinds of dual enrollment/AP math courses, went to be a math major and our flagship had kittens over giving him calc 1/2 credit. He took the placement test and aced it.</p>
<p>If the student is going in an all-you-can-eat tuition (flat rate > 12 credits) again you’re not saving anything.</p>
<p>Workload is reduced for elective type classes, if your major includes them (say,an engineer or science major with a handful of free electives). But this can be a problem if you miss taking interesting college classes you’d never see again.</p>
<p>There are use cases that they make sense tho, in quasi or pure science majors like Biology or BA CS, Econ, Math, etc where there’s more leeway with electives and the student wants a minor or double major or space to take other interesting classes. </p>
<p><<<another benefit="" can="" be="" that="" if="" you="" have="" credits,="" get="" to="" register="" before="" others="" in="" your="" same="" class.="" my="" nephew="" had="" 40="" credits="" through="" ap,="" so="" even="" he="" doesn’t="" use="" them="" advance="" the="" next="" level,="" gets="" as="" a="" sophomore="" and="" thus="" may="" better="" schedule="" than="" freshman="" who="" registers="" last.="">>></another></p>
<p>This should not be misunderestimated… If the school uses registration “windows” or “periods” based on status or number of credit hours so far, pretty much unless orientation allows registration and confirmation early, they’re toast for 1st semester, and then as time goes by they remain toast because of everyone else above them in the food chain having priority. May not be an issue in a 30,000 student flagship state where plenty of classes are available but in a smaller school it could be a big issue.</p>
<p>Another benefit is for those interested in double majoring. Going in with a chunk can keep a double major on a 4 year track. </p>
<p>Mathyone, I disagree with your assumptions. In our area, lots of top students go to community college first for financial reasons. It IS a lot cheaper to do 2 years and transfer in our state and our state has one of the best CC systems in the country. Sure, if you take high school level classes at the community college then you will find an average lower caliber of student. However, my 16-year-old senior has found other competitive students in the higher level college courses. Things are changing. CC isn’t just for kids who couldn’t get into a university anymore. CC is for all sorts of people looking to better themselves in a cost effective way.</p>