Do All Colleges and Universities Accept Dual Enrollment Credits?
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There are pros and cons to dual enrollment.
One of the most common mistakes parents and students make is not verifying whether the student’s colleges and universities of interest will accept credits taken for dual enrollment—courses taken for high school and college credit, simultaneously.
Why would some colleges or universities not accept credits of college-level courses taken in high school?
First, accreditation is key. Not all accreditation is considered equal. Colleges and universities are aware of this fact.
Second, content is key. Content is not standardized, meaning American Government taken at one university will not be the same as American Government completed at another school. Content is not standardized; therefore, some schools will not accept credits earned at another school. Without a way to verify the rigor or quality of a course, some colleges and universities choose not accept credits from another institution.
Here’s another way to look at the situation.
College courses don't have a set standard by which to measure rigor; therefore, some colleges question whether students completing work at other institutions have truly mastered college-level content—or at the preferred level of the institution accepting the potential transfer credit. The same is true for content. Colleges don’t standardize content. In this scenario, a student who completes a course in aquatic engineering at one school may not have covered the same content as another student taking the same course at another university. With this in mind, it's difficult for college officials to know the quality, content, or rigor level of courses taken at other colleges whereby accepting the credit. This can sometimes result in students receiving no college credit for their previous work. (Side note: Yes, I know there are financial reasons credits are not accepted. That’s another post.)
Keep in mind, though you may intend for dual enrollment courses to count towards high school and college credit, some colleges will choose to see the credit as fulfilling only high school, not dual credit.
Researching this topic for families I work with, I discovered how these universities handle college credit taken in high school. It is recommended that you or your high schooler look into how the colleges of interest will handle dual credit prior to embarking on the dual enrollment path.
“Brown will not award transfer credit for correspondence courses, online courses, courses taken during summer programs or for courses taken as part of a dual enrollment curriculum.”
“Entering first-year students are not granted credit for college courses taken before graduation from secondary school. However, a maximum of six credits may be awarded for college courses taken after graduation from high school and prior to matriculation at Columbia.”
“Only courses and/or credits that were not used to satisfy any high school graduation requirements are eligible for transfer.”
“At the discretion of the college registrar, credit may be given for joint enrollment courses when the credits received are beyond requirements for admission to Davidson College or for graduation from high school.”
“Princeton does not offer credit toward degree requirements for college or university courses taken before you enroll. “
“Credit is not awarded for college-level coursework undertaken at other institutions while a student is enrolled in high school or in the summer after high school. “
