How many credits can a kid earn DE, and still be eligible for freshmen scholarships?

[FriedClams]

Does it vary by school? State? What if it's stuff they'll have to take again (like calculus for engineers...)

 

TIA!!

[Bootsie]

For all schools we considered, any classes taken DE before high school graduation did not impact freshman enrollment status.  

[Sebastian (a lady)]

It does vary from college to college. The general rule is that the school you are going into has the ability to set its own rules on accepting credit, be that DE, advanced placement, clep or transfer credit. It may depend on where the course was originally taken and what major the student is declaring.

 

Having said that, ds had 22 credits from a dual enrollment and had no questions about his freshman status. All of his courses were accepted by his university, but he retook calculus to make sure he knew the material to the level they expected of engineering students.

[regentrude]

Ask the college.

My DD had no trouble with 32 credits, but she did not transfer any of those in.

[G5052]

It varies so widely, it's really hard to say for sure.

 

At state schools here, any credits taken in high school don't change you from being a freshman in terms of financial aid. They view it as being like AP's or SAT II's. That said, some schools are more generous with transfer credits than others.

 

Being a STEM community college professor, I would be very thoughtful about transferring in math and/or science courses if you are planning a STEM major anyway. If it's a math-intense program, some would say that you should retake calculus at some level at the college you're going to in order to make sure you have the math foundation. I retook calculus when I was in college and was very glad that I did. It went considerably faster and more in-depth than my high school calculus which had options for dual enrollment or AP. I received double degrees in math and computer science. I also know of several chemistry and physics majors who retook their dual enrollment classes in those areas to make sure that they were on track with the major courses. 

[Pawz4me]

I'm not sure how many credits DS will have when he finishes high school, but he will have an AS degree. All of the colleges and universities we've visited will consider him a freshman for scholarship purposes since all of his college credits will have been earned while still in high school.  Some will also allow certain perks that come with being a transfer student (priority in registering for classes over freshman with no/fewer credits, more housing choices, etc.). Echoing what the others have said as far as checking with individual schools.

[J-rap]

From college to college.

 

For some colleges (I think not most), even one college course will bump you up to transfer status.

 

For others, a certain number is okay, but that varies.

 

For others, even a gap year without any courses at all bumps you up to transfer status, because they consider the experience to be like a course.

 

We've experienced all of those.

[Kassia]

I had one son start college with 62 credits from DE with no problems - he received freshman merit aid which was renewed for all four years.  His twin brother had fewer credits and also had no issues.  All credits that could be used for his degree were transferred.  

[bugs]

Both my kids were accepted into universities with 90 credits (quarter system over here, full-time dual enrollment and AA degree) - as freshmen.  Now, not all those credits would go toward their chosen degrees, so both would still have 3 - 4 years of college.

[RegGuheert]

Does it vary by school? State? What if it's stuff they'll have to take again (like calculus for engineers...)

 

As mentioned, it varies by school.

 

At Liberty University, the rule is that you MUST be in the university honors program to receive merit awards AND non-transfer students cannot enter the honors program with more than 60 credit hours.  (We have learned that they make exceptions to that second rule on a case-by-case basis)

 

One strategy we used with DS24 is she entered with 59 credit hours and then later took CLEPs to get her to 71.  No problem doing that.

 

As far as having to take things again, that also is very school-dependent.  Make sure there is a way to get credit for courses in your major OR to be able to take Institutional Challenge Exams (ICEs) to get out of stuff already taken.

[SkateLeft]

As others have said, it varies from university to university.

 

My girls both graduated with about 60 semester units, and had all of their credits transfer to their universities. Some of the schools they were admitted to would not have allowed them to transfer everything. RPI wouldn't accept any transfer credit that had been used to meet a high school requirement, as I recall. Some of the schools limited the amount of incoming credit. But, they were still considered for freshman scholarships at all the universities, so that wasn't an issue at all.

 

The only problem we ran across was that some universities would have considered them transfer students if they'd earned an associates' degree, so they both avoided pursuing that option.

[madteaparty]

Does anyone know the answer to the freshman status (not scholarships) for the European universities? Would one be disqualified from applying as freshman if any number of US university credits? I hope we didn't mess it up for DS...😱.

[FriedClams]

Thank y'all so much..I am so relieved.

 

DD wants to go into engineering. I would like, as she would, to DE for a lot of junior and senior year. She'll take a bunch of math, hopefully through calc 2. For math, I (and she), want to consider that all "high school" and retake it all in college. I think she can then dig deeper and have a less stressful transition to college. I'm glad to know she can take a few classes and not worry about having to transfer them all in. (Now, some of those English classes.... Lol)

 

Thank you so much!!!

[mamakelly]

My dd was considered a freshman at SDSU with 27 CC units.

[teachermom2834]

My ds had 30 de credit hours. He applied to ten schools and was considered a freshman at all of them. For the small private school he attended they transferred all the credits as electives and his degree program just happens to require 30 hours of electives. As soon as that first freshman registration happened his status bumped up to sophomore. So, he applied and registered as a freshman for the first semester. When it came time to register for spring he got to register with sophomores. I am under the impression it would work in a similar way at the other schools he applied to.

Edited December 13, 2016 by teachermom2834

[Berley]

I think it depends on the school. We are in a college town and the university here says you must have less than 29 DE hours to be considered a freshman. The university an hour away says you can transfer in as many hours as you want and still be considered a freshman for scholarship purposes. I would advise you to email the schools that you are interested in to see what their requirements are.

Edited December 13, 2016 by bookerdawg

[JanetC]

Both freshman acceptance and transferability of credits is a per-school thing.

 

In general, if you were considered a DE student, you should still be a freshman for admissions purposes. Sometimes you become a transfer if you earn the associates degree, though.

 

The best credit transfer results will be by staying in your state system and choosing courses from the articulation agreement lists. The worst credit transfer results will be from selective private schools.

 

Registration is also a per school thing. My first-year college student's portal has her as a sophomore due to DE credits, but registration time is based on terms at her (new) school, credits earned elsewhere count towards graduation but earn no other particular privileges.

[Homeschoolmom3]

I agree with others depends on the school...the one school our son is interested in says no more than 63.  HTH

[...................]

If your student is getting close you should check with the colleges he/she plans to attend.  I have seen it vary all the way from 30 to more than 60

[Bambam]

You might ask the destination college if the student can retake a college class they already have credit for from dual credit.

 

Because we were told that this was not allowed. College girl is doing independent study for one course since she is in the Honors program and you have to take an honors course, but the only one she could take is government, but she already has credit for that through dual credit. So, since she has to take an Honors class and there isn't one she can take, she has to do independent study - course designed with the honors department head.

 

So, I'd check to make sure this is allowed at your particular institution. 

 

 

[GoodGrief]

It really does depend on the school.

 

My current college freshman is an engineering student, and looked at many different programs. At some, all of her dual enrollment and AP credits would have transferred. At the school she ultimately chose, none of it did.

 

As far as scholarships, again, it depends on the school. However, dual enrollment is so common, that most schools still consider those who have participated incoming freshman. It's different if the student has graduated prior to taking courses though.

 

Keep in mind that not every "Calc 2" course will be exactly the same at every school. My daughter is retaking it at her college (she had actually done math through Calc 3), but it is a different sort of course than what she took at our local university in high school.

[City Mouse]

In my state, a student who has just graduated from high school is considered a freshman for enrollment and scholarship purposes. Once they get to the second semester then the DE credits are counted toward classification but they still get the entire 4years (if the scholarship is 4 years).