Dual enrollment program gaining popularity at CHS

Published 12:00 am Monday, August 27, 2018

College-bound students at Catholic High are getting the best of both worlds as many are choosing the path of dual enrollment to prepare them for college while learning in a comfortable and familiar setting.

Catholic High’s dual enrollment program which has been offered since the fall of 2010 allows students, sophomores through seniors, to enlist in a number of core curriculum classes as well as electives while still enrolled in high school, earning credit in both the high school and collegiate level with each course.

The program includes classes in English, math, history and French at four state universities including UL Lafayette, Northwestern State, Louisiana Tech and University of Louisiana at Monroe.

“Currently a student can get 36 hours of college credit and possibly twelve more,” Catholic High Assistant Principal Eugenie Segura said. ”We have offered onsite face to face instruction (with Catholic High teachers who have earned their masters). This is the first year students were able to take online electives as well so that gives them extra credits,” she explained.

Principal Dr. Stella Arabie explained that students taking courses, even if it’s one of the independent study courses online, have access to teachers on staff.

“Whether it be Spanish or medical terminology students know they have a go to person on campus to assist them,” Arabie said.

Currently there are about a third of students in Catholic High’s enrollment (approximately 70) who choose the dual enrollment program. With more courses being offered the program is gaining popularity.

Students who take advantage can begin college as a sophomore at any public university in the state and Arabie said the Catholic High program is receiving notability in many private universities as well. 

Seniors Katherine Russell and Cynthia Romero have taken advantage of the dual enrollment program and both will have earned 36 college credit hours by the time they graduate.

“The first course I had was my sophomore year, the course work was kind of a shock because I was a sophomore,” Russell said. “But it wasn’t too bad and the next year I took four more courses.” 

“Our day is pretty full,” Romero said. “There’s not much down time, its a good thing though because when we do enter college will be a sophomore.”

Aside from having a familiarity with the discipline of college level study, there are huge financial benefits to dual enrollment as well.

“On average these courses cost $100 to $200 to take here in high school,” Dual enrollment math teacher Donald “Doc” Voorhies said. “The same course at a university would cost $1,200 so they are saving about a thousand dollars a course with 36 credits.” 

Voorhies estimates students in the dual enrollment class save about $12,000 in college costs. Many who enroll also qualify for TOPS as well and that money can be used to cover the costs of three years of education. 

“It’s not like college, it is college so they have to meet the college application requirements to take the classes which requires at least a 19 ACT score,” Arabie said. “So it has to be a student who is serious about their course work and the standards to enter the program here at Catholic High are a little higher than the college requirement,” she added.

Curriculum for the courses are approved by the participating universities. 

Students use programs such as moodle to prepare them to handle the more advanced responsibility of receiving materials and instruction on a college level and independently staying on task with posted requirements for class study.