Dual Credit
What is Dual Credit?
Dual credit is an opportunity for high school students who meet admissions standards to enroll in public post-secondary institutions in South Dakota and simultaneously earn credits for both their high school diploma and post-secondary degree or certificate.
Through a program approved by the South Dakota Legislature, dual credit coursework is available to high school students in grades 11-12 at the rate of $48.33 per credit. That compares to about $200 per credit at the state’s four technical institutes and $300 per credit at the state’s public universities. Students are responsible for the $48.33 per-credit cost and any required textbooks or related course materials.
Students are able to choose from a number of on-campus and online classes, including general education and career and technical education courses.
How do I register?
Your first step should be to meet with Mrs. Feldhaus or Mr. Podhradsky to talk about whether you are a good candidate for dual credit. Each of the participating public universities and technical institutes has their own registration process.
How do I know if I'm eligible to take High School Dual Credit?
Students must fall into one of the categories below to participate.
High school juniors eligible to enroll in dual credit must meet one of the following requirements:
a) earn an ACT composite score of 24 reflective of the 70% percentile; or
b) rank in the upper one-third of their graduating class; or
c) earn a cumulative GPA of at least 3.50 on a 4.0 scale.
High school seniors eligible to enroll in dual credit must meet one of the following requirements:
a) earn an ACT composite score of 21 reflective of the 50% percentile; or
b) rank in the upper one-half of their graduating class; or
c) earn a cumulative GPA of at least 3.25 on a 4.0 scale.
High school juniors or seniors eligible to enroll in a high school in South Dakota who meet all of the following Undergraduate admission requirements:
a) ACT score of 18 (or 21 for USD and SDSM&T); and
b) Successful completion of coursework requirements:
- four years of English
- three years of advanced mathematics
- three years of laboratory science
- three years of social studies
- one year of fine arts.
To participate in the High School Dual Credit program, students must meet one of the requirements in the categories above, or may qualify by meeting the benchmarks on one of the assessments below:
a) 10th Grade ACT Aspire Summative Assessment (score of 434 or higher)
b) Accuplacer (sentence skills - score 86 or higher AND elementary algebra - Score 76 or higher)
What courses are available? Visit the DOE Dual Credit Dashboard to view course offerings.
Online College Classes
- If you do your classes during school time as part of your required high school credits, you can earn high school and college credit (dual-credit). Your grade will appear on your report card for both our high school and the college. Technical Institutes offer dual-credit classes, too. This is a great way to save time and money in college, but be prepared. If you take a class that is required to graduate, such as English, failing the class could keep you from graduating. Pay attention to important start, drop, and due dates.
* Source: www.SDMyLife.com