Does Dual Enrollment Count as 1 Credit or .5 for High School?

For dual enrollment, does each college semester class count as 1 credit or .5 credits for high school?

Great question! So when you are looking at the content that is covered in a Dual Enrollment course, a one-semester college class is typically considered to be the equivalency of a year of high school. So what you would normally cover in a whole year of high school Spanish 1 will be covered in one semester of Spanish at a college, a year of biology in high school will be equivalent to the first semester of biology in college, etc (should definitely take that into consideration when evaluating if your teen is ready for Dual Enrollment!).

How does that count when it comes to your transcript? When you take a Dual Enrollment course through a college (whether online, at the college campus, or at your high school through a DE arrangement), you will typically receive 3 hours of college credit (which will be on a transcript from that college that you will send to the school you ultimately attend), and usually 1 full high school credit (even though it only takes a semester). This is because in the eyes of a college and the state you have covered a full year's worth of material.

There are some exceptions to this, so always double-check with your high school (or if you are homeschooled, with whatever entity you are homeschooling under).

Want to learn more about Dual Enrollment? Check out my article on the 4 questions you should ask before starting Dual Enrollment here!

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