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Earning Dual Credits During High School
WVU Course Program of Study (CPoS) Process for Prospective Undergraduate Students
Taking classes for college credit during high school is an option for many students. In addition to preparing high school students for the rigor of college courses, dual credit may also allow students to arrive with some required courses already completed, graduate early, and save money on tuition, fees, and other expenses. But students, families, and high school staff should be aware of how accumulating these dual credits could impact the financial aid students are eligible to receive during college. Careful planning is required to ensure that this head start, and the changes to financial aid eligibility it may bring, do not present a roadblock later in a student’s college career.
What to Consider:
• Participants in the WVU High School ACCESS Early College Program should consider taking courses approved for dual enrollment credit by their high school and ones that satisfy a university’s general education requirement.
• Dual enrollment courses are recorded on college transcripts and can affect overall high school and college grade point average.
• Before transferring dual enrollment credits from other institutions, you should work with your WVU HS ACCESS Program Coordinator to ensure the courses satisfy a requirement.
• Dual enrollment courses cannot be used to meet the credit hour requirement for scholarship renewal purposes once enrolled at WVU, but the GPA is included in the overall GPA and can affect renewal.
• Consideration should be given to courses that fulfill natural science and math requirements, which fulfill general education requirement for most majors.
Enrollment Requirements for Federal Aid (Once You Become an Undergraduate Student):
Federal and state aid programs have various enrollment requirements. Many, including Title IV federal aid and West Virginia state aid, will only count courses toward an undergraduate student’s aid eligibility if they are degree-pursuant, meaning required for the student’s degree completion. This means that if a student earns a large number of required college credits during high school, they may be limited during some college semesters when it comes to available courses that count toward their aid eligibility.
When students at WVU enroll in classes after they graduate from high school, they are automatically reviewed for degree-pursuant coursework and aid eligibility through our Course Program of Study (CPoS) process. If a student is enrolled on a full-time basis but not all courses are degree pursuant, the student will still be charged as a full-time student, and they may have limited federal and state aid eligibility based on degree-pursuant coursework. Students may need to need to pursue other means of paying for the non-degree-pursuant courses. Institutional scholarships, external and private scholarships, private loans, and other funding options may be available.
For more in-depth information about the CPoS process, please visit the website link here: Financial Impacts of Earning Dual Credits During High School | Student Financial Services | West Virginia University (wvu.edu)
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Be sure to wear your WVU T-shirts and send us your pictures!
Photo Credit: Clay Battelle HS ACCESS Students.