Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College-[node:field-date:custom:Y]--MOWR/Dual Enrollment/Joint Enrollment program

High-Impact Strategy

Participate in dual enrollment or joint enrollment programs for high school students.

Related Goal

Goal 6: Shorten time to degree completion through programs that allow students to earn college credit while still in high school and by awarding credit for prior learning that is verified by appropriate assessment.

Summary of Activities

During AY14-15, ABAC offered dual enrollment classes at Baconton Community Charter School, Colquitt County High School, Cook High School, Fitzgerald High School, and Tiftarea Academy. In addition, a number of Tift County High School students as well as students from Berrien, Irwin, Turner, and Worth Counties attended classes on the ABAC campus in Tifton. ABAC has a director of dual enrollment programs, who oversees the programs at various high school locations and at ABAC, schedules classes, advises and registers students for classes, monitors academic progress, and communicates regularly with both current and prospective students, their parents, and their high school counselors.  For several years, ABAC has waived all mandatory fees for dual enrolled students.

ABAC plans to participate fully in the new MOWR program with a commitment to provide educational opportunities for qualified area high school students. A plan has been put in place to provide books for all MOWR students, to continue to waive all mandatory fees, and to absorb the tuition differential cost associated with eCore classes.  Course offerings have been expanded to include courses which were on the accepted (old) MOWR supplemental directory as well as those on the Accel directory, giving students more options. Courses at area high schools follow the high school bell schedule so dual enrollment classes can be taken along with regular high school classes. On the ABAC campus, spaces are reserved for MOWR students in 8:00 am and 2:00 pm classes in the subjects most frequently taken by high school students. 

Baseline Status

In fall 2014, 198 students were enrolled in dual enrollment classes at ABAC.  That number rose to 232 in spring 2015.  In AY14-15, dual enrolled students earned a total of 2599 credit hours at ABAC.

Interim Measures of Progress

The number of students in dual enrollment has steadily increased for the past five years, increasing from 120 in AY10-11 to 430 in AY14-15.  Earned credit hours during those same years have also risen from 577 to 2599.

Measures of Success

Increase the number of students participating in dual enrollment.

Projected target:  508 students will participate in dual enrollment in the 2015-2015 academic year.

Increase the number of earned credit hours by dual enrollment students.

Projected target:  Dual enrollment students will earn 3105 credit hours in the 2015-2016 academic year

Lessons Learned

Dual enrollment programs require a substantial allocation of resources.  In addition to paying someone to direct the program, the College loses revenue due to the waiving of mandatory fees.  The instructional cost is often high, especially for classes taught at area high schools, because class sizes are usually smaller than on the ABAC campus.  The new MOWR program will be even more expensive for the College with the added requirement of providing books for all dual enrolled students and the inability to charge students the tuition differential between eCore and regular ABAC classes.  Another challenge to increasing student participation is the difference in admission standards between USG institutions and TCSG schools.  Both Fitzgerald and Cook high schools have decided to partner with Wiregrass Technical College rather than ABAC for delivery of MOWR classes in 2015-16 because more of their students qualify for participation under the TCSG admission requirements.  A related challenge is that students who want to attend a selective university after high school graduation are being discouraged from participating in dual enrollment in favor of taking AP classes in high school, which supposedly the selective universities regard as more rigorous than college level courses taken through dual enrollment.

To meet these challenges, ABAC has appointed the Honors Program director to oversee dual enrollment as well.  She will seek ways to coordinate the two programs to maximize academic opportunities for students while they are in high school and to move them seamlessly from high school to college enrollment.