Dual Enrollment and Early Admission Programs

Florida's dual enrollment programs allow students to take college-level courses and earn credit toward high school completion and a career certificate or an associate or baccalaureate degree. Early admission is a form of dual enrollment that allows high school students to enroll in college or career courses at colleges and universities on a full-time basis (a minimum of 12 college credit hours). Dual enrollment courses may be taught online, on the student's high school campus, or at the student's local college or university. Students in grades 6–12 are eligible for dual enrollment and are exempt from the payment of registration, tuition, and laboratory fees. If your student is or will be enrolled at Aspiring Heights Academy, please see our Florida Dual Enrollment Program page for more information.

General Eligibility Criteria

Public, private, and home educated students may enroll in courses creditable toward both high school completion and a career certificate or an associate or baccalaureate degree provided the following eligibility criteria are met:

Initial Eligibility

• Hold a 3.0 unweighted high school GPA for college credit courses or a 2.0 unweighted high school GPA for career certificate courses; and
• Demonstrate college-level communication and computation skills via qualifying common placement test score (SAT, ACT, CPT, or PERT) or an alternative method adopted by the State Board of Education.

Continued Eligibility

• Maintain a 3.0 unweighted high school GPA for college credit courses or a 2.0 unweighted high school GPA for career certificate courses; and
• Meet the minimum postsecondary GPA established by the postsecondary institution.

Participation Requirements

Public School Students

Reach out to your zoned district school.

Homeschool Students

• Provide proof of enrollment in a home education program;
• Be responsible for transportation unless provided for in the articulation agreement; and
• Sign a home education articulation agreement.

Private School Students

• Provide proof of enrollment in a private school;
• Be responsible for transportation unless provided for in the articulation agreement; and
• Sign a private school articulation agreement.

What to Expect

Dual enrollment courses are college-level courses presented on an adult level and are oftentimes more rigorous than high school-level courses. It is important that students are dedicated to their studies and understand that more time may be needed to complete their coursework. Students may lose the opportunity to participate in the dual enrollment program if they fail their courses or are disruptive to the learning process. It's important to note that credits and grades earned for dual enrollment courses become part of students' permanent high school and college transcripts and are calculated into their GPAs. Withdrawals after add/drop periods are also included. Students who receive failing grades may have difficulty meeting future admission requirements at colleges and universities and difficulty qualifying for financial aid and scholarships.

How to Enroll

Check with your local college or university to find out what their enrollment policies, deadlines, and procedures are. There are specific deadlines for applying for dual enrollment, placement testing (if your student does not already have qualifying test scores), and approvals. In addition, if your student is enrolled in an private school and it does not already have an articulation agreement with your college or university, they will need sufficient time to process the necessary paperwork. Students enrolled at Aspiring Heights Academy may contact us to see which colleges we currently have articulation agreements with.

Something to Note

Students who obtain an associate degree while in high school may have admission priority or possibly guaranteed admission when transferring directly from a Florida public college to a Florida state university. However, the FAQs published by the Florida Department of Education state, Dual enrollment college credit will transfer to any public college or university offering the statewide course number...However, if students do not, upon high school graduation, attend the same college or university where they earned the dual enrollment credit, the application of transfer credit to general education, prerequisite, and degree programs may vary at the receiving institution.