Do you want your homeschooler to experience more advanced coursework and get college credits before leaving high school? If so, you may have looked into dual enrollment courses and CLEP exams.
These popular options can help your student get college credit outside of a traditional degree program. But how they go about it is very different.
We’ve broken down the core details of how each works so you can decide which is best for your homeschooled teen.
What are Dual Enrollment courses?
In dual enrollment courses, high school students can take authentic college-level courses alongside freshmen and sophomores. These courses are not watered down and have the same rigorous learning expectations as traditional college courses. The only difference is that dual enrollment allows high schoolers to participate.
In these courses, students complete the same assignments, take the same exams, and meet the same academic standards as their college peers. When they successfully complete a dual enrollment course, they earn real college credit that appears on their official college transcript.
These courses can be taken from community colleges, a local four-year college, a distance learning university, or a self-paced course provider like Mid-America Christian University powered TEL Education.
What are CLEP exams?
CLEP exams are just exams. There are no learning materials or CLEP-approved coursework, so students must study independently. If they take and pass the CLEP exam, they can submit it to a college for possible college credit – usually for an introductory course.
Not all colleges accept CLEP test credits; policies vary by school.
The High School Experience
Military members and adult learners have traditionally taken CLEP exams, but it’s possible for high school homeschoolers to also take the exams. They would need to register at the CLEP website, pick their exam, pay, and then register to take it at a testing location near them.
From there, it’s up to them to get the right materials to help them pass the exam. It’s not a classroom experience. It’s only the exam.
Dual enrollment, on the other hand, is a college class that includes professor lectures, forums, assignments, special projects, tests, or whatever else the teacher wants to include in their classroom experience. It can be done virtually through online learning or as a traditional in-person, on-campus course. It’s expected that the student participates and learns alongside other students to pass the course and earn college credit.
How Dual Enrollment and CLEP transfer
CLEP exams are scored on a scale of 20-80. When a student gets a satisfactory score, that score can be submitted to a college or university for college credit. It’s up to each school to determine the score required or which classes each exam should replace. Not all schools may accept CLEP credit.
Dual enrollment courses are actual college courses, so when students finish them, they get college credit automatically. In the case of Mid-America Christian University (MACU) courses powered by TEL, students will get an official transcript from MACU with their college credit. They can choose to continue their education at MACU after high school or transfer these credits to another school.
What courses are offered?
CLEP offers 34 exams for subjects like Intro to Psychology and Macroeconomics. Courses can be taken year-round from over 2,000 testing centers worldwide.
Dual enrollment courses vary by the school that offers them. They generally cover more intro-level courses but can include things like Spanish, Music Appreciation, or even Intro to Chemistry.
Mid-America Christian University (MACU), students can choose a dual enrollment course from over 25 courses, including Public Speaking, History, Chemistry, and Philosophy. Since a college professor teaches each course, students can expect to be challenged as they would in a traditional college setting.
How courses appear on the transcript
Dual enrollment courses are college courses and appear that way on a college transcript. For homeschooled high schoolers, this means they can fill out a college transcript with real credits at the same time they fill up their high school transcript! It also helps them build the documentation they need for their chosen college’s college admissions processes.
Did you know? Each dual enrollment course is only a semester long, but parents can put it down as a full year’s credit on the high school transcript. If you weigh your student’s transcript higher for honors courses, you can do this with college coursework as well.
CLEP exams aren’t courses, so they don’t count on the student’s high school transcript. (However, homeschool parents can always give their students credit for their learning in preparation for the CLEP exam. There’s just no standard course experience to simplify how you credit this on the transcript.)
How much does each cost?
Each college sets its own dual enrollment prices. Courses from MACU cost just $75 per credit hour. Exams do not cost extra.
CLEP courses cost $93 for the exam, plus the testing center fee (which varies by center.) You are on your own to purchase study materials and tutoring. Some free materials can be found through the CLEP website.
Dual enrollment vs. CLEP at a glance
| Dual Enrollment | CLEP | |
| Experience | College rigor and environment | Just an exam, rigor of self-study varies |
| Instructors | College professors | Self-taught |
| Cost | varies | $93 plus testing center fee |
| Credits offered | Transferable college credits | May be accepted instead of college credits or college credits |
| Appears on HS transcript | Yes | Can in some homeschool settings |
How can I know which is right for my student?
Dual enrollment and CLEP offer very different solutions for homeschooled students who want to get a jump-start on college.
CLEP could work for students who don’t need much help studying for exams and want to test out of the college experience altogether. It’s possible if the college they eventually attend accepts CLEP credits, they could skip some courses and save some money.
However, Mid-America Christian University powered by TEL dual enrollment courses give homeschoolers a true college experience, and they are incredibly affordable. They are also completely self-paced, so students can learn around their sports activities, jobs, and family obligations. Plus, they are taught by regionally accredited instructors.
To sum it up, dual enrollment gives homeschooled students real instruction that counts as high school and college learning. The credits they earn can be taken with them wherever they go.
