As students start preparing for college their freshman year, they are told to be involved in everything they love and to take challenging courses. With new dual enrollment classes available on actual college campuses within the next year, students will be able to take advantage of getting college credits while saving their parents’ money. However, where will this money come from to support the program? Since it will come from taxes, one must ensure that the country’s money isn’t going to waste. While the idea of a new dual enrollment program is resourceful, there are some faults such as lower student grade point averages (GPA), and the cost of initiating the new program.

Students may experience excessive stress due to these onerous classes. Not only do they have to learn how to balance their high school courses, but also the college classes. In some cases, students could fail to succeed in the college classroom, and even so in their regular classes. It seems as if they would have to choose between doing the work for their high school classes or for their college classes. When they are giving one education more importance than the other one, they are putting their GPAs at risk. The final grade they receive will reflect the GPA they will start with when they go into college. For example, if a student got a C-average in a dual enrollment class, then their college grade point average will equate to a 2.0. For this reason, schools must ensure that a student can balance high school and college.

Moreover, the actual logistics of the classes are not practical because of the cost for transportation. High schools will have to provide transportation for every student from the school to the college. A lot of money will be going into transportation in order to provide the students with a higher education. Another issue that must be addressed is how the schedules will work. Counselors will have difficulty figuring out how to fit the dual enrollment classes into the regular four block schedule.

“

I think it’s easier for Gables students to take DE classes at Gables instead of the college. DE classes at Gables are easily accessible to all students. It allows students to get college credits, while not having to sacrifice their time to go to the college campus.

— sophomore Lisdeyvis Mestre

The objective of the new dual enrollment classes where students are transported to the actual educational institution is that students will be able to learn about college. Each student in the program will be able to experience what college classes and professors are like and help them decide whether or not they want to attend that college in the future. With the new program, students will increase their sense of responsibility that will be necessary for these challenging courses. Moreover, parents will be able to save money if their child is successful in these classes because they won’t pay for these college courses, like college students have to. The school provides each student with the education, transportation, and books at no extra charge. In addition, students will be able to graduate college earlier because they are getting college credits while they are still in high school.

“Most of my classes are dual enrollment and I think it would be a nice experience to actually learn on the college’s campus and be taught by college professors. However, I do not think it is very practical to ride a bus every other day to a college only to take one class; the time spent in Miami traffic would simply take away from lesson time from in-school dual enrollment classes,” senior Jillian Paz said

However, students can only benefit from this program if they are going to an in-state college. Otherwise, their hard work and time will go to waste because the credits only count for the state they live in. Furthermore, the money the government used to pay for those children’s education also would go to waste. It’s not fair to those who work and pay their taxes and have their money thrown away. Additionally, the program may experience some issues with the kids fitting into a new environment. In fact, high school students are still able to take dual enrollment classes at their high school, while learning in an environment they are accustomed to.

The new dual enrollment program is a great opportunity for students who know they will be staying in-state for college. Although there are faults within the program, they are nothing major and can easily be fixed if those students learn to balance their schedules. Once public school districts unravel a way to ensure that they are only electing the best students for the program, the costs to support the program will decrease since they have less kids to pay for. Not to mention, the school can set up fundraisers to help pay for transportation, books, or anything necessary to support the program.