Dual and Concurrent Enrollment - How High School/College Partnerships Can Benefit Students By Marilee Petranovich The core of UNM-Gallup’s mission is based on preparing all students to achieve their educational and professional goals. We serve a largely diverse population that includes high school students, traditional students who enter immediately after high school, and non-traditional students who start or return to college later in life to finish or improve their skills. Providing equal access to all students is an important part of our educational purpose and allows us to offer academic services to broad groups of students. Dual and concurrent enrollment is one manner in which higher education institutions can open their doors to high school students who want to expand their horizons and explore postsecondary options. Helping students matriculate from high school to college may seem simple and logical, but there is quite a bit of complexity to the equation of how to seamlessly integrate high school graduates successfully into college or directly into the workforce. Helping students see what their lives might look like after high school and easing the transition into college presents an opportunity for collaboration between the graduating high schools, receiving colleges and the local community. Using dual and concurrent programs is one such way that students can benefit from carefully designed options that increase their accessibility to a larger variety of academic opportunities. There is a growing national movement taking root in many communities that is placing responsibility for supporting students at crucial times during their educational journey not only in the hands of school personnel, but in the hands of local businesses, universities, and civic members. Programs such as dual/concurrent enrollment become one of the ways communities can become part of a larger support system for students by combining forces and resources to maximize a student’s probability of successfully choosing a life path that encourages life-long learning and economic well-being.
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September 2018
