Every year it gets more and more popular that high school students are receiving college credit while they are in high school. One of the most common methods for high school students to receive college credit is through dual enrollment.

What is dual enrollment? It is when high school students enroll in their local community college to take college classes to receive high school and college credits. To receive the high school and college credit a student must pass the class with a grade of a C or above.

If any high school student in Palm Beach County wants to dual enroll at a college, they can do it at Palm Beach State College, Florida Atlantic University (FAU), or Palm Beach Atlantic University. Most high school students will become part time students at a college because they are most likely still taking classes at their high school. 

For high school students to be eligible to dual enroll at Palm Beach State College as a part time student they have to have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0, can only take up to eight college credits a term, and must be a sophomore, junior or senior. To be a full-time student the requirements are very similar but one must be a senior in high school. can take up to twelve college credits a term, they must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.2 and they will need a letter from the principal of their high school. All students are eligible to receive an associate’s degree if they receive 60 college credits with their high school diploma upon their graduation. 

At The Benjamin School students are allowed to dual enroll and take FLVS (Florida Virtual School), classes, only if it is to skip a year of math, if it is to take a language that we do not offer, or to take a class we do not offer. 

“We do allow students to take classes outside of Benjamin. The only time we allow students to do dual enrollment is when they want to study a language or another class we do not offer or when they need to take their final required year of math and we do not offer the course they need to take,” said Academic Dean Mrs. Caroline Guzman. “It is very rare for students at Benjamin to dual enroll because we offer a lot of classes at high levels. On average only three to four students a year at Benjamin do dual enrollment either at Palm Beach State College Or FAU,” Guzman added.

“I am currently taking Algebra 2 on FLVS and I am taking honors geometry right now at Benjamin. Next year I will be doing AP Pre Calculus,” said freshman AJ Serro. “I am taking Algebra 2 on FLVS right now because I want to be two years ahead of my math level and I eventually want to take AP Statistics my senior year and one of the prerequisites for that class is Pre Calculus and either Honors Calculus or AP Calculus AB,” added Serro.

All classes Benjamin students take that are not associated with the school but they do receive high school credit if they pass the class but they will not count towards their high school GPA.

“All of those classes not associated with Benjamin will be on a separate transcript that gets sent to colleges along with their high school transcript but they do count towards our graduation requirements. If a student takes a class through Florida Virtual they will come to Benjamin and they take Benjamin’s final exam for that class and they will need a 79% to pass,” said Guzman.

Guzman also mentioned how the school is working with the math department to expand its curriculum so students do not have to dual enroll. “We have been working with our math department for a while to try to add more classes to our program.” 

Dual enrollment and FLVS are both great ways for students to get ahead in their education, expand their education, or take a class that is not offered at Benjamin.