\n\t\t\tMissy Fox and her husband, Greg, homeschooled their four kids K-twelve and were grateful for their wide variety of college credit opportunities in high school. Missy enjoys encouraging families through the homeschool-to-college transition, speaking on high school planning, transcripts, scholarships, and college admissions. She can be reached at foxbridgeprep.com or youtube.com\/@foxbridgeprep.\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n
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Spring 26\/Missy Fox When our friend Andy climbed the stage to accept the top academic excellence award at his community college graduation, almost no one in the applauding crowd knew that he was homeschooled or that he had just finished high school two months prior. Behind Andy\u2019s success were a mom and a dad who encouraged him to start earning college credit young. As homeschool parents, we are our kids\u2019 guidance counselors; we have to figure out if and when college-level work may be right for them, and which pathway to credit is best. Some methods are good for test-averse students, others are more commonly accepted by colleges, and still others are quick credit paths that aren\u2019t well known. Earning college credit in high school isn\u2019t for everyone. Some students should instead be investing in an area of passion, such as serving in a nonprofit or developing skill on the cello, instead of focusing on more advanced academics. But for others, pursuing college credit early makes a lot of sense. Why Pursue College Credit Now?\u00a0 Quicker Degree College credit in high school opens the door to a faster and cheaper college degree. A teen could get her associate degree and be done, or she could transfer credits to a four-year college and save money by graduating early. Or, completed credits could free up room in her college schedule to take electives, pursue a minor, or even a double major. One friend in my electrical engineering classes had enough space in her degree program to squeeze in four years of Japanese and multiple semesters of art. Not many engineers get that opportunity!\u00a0 Intellectual Challenge Perhaps even more important than speeding up a degree, early college work stretches a student. The Bible reminds us that trials produce endurance (James 1). Some kids may need a challenge beyond what a co-op or standard curriculum offers. If your gifted student can whip off a paper the night before or throw together a presentation at the last minute and still get an A, he may need to learn how to sweat a little. His future academics might not be as easy, so help him build his work ethic and academic muscles now\u2014challenge him with college-level work! Strengthened Transcript Advanced coursework shines on college and scholarship applications. When the National Association for College Admissions Counseling asked admissions officers which factors were of \u201cconsiderable\u201d importance to them, 64% mentioned strength of the high school curriculum, compared to only 7% mentioning extracurricular activities and 5% SAT or ACT scores. College credit on the transcript demonstrates rigor. Rigor opens doors to selective college admissions and scholarship money. College credit is an outside verification of a homeschooler\u2019s ability. If anyone is tempted to be skeptical of \u201cmommy grades\u201d on the transcript, an AP test or a community college grade evidences that, yes, Johnny legitimately did learn something at home! Mom\u2019s telling the truth. So, where are the best places to earn early college credit?\u00a0 Community Colleges We are blessed in North Carolina with access to a tuition-free dual enrollment program, Career and College Promise (CCP). High school students can take online or in-person classes from any NC community college starting in eleventh grade, or as early as ninth grade if they meet gifted criteria. They can even earn a complete associates degree during high school, as our friend Andy did. In addition to offering an extra challenge, stronger applications, and quicker college degrees, dual enrollment gives our kids a real college class experience with outside-the-home deadlines and accountability. They can practice attending office hours with questions and interacting positively with a new set of peers. Think of it as easing into the college swimming pool slowly instead of diving into the deep end as an incoming freshman, while simultaneously trying to navigate homesickness, roommate drama, and not ruining laundry. Some Tips: Ask around for recommended professors. You want your child to have a positive first taste of college. Online tools such as RateMyProfessors may be helpful, but realize that students often rate more on difficulty level than they do on the quality of teaching. Save the syllabus from each class. Subsequent four-year colleges may require it to transfer credit. Keep track of your student\u2019s ID number and login so you can order transcripts (which future colleges will request). A Few Cautions: Grades are permanent. After a certain mid-semester deadline, the grade cannot be removed, and later four-year colleges will want those transcripts. Ethically, you have to provide them. Therefore, make sure your student is ready for the challenge of dual enrollment before he begins. Credit transfer is uncertain. A few colleges, like NC State, have transfer databases of how they treat other colleges\u2019 credits, but many don\u2019t. Credit sometimes comes in as open electives, rather than fulfilling degree requirements, which means it may not actually save students time or money. The receiving college perspective may be, \u201cWe\u2019ve never heard of Unknown City Community College. Are their courses comparable to ours?\u201d If they aren\u2019t sure, the student may have to take the course again. The reasons we chose homeschool over public school may still apply to community college. For example, teaching is aimed at the group rather than the individual, instruction is secular, and the student body (and professors) are often godless. As one homeschooled teen told me, \u201cThe other students have such a limited vocabulary\u2026the only adjectives they know begin with either D or F.\u201d He described peers casually discussing their sexual activity. As our kids get older, perhaps they will be ready for such exposure, but it\u2019s worth a cost-benefit analysis. Consider, in particular, the worldview perspective of humanities courses such as psychology and literature. Do you have access to options that are richer educationally and spiritually? Christian Colleges While not free, many Christian college classes are significantly discounted for high schoolers. For example, as of spring 2026, Judson College at Southeastern in Wake Forest offers in-person dual enrollment for $345, much less than the regular tuition of $1,716. 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