Guidelines

Students must be enrolled at Gateway for the school year in which they plan to do dual enrollment, and have at least one full-credit academic course taught at home by the parent/guardian during each semester. Students taking all of their courses at another institution will not be considered Gateway students.

 

When pursuing dual enrollment, you’re dealing with two schools: the high school (Gateway) and the college and must meet the requirements of both to be eligible. Gateway requires students seeking dual enrollment credit to be enrolled with an approved education plan that includes the dual enrollment class(es).

 

Check with the college admissions counselor, website, or college catalog for more information regarding the paperwork and process required by the college. Some colleges require a signed consent/recommendation form from the high school (Gateway).

 

Students should avoid taking enough college classes to be considered full time college students (typically 12 college credit hours per semester). They should also generally avoid taking enough college classes to complete the freshman year of college while registered at Gateway (typically 30 college credit hours) because this may make students ineligible for some college scholarships.

 

Application

Apply early as it can take up to four weeks for us to approve the application and send information to the college. Add the dual-enrollment course to your education plan by putting in the specific course title. In the curriculum menu select Dual Enrollment and enter the name of the college.

 

Next send us an email with the course descriptions and attach any college dual-enrollment forms that require a signature or authorization from us. Make sure to include your request for the student's current high school transcript and specify the college's email or other address where we should send the dual-enrollment information. If the college requires ACT/SAT scores, please let us know to include them. 

 

Tennessee Dual-Enrollment Grant

The DEG program pays the tuition fees for high school students to earn a semester of college credit or an initial technical credential while completing their high school education. The grant will pay for up to ten dual-enrollment courses at 2- and 4-year colleges and up to 1296 clock hours at a TCAT.

 

To be eligible, a student must be a high school junior or senior taking dual-enrollment classes at a 2- or 4-year college, or a high school freshman or higher if taking dual-enrollment classes at a TCAT. A student must also maintain a 2.0 GPA or higher for all dual-enrollment courses each semester.

 

The application deadline is June 30 for all semesters or trimesters of the upcoming school year (fall, winter/spring, and summer).

 

Apply online and get more details at: www.collegefortn.org/dualenrollment

 

Equivalency

Typically, a one-semester "three-credit-hour" college course earns one high school credit, but not all college courses have a high school equivalent. Some are beyond the scope of high school while others are too narrow to cover the full scope of a high school course. A few subjects (e.g., U.S. History) may be divided into two college courses and so require two semesters of college work in order to earn one high school credit.

 

If a college course is a close equivalent to a high school course the student has already completed, he/she will not earn additional high school credit. However, a student may take the course for college credit only. As the high school, Gateway determines the amount of high school credit earned through college courses.