By: Ryan Velasquez
High school students have several options to get a head start on their college education, but one that's grown in popularity is dual enrollment.
Other programs allow students to take classes for college credit while still in high school. But dual enrollment places students on an actual college campus, giving them a firsthand look at what being in college is all about.
"It's kind of getting your toes in the water, and it makes it a lot easier for the next year," said South Florence High School senior Austin Wilson. "It's a lot easier taking it now while I'm still in high school because once I get to college, I'll kind of understand how most of the college students are."
Professor Mitch House has been a part of the dual enrollment program at Florence-Darlington Technical College for nine years. He says its growth during that time has been significant.
"When I started at the college it was very small," House said. "It has steadily grown to the point where now we have several hundred students from local high schools taking those courses at Tech."
House said one of the program's most attractive aspects is its price.
"At our place it's $450 a course. That's a lot cheaper than taking it at most four-year institutions."
The program allows students to get a head start academically, but House says the exposure to a college environment helps students adjust to college expectations.
"I think everybody knows that some of the lowest grades you make during your college career are in those freshman courses," House said. "They can get them at Tech and transfer them, and then if they take everything we have, they might be able to enter Carolina as almost a junior, or at least a sophomore."
Midlands Tech student Morgan Osborne took five dual enrollment courses before graduating from West Florence High School last June. Now a sophomore in just her second full-time semester at MTC, which also offers dual enrollment, she says the early experience has been beneficial.
"It just got me prepared for college, knowing what to expect going into it and not failing out," Osborne said. "If I would've started here like I did there, I would've probably failed out."
Dual enrollment also gives students more freedom than a high school environment, requiring more self-accountability. House said experiencing this aspect early-on allows students to better understand what it takes to succeed on a college campus.
"We don't police them like the local high schools do," House said. "If they want to come out to Tech and just go to the library and cut class, they can do that, and they need to experience that because they've got to have more discipline when they get to Carolina."
Graduation day is getting closer, and Wilson said having an idea of what to expect from college has eased his nerves.
"I was kind of scared of how people were going to act because high school students are high school students," Wilson said. "I think it's going to help me a lot whenever I actually go to attend college because I kind of understand."
Professor Mitch House teaches a microeconomics course for dual enrollment students at Florence-Darlington Tech.
Austin Wilson is among the growing number of high school seniors taking dual enrollment courses before graduating.
