From my last article where I reviewed “Get a Jumpstart on College”, you might remember that I was going to let you know some options you have in the Santa Clarita Valley for dual-credit possibilities for high schoolers.  When you are doing dual-credit, it means that you are getting high school credit and college credit at the same time by taking the same class on a college level.  Students doing this are called concurrently enrolled students.

I have personally done this and have many friends who have too.  My children have attended 2 junior colleges: College of the Canyons (in Valencia) and also Los Angeles Mission College (in Sylmar).  If you live a bit north, you also have the option of Antelope Valley College (in Lancaster).  Each college has their own procedures for allowing high schoolers to take classes there and they even allow children younger than high school to take classes with special approval.  These procedures also change from time to time, so it is wise to check in with the college before registering or look through their website.

Students who are enrolled in high school and college at the same time are considered concurrently enrolled students.  As such they pay a minimal fee to attend college ($39 for COC and $1 for LA Mission College-subject to change especially now with the new budget cuts), but you have to go through some extra steps (concurrent enrollment form & sometimes transcripts).  Both COC and LA Mission sometimes require transcripts from the student’s school, so have that ready as well. They also require a picture ID when the student first registers.

LA Mission College (Sylmar): Students who are still in high school have to apply online or in person, but need to present a concurrent enrollment form in person.  Thereafter, they can register for classes online after receiving a registration appointment date and time.   Students also have to complete Math & English placement tests, whether or not they are enrolling in a Math or English class after receiving a student ID no.

To begin your application, here is the link:http://www.cccapply.org/applications/CCCApply/apply/Los_Angeles_Mission_College.html

The concurrent enrollment form is at this link:

http://www.lamission.edu/admissions/AdmissionsForms.aspx

Click on K-12 form

College Of the Canyons (COC) –Valencia:  High school students can apply online or in person, but need to also go to their administration offices to bring in their concurrent enrollment forms and placement test results (which could be done at COC or another junior college) and sometimes they ask for a school transcript.  At COC, however, 11th and 12th graders can’t always just register for classes online, because classes might be full, but they can try to “crash” classes on the first day of school.  You do receive a registration appointment after handing in the special admission form, which allows you to register online if there is room in a class.  Crashing a class means that the student has to go into the class on the first day of classes and request an add code from the professor.  Professors are aware of this and will usually at the beginning of the class inform students whether they are giving add codes or not.  The student should just go sit down and act like any other student attending the class.  Once you have the add code, the student can then register in person or online for the class by adding it.

To start your application for COC, here is the link:

http://www.cccapply.org/applications/CCCApply/apply/College_of_the_Canyons.html

A link to their information for new students page:

http://www.canyons.edu/offices/Admissions/NewStudents.asp

Antelope Valley College – Lancaster:

They have a very detailed description of their admission policy for homeschoolers on their website.  Here is the link:

http://www.avc.edu/studentservices/adminrec/common/documents/2007SpecialAdmitHomeSchoolRemix.pdf

Sometimes students don’t feel comfortable as high schoolers on college campuses yet.  There are numerous online classes that can be taken through these college also, which could count towards an AA degree or IGETC transfer requirements and high school of course.  There are even courses available to help you be a successful online student (which could be harder in some ways than attending a physical class).

There are other colleges in the junior college system that can be attended also, I just covered the ones closest to the Santa Clarita Valley.