A Wilmington University program that lets high school students earn up to a year’s worth college credits before graduating has seen steady growth since it began five years ago.
Wilmington University’s dual enrollment program started with about 20 students at William Penn High School in 2011 and has grown fast in five years. This fall it’s looking like 400 students will be enrolled in the program across 10 schools.
Aaron Stafford of Wilmington University said the growth has been driven mainly by word of mouth.
“The students and the parents and the families are starting to call and they’re saying ‘how can we get this program in our school,” he said.
Stafford said the program has been popular because students earn on average a semester’s worth of college credits while in high school. It’s like an AP course, except there’s no exam at the end. Pass the course, get the credits. And these credits are good at any college, not just Wilmington University.
A recent expansion of the program allows students at A.I. duPont, MOT Charter and Laurel School District to begin taking university courses their freshman year and earn up to a year’s worth of college credits.
The classes range from an array of freshman college courses like English, Spanish and biology.
Each course can cost about $100 with books included, but some schools eat that fee while others pass it on to students.
Participating schools:
- Cape Henlopen High School
- Capital School District
- Delaware Academy of Public Safety & Security (DAPSS)
- DelCastle Tech High
- Delmar High School
- Early College Academy at A.I. duPont High School
- Eastern University Academy Charter School
- Glasgow High School
- Howard High School of Technology
- Laurel School District
- MOT Charter School
- Polytech High School
- Red Lion Christian Academy
- William Penn High School
