Dual enrollment programs give students a head start on promising careers

The road to a career can take many paths. 

For some, traditional college is not the answer. Accelerated programs to learn specific skill sets can quickly launch a student into a high-demand, high-paying job.

For others, getting a head start on a college career can lower student debt and decrease the time it takes to earn a degree.

Students throughout Manatee County are taking advantage of dual enrollment options available to them.

Hundreds of high school students in Manatee County are taking advantage of dual enrollment programs at local colleges, including State College of Florida and the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee, in order to fast-track their education, or to leap directly into professional careers.

Jumpstart on higher education

Brittany Nielsen, the vice president of student services and enrollment management at State College of Florida, said it's typically high school juniors and seniors who are accelerated enough in their high school to be able to take advantage of dual enrollment opportunities and take college credits. 

Taking actual college courses at a college also helps high school students develop more quickly.

“Our students in dual enrollment are learning how to be a college student before they have to,” she said.

Dual enrollment is different from other college credit programs such as Cambridge AICE or International Baccalaureate (IB) offered at area high schools, Nielsen said. In AICE or IB, a high school student takes an accelerated course but must then score well on a standardized test to receive college credit. 

In dual enrollment, if a student passes the college class, they receive the credit. 

“They know where they're at as far as a grade,” she said. “It's not getting to the end of your semester, taking a test and hoping and praying you get the right score," Nielsen said.

Photo by Jim DeLa

It’s also an attractive option because dual enrollment college classes are free to high school students. 

The SCF program is available to students in Manatee and Sarasota counties as well as for students at Lemon Bay High School in Charlotte County. Students can be enrolled in approved public or private high schools, or can be home schooled. 

Students must have qualifying SAT, ACT or PERT exam scores. 

At USF, dual enrollment is available to students attending any type of high school recognized by the Florida Department of Education (public schools, charter schools, private schools and homeschools). Students qualify for the program based on their Grade Point Average and SAT/ACT/PERT scores and with approval of their high school counselors. 

Students approved and admitted to the program do not pay for tuition or textbooks.

Technical colleges offer hands-on experience 

On the last day of class in May, students in the diesel systems program at Manatee Technical College were busy prepping for a certification exam. 

One graduating student, Alec Henderson, already had been offered a job at Ring Power, a local construction machinery dealer. He said dual enrollment, where he finished his high school online and took full-time classes at MTC, was perfect for him.

The training at MTC allowed him to enter the workforce with confidence. His training in the program gave him the basic understandings to be able to land a job and gain more experience, all at the age of 18.

Henderson said problem-solving is his favorite challenge. 

“I get tired of doing the same thing every day,” he explained. “But with mechanics, there's always a different problem going on.” 

Meanwhile, at the school’s east campus off Lakewood Ranch Boulevard, Aaliyah Cosme was graduating from the pharmacy technician program, but that’s only the beginning.

She has a goal of being a nurse, specializing in pediatrics. She thought becoming a pharmacy technician would be a good starting point. 

She was hired at Manatee Memorial Hospital and worked over the summer. She plans to start the Licensed Practical Nurse program at MTC in the fall.

Cosme said the program has also taught her about professionalism and growing up. 

“It was a good thing for me because it taught me more discipline,” she said. “I have to wake up every day. I can't just wake up one day and be like, ‘Mom, I'm not going to school,’ so it was a good transition for me.” 

Susan Mruk, the pharmacy technician instructor, said MTC's programs offer real-world experience in addition to education. 

“This puts them into that world that they can work in, and that just adds to their education in college,” she said. “As a parent, I Iike seeing the benefits of my program going out there, that this is available for high school seniors to really get in working in the field before a college degree.”

Doug Wagner, the director of MTC, said the programs offered are in fields where employees are in demand. 

“We would not offer a program unless there's a career path to it,” he said.

Every program has advisory councils made of local business people. 

“They advise our programs on what they should be teaching, what kind of skills the students need to have,” Wagner said. “So when our students graduate, they are knocking down the door to get these students to accept positions with them.”