One of BYU-Idaho's four core themes is to deliver affordable education to students and the Church. That is one of the main reasons BYU-Idaho offers concurrent enrollment general education classes to junior and senior high school students. With certain courses, students can earn both high school and college credit at the same time, saving students time and money.
By taking concurrent enrollment courses while enrolled in high school, students can complete an associate or bachelor’s degree faster. Once a student graduates high school, they can seamlessly transition from being a concurrent enrollment student to a degree-seeking freshman.
BYU-Idaho has made its ONLN courses available for high school juniors and seniors anywhere in the United States. Those who live within driving distance of campus can take courses in person. These students can then take any course if prerequisite requirements are met.
Director of BYU-Idaho Concurrent Enrollment Tyler Williams shared how he’s seen many high school students take concurrent enrollment courses over the years.
“It connects students to campus earlier and helps them gain more confidence in becoming a college student. Williams shared, “students are overall better prepared for college life after high school when they take concurrent enrollment courses.”
Concurrent enrollment has seen an increase in enrollment since 2018. Especially over the past two years, One major factor boosting growth was adjustments to admission requirement adjustments allowing more juniors to qualify. Since the adjustment there are more juniors enrolled than seniors.
“This additional year has been a blessing to many students as they can complete more courses that meet both high school and college degree requirement at a significantly reduced cost,” Williams said.
The average credit load a concurrent enrollment student took during the Fall 2018 Semester was 3.9 credits. By the Fall 2021 Semester it has risen to 5.6 credits. That is 70 percent more credits in just three years. Concurrent enrollment students tend to perform well academically, with an average of a 3.4 GPA.BYU-Idaho makes it easy for high school students to qualify for concurrent enrollment. High school students need to be at least 16 years old, a junior or senior, fill out a Parental/Guardian Consent Form, and receive an Ecclesiastical Endorsement. ACT/SAT is not required. Students designated as “Online” pay $30 per credit while students with an “on-campus” designation pay $65 per credit.
If you know someone who may be interested in participating in BYU-Idaho's concurrent enrollment program the student should work with their high school counselor. Prospective students can also visit the Course Planning Tools to review the course offerings available to them.
Concurrent Enrollment has a Facebook, Instagram, and a LinkedIn. For more information about Concurrent Enrollment, visit https://www.byui.edu/concurrent-enrollment.