In the face of soaring college costs, high school students have embraced the chance to earn credits for college prior to attending universities over the years. A popular way of getting those credits at Spring-Ford, and across the country since the 1950s, is enrolling in Advanced Placement (AP) courses.
AP courses are typically worth a possible three credits for college – depending on the student’s score on the national exam and whether their college of choice will accept these credits.
A new way to get credit has emerged at Spring-Ford that addresses those two variables. Immaculata University has partnered with the district to allow students to receive credits for AP classes via a dual-credit enrollment. These dual-credit courses are not dependent on final-exam scores and are, arguably, more marketable for credit acceptance.
Though many colleges accept credits from AP classes, many of these credit opportunities are reliant on students receiving a 3-out-of-5-or-above on the May National AP exams.
The percentage of students who take an exam that receive a 3-or-above ranges from 50 to around 80 percent. For some students, the pressure of a high-stakes exam may not represent their true capabilities. This may make the Immaculata credit option a better idea since the credit is based on the cumulative grade one receives in the class rather than their performance on one day.
“I don’t know much about the program, but the concept seems interesting,” said Spring-Ford senior Ashley Coleman, who is taking four AP classes this year
The idea of the program is that when a Spring-Ford student takes an AP class, they can enroll in Immaculata University as a dual credit student by paying $125 per credit to receive three college credits for the equivalent college class. Passing the course would allow the credits to transfer in most cases.
“I know that at the end of senior year, many people may not be as driven to do well on their AP exams,” Coleman said. “It’s nice to know I can still get the credit without that.”
This fall marks the pilot year of the program at Spring-Ford, so it’s difficult to know exactly how easily the credits will transfer to schools definitively. However, the affiliation with a university can’t hurt.
Nolan Pires, a freshman at West Virginia University, participated at a very similar program at his high school last year with Alvernia University.
“Some of my AP classes wouldn’t have transferred, but my Alvernia Credits did,” Pires said. Pires, however, added that “they were really expensive” referring to the $130-per-credit course. Pires bought credits for two classes – at three credits per class – and the total price of this expenditure was $780.
According to the College Board, 34.6 percent of 2023 graduates took at least one AP course in their high school careers. Nationally, 1.2 million members of the Class of 2023 graduates took a total of 4.1 million exams during high school.
Like Pires, students are often taking more than two AP classes. Also, while the rest of Pires’ AP scores were accepted by West Virginia University, this may not be the case for all places.
Despite the added weight to the academic resume the Immaculata University dual credit offers, cost is a concern for many. To take an AP exam, there is already a fee involved, and the price of these credits comes at a hefty addition.
Emma Hokanson, another Spring-Ford senior, said that “my parents know about the program, but it’s just unrealistic for us to pay that amount”.
Unlike AP exam registration and many other college-based fees, this program does not have any fee or monetary waiver. In this way, it seems that only the students who can afford this option can use it.
This program has been adopted by many similar schools in the area. It is likely to expand even further with other local institutions if it does well at Spring-Ford.
