Earn College Credit While Still in High School
What is Dual Enrollment?
The MTSU Dual Enrollment Program allows high school students to take college classes
before they graduate. It’s a great way for motivated students to get a head start
on earning college credit, save money on tuition, and have a taste of what it’s like to be an MTSU student. Classes can be taken on campus, online, or at a student’s high school.
Dual Enrollment Student Handbook
Who can participate?
To take Dual Enrollment courses at MTSU, students must:
- Be a junior or senior in high school
- Have a minimum 3.0 high school GPA or an ACT composite of 22
- Submit all required documentation and $25 application fee
Some courses, such as math and English courses, have additional requirements for participation.
Contact the Dual Enrollment office for questions concerning prerequisites, ACT subscores,
etc.
How do I apply?
To begin the process of becoming an MTSU Dual enrollment Student follow the step by
step process on the appropriate checklist for first time dual enrollment students or returning dual enrollment students.
Students need to submit these items:
- MTSU Dual Enrollment Admissions Application and $25 fee (on the MTSU website)
- Official high school transcript and ACT scores (if applicable)
- Dual Enrollment Consent Form
- Copy of driver’s license or birth certificate (send to evea@mtsu.edu)
- Dual Enrollment Grant application (in the online TSAC Student Portal)
Other forms to submit, if applicable:
- Fee Discount form (if parent is a teacher/state employee)
- Transcripts of previous dual enrollment coursework taken elsewhere
- Consortium agreement (if taking courses at another college simultaneously)
- Partners in Education (PIE) form—student permission to release info to parent/other
What courses can I take?
Dual Enrollment students may take any class in which the pre-requisites are met. However,
to utilize the Dual Enrollment grant funding, students must take 1000/2000 level courses.
How much does it cost?
In many instances, there is no out-of-pocket tuition cost to students. This is made
possible by a combination of state funding (the Dual Enrollment Grant) and MTSU funding.
The standard in-state tuition rate for Dual Enrollment classes is $166 per credit
hour ($498 for a 3-credit hour course).
Potential costs that students are responsible for, in addition to the $25 application
fee, include textbooks as well as miscellaneous course fees (such as science lab fees).
For specific cost-related questions, contact the Dual Enrollment office.
New for 2018−19: MTSU First Four Scholarship
- The Dual Enrollment First Four Scholaship (DEFF) is available to any MTSU Dual Enrollment
student who (1) is eligible for the Dual Enrollment Grant (DEG), and (2) uses the entirety of
the first four Grant awards at MTSU.
- The DEFF is designed to cover the fees associated with a student’s third and fourth
Dual Enrollment courses, which are not covered in full by the DEG. By receiving the
DEFF, a student can take up to four Dual Enrollment courses through MTSU without any out-of-pocket tuition expense.
- In general, DEG policies and procedures also apply to the DEFF.
- DEG/DEFF combined funding is limited to two courses in a given semester. For example, if a student enrolls in four courses in
his/her first semester of Dual Enrollment, he/she could receive DEG awards for the first two courses, but not DEFF funding for the other two. He/she could, however, receive the DEFF funding during
the next semester.
- A student can receive more than one DEG/DEFF award in a semester only if he/she meets TELS (HOPE Lottery) requirements of a 3.0 GPA or 21 ACT as of the
beginning of that semester.
- A student must meet all DEG eligibility requirements to receive DEFF. This includes,
but is not limited to, residency requirements; admission requirements to MTSU; and
DEG GPA requirements to continue to receive the award.
- Students must use the entirety of their first four DEG awards with MTSU in order to
receive the DEFF. If students receive a Grant award for coursework taken at another
institution, they forfeit eligibility for DEFF funding.
- For the 2018-19 academic year only, as MTSU transitions into awarding of the DEFF, students who have previously received
DEG awards at other institutions can still receive DEFF funding from MTSU.
- All other rules concerning eligibility still apply- maximum two awards per semester;
funding only applies to a student’s first four DEG-eligible courses; student must
maintain DEG eligibility based on GPA, etc.
- Beginning with the Fall 2018 semester, students must use all DEG awards for MTSU courses.
Understanding the Dual Enrollment Grant
- The grant application must be completed each year.
- No exceptions can be made to the grant deadline established by the state.
- The grant is not need-based; any eligible student can receive it.
- Students must be Tennessee residents for one year prior to enrollment to be eligible.
- The grant can only be applied toward lower-division (1000-2000 level) courses.
- The grant can be used during the summer semester.
- Students can receive the grant for a maximum of two courses per semester.
- In order to receive the grant for more than one course in a semester, students must meet HOPE Lottery Scholarship requirements of a 3.0 GPA or 21 ACT composite score as of that semester.
(Home-schooled students must have a 21 ACT composite score to receive two awards in a semester)
- In order to keep receiving the grant after the first semester, students must maintain
a 2.75 GPA in all college classes taken while receiving the grant.
- Credit hours and GPA earned in Dual Enrollment classes do not count toward attempted
hours and GPA for the HOPE Lottery Scholarship, but may count toward the student’s undergraduate
attempted hours and GPA.
- Beginning with a student’s fifth grant-eligible course, additional grant funding is
available at the rate of $100 per credit hour (a maximum of $600 per semester). The student is responsible
for the remaining balance owed, and the grant money is borrowed dollar-for-dollar from the first semester of
a student’s HOPE Lottery Scholarship.
Additional benefits of Dual Enrollment
- MTSU Student ID
- Access to all campus events (concerts, performances, free admission to athletic events)
- Access to the MTSU Campus Recreation Center and Walker Library
- Student discounts at various locations in Murfreesboro/Rutherford County
- Orientation for students taking courses on campus