Assessing Dual Credit Transferability

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Dual credit programs allow high school students to earn credits that can count toward both high school graduation and college-level coursework. These programs can offer many other benefits to high school students and their families. Foremost is the strong likelihood it will reduce the time spent in college after high school. These students are more likely to graduate from high school and pursue postsecondary education. They are more likely to complete a degree program. And of course, they and their families might also save money on college tuition. Washington offers six main dual credit programs for students to earn dual credit.

Some stakeholders have concerns about the extent to which institutions of higher education accept dual credit. Dual credit programs would offer much less benefit to students if other institutions do not consistently accept credits for transfer. However, little has been done in Washington recently to evaluate whether they accept credits earned through two specific programs when students try to transfer them after high school.

This audit examined two programs – Running Start and College in the High School. It also examined how postsecondary schools communicate with students around credit transfers. To conduct this audit, we selected eight institutions of higher education – four colleges and four universities – with varying student enrollment sizes and locations in different regions of the state.

Read a two-page summary of the report.

Report Number 1035324 Report Credits

Key results

This audit examined the extent to which selected higher education institutions accept dual credit earned in Running Start and College in the High School. We came to a very insightful conclusion.

Although some stakeholders were concerned colleges or universities may not consistently accept credits earned in dual credit programs, the institutions we reviewed did so appropriately. We found that audited institutions accepted an average of 95% of sampled dual credit courses. The main reason credits failed to transfer was because the high school students did not submit their college transcripts to the institutions in which they enrolled.

Identifying this gap in the credit transfer process benefits all parties involved. This is true for high schools, colleges and universities, students and their parents. Because federal law protects personal student information, it is key that students understand that they themselves are responsible for ensuring they submit their college transcripts when they enroll in their postsecondary school.

Background

Students who earned credits in Running Start and College in the High School must first obtain a college transcript issued by whichever institution granted the credit. When they then send the transcript to the postsecondary school they wish to attend, that school reviews the credits for transfer. College transcripts are not automatically sent from one institution to another due to restrictions set out in the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). FERPA states that students have sole rights to their college transcripts. This means only the student can start the process of submitting college transcripts. High schools, or the colleges wishing to send or view a transcript, may not do so.

The Policy on Intercollege Transfer and Articulation (the “Umbrella Policy”) aims to help ease the transferring of credit.  It is outlined in a handbook published by the Intercollege Relations Commission, a voluntary association of accredited institutions in Washington. The Washington Student Achievement Council and other organizations have adopted or endorsed the Umbrella Policy. All Washington public colleges and universities must follow it.

In addition to following policies set out in the handbook, postsecondary schools can establish their own transfer credit policies. These policies include more context-specific guidelines and procedures, and may vary between schools. That variation between individual institutions’ credit transfer policies makes it essential that students with dual credit receive clear information from each one about how and whether their credits will transfer.

Unsubmitted transcripts a problem

The main reason students did not receive credit was because they did not submit their college transcripts with earned dual credit. During our review, we found that students did not submit 59 of the expected 194 transcripts, or about 30 percent. Because the postsecondary school they enrolled in did not receive their transcripts, those schools could not evaluate students' dual credits for transfer. Documentation we reviewed showed majority of students earned credit and would have a transcript to submit.

We asked audited institutions why they believe students might not submit all transcripts. They said that students may have their own reasons for not doing so. This explains at least in part why it is unreasonable to expect that every student will submit every transcript. For example, they said students may:

  • Prefer to repeat coursework at the institution they enroll in because they may want to earn a higher grade
  • Know they earned grades that would not qualify for transfer
  • Know they did not earn credit

However, audited institutions provided other possible reasons why students might not submit a college transcript for transfer credit evaluation. Students might:

  • Forget to transfer credits
  • Not know how to submit the transcript

We found students enrolling at colleges were less likely to submit transcripts than those enrolling at universities. We noted that most unsubmitted transcripts were for students who had enrolled in College in the High School.

Majority of courses accepted

When students did submit transcripts, audited institutions accepted an average of 95 percent of dual credit courses. Seven of eight schools accepted more than 93 percent of dual credit courses in our samples, and three accepted 99 percent or more. Bellevue College had the lowest acceptance rate, at 85 percent. This was due to two policy requirements it applied during the credit evaluation process.  

While some stakeholders had expressed concerns that dual credit students do not receive the same type of credit as they originally earned, we did not find this to be the case. Most accepted courses were assigned a course equivalent by the receiving institution, giving credit for classes similar in content to those they offered themselves. They identified course equivalents on a course-by-course basis and assigned equivalency for roughly 73 percent of accepted courses in our sample.

Audited institutions rejected an average of 5 percent of sampled courses. Almost all courses were rejected for reasons that are included in the Umbrella Policy or their own credit transfer policies. Common examples of rejected courses include:

  • Vocational or technical courses, such as Personal Money Management, Personal Health Science, Microsoft Word
  • Remedial courses that fall under college level, such as Math 099
  • Repeated courses

     

Good practices around communications

The audited institutions use many required and leading practices to help students understand how to transfer their dual credits. We found most of them followed requirements and leading practices relating to transfer policies and online resources. For example, they all published their criteria for accepting credits from another college or university. They also stated what types of transfer credits they do not accept.

However, there are three instances in which some audited institutions did not follow requirements or leading practices could affect students’ ability to transfer dual credit successfully. More specifically, they did not:

  • Advise students that earned credit may not transfer
  • Inform students about their transfer rights and responsibilities
  • Publish equivalency tables or databases online

Finally, all audited institutions followed all leading practices related to student support and communicating the transcription process. Recommended methods of communication they use included:

  • Give students information about how to submit official college transcripts during the application process and during student orientation
  • Give new students a checklist of tasks that mentions submitting official transcripts for transfer credit evaluation
  • Remind students by email to submit their official college transcripts. This ensures college credit earned in high school will be evaluated for transfer credit.

     

Recommendations

The audit made recommendations to some audited institutions to improve their communication with students around credit transfers. Improvements include posting or providing a link to student transfer rights and responsibilities.

We also made a recommendation to OSPI specifically to help students who participated in College in the High School. We suggested OSPI develop and distribute guidance to school districts to ensure these students know they have earned college credit and have a college transcript.

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