ANNA GREEN

Non-public and home-schooled High school students soon will be able to take online classes at Troy University.

ACCELERATE, the dual-enrollment program for high school juniors and seniors is loosely modeled after the public school ACCESS initiative.

“Programs like this have typically only been available to public schools, and we would like to see this program expand across the state and, eventually, the nation,” said Amy Scaro, program coordinator.

“We are hoping that this will provide an outlet for distance learning. We will be able to offer many enriching classes for students, including upper level math courses and foreign languages.” Scaro said.

Students will be able to utilize the program as early college credit, even if it does not count for credit on the high school level.

“The program has been designed to be used as dual enrollment, but even if the high school doesn’t accept the hours for credit, Troy University will,” Scaro said. “The students are not limited to the number of hours they can take, but both sets of students must have approval on the hours taken from their parents or their school counselor.”

Applications are being accepted now in the school application office, and the deadline for the next term is March 6. Scaro said she expects the program to grow quickly in a short period of time. “This is a great opportunity for students, because this is an online program,” she said. “That means that there is no set meeting time, and they can complete the work in concordance with their schedule. In addition, they can complete assignments anywhere there is a computer, they aren’t necessarily glued to a desk.”

High school juniors and seniors with at least a 20 ACT score or a 950 SAT score and a cumulative high school grade point average of 3.0 or higher are eligible for the program.

Each course is roughly three credit hours, and the price is $200 per credit hour. A limited number of sophomores will be allowed to enroll, but only with prior consultation and permission from a counselor.