ACTC offers college credit opportunities to local high school students
April 2, 2021
ASHLAND, Ky. – Through the dual credit program at Ashland Community and Technical College (ACTC), high school students have the opportunity to earn college credit in both general education and career and technical education (CTE) courses.
ACTC partners with 11 local school districts to offer dual credit courses: Ashland Independent, Boyd County, Carter County, Carter Christian Academy, Elliott County, Fairview Independent, Greenup County, Lawrence County, Raceland-Worthington Independent, Russell Independent, and Rose Hill Christian.
In addition, ACTC recently partnered with four technology centers to offer dual credit in technical courses: Russell Area Technology Center, Greenup Area Technology Center, Boyd County Career and Technical Center, and Carter County Career and Technical Center.
ACTC also has an early college agreement with Holy Family.
“ACTC works on building strong relationships with our partner school districts, and dual credit is a key part of these relationships. We hope to see many of these students on our campus as credential seeking students after high school graduation,” said Vicki McGinnis, Dual Credit Coordinator. “There are many ACTC scholarship opportunities for students after high school graduation. Students who earn dual credit in high school and then finish a degree with us could potentially come out owing little or no money for tuition, depending on their program.”
ACTC offers certificates and degrees in a wide array of career paths for students in two years or less, or a significant savings in costs for courses to transfer to a four-year institution. Dual credit can shorten the time to degree completion or transfer for students willing to take on the challenge of college level work in high school.
For students interested in CTE courses such as business, criminal justice, nursing, welding, and electrical, students taking dual credit will have an early start on completing those two-year degree programs at ACTC.
Dual credit students have two types of scholarships from the state they can use to pay for courses—dual credit scholarships and Work Ready dual credit scholarships.
Dual credit scholarships are available to juniors and seniors. Students are eligible for two total scholarships, to be used at any point during their junior or senior year. They may be used on general education courses or CTE courses. Students who are Kentucky residents and attend public or private schools, as well as homeschooled students are eligible for this scholarship.
The Work Ready dual credit scholarship may only be used for CTE courses. The range of CTE courses allowed for these scholarships includes business and criminal justice, along with the more hands-on courses such as welding and electrical. Students in 10th, 11th, and 12th grade are eligible for up to two Work Ready dual credit scholarships per school year. Kentucky residents who are students in public schools are eligible for this scholarship.
Some school districts pay for their students’ dual credit coursework not covered by scholarships, and other districts require students to pay if they are not using a scholarship.
The tuition for a dual credit scholarship is set by the state legislature. Currently the rate is 40% of the cost for a credit hour at KCTCS, putting it at $215 per three credit hour course.
ACTC coordinates enrollment in dual credit through the high schools, so interested students should start by contacting their high school guidance counselors.
