High schoolers get a jump on college through Durham Tech’s Dual Enrollment

Both Atlee Nelson, a 17-year-old senior attending Carrboro High School, and Ethan Liang, a 16-year-old junior at Chapel Hill High School, are taking advantage of Durham Tech’s dual enrollment program. 

Dual enrollment is a unique educational opportunity that allows high school students to enroll in college-level courses while still attending high school. It offers a bridge between secondary and postsecondary education, giving students a taste of college life and academics before officially starting their higher education journey. Students can earn high school and college credits at the same time.  

At the college level, these credits can be applied to college certificates and degrees or provide relevant entry-level job skills and preparation. This opportunity allows students to accelerate their college education while reducing the cost of tuition. Classes are taught at Durham Tech’s Orange County Campus in Hillsborough and Main Campus in Durham and offered online.   

“I heard about this option at Durham Tech at an assembly at my high school,” Liang said. “The opportunity to take classes for free sounded great, but taking college courses also sounded intimidating. Getting in college courses for free and expanding my horizons beat out the intimidation and it was super easy to apply.” 

Nelson saw the opportunity to dual enroll as a way to help her have income when she went to a four-year institution. 

“What appealed to me about dual enrollment was the fact that I’ll have my EMT certification before graduating high school,” she said. “I’ll be an EMT the summer before my freshman year in college and have some sort of income helping me through school.”  

Liang just completed Macro Economics and American History and says that if Microeconomics goes as well as Macro did, then he may have found his field, but, he added, “Who knows, maybe I’ll go into Computer Science or Engineering.” 

One of the benefits of dual enrollment is allowing students to explore areas of interest on a college level without having to pay tuition while they figure out what they want to study. 

“I was just talking to friends about it because it has been a really good experience for me,” Liang said. “It’s a foundation for college. It is a testing ground for high school students. You get to test out different classes before making any key decisions on your future.”   

Neither student feels that he or she is missing any social aspects by not being at either school full time. 

“I am a competitive swimmer so online classes work best for me,” Liang said. “I get the best of both worlds. I am in-person at my high school and online at Durham Tech.”  

“The community at Durham Tech is awesome,” Nelson said. “My professor knows my name and the name of each student in the class. I’ve made friends that I study with, grab lunch with. All of this makes going to class enjoyable because there will be friendly faces who know my name and want to know more about what ‘s going on in my life.”  

Both Nelson and Liang refer to Durham Tech as a gem and both are taking advantage of all education has to offer. 

“I’m just glad to be doing all this at Durham Tech,” Liang said. “The College says, ‘Do great things,’ and it helps each student do just that.”