Student Guide for College NOW
Minneapolis College’s Concurrent Enrollment Program
Let’s keep the relationship going!
We hope you continue as a student at Minneapolis College. Please check out our programs of study and see how you can get a great education and save money, no matter your end goal.
If you choose to attend a different college or university, don’t forget about us! Remember you can take courses at Minneapolis College:
- During the summer to catch up or get ahead in your program of study.
- Through online offerings for courses that have been difficult to schedule at your college.
- To help you prepare for or re-take challenging courses in your other institution. You may find our low teacher-student ratio is a help to you.
Just remember to always consult with your college or university advisor to ensure the credits you earn at Minneapolis College will transfer successfully to your program of study. You also need to check course descriptions on our college website to ensure you meet the prerequisites for the Minneapolis College course.
Contact Us
Please e-mail concurrent.enrollment@minneapolis.edu with any questions, concerns, or to arrange a college visit.
Congratulations
Concurrent Enrollment is a Great Move!
When you applied to earn Minneapolis College credit for the course you are taking at the high school, you helped your coursework do double duty for you. You are earning Minneapolis College credits at the same time you are earning high school credit. As long as you do well in the course, you can expect to see many benefits:
Understand what college courses are like
By taking college-level courses in high school you are preparing yourself for the expectations and rigor you can expect in college. You can hone your skills and be ready for success when you get to college.
Get ahead in your future studies
By earning college credits now you are getting a jump-start on your college program requirements. You may be able to graduate early, take a lighter load or add courses just for interest. When planned right, every concurrent course you take while in high school is one less to take in college.
Student Code of Conduct
As a student taking a Minneapolis College course, you are expected to abide by the College’s student code of conduct found on the college website under Student Services - Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities. This addresses behavior judged to be unacceptable and includes, but is not limited to, disorderly behavior, physical assault or threats, theft or attempted theft, vandalism, academic dishonesty. You also continue to be accountable to your high school conduct and academic policies.
Academic Integrity
Minneapolis College expects students to take responsibility for their learning. Academic dishonesty can take many forms, but includes plagiarism, which is most often using the published or unpublished work of another person without that person’s full and clear acknowledgement. Cheating also is academic dishonesty and includes copying the work of another or using materials prepared by another person or agency.
Most often, your instructor will make the decision regarding consequences of academic dishonesty. They can include non-acceptance of submitted course work, a failing grade on an assignment, lower grade in a course, or failing grade in a course. When necessary, the College may initiate an investigation on academic violations as well as other violations to the code of conduct.
Important Policies
FERPA
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act is a federal law which gives college students the right to control disclosure of private education records. If you would like your parent or guardian to have access to your records, you must sign a release of information form.
You should have had this option when you registered, but if you chose not to sign, you can still ask for a form at your high school counseling office or write to concurrent.enrollment@minneapolis.edu to request one. Minneapolis College recommends students sign this form.
Access and Accommodation
Minneapolis College is committed to providing equal access to education for all students. If you have a disability or believe you may have a disability that is not being addressed, you are invited to contact the Accessibility Resource Center at accessibility@minneapolis.edu. ARC will work in connection with your high school to ensure you have the resources you need.
Succeed in Your Course
College Services
As a Minneapolis College student, you have college services available to you. You may use:
- The library, including online library access
- Get help from a tutor related to your concurrent enrollment course
- Use computer labs or visit an advisor
- Use the college website to contact the related department for services or benefits you would like to use.
Use All Resources
This online handbook gives only a quick overview of the information that will help you succeed as you prepare for college. You can find details on where to find more information and resources on Minneapolis College’s website. Choose “academics” on the main page, then “Start College Early.”
Get Involved
As with other Minneapolis College students, you can attend college activities and events for free or at student rates. You can become involved in clubs or organizations that fit your interests.
Transfer Your Credits and More
You’re earning college credit with your course, and should understand they are a valuable asset for your future college career. How you transfer them will depend on where you go to college after high school graduation:
Minneapolis College
If you attend Minneapolis College after high school graduation, your credits are already recorded on your college transcript. You do not need to transfer them and there are no steps to take. When you plan your schedule with your advisor, you will see how your credits fit into your program of study.
Minnesota State Colleges
First, you should check if your college or university is part of the Minnesota State system. If so, contact the Minnesota State institution you plan to attend and ask them to retrieve your Minneapolis College transcript electronically, at no cost to you. Do not expect this to happen automatically.
Other Institutions
Our studies show the credits you earned at Minneapolis College will most likely be accepted as transfer credit, so do make the effort to transfer your credits. You will need to activate your StarID to make the request.
Reduce the Cost of College
By accumulating credits at no cost to you now, you could spend less money on tuition once you get to college. You can save even more money by attending Minneapolis College after high school graduation and, if you choose to continue, transferring to a four-year college or university.
Accumulated Benefits
Research repeatedly demonstrates that benefits such as time and money savings and college success increase as students stack up more concurrent enrollment credits while in high school.
One study states: “Six (credits) is good, 9 is better, and 12 is a guarantee of momentum.”
Long-term Success
Studies indicate that students who take concurrent enrollment courses while in high school are 10-12 percent more likely to continue on in college and complete a bachelor’s degree, compared to students who experienced the same level of academic achievement in high school but did not take concurrent enrollment courses.
Take Courses Seriously
Permanent College Transcript
By registering for concurrent enrollment courses, you are taking college courses with Minneapolis Community and Technical College. The grades you earn in concurrent enrollment courses will be part of your college transcript. They will begin your college GPA and stay on your record permanently.
StarID
Like all students at Minneapolis College, you have a StarID and a Tech ID number assigned to you.
College campus students use StarIDs much more often than Tech IDs. Concurrent enrollment students often do not need to use their StarID during the course. The exceptions are if you would like to drop or withdraw from the course or if your instructor uses the college’s D2L course management system. Later, you may need to use your StarID, to transfer credits, depending on the college you attend after high school graduation.
In these cases you will need to activate your StarID and set up a password. You can find instructions for doing so on the StarID webpage.
Dropping and Withdrawing
If you drop out of the course at the high school after you have enrolled into the course at the college, you must also withdraw from the course at the college. This does not happen automatically; you must take steps to ensure you are no longer registered for the course at Minneapolis College.
Colleges make a distinction between dropping a course and withdrawing. When you successfully drop from a course, it is removed from your record and it is as if you had never registered for it.
With a withdrawal, the course stays on your transcript with a “W” instead of a grade. This does not affect your GPA, but having several withdrawals or combining them with failing courses on your transcript can lead to an academic warning.
You may choose to drop or withdraw from Minneapolis College credit even if you stay in your class at the high school.
You should discuss the option with your teacher or counselor. If you are well into the course and feel you may end up with a poor grade, you should consider withdrawing.
How to Drop or Withdraw
You only have two weeks from the beginning of the course to drop. If you apply to Minneapolis College for credit, you need to notify your teacher of your desire to drop the course within the first two weeks whether you stay in the course at the high school or not.
Withdrawing is more complex, but you have much more time for this decision. Your teacher will give you the deadline for withdrawal. You will need to activate your StarID and log into eservices. A link to eservices is found at the bottom of the college homepage. You can get specific instructions by using the “Ask Us” feature on the website’s homepage.
Accumulate More College Credit
You can multiply the benefits of gaining credit for your concurrent enrollment course by:
- Seeking other concurrent courses offered at your high school
- Applying for PSEO courses held at Minneapolis College
- Talking to your teachers about potential articulated college credit offered through some career and technical courses. Articulated credits are claimed after high school graduation for specific programs of study.
With the current emphasis on online learning, why not take online Minneapolis College courses and earn both high school and college credit at the same time?
PSEO
One way to continue accumulating college credits is through PSEO, the Post-Secondary Educational Options (PSEO) program. This program offers high school and home-schooled juniors and seniors the opportunity to take courses on the Minneapolis College campus or through distance learning. Tuition and textbooks are at no cost to the student. Sophomores can qualify for career and technical courses.
Talk to your high school counselor regarding rules and qualifications for taking PSEO courses. You also can find more information under “Start College Early” on the Minneapolis College website.
Financial Aid
When you apply for financial aid for college, factors will include how well you are doing in college. With concurrent enrollment or PSEO, your courses begin to count immediately. In other words, once you are in college, you may find yourself in jeopardy for future financial aid if you already have a low GPA or if you have withdrawn from too many courses. If you have questions you can call Financial Aid at 612-659-6230 or use the Ask Us! Feature.
ASK US
Many answers to common questions can be found on the AskUs feature on the main Minneapolis College website at www.minneapolis.edu. It’s found on the top bar of the page.
More information also can be found by visiting the Start College Early webpages.