“The State of Minnesota offers two ways for high school students to earn college credit for free: Post-Secondary Education Opportunities (PSEO) and College in the Schools (CIS). Both are offered at the University,” writes Mady Leick in a recent MN Daily article.
Leick goes on to explain that the University’s Twin Cities campus has approximately 600–800 students who enroll in PSEO, which takes place on campus, and 9,000 students who participate in CIS in 145 Minnesota high schools each year.
The number of U of M courses currently offered by CIS in high schools throughout the state: 42—from seven academic departments.
“Students are starting a University of Minnesota transcript, but they’re also learning about college classes,” according to Director of Dual Enrollment Emily Hanson. “They’re having an early exposure to university content, the challenges and the pacing of a university course in a safe environment.”
Also quoted, Liz Lake, a CIS faculty coordinator in the U of M’s Spanish language department, who works with up to 30 high schools that offer Spanish courses each year.
“They [the high school instructors] teach a curriculum that was developed at the University, and we provide them with assessments and rubrics and those types of things for their students.” says Lake.
The high school instructors also receive valuable discipline-specific professional development from the University, and students are able to get a taste of college and pursue subjects of interest while earning both high school and college credit.
Published January 9, 2025, you can read “Nearly 10,000 Students Earn College Credit in MN High Schools” on the MN Daily website.
