High School Administrators Page

This page is dedicated to high school administrators including, but not limited to, principals, superintendents, teaching and learning staff, and curriculum directors. More information, including details of the process and policies can be found in our Administrator Handbook.

beginning a partnership with minnesota state Mankato concurrent enrollment

Choosing to start a new concurrent enrollment partnership is a decision that requires a lot of intentional thought. Some critical questions to ask when determining whether or not a partnership is mutually beneficial include:

1. How will your school improve access to concurrent enrollment courses? A prime objective of our campus and PSEO Office is to increase access to postsecondary courses, especially in historically underrepresented populations, first generation students, students of color, and students that would qualify for free/reduced lunch.
2. Identifying the top postsecondary institutions your students enroll in after high school graduation and how the courses you want to offer will transfer to those schools. 
3. How do the courses benefit the students after they leave your school? Offering free college credits is certainly one benefit to concurrent enrollment, however, intentionality in the courses you offer is important for your students to see the true benefit of these opportunities. We typically recommend focusing on general education credits, courses that are easily transferable and fulfill MinnState general education goal areas.
4. How do concurrent enrollment courses fit into your district's strategic plan? What are plans for expansion and how will you be working with future instructors?

the basics

fees and costs

The MinnState System has a fixed pricing structure for concurrent enrollment courses. A unique course has a flat course fee of $3,300. A unique course is defined as a course offered in a term (semester) with a unique faculty/instructor relationship. If enrollment in a course exceeds 30 students, there is a $110 fee for students 31+. Here's an example of the fee structure:

Teacher 1 teaches a section of PSYC 101 in the fall semester. There are a total of 32 students in the course. - $3,300 flat course fee + $220 for students 31 & 32.

Teacher 2 teaches two sections of PSYC 101 in the fall semester. There are a total of 58 students in the two sections. - $3,300 course fee + $3,080 for students 31 - 58. This is considered a unique course because there is a different instructor (different syllabi, teaching style, assessments) requiring the faculty partner to align a second course.

Teacher 1 teaches a section of PSYC 101 in the spring semester. There are a total of 18 students in the course. - $3,300 course fee.

student application process

Students only need to admitted to campus once. There is no need for them to reapply each semester or request permission to register for each course. If a student is admitted to the PSEO Office, they are able to register for any concurrent enrollment course they are enrolled in at your building. This saves students time and provides a more traditional college experience.

We have automatic admission requirements for students and a comprehensive review process for students that don't meet the automatic admission requirements. Learn more about our admission requirements!

Admission Requirements

 

Your role

1. Identify a staff member to support the instructor with day-to-day tasks such as the student application and registration process. Starting a concurrent enrollment partnership is not just having a teacher offer a college level course. The most impactful programs offer support to students and instructors. We encourage schools to identify a support staff member that can help with the application and registration process. This allows the instructor to focus on teaching while the support staff can keep track of timelines and students with missing application materials.
2. Confirm official university rosters. Students will need to enroll through university eServices to earn credits. We will require instructors, or a support staff, to confirm all rosters are complete by the university registration deadline.
3. Following PSEO Office policies. Many of our policies are focused around NACEP standards or campus practices. We require instructors to complete annual course-specific professional development training. In some cases they may ask to leave school to complete the trainings, these trainings are necessary for NACEP accreditation and for the integrity of our program. Your support in letting the instructors meet these requirements is vital.
4. Provide accurate course requests. Concurrent enrollment courses are listed in our university course scheduler. These are the courses that your students will register for. In April you will be asked to make course requests for the upcoming academic year, including who will be teaching each course, how many sections will be needed, and what semester courses will taught. We use this information to create our master course scheduler. If there are errors in the course requests, students may not be able to register for the appropriate courses.
5. Provide feedback to the PSEO Office. We rely on our partners to provide feedback to help us improve the program. You'll receive annual surveys requesting feedback. We use these surveys to evaluate the program and our practices.
6. Communicate necessary steps with your students. Unfortunately, we do not know who is in the course until they complete the registration process. We rely heavily on our school partners to help students through the application and registration steps. Simply submitting an application does not provide our office with enough information on the student's intentions.

our role

1. Supporting our students and K12 partners. We recognize that educators are asked to wear a lot of hats. Our office is here to support you and the students through every process. We regularly visit our schools to host application days for students. We send out regular admit reports so you will have up-to-date records on student application progress.
2. Provide support to faculty. Our office will provide support to our faculty to help them plan classroom visits, discipline-specific training, and address any challenges they may be having in their role as faculty partners.
3. Communicating with stakeholders. The key to any successful partnership is strong communication. We value transparent and clear communication above all else. We utilize one of our campus Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools to send regular communication to students and partners. Some of the regular communications that get sent out include:
   1. Student admission/application status where you can view the progress of your students' applications and check for any missing documents
   2. Registration reports. Instructors will have access to their official university roster, but support staff will not. We've created weekly reports that will sent to schools to show what students have successfully registered for their course(s).
   3. Important deadlines. Deadlines are important. We will communicate all deadlines, multiple times, with you.
4. Process and review comprehensive review documents. The PSEO Office is sole office responsible for reviewing comprehensive review documents. We'll proactively try to identify students that will need to go through the process. Normal review time for a completed application will take 15 - 20 business days.
5. Ensuring NACEP and HLC standards are being met. These two accreditations are necessary for our program to exist. Without HLC accreditation our institution will lose access to federal funding. Without NACEP accreditation our schools will lose access to supplemental state aid. Most decisions are driven by the standards of these two accreditors.