Mark Wilcox/Daily Mining Gazette

HOUGHTON — Right now thousands of students are preparing to go to high school or have already started college. But a significant number of young people will be doing both. Many high school juniors and seniors will also be matriculating in a community college or even a world-class university, while going to high school.

Dual enrollment allows a high school student to take college classes for credit, especially if the class they’re interested in isn’t available through their high school. Elizabeth Bertucci, High School Counselor for the Houghton-Portage Township School District, calls dual enrollment a “huge success.” She said juniors and seniors at Houghton High School are enrolled in about 100 college classes, with most students taking one class while some are enrolled in more than one.”It (dual enrollment) creates a great space for students to learn what it takes to be a college student.” She said it allows students to delve into subjects that aren’t available at their school and in some cases helps them to determine if a subject just isn’t right for them.

Bertucci said Houghton students are dual enrolled at Michigan Technological University, Gogebic Community College and Bay College. “Most of the students who take Gogebic and Bay classes do so online, while most of our students take MTU classes in person.” Betucci said most of the H-PT students who are dual enrolled, do so with MTU.

Of course one of the major differences between high school and college is the cost. Public high schools have no tuition while that generally isn’t the case with colleges. Bertucci said cost is not a prohibitive factor for a student who wishes to take a college class. “Generally, community college courses are picked up by the state,” Bertucci said. “The state allocates funds depends on the student’s choice of classes and what options are available to them.” She said in the case of students dual enrolled at Michigan Tech, most of the cost is covered however in some cases there may be some cost that is the responsibility of the student.

Bertucci says dual enrollment has been around as long as she can remember and continues to grow. “Online classes takes the burden of distance away from many students and the number of classes available to them is very beneficial.”

In addition to the Houghton-Portage Township Schools, dual enrollment is available throughout the area. In addition, some students may qualify for dual enrollment classes at Keweenaw Ojibwa Community College in Baraga.