For years, Hillsdale College offered free NON-CREDIT online courses, and many of our HS4CC families have used these as high school credit or to prepare for CLEP. I just saw their announcement that they are offering 3 dual enrollment courses FOR COLLEGE CREDIT.
Hillsdale has an entry on our Master List of College Credit under the “Massive Open Online Courses” section since they’ve offered free online Christian-based courses for many years. Their catalog is extensive, and many families have used these courses for high school credit, or as the foundation for a credit by exam option.
They just sent out a press release announcing 3 dual enrollment courses! I’ve included a little bit below, but visit their website to enroll.
Course Offerings
American History: Colonial America through Civil War: (3 credits) A proper understanding of American history is essential for good citizenship and intelligent patriotism. This course pursues these ends through an unbiased study of the triumphs and achievements of our nation’s past, as well as its shortcomings and failures. Students will explore central questions and themes from our nation’s history, including the character of colonial America, the causes of the American Revolution, the nature of the union, the role of religion in American life, the settlement of the American frontier, the problem of slavery, the rise of sectional conflict, and the effort to unite the nation after the Civil War. Special emphasis in this course will be placed on a careful reading of primary source documents, as students develop the skill of evaluating the key arguments of our past.
American Government: (3 credits) The purpose of the course is to understand how the government in America ought to work, why it was established this way, and how it currently works. This course begins by examining the theoretical foundations of government and by explaining concepts like natural rights, natural law, and social compact theory. Then the course examines the structure of American government as established by the federal and state constitutions and how the Founders’ understanding of government has been challenged by the Civil War, progressivism, and post-1960s liberalism.
American History: Reconstruction to Today: (3 credits) Course description forthcoming.
HS4CC Noteworthy information:
- Hillsdale College is regionally accredited, so these courses should have excellent transferability.
- Hillsdale College will accept these classes as “electives” if used towards a degree at Hillsdale College.
- We don’t know the alpha-numeric, so it is hard to predict what other colleges will classify this credit as.
- Format for both history courses appears to require 2 pre-recorded videos that you watch on your own, and then attend a LIVE session weekly. Government appears to be 3 LIVE sessions weekly.
- $400 per course ($133/credit)
- Textbooks not included in the cost.
- College profile/About
Dual Enrollment Eligibility
These courses are intended for high school juniors and seniors who wish to pursue a serious education in the liberal arts. General requirements for the program include:
- A minimum GPA of 3.4
- An unofficial high school transcript
- One 500-word essay response
- One letter of recommendation
Looking for their FREE online non-credit courses for anyone? view here
