Wayne State University is now offering a dual enrollment partnership with Renaissance High School. The Detroit Public Schools (DPS) approved the measure last fall during a board meeting.

The partnership enables Renaissance students to take college classes at their location as a part of the regular school day. A grant through Renaissance High School covers the tuition.

The ultimate goal is that students graduating from Renaissance will accumulate a minimum of one semester of college credit before graduation from high school. Between dual enrollment courses and advanced placement courses offered, students can acquire 18-24 credits in their junior and senior years.

“This partnership with Renaissance High School opens the door to educational opportunities that will help students early in their pursuit of a university degree,” said Nancy Barrett, Wayne State University provost and senior vice president. “While still in high school, students will meet faculty and staff from the departments at Wayne State offering courses at Renaissance. They also will be introduced to the university’s outstanding Honors Program and several scholarship opportunities available to them as college freshmen.”

Under the Renaissance HS dual enrollment plan, students are required to complete seven classes each semester enabling them to graduate with 280 credit hours while DPS normally requires only 230 hours. Renaissance will keep the basic required curriculum of four years of English, math, science, foreign language and social studies but add dual enrollment classes based on the most common majors identified by their students on standardized tests. These include business, engineering, medicine, communications, psychology and computer science. Students will not only accumulate college credits, but also will get a feel for their intended major in advance.

During the current winter semester registration period, 73 Renaissance students have enrolled in four Wayne State University courses including Introduction to Business, Basic Engineering 1: Design in Engineering, Solving Problems and Programming, and Criminology. Registrations for this term are still in progress.

Last fall semester, during the initial pilot launch of the dual enrollment program, 76 Renaissance students registered for three classes.

Wayne State University is a premier institution of higher education offering more than 350 academic programs through 11 schools and colleges to more than 33,000 students.