The Indiana Department of Education is launching what it calls a “faith-based academic pathway” to the state’s new high school diploma requirements.
The program allows students in high school to transfer up to 30 credits from specific classes to any of six faith-based universities and meets the requirements for an Honors Plus Seal on Indiana’s new diploma requirements.
Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner says the program is focused on making a student’s high school years as valuable as possible.
“It’s all about connecting K-12 to some of our higher education faith-based institutions who’ve built out a core of classes that they will automatically accept to their institutions,” Jenner said.
Jenner says students taking part in the program have the potential to graduate earlier and save thousands on tuition.
Jenner adds that she believes the program taking some of the financial burden off of students will play a role in the state of Indiana seeing higher college graduation numbers.
“A lot of people don’t realize Indiana is ranked number one in the nation of for students leaving high school with college credit,” Jenner said. “What we’re trying to do is shift and rather than random acts of dual credit, we’ll set them up for success at their at their college or university”
Students can attend the 16 available college level courses in person, online, or at their high school if a teacher there has the proper credentials.
Schools taking part in the program include Anderson University, Bethel University, Grace College, Huntington University, Indiana Wesleyan University and Taylor University.