As times change, many college students see dual enrollment as a progressive and affordable way to learn and gain credits towards completing a degree.

 

Dual enrollment consists of concurrently attending both the University of Guam and Guam Community College. General Education courses can be a bit expensive for students who do not have a scholarship and splitting the cost by taking these classes that are available at GCC is one of the methods to deal with this challenge.

 

Audrey Meno is one such student that this method is effective for. A sophomore majoring in Communications, she stated that a goal of hers this semester is to see the different concepts she can learn between the

“I also go to get my Gen Eds at GCC (the ones that do transfer over to UOG) because it is cheaper”, Meno said.  

 

Meno feels that this works best for her situation. In comparison to the University, resident students, or those who live permanently on island and pay Guam income taxes/claimed as dependents only have to pay $130 per credit at GCC, compared with $210 that UOG charges per undergraduate credit.

However, dual enrollment does have its challenges.

 

“The biggest frustration would be having to really coordinate classes that don’t coincide with what is scheduled between the two campuses,” Meno said. “Sometimes I want to take one class at UOG and one at GCC but both are on the same days and same times.”

Meno went on to elaborate that she often makes a decision which class has more priority for the current day. While these decisions can be somewhat of a hassle from day to day, Meno explained that gaining a better grasp of managing it all can prove to be beneficial

 

Krystal Calvo, a Fall 2017 graduate from the University, recalls her experience early on in her college career dual enrollment.

 

“I wanted to immediately go into the communications program at UOG when I first started college,” Calvo said. “However, I realized it wasn’t the best choice for myself to take gen ed courses at the University at the time since I was on my own paying for things.” She finished her mathematics and lower level science classes while taking one to two classes here on campus and then transferred over full time.

 

“Students shouldn’t be too caught up in stacking as many classes in a semester if it’s not most tailored to their budget”, Calvo said. “I split the first couple of courses and was able to finish my Communications degree within a four year period. For those that it applies to, dual enrolling is a big help.”

 

Noah Austin, a freshman at GCC, added that this method works to his benefit as well. “Although I’m currently not attending, the credits I’m receiving now are for my aspiration for my undergrad degree from UOG.”