Post-Secondary Enrollment Options (PSEO)
Postsecondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) is a program that allows 10th-, 11th- and 12th-grade students to earn both high school and college credit while still in high school, through enrollment in and successful completion of college-level, nonsectarian courses at eligible participating postsecondary institutions. Most PSEO courses are offered on the campus of the postsecondary institution; some courses are offered online. Each participating college or university sets its own requirements for enrollment into the PSEO courses. Eleventh and 12th-grade students may take PSEO courses on a full- or part-time basis; 10th graders may take one career/technical PSEO course. If they earn at least a grade C in that class, they may take additional PSEO courses.
There is no charge to PSEO students for tuition, books or fees for items that are required to participate in a course. Students must meet the PSEO residency and eligibility requirements and abide by participation limits specified in Minnesota Statutes, section 124D.09. Schools must provide information to all students in grades 8-11 and their families by March 1, every year. Students must notify their school by May 30 if they want to participate in PSEO for the following school year. For current information about the PSEO program, visit the Minnesota Department of Education’s Postsecondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) webpage.
We are fortunate to have Ridgewater College nearby. Their PSEO forms may be found at this website: http://www.ridgewater.edu/Future-Students/special-information-for/Pages/PSEO-Students.aspx
Ridgewater’s list of CTE courses is available here: http://www.ridgewater.edu/programs-and-majors/technical-programs/Pages/default.aspx
Online PSEO
In addition, online PSEO courses will be available to take from Ridgewater College. Students would have to qualify for PSEO and the courses would be taken in the computer lab at New Century Academy as one of their regular class periods. Students desiring to take advantage of this option need to have their own internet and computer at home in order to do the homework required of a college level course. Ridgewater will offer the online course if they have 15 students enrolled from across a consortium of several schools.
Students interested in PSEO for the 2015-2016 school year should contact their adviser. Per the Minnesota Department of Education: “To assist districts in planning, students must notify their local districts of their intent to enroll by May 30th of each year of their intent to enroll in post-secondary courses during the following school year. A student is bound by notifying or not notifying the district by May 30.”
