Meandering through the halls of the Mabee Learning Center or sitting in a booth in the Branch, a new student demographic is growing. High school students are appearing on the Oklahoma Christian University campus under the category “concurrent student” or “dual enrolled”. These students earn credit for classes both in high school and in college. Within the state of Oklahoma, the 2023-24 Annual Concurrent Report totaled 18,851 concurrent students in their junior and senior years of high school across all public colleges and universities. This number has escalated from 14,636 reported three years ago in the 2020-21 report. To focus in on this student demographic at Oklahoma Christian, the Talon sat down with Emily McKnight, who is the concurrent advisor for Oklahoma Christian.
“Right now enrolled, I have around 200-250 concurrent students. They either take classes through our partner schools, [online, or through the university itself.] We have a couple of partner schools: Oklahoma Christian Academy and Oklahoma Christian School. They’re our big partner schools right now. We also have another little homeschool that’s doing some classes too: Foundations Academy. They’re also a partner school… A lot of my people take a combination of online, partner schools, or in-person,” said McKnight.
Lucille Zajac, a concurrent student and a senior in high school, related her experience as a concurrent student.
“Being on campus and having in-person classes, you’re able to make connections with other college students. So going into college, I already have so many friends that I already know and already so many connections. I’ll always have that sort of backbone of people to lean on,” said Zajac.
Not all concurrent students are on-campus, and for some online students, it may not even be apparent they are taking classes through Oklahoma Christian. Rather, through partnerships with Tel Education, students can be enrolled through Epic Charter Schools or through a partner school’s online program.
“There’s two different kinds of online classes you can take through Oklahoma Christian. You can take classes through Tel Education, which we have a partnership with. You can take classes directly through Tel and get credit through Oklahoma Christian. So that’s what a lot of our Epic students will do; they’ll take classes through Tel Education… Some of them will jump over to on campus, and so I have a lot of students that start with Tel, and then they move over because they want to come on campus, and so they take classes on campus and finish out either their associate’s degree or concurrent classes they’re taking before they start their bachelor’s degree,” said McKnight.
Students can also come from Edmond Public Schools and homeschool groups. McKnight shared some preliminary numbers from the fall enrollment period and numbers have grown even since then.
“This year I have three at Santa Fe, nine at North, and 23 at Memorial, and those numbers have increased quite a bit… And then we have lots of homeschool groups that come over and take classes because their schedule is so flexible, and so they’re able to do that a lot easier,” said McKnight.
As the concurrent enrollment increases, a host of new changes have occurred. Specific classes only for concurrent students have been created, hybrid online and in-person classes have emerged, and a concurrent student lounge has just recently opened on the second floor of the Beam Library. The lounge is located outside McKnight’s office for accessibility and features armchairs, tables, and a couch.
“We have a lot more students coming on campus taking concurrent classes, and so we wanted a place that they could hang out between classes and kind of be part of the Oklahoma Christian community but still have a little protective space that they can feel comfortable and come by, ask questions, and kind of just get any extra little help they needed, just to have it here. Sometimes, they have classes with a big break in between, so the hope is that they’ll come here, ask questions, feel comfortable on campus, and then eventually become students here later on,” said McKnight.
Being a concurrent student has advantages, especially after graduation and entering into college. Oftentimes, a degree’s timeframe is shortened due to the number of classes accomplished in high school. Additionally, the transition into college life may be smoother. McKnight shared some of her experiences with students.
“There’s been a couple of stories of students taking concurrent classes and meeting their roommates or their best friends or some kind of special relationships that people have made that way. So I know of roommates that met at a concurrent open house, and then they’re roommates this year. Then there’s another set that’s coming next year, and so they’ve all met through classes, either online classes or in person classes, and kind of just hit it off. My son met one of his best friends during concurrent, and so I think it’s a good way to meet friends,” said McKnight.
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