About the Challenge Program

photo of Southridge students on library steps

About the Challenge Program

Challenge is a nationally accredited dual credit program, that started in 1976, for accelerated students (minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA) to take PSU courses at their high schools, earning both high school and PSU credit.

Challenge’s mission is equivalency of experience to the campus course, academically and culturally. To this end:

Instructors meet PSU department adjunct credentials.
Instructors have more academic freedom than those for which college credit is dependent on an exam score, and students are not sidelined by weeks of test-taking preparation
Courses are catalog-listed and in advance of regular high school courses, which facilitate credit transfer and credits that "count."
Faculty members partner with instructors, visiting their classrooms and coming together for departmental workshops that build a community of support and shared information.
Class visits to campus familiarize students with a large college campus and student resources such as the library, smoothing the transition to college.
National accreditation provides evidence of the quality of our program which helps in the transfer of credit nationally.

BENEFITS OF DUAL CREDIT

Students in these programs are better prepared for college expectations.
Challenge students have access to PSU services – computer accounts, the PSU library's research databases, writing lab and on-campus activities.
It’s a great deal! Students pay a program fee, which is approximately a 75% savings over regular college tuition.
Students receive college credit that can be successfully transferred to many institutions and all state universities.

PROGRAM COSTS

Challenge tuition is $224.40 per course, which includes a 2% credit card fee; the same course taught on campus is $1,271.

Students who upload documentation of financial need at the time of registration (free/reduced lunch eligibility or counselor/administrator verification letter) pay $51.00 per course, which includes a 2% credit card fee. The same document must be uploaded in subsequent registration periods.

There are no refunds issued after the Registration Deadline has passed.

STUDENT HANDBOOK

INFORMATION FOR PARENTS - FERPA Guidelines

FERPA - Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act

Parents: Please do NOT complete the Challenge Program registration for your child!

It is important for Challenge students to complete the registration process themselves. Applicants should use their personal email as important information will be sent directly to them via email. This email will be used to create their PSU student account. Once a student (regardless of age) enrolls in a postsecondary institution in any capacity (such as Dual Credit) they are protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

What is FERPA?

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that affords parents the right to have access to their children’s education records, the right to seek to have the records amended, and the right to have some control over the disclosure of personally identifiable information from the education records. When a student turns 18 years old, or enters a postsecondary institution at any age, the rights under FERPA transfer from the parents to the student (“eligible student”). The FERPA statute is found at 20 U.S.C. § 1232g and the FERPA regulations are found at 34 CFR Part 99.