Over the last decade participation of high school students in dual enrollment throughout the United States has grown exponentially. Enrollment in early credit aids student preparedness and/or transition into the collegiate environment, and to prepare a student academically for the academic rigor in college. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between early credits earned by high school students who enrolled full-time and self-reported academic self-efficacy scores and academic resiliency scores during students’ first semester. Additionally, this study descriptively explored characteristics of the sample and the quantity of early credits completed by high school students who enrolled full-time at Iowa State University from 2008–2016. This study utilized a quantitative cross-sectional research design to determine if there are links between higher academic self-efficacy and academic resiliency with participation in early credit. There was a focus on the following key characteristics: race, gender, residency, socioeconomic status, first-generation college student status, number of early credits earned in high school, ACT score, high school GPA, first semester GPA, number of credits enrolled in during first semester, students’ academic self-efficacy score, and students’ academic resiliency score.

The results of the study indicated that earning early credit in high school positively impacts students’ academic self-efficacy and academic resiliency. The data from this study also indicated that specific populations of students, i.e., first-generation college students and minority students, do not earn early credit at the same rate as other students. First-generation college students and minority students do not report as high of academic self-efficacy and academic resiliency scores as other students. Recommendations and implications for practice were provided.