2. Developmental Courses
You might need to enroll in developmental courses to build a strong academic foundation prior to enrolling in college-level courses.
It takes determination on your part to postpone career plans while doing developmental work in English, Mathematics, or Reading. However, these academic enrichment courses will establish the needed preparations prior to enrolling in college-level work.
You should know that you pay tuition for these courses, the grades earned are reflected on your permanent transcript, and, in most instances, these courses do not count toward a degree. However, through these classes, you develop good study habits, improve reading comprehension, increase ability to analyze, and develop reasoning skills. This is what building an academic foundation is really all about.
Your developmental course needs might be met by non-semester length developmental education interventions, Non-Course Based Option (NCBO), rather than semester length developmental education coursework. Check with the Chairperson of the appropriate department to see if you are qualified to take an NCBO.
Students who enroll in developmental coursework may be required to co-enroll in the entry-level freshman course of the same subject matter in the same semester, as required by Texas state law.
For the 2023–2024 academic year, co-requisite enrollment is as follows:
- Students taking developmental coursework in Reading or English must also enroll in ENGL 1301 if those students (a) scored 345 or above in Reading (R) on the TSI and (b) scored an Essay of 3 and 354 or above for English (E) on the TSI.
- If a student’s math score on the TSIA is below 936 or EFL 2–3 (M0 level at Del Mar College), then they must co-enroll in the 1-hour DEBA (Base NCBO) class and Math 0371 (Developmental Math).
- If a student’s math score on the TSIA is in the range of 946–949 or EFL 5 (M2 level at Del Mar College) and their degree plan requires a college-level math course, then they must enroll in a Co-Req Math class. The class will depend on their degree requirements. The current Co-Req options are Math 0314/1314 (College Algebra), Math 0324/1324 (Math for Business and Social Sciences), Math 0332/1332 (Contemporary Math), or Math 0342/1342 (Statistics).