Running Start Eligibility
To qualify for Tacoma Community College’s Running Start Program, students must meet the following requirements:
- Be enrolled in a Washington State public high school.
Homeschool and private school students can dual enroll through their local public high school or district. - Junior or Senior status according to high school.
- Display college-level English skills.
- Be at least 16 years of age by the start of classes.
English Qualifying Measures
Students will be considered at college level English if they meet any of the criteria below:
- One semester of 10th or 11th grade English grade of B- or better
- 10th grade Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) score of 3 or 4
- SAT English score of 460 or higher
- ACT English score of 19 or higher
If none of the criteria is met, we do offer an alternative English Portfolio option. Please reach out to Andrew Brottlund at abrottlund@tacomacc.edu or the English department for more information.
Math Qualifying Measures
Math placement is not a requirement to be accepted into the Running Start program. However, a math placement will be needed for courses that require a math prerequisite.
For placement, one of the criteria below must be met. Please email proof of your math qualifying measure to runstart@tacomacc.edu. Please include ctcLink ID in your message.
- High school transcript with Advanced Algebra or higher course work.**
- Math SAT (not the PSAT) score of 550 or higher
- ACT score of 23 or higher
**Students must have a full-year of Advanced Algebra or a first semester transcript
along with second semester progress report at least 10 weeks into the semester.
Homeschooled student or students with an out-of-state high school transcript cannot
be placed using their high school transcript. Students must take the ALEKS Math Placement
Assessment. For more information, please contact runstart@tacomacc.edu.