Dual enrollment programs present opportunities for high school students and colleges by leveraging the first-class experience of college coursework.
One way of increasing high school students’ interest in a college is via dual enrollment programs. Community colleges also have increased admission because of the program.
Dual enrollment programs benefits
Research studies conducted to ascertain the impact of dual enrollment programs revealed that it increases the success rate of students from secondary education to universities.
Also, most students, after passing through community high schools, endeavor to enroll in colleges outside of the region. This attitude of high school students reduces the number of admissions to community colleges. Nevertheless, the enrollment programs attract the interest of the students and make them continue with community colleges after their secondary education.
Programs demerits
Notwithstanding the substantial benefits of the programs to both colleges and students, there are some flip sides to the program.
Firstly, it increases the workload of colleges. The president of Elizabethtown Community and Technical College, Juston Pate, explained how the college needed to hire three full-time staff members to manage dual credit courses.
Another aspect highlighted was the cost implication of dual enrollment programs to colleges. In Kentucky, Juston said that the government requires that colleges maintain fees for the program at one-third of the regular rate.
The president said colleges in Kentucky struggle to provide all required resources for the dual enrollment programs at the stated rate. Aside from the extra human capacity, colleges need to provide learning resources for the students.
Dual enrollment programs at the rate of one-third the regular fee are beneficial to parents but difficult for colleges.
Juston mentioned that colleges in neighboring states like Texas charge up to thirty-seven percent of the regular fee for enrollment programs. Cisco college, situated in Texas, charge a cost of $68 per credit hour, according to Tianay Bralley, the director of dual credit at Cisco College.
Cisco’s tuition rate for dual credit students is $68 per credit hour, compared to $158 for other students. The discounted price has been the same for the last five years and is sustainable, Bralley said.
Speculations
There are speculations that the program reduces the registration of first-year students to community colleges, said Williams. This speculation is unproven, mainly as the program attracts students to college who wouldn’t have thought about college in the first place.
Secondly, there are fears that dual enrollment programs might reduce admissions to community colleges. If the program eventually comes to an end, community colleges might have a reduced enrollment as students wouldn’t be attracted anymore.
However, the impact of the programs on admission rates in colleges is uncertain.
