High school juniors and seniors who pursue dual enrollment opportunities enjoy higher percentages of postsecondary enrollment and completion compared to those who don’t, according to a new report from the Community College Research Center. However, student success largely depends on their state.
Four in every five (81%) dual-enrolled student analyzed by the research center enrolled at a postsecondary institution in fall 2015, their first year after high school. Among this subset, 42% completed a college award within four years, and 29% completed a bachelor’s degree. In 41 states, students who participated in dual enrollment programs and went straight to college had higher college completion rates compared to those who didn’t. These completion rates were higher by double digits across 16 states.
While dual-enrolled Black, low-income and Hispanic students suffered lower postsecondary outcome rates than their peers, they were still more likely to earn a credential compared to all non-dual enrolled students. Black dual-enrolled students were particularly more likely to enroll in college (including four-year institutions) right after high school.
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The 15 states with the highest student participation were:
- Texas (50,195)
- New York (26,653)
- Ohio (21,268)
- California (21,102)
- Florida (20,233)
- Minnesota (20,121)
- Illinois (16,077)
- Washington (14,349)
- North Carolina (13,314)
- Wisconsin (11,382)
- Virginia (10,894)
- Michigan (10,713)
- Utah (10,399)
- Tennessee (10,280)
- Iowa (8,762)
Beyond the research center’s longitudinal analysis of 2015 enrollees, students pursuing dual enrollment opportunities continue to grow. At community colleges, the rate has increased by 46% from fall 2015 to fall 2021 and 18% from 2021 to 2023.
Can policy address improper completion rates?
Eighteen states offering dual enrollment opportunities outperformed prevailing national averages by ensuring more than a third of their high school students complete a bachelor’s degree within four years of high school. However, states with the highest number of dual-enrolled students did not show strong completion rates.
Texas had nearly twice the number of dual-enrolled students in fall 2015 compared to the second-most, New York, but 55% had yet to earn an award or were unenrolled four years after high school. Mississippi on the other hand, which only had 5,489 dual-enrolled students in 2015, boasted the second-highest credential completion rate: 54% eventually earned a bachelor’s or associate degree.
Furthermore, only in four states (Florida, Mississippi, New Jersey and Georgia) did more than half of dual-enrolled students complete some postsecondary award four years after high school. A third or fewer students enrolled across Maine, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, New Mexico and Alaska earned any credential.
Of the five states with the highest bachelor’s completion rates among dual-enrolled students—Georgia (45%), the District of Columbia (45%), Pennsylvania (43%) New Jersey (42%) and Delaware (41%)—none made the top-third of most dual-enrolled students.
Consequently, the Community College Research Center urged state higher education stakeholders to “assess whether they need to prioritize efforts to
broaden access to [dual enrollment], increase student success, or both.”
“Given the wide range of state policies and local implementation practices in the national DE landscape,” the report added, “our analyses raise questions about how different state and local approaches to [dual enrollment] policy, programmatic design, and implementation may explain differences in participants’ postsecondary outcomes.”
Broadening dual enrollment access to Black and Hispanic students at the four-year level and supporting all students to complete college in a timely fashion may help drive higher completion rates, the report suggested.