As dual enrollment continues to expand in the United States, researchers are asking what we can learn from students who have participated in these programs. In a recent research brief, I described what some dual enrollment students in Florida and Texas said they want from their dual enrollment experience, and I outlined strategies to address these wants, which emphasized support for historically underserved students. In this blog post, I share the stories of four former dual enrollment students to shed light on why they chose to participate in dual enrollment and how they think their experience could have been improved. Three of these students came from community college and Title I high school partnerships that have had successful outcomes for Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and low-income students. Each of these students say they have gained a great deal by participating in dual enrollment; they also suggest ideas for strengthening dual enrollment programming.

CCRC at NACEP

CCRC’s dual enrollment researchers regularly present findings and gain inspiration for further research at the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP) national conference. NACEP’s conference theme this year is Spotlighting the Student Experience, and we plan on doing just that. We will be presenting on our dual enrollment equity pathways (DEEP) research and provide new state-by-state findings on dual enrollment student outcomes after high school, and we will be leading a plenary session with a panel of dual enrollment students as they share their experiences with dual enrollment leaders from across the country.

Jesse: Driven by Career Aspirations

Jesse took dual credit courses for four years at a high school in Texas, eventually completing 82 college credits and earning an associate of science in business when he graduated high school in 2023. Jesse enrolled in college courses through his high school’s Business Academy to become an accountant, a goal he set for himself in 8th grade. Jesse also recognized that, at $50 per year, dual credit was a great opportunity to lower the cost of his college degree. To become eligible for dual credit, Jesse took the Texas Success Initiative Assessment; he began taking college courses in 9th grade.

“It cost me about $200 to complete my associate degree,” he said. “That’s crazy. That’s insanely cheap. It’s helping me finish university a lot sooner than I would have without it. Dual credit is amazing.”

Though he appreciated the program, Jesse said he wished that he had more information about the degree planning process and that the program was more flexible for students who were already clear on their college goals. Jesse had to figure out on his own which courses to take to get a business degree rather than a degree in general studies with a business focus, and he enrolled in more courses than he needed for his transfer plans.

“I found that I took a lot of unnecessary classes, just as electives—82 hours,” said Jesse, who transferred to a university in Texas to work on his bachelor’s degree. “You don’t need that for an associate degree; you just need 60. I took a lot of extra classes, and I could have graduated sooner.”

Oliver: Motivated by Personal Connections

The Early Admissions program in Florida allows eligible high school students to enroll full-time in postsecondary courses that count toward both their high school diploma and a college degree. After taking dual enrollment courses for two years online at his high school, Oliver completed his 12th grade coursework as an early admissions student on his local community college campus, a 35-minute drive from his home.

Oliver took his first dual enrollment course virtually in 10th grade. He was ecstatic to be able to challenge himself and get a head start on college, in part because his parents didn’t have the opportunity to go to college.

“I have an older brother who took early or dual enrollment classes, and he started off with Spanish because we're Spanish speaking fluent,” said Oliver, who graduated high school in 2023. “And so, I wanted to do that. ... Dual enrollment served as an opportunity to not only advance my academic rigor and finish college faster but realize that I can impact students in a positive way. I was talking to a 7th grader, and he told me ‘Thanks to you, I am planning to early admit.’”

Oliver also said he would have liked more information about when he could start taking dual enrollment courses and more advising along the way to help complete the 60 credits he needed for an associate degree. Money for gas to get to the college campus was also an issue; his parents paid this cost. Oliver generally had a positive dual enrollment experience: He found friends he could relate to at community college and is glad he was able to get most of his college courses out of the way. He is expecting to finish his bachelor’s in mechanical engineering at a university in Florida.

Frank: Inspired to Get a Head Start Toward a Degree as a First-Generation Student

Frank, who participated in the same dual enrollment partnership as Oliver, saw dual enrollment as a means to “go further and beyond” in his education as a first-generation student, especially as Florida allowed him to take courses at no cost. However, his sophomore and junior years were spent taking online high school courses during the COVID-19 pandemic. When he returned to campus for his senior year, he felt he had missed out on both the high school experience and the chance to start dual enrollment earlier.

In his senior year, Frank attempted an online dual enrollment course in statistics, but he dropped the course before the withdraw/fail deadline due to family circumstances. He also learned the course would not transfer to the private university he planned to attend after high school. Nonetheless, Frank found that his dual enrollment experience helped prepare him to navigate online college courses and helped him understand what was expected from him as a college student. Additionally, Frank, who described himself as introverted, found that his brief dual enrollment experience encouraged him to be more social, especially when seeking assistance from peers and teachers in his statistics course.

“As a first gen, when I'm going to college, [I wouldn’t have known] anything,” said Frank, who graduated from high school in 2023 with a plan to study finance at a university in Florida. “But [dual enrollment] helped me out to prepare for at least learning part of my college life.”

Kalyssa: Appreciated Time Savings and Flexibility of Dual Enrollment

Kalyssa’s high school in Ohio offered multiple college-credit-in-high-school programs, including Advanced Placement (AP) and dual enrollment through both a local community college and a private college. Kalyssa, who ranked fourth out of 250 students in her graduating class, achieved an honors diploma, completed three AP courses, and earned 29 college credits through dual enrollment. She heard of dual enrollment from her older sister, who had taken one or two courses.

“I talked to [my teacher] a lot about how, ‘I know I don’t test well as far as taking AP courses that they’re wanting me to take, so what do you suggest?’” Kalyssa said. “And she was like, ‘Well, if you’re really good at, like, doing coursework and getting it done, and you want to get some college credits out of the way, you can do so [with dual enrollment]. It’ll save you time and money.’”

Though AP courses were more common at her high school, Kalyssa liked that dual enrollment offered more courses and had more flexible course schedules than AP courses, which “felt very structured.” Moreover, she felt that dual enrollment would help her to graduate early from college, aligning with her aspiration to earn a graduate degree in a medical field after earning her bachelor’s.

But she regrets that she didn’t start sooner so that she could have graduated high school with an associate degree and saved even more time. She also would have appreciated more guidance toward pursuing a program rather than picking random courses that looked interesting.

“She kind of just gave me the course catalog and said, ‘Go ahead and look and see if there's any classes you want to take.’” Kalyssa said of her counselor. “And that meant, like, there was every A-to-Z option possible.”

Kalyssa thinks dual enrollment can be especially helpful for helping students decide if they’re ready for the rigors of college. Some students she knew were turned off by dual enrollment courses, but Kalyssa was able to adjust to the faster pace and higher expectations.

“I’d taken a class that really helped to solidify like, ‘Okay, yes, I want to go to college,’” she said. “‘I want to do graduate school. I don’t know if I want to do OT (occupational therapy) or PT (physical therapy) yet, but I do know because of that class I took, it helped.’”

Broadening the Benefits of Dual Enrollment

These students’ reflections suggest that each of them benefitted by participating in dual enrollment. Indeed, some of them succeeded in gaining a significant head start on their postsecondary goals. Although the experiences of these particular students and the many more we have spoken with vary widely, our research shows that dual enrollment students want similar things from their dual enrollment programs, including more information about their options, well-informed advisors, and clear pathways to degrees in the fields that interest them. These wants, described in more detail in my recent research brief, point to important changes high schools and colleges can make to improve students’ experiences.