FCCB Supports Equitable Access to Dual Enrollment (SB 52 and HB 281)

Welcome to the FCCB Education Policy Team blog, “Education and the Common Good.”

One of the FCCB’s key priorities for the 2021 Legislative Session is increasing equitable access to dual enrollment courses for private school students. Dual enrollment courses allow high school students to take college level courses while they are still in high school. Usually these courses are taken on the college or university campus during the normal school day.

Two dual enrollment bills have been filed during the 2021 Interim Committee Weeks: SB 52 by Senator Ray Rodrigues, R-Fort Myers, and HB 281 by Representative Wyman Duggan, R-Jacksonville. The FCCB strongly supports both of these bills.

Current Landscape
Under current law, public school students and homeschool students have free, unencumbered access to dual enrollment courses. Private school students, however, have very limited access to dual enrollment.

Section 1007.271, Florida Statutes, allows public colleges and universities to negotiate coverage of dual enrollment costs and tuition with private high schools. These colleges and universities have little incentive to cover tuition for private school students, and, therefore, private schools are almost always saddled with the financial burden of providing dual enrollment.

Providing a wide-breadth of dual enrollment courses is extremely expensive for private schools. For instance, it would cost about $196,000 per year for a 1,200 student Catholic high school to provide an average of 2 dual enrollment courses per semester to 20% of its juniors and seniors. ¹

Such a cost would financially cripple a Catholic school of this size. Therefore, Catholic schools often limit dual enrollment access to courses offered by Catholic high school faculty that are qualified to teach dual enrollment courses on the high school campus.

Historical Background and Private School Student Participation Drop
Previously, private school students had free and open access to dual enrollment until amendments to section 1007.271 passed during  2012. These amendments limited private school students access to dual enrollment programs. As a result, over the past ten years, private school dual enrollment participation dropped by 60%, whereas public school and homeschool dual enrollment participation increased by over 100%.





Positive Benefits of Dual Enrollment
Attending a private school should not limit a student’s access to education programs like dual enrollment. For some students, dual enrollment may be the most effective method for maximizing learning gains and increasing college readiness. Participation in dual enrollment courses can help students succeed in college by giving them first-hand knowledge of the college experience and a head-start on college-level work. Free dual enrollment courses may also reduce the overall cost of college and decrease student debt.

Dual enrollment participation is also related to a range of positive college outcomes, including college enrollment and persistence, greater credit accumulation, and higher college GPA. In Florida, dual enrollment participation has been associated with greater than average gains for low-income, lower achieving, and male students. ²  Among 42 states included in a 2017 study by Columbia University, Florida had the second highest percentage of students who participated in dual enrollment at age 17, matriculated at a four-year college after high school, and earned a bachelor’s degree. ³

Conclusion
Dual enrollment is a valuable educational option and enrollment in a private school should not limit a student’s access to the program. Both SB 52 and HB 281 address this issue by creating the Dual Enrollment Scholarship Program and providing equitable access to dual enrollment courses for all students. The FCCB strongly supports both bills.

¹ This estimate assumes that each class at the high school has the exact same number of students. Therefore 20% of juniors and seniors would equal about 120 students. This estimate is also based on an estimated per credit hour tuition and fees rate of $103 plus an estimated $200 per semester for books and other instructional materials. The tuition and fee rate estimate is based on the normal in-state tuition rates at Valencia College and Hillsborough Community College
²  “What We Know About Dual Enrollment,” Community College Research Center: Teachers College, Columbia University, February 2012.
³  “What Happens to Students Who Take Community College ‘Dual Enrollment’ Courses in High School?”, Community College Research Center: Teachers College, Columbia University, September 2017.