In education

Education

Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

, dual enrollment (DE) involved students being enrolled in two separate, academically related institutions. It may also refer to any individual who is participating in two related programs, but such a general form of usage is uncommon.

Students enrolled in secondary school

Secondary school

Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...

 (called high school in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

) may be dual enrolled at a local institution of higher learning, such as a community college

Community college

A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries.-Australia:Community colleges carry on the tradition of adult education, which was established in Australia around mid 19th century when evening classes were held to help adults...

 or university

University

A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...

. These students may take classes at either institution for credit toward their high school diploma

Diploma

A diploma is a certificate or deed issued by an educational institution, such as a university, that testifies that the recipient has successfully completed a particular course of study or confers an academic degree. In countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia, the word diploma refers to...

, as well as for college credit. Many state governments within the United States have recognized the benefit of dual enrollment and have consequently instructed their public universities to begin collaborating with local schools. Some private universities also participate.

Dual enrollment in both secondary school and college is advantageous to students because it allows them to get a head start

Head start (positioning)

In positioning, a head start is a start in advance of the starting position of others in competition, or simply toward the finish line or desired outcome...

 on their college careers. In some cases, the student may even be able to attain an Associate of Arts or equivalent degree shortly before or after their high school graduation. Furthermore, it may ease the transition from high school to college.

In addition, dual enrollment is seen by parents as a money saving strategy that avoids skyrocketing tuition costs because courses are often paid for and taken through the local high school. State government officials also see dual enrollment as a net savings due to the lower value of funds spent earlier, as opposed to those spent later. Public school costs are also lower than they would be at postsecondary institutions.

One form of dual enrollment is concurrent enrollment. Concurrent enrollment is defined as credit hours earned when a high school student is taking a college course for both high school and college credit, during the high school day, on the high school campus, taught by a qualified high school instructor. One of the first such Concurrent Enrollment programs was Syracuse University

Syracuse University

Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...

 Project Advance

Project Advance

Syracuse University is an educational program that provides high school students with the opportunity to take Syracuse University courses in their own schools during the regularly scheduled school day. After successful completion of the course they can request to transfer the credits they earn...

.

Criticism

There is much discussion concerning possible downsides of dual enrollment. These include a lack of adequate student preparation for these courses and - even Freshman - taking college-level courses at their local high schools and out-of-field teacher qualification problems for those high school teachers given preference for teaching DE or AP classes. Debate continues, as educational policy experts watch how DE cohorts perform after high school graduation in terms of degree completion and persistence rates, especially minority students.

The expansion of postsecondary education downward into the high schools, as opposed to upward expansion by adding more and more advanced degrees, is seen by some as an example of credential inflation

Credential inflation

Credential inflation refers to the devaluation of educational or academic credentials over time and a corresponding decrease in the expected advantage given a degree holder in the job market. Credential inflation is thus similar to monetary inflation, and describes the declining value of earned...

, since it, too, extends the length of time students typically spend pursuing degrees. In addition, it is felt that such educational expansion undermines the separation between secondary and postsecondary education which took one-hundred years to put in place in the US.

In college

Colleges may join together in leagues to allow their students to take courses at all of the member universities. These leagues, such as Five Colleges (Massachusetts)

Five Colleges (Massachusetts)

The Five Colleges comprises four liberal arts colleges and one university in the Connecticut River Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts, totaling approximately 28,000 students. The schools belong to a consortium called Five Colleges, Incorporated, established in 1965...

, Seven Sisters (Northeast), or Five Colleges of Ohio

Five Colleges of Ohio

The Five Colleges of Ohio is an academic consortium of five selective private liberal arts colleges in the U.S. state of Ohio. It is a nonprofit educational consortium established in 1995 to promote the broad educational and cultural objectives of its member institutions...

, allow students to benefit from the collective knowledge of all of the participating institutions. In general, there is no increase in tuition to participate in collegiate dual enrollment programs.

Within colleges, programs that coordinate the curriculum of dual major students are sometimes called dual enrollment programs. These programs allow the student to reap the benefits from both departments without having to take overlapping and unnecessary courses. Most universities have some degree of interdepartmental dual enrollment coordination.

List of dual enrollment programs

Program name	Associated university	Location
Grand Canyon Preparatory Academy Grand Canyon Preparatory Academy Grand Canyon Preparatory Academy is a private college preparatory school in Tempe, Arizona. The school is located at 7541 South Willow Drive, Tempe, Arizona.-AIMS results:...	Mesa Community College Mesa Community College Mesa Community College in Mesa, Arizona, is the largest of the 10 community colleges in the Maricopa County Community College District and is the largest in the United States. MCC began in 1963 as a branch of Phoenix College and later granted independent status in 1965.MCC offers more than 200...	Tempe, Arizona Tempe, Arizona Tempe is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, USA, with the Census Bureau reporting a 2010 population of 161,719. The city is named after the Vale of Tempe in Greece. Tempe is located in the East Valley section of metropolitan Phoenix; it is bordered by Phoenix and Guadalupe on the west, Scottsdale...
Accelerated College Entrance Program	California State University, Sacramento California State University, Sacramento California State University, Sacramento, popularly known as Sacramento State, is a public university located in the city of Sacramento, California. It is part of the California State University system...	Sacramento, California Sacramento, California Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
Early College Program at Robert E. Lee High School	Florida State College at Jacksonville	Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
Florida Atlantic University High School Florida Atlantic University High School Florida Atlantic University High School is a Florida high school dual enrollment program connected with Florida Atlantic University. Ninth grade year is completed at the Alexander D. Henderson University School campus, while grades 10-12 are completed on the FAU main campus in Boca Raton...	Florida Atlantic University Florida Atlantic University Florida Atlantic University, also referred to as FAU or Florida Atlantic, is a public, coeducational, research university located in , United States. The university has six satellite campuses located in the Florida cities of Dania Beach, Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Jupiter, Port St. Lucie, and in Fort...	Boca Raton, FL
IUPUI SPAN Division - Early College Entrance Programs	Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis is an urban campus of Indiana University and Purdue University in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Indiana University is the managing partner...	Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
Early College Academy	South Louisiana Community College South Louisiana Community College South Louisiana Community College was established in 1997 to provide academic and vocational training to the people of the Lafayette, Acadia, Evangeline, St. Landry, St. Martin, Vermilion, and St...	Lafayette, Louisiana Lafayette, Louisiana Lafayette is a city in and the parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the Vermilion River. The population was 120,623 at the 2010 census...
Boston University Academy Boston University Academy Boston University Academy is private high school operated by Boston University. Founded in 1993 and located on the Boston University campus, the Academy is geared toward college preparatory work...	Boston University Boston University Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...	Boston, Massachusetts
Early College Alliance	Eastern Michigan University Eastern Michigan University Eastern Michigan University is a comprehensive, co-educational public university located in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Ypsilanti is west of Detroit and eight miles east of Ann Arbor. The university was founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School...	Ypsilanti, MI
Bard High School Early College Bard High School Early College Bard High School Early College , is an alternative public secondary school in New York City that allows highly motivated and scholastically strong students to begin their college studies two years early. Upon entering, these students embark on a writing intensive journey and engage in far more...	Bard College Bard College Bard College, founded in 1860 as "St. Stephen's College", is a small four-year liberal arts college located in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.-Location:...	New York, New York
Middle College National Consortium	Middle College High School	Long Island City, New York
Project Advance Project Advance Syracuse University is an educational program that provides high school students with the opportunity to take Syracuse University courses in their own schools during the regularly scheduled school day. After successful completion of the course they can request to transfer the credits they earn...	Syracuse University Syracuse University Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...	Syracuse, New York Syracuse, New York Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
The Ohio State Academy	The Ohio State University	Columbus, Ohio Columbus, Ohio Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science The Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science is a two-year residential early college entrance program serving approximately 380 Texans at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas...	University of North Texas University of North Texas The University of North Texas is a public institution of higher education and research in Denton. Founded in 1890, UNT is part of the University of North Texas System. As of the fall of 2010, the University of North Texas, Denton campus, had a certified enrollment of 36,067...	Denton, Texas Denton, Texas The city of Denton is the county seat of Denton County, Texas in the United States. Its population was 119,454 according to the 2010 U.S. Census, making it the eleventh largest city in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex...
Texas Academy of Leadership in the Humanities Texas Academy of Leadership in the Humanities The Texas Academy of Leadership in the Humanities is a residential high school supported by disciplines of the humanities located at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. The Academy is one of only two residential programs for gifted and talented high school students recognized by the Texas State...	Lamar University Lamar University Lamar University, often referred to as Lamar or LU, is a comprehensive coeducational public research university located in Beaumont, Texas, United States. Lamar confers bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees and is classified as a Doctoral Research University by the Carnegie Commission on Higher...	Beaumont, Texas Beaumont, Texas Beaumont is a city in and county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, United States, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 118,296 at the 2010 census. With Port Arthur and Orange, it forms the Golden Triangle, a major industrial area on the...
Challenge Early College High School Challenge Early College High School Challenge Early College High School is a secondary school located at Houston Community College [West Loop Campus] . The school handles grades nine through thirteen and is a part of the Houston Independent School District.The school's principal, as of 2011, is Tonya R. Miller...	Houston Community College System Houston Community College System Houston Community College System is a community college system that operates community colleges in Houston, Missouri City, and Stafford in Texas....	Houston, Texas Houston, Texas Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
Early College Program	Central Virginia Community College Central Virginia Community College Central Virginia Community College, CVCC, is a two-year college located in Lynchburg, Virginia and is part of the Virginia Community College System...	Lynchburg, VA & surrounding counties
Running Start Running Start The Running Start program in Washington state allows high school juniors and seniors to attend college courses numbered 100 or above, tuition-free, while completing high school. It is similar to dual enrollment programs common at public and private colleges and universities in other states...	Any community college in Washington State	Washington