Dual Enrollment: A Game Changer for Kids Who Want to go to College

By Jerry Appell
River Valley Community College
The pathway to college can be intimidating, with students experiencing anxiety over rising tuition costs, choosing a suitable degree program and navigating the shift to a new learning environment. Dual enrollment programs go a long way in alleviating these concerns by providing a low-cost option that allows students to take their first college courses at their local high school or at a community college close to home. These programs go by various names but all are united by the goal of expanding opportunities to students who may not consider themselves college ready.

Dual enrollment programs offer students college and high school credit for the same course. At River Valley Community College, we have two programs that offer these opportunities. The Running Start program provides students credit for college courses taught at their high school. In the Bridge2College program, high school students come to RVCC to take courses taught by our professors. Both programs offer reduced tuition and in many cases the courses are tuition free.

Dual enrollment programs have revolutionized college access for thousands of New Hampshire and Vermont students, providing a real possibility of attaining a college degree while they earn credits toward their high school diploma. Due to a variety of funding initiatives, students who once viewed college as financially out of reach are accessing courses as early as their freshman year of high school. In both New Hampshire and Vermont, dual enrollment programs have bipartisan political support as a front-end solution to the student debt crisis. This has opened the door for dual enrollment to provide a degree of equity beyond anything we have seen in the history of post-secondary education.

At one time, schools utilized tracking systems that classified students by those who were “college material” and those who were not. Dual enrollment is a game changer that provides students with the agency to make that decision themselves. They can now place themselves on a college pathway by simply enrolling in dual enrollment courses during high school.

Dual enrollment is accessible to students through a variety of courses offered at their high schools, online or onsite. These courses fulfill high school graduation requirements and, for that reason, have become increasingly popular with home school students. Many home school students complete their senior year through dual enrollment courses that fulfill state graduation requirements. Public school students also take these courses for graduation requirements when they experience schedule conflicts at their high school.

At RVCC, the heart and soul of our mission is to ensure equal access to all our programs. This is true of the community college system in general. By doing so, we strive to close opportunity gaps and level the academic playing field for a diverse range of students in our communities. Dual enrollment is one way to remove the barriers high school students face in acquiring the education needed for the economic and societal challenges they will encounter as adults.

— Jerry Appell is the Early College Coordinator at River Valley Community College in Claremont