Let’s take “dual enrollment” apart and see how it works. 

Selectivity 

It is common for community colleges to have an open enrollment policy. This is an invitation to academically mediocre students. attracting 1st Gen, minorities, students from low-income families. Dual enrollment is only going to work if the students are “college material.” If you are an academic at a community college with sharply declining enrollment, are you going to be able to resist the temptation to fill those seats with a warm body? 

The Transfer Process 

One of the biggest barriers to completing a bachelor’s degree is losing credits when transferring between schools. Dual enrollment students have two paths: 

High School (4)—Community College (1)—College (2) 

Sixty percent of students will need to complete their associate’s degree after high school. 

High School (4)–College (2) 

Forty percent will have earned their associate’s degree in high school and be transferring directly to college. 

There’s lot of room for a disconnect. Even with articulation agreements between two-year and four-year institutions, a significant number of credits may end up lost in the shuffle. This can result in needing to attend five or six expensive semesters at Big Bucks U instead of four. 

“Stuff” Happens 

There is a rule of life called “Stuff Happens.” The longer it takes you to earn your degree, the more likely it is that something will occur to derail your plans. For various reasons, two thirds of community college students attend part time and while they are grinding away, pursuing that associate degree, stuff happens. 

Financial Planning 

One of my “hot buttons” is the lack of adequate financial planning for college. Community college is quite affordable. A majority of states have some kind of free tuition program. A student can muddle through community college financially. However, the “rubber meets the road” when it comes time to enroll at Big Bucks U. Often students don’t have an end to end financial plan and aren’t prepared for the “sticker shock.” 

Maturity 

We are looking at eighteen-year-olds entering college as juniors, and twenty-year-olds going out on job interviews for professional jobs. What could possibly go wrong? 

Conclusion 

Like much of higher education, there are traps and pitfalls with dual enrollment. This is not a no-brainer. 

Note 

A high school graduate with a 3.5 GPA has a 72% chance of graduating college. IMO, 72% is reasonable odds.