Dual enrollment. Every state. One firm.
Start college a year ahead.
Thirty college credits earned in high school is a year of the degree done before the first tuition bill. FastTrack plans them course by course so they count at the colleges your teen names, in state or out, and stays with the family through registration.
Start with your state Book a strategy call
FastTrack Advising. A dual enrollment consultancy for families, schools, and institutions in fifty states. About the firm
The core of every roadmap
| Term | Courses (credits) | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 11th fall | English Composition 1 (3) · Intro to Psychology (3) | 6 |
| 11th spring | English Composition 2 (3) · College Algebra (3) | 6 |
| Summer | Public Speaking (3) | 3 |
| 12th fall | Intro to Biology with lab (4) · Intro to Business (3) | 7 |
| 12th spring | Statistics (3) · Microeconomics (3) · Intro to Sociology (3) | 9 |
| Transferable credits | 31 | |
Why plan it
Dual enrollment is easy to start. Using it well is the hard part, and it is the part that pays.
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Time
A year of the degree, done in high school
Thirty credits that count is two semesters of requirements behind your teen on the first day of college. Whether the degree itself ends earlier is the college's call, and a roadmap says which of the two it is promising.
See the ledger on a sample roadmap -
Money
$10,000 to $30,000 in tuition avoided
The range across the three real students in the firm's case studies. One arrived at an in-state university with 45 credits and paid for three fewer semesters. Your number depends on the college and on which credits count there.
Read the three case studies -
Reach
Credits that travel
Planned against published transfer rules, dual enrollment credit moves into an in-state university, across a state line, into a major your own state does not offer, or toward an associate degree on the way. Taken without a plan, the same courses land as electives.
How each college takes the credit
The plan, in order
- 1StartThree careers the student would consider
- 2ThenThe degrees that lead to them
- 3ThenThe colleges that are realistic, and what each takes in transfer
- 4FinallyWhat to register for next semester
What the plan did for three students
From the firm's files. Names changed, outcomes as recorded.
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Any in-state degree, lowest cost
How a student graduated with 45 dual enrollment credits and kept all of them
A real student, name changed. Two college courses inside her own high school in 10th grade grew to seven courses in 12th, 45 credits at graduation, and an in-state university that accepted every one.
Read the case study -
Research and selective admissions
What seven AP courses and 23 dual enrollment credits did for an Ivy application
A real student, name changed. Seven AP courses at his high school, 23 credits at a flagship state university, research and internship access on that campus, and an Ivy that took fewer than half the credits.
Read the case study -
Biology and pre-health
How 12 dual enrollment credits gave a homeschooled student a college record
A real student, name changed. Twelve community college credits mapped to a regional transfer curriculum, electives paired with shadowing, a decision on biology, and an admission to his first-choice university.
Read the case study
The library
The state rules, the law, the colleges, the research, and the guides, in one place. Every page is cited, dated, and saveable to your account.
- 50 states Dual enrollment by state Who pays, who qualifies, and when to file, cited to the statute or the department page and dated. Open
- 50 states, so far The law behind it The statute, the administrative rule, and the agency guidance, linked to their official locations. Open
- 21 colleges Dual enrollment by college The test score, the deadline, the cost, and how the credit transfers, from each college's own pages. Open
- 20 studies The research library What the research finds on completion, transfer, and participation, summarized with its limits named. Open
- 31 guides One question per guide Cost, transfer, eligibility, GPA, admissions, and logistics, answered in the first paragraph. Open
- 10 case studies Plans read against real programs Real and illustrative students, each plan checked against the colleges' published requirements. Open
Start where your student is
Every year from 8th grade to 12th has a move to make. Each guide names it.
- 8th grade A planning year: the math sequence, the first GPA, the test calendar.
- 9th grade The first year some states open the door, and the year the transcript starts to count.
- 10th and 11th The main years. Most states open here, and this is when the course grid is built.
- 12th grade Not too late. What still counts, spring options, and how it reads on applications already sent.
Tools that end in a result
Each runs on the page without an account. Save the result and it sits in My FastTrack beside your state's deadlines.
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Calculator
Dual enrollment ROI calculator
What a year of college is worth, and how many credits have to count to reach it.
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Checklist
Is my teen ready for dual enrollment? A checklist
Twelve yes-or-no questions on the work, the plan, and the logistics, with the weakest area named.
Open -
Worksheet
The 30-credit worksheet
The semester grid with a transfer check on every course. Downloads as Excel inside My FastTrack.
Open -
Question list
Questions to ask your counselor before signing up
Fifteen questions for the two meetings that decide most of a plan, and the answers that should worry you.
Open -
Calendar
Deadlines, by month
Every date the state pages name, in one calendar. Saved, your state's dates sit on your dashboard.
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Comparison
Dual enrollment, AP, IB, and CLEP, compared
The four paths side by side, and six situations with the path each one points to.
Open
What is a year of college worth?
Thirty transferable credits is one academic year. Set the numbers for your student and the college in view; the defaults are published averages for an in-state public university.
Only if the degree ends 1 semester earlier. A major with a fixed sequence usually keeps its date; ask the college.
- Tuition not paid
- $5,805
- Salary started earlier
- $34,340
An estimate from published averages; your teen's own numbers will differ. The tuition default is an in-state public university's; a public community college averages about $4,050, so enter that if it is the target. Housing is left out. Credits that land as electives shorten nothing, which is why the transfer share matters more than the credit count.
My FastTrack
One account. Everything your family keeps.
Saved pages, tool results, deadlines as they approach, and the roadmap itself when the firm builds one. Free, and it begins with the first save.
- Saved pages. Any state, college, law, study, or guide, one click from your dashboard.
- Tool results. The readiness score, the credit worksheet, and the calculator, kept and editable.
- Deadlines. The dates your saved states and colleges name, in order.
- The roadmap. Families who work with the firm see the plan in the same place.
Advising
The library is free. The firm advises everyone who has to act on the rules it holds.
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Families and students
A written plan for one student, built backwards from three careers and checked against the transfer rules of the colleges the family names. Ongoing advising through high school for families who want it.
Advising for families → -
Schools and counselors
Parent nights, counselor training, and dual enrollment program design for a school or district.
For schools → -
Colleges and program offices
Review, design, and management of a dual enrollment program: eligibility, articulation, advising, and the handoffs with partner high schools.
For institutions → -
Policy and research
Briefings, testimony, and analysis for agencies, legislators, researchers, and journalists, grounded in the statute locator and the research library on this site.
For policy and research → -
Independent educational consultants
Dual enrollment planning delivered inside your practice, under your name. We build the roadmap; you keep the client relationship.
For consultants →
Your state sets the rules
Cost, eligibility, and deadlines are decided at the state line. Read your state first.
- MinnesotaPSEO
- WashingtonRunning Start
- OhioCollege Credit Plus
- TexasDual credit
- FloridaDual enrollment
- CaliforniaDual enrollment
- GeorgiaDual Enrollment
- North CarolinaCareer & College Promise
- ColoradoConcurrent Enrollment
- IllinoisDual credit
- WisconsinEarly College Credit and Start College Now
- IndianaDual credit
- All fifty states →
Recent guides
One question per guide, answered in the first paragraph.
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Getting started and logistics
What should an 8th grader do about dual enrollment?
Ohio opens College Credit Plus at 7th grade. Everywhere else 8th grade is a planning year: the math sequence, the first GPA, the test calendar.
Read the guide -
Eligibility and GPA
Which states allow dual enrollment in 9th grade?
Arizona, California, Colorado, and Michigan open dual enrollment at 9th grade. Georgia funds nothing before 10th. What a freshman should take instead.
Read the guide -
Credits and transfer
Dual enrollment vs IB: which one earns college credit?
IB credit usually needs a higher level score of 5 or better, and often the full diploma. Dual enrollment credit arrives as a transcript. How each is read.
Read the guide
Book a strategy call
Thirty minutes about your student. If dual enrollment is the wrong move for them, we say so on the call.
Every plan is built around one student and the colleges they name.
Book a strategy call