Dual Enrollment in Alabama: the law behind it

The administrative rule

Ala. Admin. Code r. 290-3-1-.02

Alabama State Board of Education, regulations governing public schools . Paragraph (11), dual enrollment with postsecondary institutions.

The state rule that permits the program at all. Paragraph (11) says local boards of education may establish dual enrollment programs, then sets three conditions on the student: meet the postsecondary institution’s admission requirements, hold the written approval of the principal, and be in grade 10, 11, or 12, with an exception available for a gifted student under rule 290-8-9-.12. The same paragraph carries the default on money, in one line saying participating students shall pay normal tuition as required by the postsecondary institution. Courses have to be college level, and remedial courses do not satisfy the program. Paragraph (11)(e) holds the Early College Enrollment Program for career and technical students.

Who pays, and under what authority

ACCS Chancellor’s Procedure 801.03, section 12.11

Dual Enrollment Scholarship funds .

Two sentences decide whether the scholarship exists in a given term. Funds are contingent upon allocations by the Alabama Legislature and are administered according to the direction of the Chancellor, which is why a college can tell one family the scholarship is available and tell the next family, a semester later, that it is gone. Confirm the funding for the specific term before building a schedule around it.

Ala. Code sections 16-60-350 to 16-60-354

Career-Technical Dual Enrollment Program tax credit .

Where some of the scholarship money originates. These sections give a taxpayer an income tax credit worth 50 percent of a contribution made for qualifying educational expenses tied to the career-technical dual enrollment program, capped at 50 percent of the taxpayer’s Alabama liability and at $500,000 a year, with a three-year carryforward. Families file nothing under this article. It is worth knowing about only because it explains why career and technical courses have had funding behind them longer than academic ones have.

The agreement between the school and the college

ACCS Chancellor’s Procedure 801.03, section 12

Dual Enrollment for Dual Credit Agreement .

Every ACCS college signs one of these with each secondary entity in its service area, renewed every three years unless something changes. The agreement names the approved courses, fixes faculty credentialing so that a high school teacher assigned to the course is hired as an adjunct of the college and supervised by it, and bars the arrangement where a college pays a school system to provide the instruction. It also settles the small questions families trip over: credit posts to both transcripts, transportation belongs to the parent unless the two sides negotiate otherwise, and an agreement reaching outside the college’s service area needs written consent from both presidents.

Agency guidance

ACCS Chancellor’s Procedure 801.03

Alabama Community College System, admission: dual enrollment and dual credit .

The operating document for every ACCS college, and the one to read before a first registration. It opens the program to rising 10th, 11th, and 12th graders at a 2.5 cumulative unweighted grade point average with written approval from a school official, and it reaches private, parochial, church, and homeschool students by the same route. Placement testing applies only to a student registering for college-level English or math. Courses numbered below 100 earn no dual credit and auditing is barred. Section 10 makes the student responsible for tuition, fees, textbooks, materials, and supplies unless a scholarship or another source covers them, and warns that missing an institutional payment deadline drops the student from the roll automatically. Section 11 sets Alabama apart from most states by imposing neither semester nor lifetime credit limits.

Guidelines for Dual Enrollment/Dual Credit, March 2024

Alabama State Department of Education, dual enrollment guidelines .

The high school side of the same rules, published by the department that signs off on a diploma. It repeats the ACCS admission criteria word for word, which helps when a counselor and a college describe eligibility differently, and it ties participation to the compulsory attendance sections of the code covering public, private, parochial, church, and homeschool students. The department also maintains the equivalency list naming which ACCS courses satisfy an Alabama High School Diploma graduation requirement, and that list decides whether a college course shortens the high school schedule or sits on top of it.

How it got here

The career-technical tax credit took effect for tax years beginning January 1, 2015, and the Early College Enrollment Program inside the State Board rule started with juniors and seniors in the 2008-2009 school year. The ACCS procedure a family reads today carries a December 2022 date, and the department guidelines were updated in March 2024, so a document older than those describes a version of the program that has since moved on.

Who administers it

These are the offices that answer a question about Alabama law rather than about one school or one campus. A district and a college can both be wrong about a state rule, and these pages are where the state's own position is published.

• Alabama Community College System, dual enrollment · Runs the program, sets the procedure, and lists every participating college.
• Alabama State Department of Education · Publishes the high school guidelines and the graduation requirement equivalency list.
• Alabama Administrative Code · Where State Board rule 290-3-1-.02 is published in its current form.
• Alabama Department of Revenue, income tax incentives · Administers the career-technical dual enrollment contribution credit.

Frequently asked

Is there an Alabama statute for dual enrollment?

No program statute turned up on the legislature’s site. A State Board rule permits the program and the community college system’s own procedure operates it. The code sections that do exist create the tax credit behind the scholarship rather than the program itself.

Does the rule say who pays for the course?

It does. Rule 290-3-1-.02(11)(a) says participating students shall pay normal tuition as required by the postsecondary institution, and Procedure 801.03 extends that to fees, textbooks, materials, and supplies unless the Dual Enrollment Scholarship or another source covers them.

Can a college drop a student for a late payment?

Section 10 of Procedure 801.03 says students must adhere to institutional financial policies and deadlines to avoid being automatically dropped from course rolls. The college calendar, rather than the high school one, holds those dates.

Where does the no credit limit rule come from?

Section 11 of Procedure 801.03, which states that the system imposes neither semester nor lifetime credit limits. The one cap left is a judgment call: the combined high school and college load has to be what the college and the school agree is educationally sound.

How long does the school and college agreement last?

Section 12 requires a signed Dual Enrollment for Dual Credit Agreement filed with the system and renewed every three years unless changes are required. Which college holds the current agreement is a reasonable question for a counselor.