Dual enrollment in Arizona, explained for parents

What is the difference between dual and concurrent enrollment in Arizona?

Arizona uses the two words for two different arrangements, and mixing them up is how a family ends up surprised by a bill. Dual enrollment, in the statute, is a community college course taught at the high school during the school day that counts toward high school graduation and a college transcript at the same time. Concurrent enrollment is your teen enrolling at the college and taking the course there or online, alongside regular college students.

The colleges draw the line the same way. Eastern Arizona College describes dual enrollment on the high school campus and concurrent enrollment at its Thatcher campus, and charges $70 a credit hour either way. Arizona Western College runs dual enrollment courses in the high schools and treats concurrent enrollment as a regular AWC class with the usual admission and registration steps. Coconino Community College limits concurrent enrollment to eight credits a semester and leaves dual enrollment uncapped during high school.

Which one your teen can use often comes down to what the high school has already arranged. A course exists as dual enrollment only where the district and the college signed an agreement to offer it there.

Is my teen eligible?

State law opens dual enrollment to freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors, then hands the real gatekeeping to the course. The student has to satisfy the prerequisites published in the college catalog, the same ones an adult student satisfies. The statute also ties eligibility to full-time high school enrollment, and exempts seniors who finish their graduation requirements on less than a full schedule.

Colleges layer their own rules on top. Coconino gives registration priority to juniors and seniors and admits freshmen and sophomores as space allows. Eastern Arizona asks for placement testing and a high school transcript before registration.

One requirement applies to the course rather than the student. The statute says a dual enrollment course has to be at a higher level than what the high school teaches, and has to transfer to a university under the Arizona Board of Regents or apply to a community college occupational degree or certificate. A high school cannot relabel a class it already offers.

What does it cost?

Arizona has no statewide program that pays for dual enrollment. The price comes out of the intergovernmental agreement each community college district signs with each high school district or charter, and the statute requires that agreement to spell out the financial arrangement and the tuition policy.

The spread is wide. Coconino charges $15 a credit hour for arts and sciences dual enrollment and waives tuition entirely for career and technical courses. Arizona Western charges $30 a credit hour. Eastern Arizona charges $70. Some districts absorb part or all of that for their students and some hand it to the family, which is why the same course can cost nothing in one town and a few hundred dollars an hour away.

When an Arizona family calls, the first document we ask for is the agreement between their district and the community college, because that is where the price of a course is written down. Ask the counselor for this year's rate per credit hour and for whatever the district covers, and get both answers before registration week.

Will the credit transfer?

Arizona built the transfer question into the definition. For a course to qualify as dual enrollment under the statute, it has to be transferable to a university governed by the Arizona Board of Regents or applicable to a community college occupational degree or certificate program.

That covers the state's public universities and says nothing about a private college in Arizona or any college out of state. Those institutions decide course by course on their own terms. If your teen is aiming somewhere specific, look up that school's policy on credit earned in high school before the second semester of courses, while changing direction is still cheap.

The community college transcript is permanent whichever way the transfer goes. Grades earned in a dual enrollment course follow the student into college, which is worth saying out loud to a sophomore signing up for a first college class.

Who teaches the course, and who checks the standard?

A dual enrollment course is taught at the high school, usually by a high school teacher the college has credentialed to teach it. Coconino describes exactly that, approved high school instructors delivering the college course on the high school campus.

State law backs that up with an oversight requirement. A faculty advisory committee at the college has to review these courses and report at least once a year to the college's chief executive on whether the course goals and standards are understood, the guidelines are followed, and the same expectations and assessment apply as in a section taught on campus.

For a parent, that review answers a reasonable worry. The course your teen takes in a familiar classroom from a familiar teacher is supposed to be graded like a college course, and someone at the college is on the hook for confirming it.

Why the district and the college both want the course

Money moves in two directions at once. A legislative fiscal note describes dual enrollment students counting in their high school's average daily membership for state basic aid while the community college is funded for the same students at 50 percent of a full-time equivalent student.

That arrangement explains a lot of local behavior. Neither institution gives up funding by sharing the student, which is part of why Arizona dual enrollment grew inside high school buildings rather than as a march to campus.

It also explains the price variation. With no state tuition program behind it, each pair of institutions works out its own numbers, and a district that wants dual enrollment to be free for families has to fund that locally. Education Forward Arizona puts it plainly, that some schools have partnered with colleges to cover the cost while others leave tuition and fees to the student.

Questions to ask your counselor

Bring these to the first meeting. The answers decide most of the plan.

• Which community college do we have a dual enrollment agreement with, and what rate per credit hour does it set?
• Does the district cover any part of that rate for our family, and what form starts it?
• Which of these courses are dual enrollment here at the high school, and which would be concurrent enrollment at the college?
• Is the teacher for this course already credentialed by the college, or is that still pending?
• Does this course transfer to an Arizona public university, or does it only apply to a community college certificate?

Frequently asked

What is the difference between dual enrollment and concurrent enrollment in Arizona?

Where the course happens and who teaches it. Dual enrollment is a college course taught at the high school during the school day. Concurrent enrollment is your teen enrolling at the college and taking the course on campus or online.

Is dual enrollment free in Arizona?

Not as a matter of state law. Arizona has no statewide program covering the tuition, so the district and the community college set the price in their agreement. Rates at the colleges checked here ran from a full waiver for career and technical courses to $70 a credit hour.

What grade can an Arizona student start dual enrollment?

Ninth grade. A.R.S. 15-1821.01 names freshmen through seniors, and each college sets its own priority order. Coconino Community College gives juniors and seniors first claim and admits freshmen and sophomores as space allows.

Do Arizona dual enrollment credits transfer?

A course qualifies as dual enrollment only if it transfers to a university under the Arizona Board of Regents or applies to a community college occupational degree or certificate. Private colleges and out-of-state schools make their own decisions.

Who teaches an Arizona dual enrollment course?

Usually a high school teacher the community college has approved to teach its course, at the high school. A college faculty advisory committee has to review those courses and report annually on whether the college's standards are being applied.

Does my teen have to stay a full-time high school student?

Generally yes. The statute ties dual enrollment to full-time high school enrollment and exempts seniors who satisfy their graduation requirements with less than a full-time instructional program.