Dual enrollment at Bakersfield College, explained for parents

Dual or concurrent, and why the label matters

Bakersfield College puts everything for high school students under Early College, and the first question is which of the two shapes a course has. Dual enrollment is a BC course taught at the high school site, in a section mostly filled with high school students. Concurrent enrollment is a BC course on a BC campus or online, in a section mostly filled with students who are not in high school. The college says it runs the largest single-college dual enrollment program in California.

The two are not priced alike, which is the practical reason to know the difference before your teen picks a class. On the dual enrollment side all fees are waived and required materials are provided. On the concurrent side tuition is waived, the remaining fees are not, and the student buys textbooks through the BC Bookstore.

Early College Pathways run at Frontier, Garces, Highland, Independence, Kern Valley, Kern Learn, Liberty, McFarland, Mira Monte, North, Nueva, RFK, Ridgeview, ROC, Shafter, South, Stockdale, Tierra Del Sol, and Valley, with a homeschool route alongside them. BC describes an incoming ninth grader as being on a pathway to earn between 9 and 60 units toward a degree or certificate by graduation.

We ask Bakersfield families to say out loud how many of those units they want, because a pathway that fills a schedule and a plan that ends in a degree are two different things, and only one of them survives a hard junior year.

What does it cost?

The enrollment fee at BC is $46 a unit for California residents. Dual enrollment waives it along with everything else. Concurrent enrollment waives the $46 and leaves the rest standing: an $18 student health fee in fall and spring or $15 in summer, a $2 student representation fee, and a student center fee of $1 a unit capped at $5 a semester.

That comes to roughly $25 a semester in fees for a concurrent enrollment student, plus textbooks, plus $40 for a parking permit if your teen drives to campus. Against $46 a unit it is still a steep discount, and it is the figure that belongs in the family budget instead of zero.

Books are where the gap opens. A dual enrollment course at the high school supplies them and a concurrent enrollment course does not, and one science or math text can cost more than a whole term of fees. Ask the instructor or the bookstore for the title and the price before registration, while there is still a cheaper section to choose.

How many units, and what does a grade do?

Eleven units in the fall and eleven again in the spring, then seven in the summer, counting dual and concurrent enrollment together. A student at a CCAP school gets more room: 15 units and no more than four courses in fall and spring, and nine units in summer. Those are the ceilings, and a full-time high school schedule sits underneath them.

The transcript is the part families underestimate. BC says a poor grade will not be removed from the permanent record, and a withdrawal after the census date shows on the transcript as a W. A student who is drowning in week six should drop before census rather than ride the term out, and that decision belongs to a conversation in week five.

College credit does not turn itself into high school credit. BC awards college credit for these courses and says high school credit is granted only with the approval of the high school or district administrator, so ask which of the two your teen is earning before registration rather than in June.

Prerequisites are read off the high school transcript. BC evaluates that transcript to decide whether a student is eligible for a course that carries one, which puts a transcript request at the front of the timeline instead of the middle.

What are the deadlines, and how do we apply?

Enrollment runs through DualEnroll.com as a relay with five hand-offs. The student applies to BC through CCC Apply and gets a college ID, creates a DualEnroll.com account, and requests courses. The parent consents by email or text message. The college reviews the account and flags anything that needs fixing. The high school approves and supplies documentation. Then dual enrollment students are registered by the college, and concurrent enrollment students are cleared to register themselves.

Course requests take roughly a week to clear, and concurrent enrollment students cannot register until open registration, after the priority groups have taken their seats. Those two facts together are why a concurrent enrollment plan assembled in August often comes apart: the required section is full before the student is allowed to reach for it.

BC does not publish one application deadline the way a college with a single intake does. The gate is the class itself. Every step in the relay has to clear before the section starts, and the week of processing sits inside that window, so the working deadline is about two weeks before the first day and earlier if a prerequisite has to be evaluated.

Where does Bakersfield College credit count?

ASSIST calls itself the official repository of articulation for California's colleges and universities, and BC sends students there for the major coursework a UC or CSU campus requires. That is the tool to open before a course is chosen, because it answers the question a family has, which is whether this course counts for this major at this campus rather than whether it counts at all.

The general education pattern moved underneath everyone, and it moved on a specific date. Cal-GETC took over with the fall 2025 term, replacing IGETC and CSU GE Breadth for every student who began at a California community college that term or later. BC's counseling FAQ still describes the two older patterns, including the IGETC language other than English requirement that two years of high school language at C or above satisfies. Ask a BC counselor which pattern your teen's record is running against before building a schedule around either.

The associate degree is the destination the rest of this is built around. An Associate Degree for Transfer aligns BC coursework with the CSU system and carries guaranteed admission with junior standing to select CSU campuses. BC tells students to apply to a CSU once they have completed roughly 45 transferable units, which is the checkpoint to watch rather than graduation day.

Kern Promise is BC's own version of the deal, and it contains the single most useful sentence a dual enrollment family in Kern County can read: a first-time college student at BC is still first-time if the earlier courses were dual or concurrent enrollment. Taking college courses in high school does not spend the eligibility. The program commits the student and the college to an ADT within two years and pays for it, with priority registration, a $250 book scholarship a semester, and paid tuition, in exchange for a 2.0 or better with every course passed at C or higher, at least 12 units a semester, 30 units a school year, and transfer-level math and English inside the first year. It covers 38 ADT majors, and the form for the cohort was open from January 1 to July 1.

For the University of California, six campuses offer a Transfer Admission Guarantee: Davis, Irvine, Merced, Riverside, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz. BC publishes a 3.0 minimum GPA with the transferable unit count varying by campus, and two filing windows, September 1 to 30 for a fall term and May 1 to 31 for winter or spring. UC Dual Admission is the other route, for a California high school graduate who applied to a UC, was not admitted, holds a 3.0 UC GPA, and is missing one or more A-G requirements. The CSU Transfer Success Pathway offers admission to the degree program and campus of choice in exchange for finishing an ADT or the established transfer courses within three years, with a September 30 deadline.

None of the above reaches a private or an out-of-state university. Those decide for themselves, one course at a time, and usually only after an application has been filed, so a family aiming outside California should ask the receiving admissions office directly and early. The credits do not vanish either way, because they sit on a BC transcript that follows your teen wherever the application goes.

Questions to ask before registering

Bring these to the college's dual enrollment office and to the high school counselor. The answers decide most of the plan.

• Is this course a dual enrollment section at the high school or a concurrent enrollment section at BC, and what changes about the bill?
• Which fees will we be charged this term, and what is the textbook for this section?
• Does the high school award high school credit for this course, and who signs off on that?
• How many of the 11 units has my teen used this term across dual and concurrent enrollment together?
• What is the census date for this class, and what is the last day to drop without a W?
• If the plan is an Associate Degree for Transfer, which ADT major, and how many of its units will be done by graduation?

Frequently asked

Is dual enrollment free at Bakersfield College?

On the dual enrollment side, yes. All fees are waived and required materials are provided. Concurrent enrollment waives the $46 per unit tuition but leaves the health, representation, and student center fees, and the student buys the textbooks.

What is the difference between dual and concurrent enrollment at BC?

Dual enrollment is a BC course taught at the high school site, in a section mostly filled with high school students. Concurrent enrollment is a BC course on a campus or online, mostly filled with students who are not in high school. The cost and the registration timing differ.

How many units can a Bakersfield College high school student take?

Up to 11 units in fall and again in spring, and 7 in summer, counting dual and concurrent enrollment together. A student at a CCAP school may take 15 units and no more than four courses in fall and spring, and 9 units in summer.

Does dual enrollment at BC use up first-time student status?

Not for Kern Promise. The program requires a first-time college student at BC and states that dual or concurrent enrollment does not count against that, so college courses taken in high school leave the eligibility intact.

How do you sign up for Bakersfield College dual enrollment?

Apply to BC through CCC Apply for a college ID, create a DualEnroll.com account, and request courses. A parent consents by email or text, the college reviews the account, and the high school approves. Requests take about a week to clear.