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Delaware has no dual enrollment program in its code. The working document is 14 DE Admin Code 506, a Department of Education regulation that makes every district and charter school write its own policy, name the money behind it, and admit students without regard to what the family can pay.
For what the program costs and who is eligible, start at Dual enrollment in Delaware. This page is the paper trail underneath it.
The statute
14 Del. C. §§ 122(b)(3) and 122(b)(8)
Rules and regulations of the Department of Education .
The authority the regulation rests on, which matters because there is no dual enrollment statute standing behind it. Paragraph (b)(3) lets the Department prescribe rules governing the issuance of certificates and diplomas for the public schools, with State Board approval, and that is the hook for a rule about what appears on a transcript and what counts toward a diploma. Paragraph (b)(8) covers rules implementing the Higher Education Office’s purpose and responsibilities. A family arguing about dual enrollment in Delaware is arguing about a regulation, and this is where the Department got the power to write it.
14 Del. C. § 181
Delaware Higher Education Office; responsibilities .
The nearest thing Delaware has to a legislative statement about college credit in high school. Paragraph (7) directs the Higher Education Office, working with the Department of Education, to identify and implement methods that make the move from elementary and secondary education to postsecondary education a smooth one, and paragraph (9) tells it to promote student academic preparation for higher education. Neither paragraph names dual enrollment, funds a course, or entitles a student to a seat.
The administrative rule
14 DE Admin Code 506
Policies for Dual Enrollment and Awarding Dual Credit . Adopted April 1, 2023; amended July 1, 2024.
The document that carries the program, written under 14 Del. C. §§ 122(b)(3), 122(b)(8), 181, and 183. Section 3 requires every district and secondary charter school to adopt a dual enrollment and dual credit policy, and sets what that policy has to do: incorporate state content standards, give eligible students access, identify the funding sources and the procedures for applying for them, provide multiple points of access on the high school campus or a postsecondary campus or online or some combination, and obtain prior principal approval before dual credit is awarded. The sentence to bring to a counselor meeting is the one stating that no student shall be denied access because of the student’s or the family’s inability to pay. Section 5 requires the high school transcript to show dual enrollment courses, dual credit courses, and any dual credit awarded, and section 6 requires districts to keep their policies on file with the Department and to file revisions within 90 days.
Who pays, and under what authority
Higher Education Office reimbursement
Department of Education, Early College Credit .
The one piece of state money attached to the access rule. The department restates the bar on denying a student over inability to pay, and states that the Delaware Higher Education Office will reimburse high schools for costs for any student who receives TANF or SNAP benefits through direct certification. Because the reimbursement runs to the school rather than the family, the question to ask the counselor is whether the school has claimed it for your teen.
Agency guidance
Guidance for Dual Enrollment / Postsecondary Credit Attainment
Department of Education, dual enrollment guidance, updated Fall 2022 .
The guidance districts follow when they decide whether a course is treated as dual enrollment at all. An academic dual enrollment course has to meet a transferability standard, accepted as direct transfer credit at a Delaware college other than the one teaching it rather than as elective credit, and the state maintains a course matrix that records which courses clear that bar. Career and technical dual enrollment courses have to transfer into related degree programs. The standard exists for school accountability reporting, and it doubles as a rough test of whether a course will be worth anything at the next campus.
How it got here
Regulation 506 was adopted on April 1, 2023 and amended on July 1, 2024. That is recent enough that a district policy written before 2023 may predate the access and transcript requirements, which is worth checking if a school’s handbook says nothing about who pays.
Who administers it
These are the offices that answer a question about Delaware 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.
- Delaware Department of Education, Early College Credit · The family-facing page on dual enrollment, the access rule, and the reimbursement for students on TANF or SNAP.
- Delaware Department of Education, dual enrollment transferability matrix · The annual list of which dual enrollment courses transfer to Delaware institutions as academic, technical, or elective credit.
- Delaware Administrative Code, Title 14 Part 506 · Where the regulation is published, with its adoption and amendment dates.
Frequently asked
Is there a Delaware dual enrollment statute?
None was found in Title 14. The program lives in a Department of Education regulation adopted under the Department’s general rulemaking powers, which is why access and cost are set district by district rather than statewide.
What does the regulation say about families who cannot pay?
Each district and charter policy has to identify the funding sources and the procedures for applying for them, and no student may be denied access to dual credit or dual enrollment courses because of the student’s or the family’s inability to pay. That is a requirement on the policy, so ask to see the policy.
Does the course have to show on the high school transcript?
Yes. The regulation requires the transcript to indicate dual enrollment courses, dual credit courses completed, and dual credit awarded, so a college admissions office reading the transcript should see the college work without the family having to explain it.
Is any state money attached?
There is one narrow stream. The Department states that the Delaware Higher Education Office reimburses high schools for the cost for a student who receives TANF or SNAP benefits through direct certification. Everything else depends on what the district budgeted.
Where can a district offer the course?
The regulation requires multiple points of access, which may include the high school campus, a postsecondary campus, online courses, or a combination. A district offering dual enrollment in one building during one period is not meeting that standard.
Sources
- 14 DE Admin Code 506, Policies for Dual Enrollment and Awarding Dual Credit · the required district policies, the inability-to-pay rule, multiple points of access, the transcript requirement, the authority cited, and the 2023 adoption and 2024 amendment
- 14 Del. C. § 122, Rules and regulations · paragraphs (b)(3) and (b)(8), the rulemaking authority the regulation was written under
- 14 Del. C. § 181, Delaware Higher Education Office · the transition and academic preparation duties, and the absence of any dual enrollment program
- Delaware Department of Education, Early College Credit · the inability-to-pay statement and the TANF and SNAP reimbursement to high schools
- Delaware Department of Education, dual enrollment guidance, Fall 2022 · the direct transfer standard for academic courses and the state course matrix
Rules change. These were checked September 2026. Confirm the current version with your school before you act on any of it.
Reading the Delaware rules with a decision in front of you?
Save this page and the citations sit next to the state's deadlines on your own My FastTrack page; the Delaware guide saves separately. Which courses to take, in which order, so the credits still count at the college your teen ends up at, is the part we do with families.