Guides · State programs · By FastTrack Advising

Dual Enrollment in Montana: One-Two-Free, explained for parents

Published September 18, 2026

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Montana's One-Two-Free program gives every eligible high school student two dual enrollment courses, or up to six credits, with no tuition, and the Montana University System waives fees. Courses after that cost half of resident two-year tuition, about $60 a credit. Students are 16 to 19, or have junior or senior standing.

Who: Students enrolled in a Montana school district, ages 16 to 19 or with junior or senior standing, on track to graduate in four years
Free: Two courses or up to six credits, tuition free, through One-Two-Free; UM Western allows eight credits for the same two courses
After that: 50 percent of resident two-year tuition, about $60 a credit, published as $61.37 at MSU Billings
Fees: Waived by the Montana University System for dual enrollment students
Not covered: Books, supplies, and course-specific fees such as labs
Credit cap: None system-wide, though individual colleges and high schools set their own

What One-Two-Free covers

Two courses, or up to six credits, are tuition free for every eligible student through One-Two-Free, and the Montana University System waives fees on top of that. Eight campuses run it: City College, Gallatin College, Great Falls College, Helena College, Highlands College, Missoula College, MSU Northern, and UM Western.

Books are outside the deal. The system's operational guidelines say dual enrollment students are exempt from fees but responsible for books, supplies, course-specific fees, and other course-related materials and costs. A lab science can therefore carry a bill even inside the free two.

UM Western is the one campus where the credit number is different, and it is a deliberate exception rather than a stale page. The system rule is two courses or up to six credits. Montana Western's courses usually run four credits each, so the campus says on its own page that it adjusts the allowance to eight credits for two courses, and it caps its dual enrollment rate at $50 a credit. The count that binds everywhere is two courses. The credit ceiling attached to those two courses is six across the system and eight at UM Western.

The price of course three

After the free tier the rate is 50 percent of resident two-year tuition, or 50 percent of the undergraduate rate at MSU Northern and UM Western. In dollars that lands around $60 a credit, and MSU Billings publishes $61.37.

That puts a three-credit course near $180, and a further 30 credits near $1,800 once the free six are spent. Set against a four-year resident rate, the system calls the statewide average a 93 percent saving.

Help exists past the free tier. UM Western offers a tuition scholarship for students beyond their first two classes when the student or a household member takes part in a qualifying assistance program, among them free or reduced lunch, Medicaid, SNAP, WIC, TANF, SSI, a Section 8 voucher, or Head Start.

Who is eligible, and the age rule

The system asks for enrollment in a Montana school district, an age between 16 and 19 or junior or senior standing, and a record showing the student has completed the required classes and is on track to graduate within four years.

There is no statewide GPA requirement and no statewide test score. Exceptions to the age and grade rules are handled case by case, by written request with evidence of college readiness, so a strong sophomore is not automatically out.

Home school students are in. Gallatin College states that Montana resident high school and home school students age 16 or older may participate, and campus dual enrollment coordinators confirm eligibility individually.

Dual enrollment, dual credit, and concurrent enrollment

Montana uses the three terms carefully. Dual enrollment is the broad term for a high school student taking college courses. Dual credit describes courses that award high school and college credit at the same time. Concurrent enrollment is a college course taught at a high school to a class of high school students by a qualified high school teacher.

The distinction decides who is in the room and who is teaching. A concurrent enrollment instructor has to hold the right teaching license and meet or exceed the qualifications in Board of Regents Policy 730, which is the quality control on a course taught in the building.

What we tell families in Montana is to find out which of the three a course is before asking about price. The free tier applies to the tuition regardless of where the course meets, and the course-specific fees do not.

How many credits a student can take

The Montana University System sets no limit on the number of credits a student may take through dual enrollment, neither by semester nor across their eligibility in the program, provided they keep meeting the criteria.

The local limits are the ones to check. Some colleges cap credits, and high schools can restrict how many dual enrollment credits count toward graduation, which is a separate question from how many the college will let a student register for.

What the numbers look like statewide

In 2024-25, 37 percent of all Montana public school juniors and seniors took at least one dual enrollment course, and 90.1 percent of Montana public high schools offered them. Participation grew 11.4 percent from the year before, on an average annual increase of 15.2 percent since 2012-13.

The median cost of a dual enrollment credit in Montana is $0 and the average is $16, which is what One-Two-Free does to a statewide average. Of dual enrollment students, 47 percent took at least one career and technical education course, and 68.3 percent went on to postsecondary education after graduating.

Questions to ask your counselor

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

Has my teen used any of the One-Two-Free courses yet, and how many are left?
Is this a concurrent enrollment course taught here, or a course at the college?
What course fees and books come with this class, and what did they cost last year?
How many dual enrollment credits will this high school count toward graduation?
If we go past the free tier, what does this campus charge a credit?
Does my teen qualify for the hardship scholarship at this campus?

Frequently asked

Is dual enrollment free in Montana?

The first two courses, or up to six credits, are tuition free through One-Two-Free, and the Montana University System waives fees. UM Western stretches that to eight credits for two courses because its courses usually run four credits each. Books, supplies, and course-specific fees such as labs stay with the family, and courses past the free tier cost about $60 a credit.

What does Montana dual enrollment cost after the free courses?

50 percent of resident two-year tuition, or 50 percent of the undergraduate rate at MSU Northern and UM Western. MSU Billings publishes $61.37 a credit and Gallatin College describes it as around $60, so a three-credit course runs near $180.

Who qualifies for dual enrollment in Montana?

A student enrolled in a Montana school district who is between 16 and 19 or has junior or senior standing, has completed the required classes, and is on track to graduate within four years. Exceptions are made by written request with evidence of college readiness.

How many dual enrollment credits can a Montana student take?

The Montana University System sets no limit, by semester or across the whole program. Individual colleges may cap credits and high schools may limit how many count toward graduation, so both answers have to come from the school and the campus.

Can Montana home school students do dual enrollment?

Yes. Gallatin College states that Montana resident high school and home school students age 16 or older may participate. Campus dual enrollment coordinators confirm eligibility individually.

How many Montana students take dual enrollment?

37 percent of all public school juniors and seniors took at least one dual enrollment course in 2024-25, and 90.1 percent of Montana public high schools offered them. Participation rose 11.4 percent over the prior year.

Sources

Montana University System, About Dual Enrollment · the eligibility conditions, the three definitions, and the One-Two-Free benefit
Montana University System, Dual Enrollment FAQ · two courses or up to six credits free, fees waived, the 50 percent rate, textbooks excluded, and campus credit limits
Operational Guidelines for Dual Enrollment, Montana University System · the 50 percent rate with the MSU Northern and UM Western exception, the fee exemption, the absence of a credit limit, and Board of Regents Policy 730
Montana University System, Dual Enrollment Data and Reports · the 2024-25 participation, growth, high school coverage, median and average cost a credit, CTE share, and postsecondary continuation
Gallatin College, Dual Enrollment and Early College · around $60 a credit, no university fees, and eligibility for resident high school and home school students age 16 or older
MSU Billings, Dual Enrollment · the $61.37 a credit rate, the two tuition-free classes, and the 16 to 19 age range
University of Montana Western, OneTwoFree · the campus footnote adjusting the statewide six credits to eight because its courses default to four credits, the $50 a credit cap, and the hardship scholarship qualifying programs

Rules change. These were checked September 2026. Confirm the current version with your school before you act on any of it.

About FastTrack Advising

FastTrack Advising. FastTrack Advising works on dual enrollment and nothing else. We help families choose college courses a high schooler can take now that will still count toward the degree later, we check every course against the transfer rules of the colleges they name, and we stay in the picture through registration so the plan gets used. When the answer for a student is to wait a term, we say that too.

Other state programs

All state programs

PSEO (Minnesota) Free tuition, books, and required fees for 10th through 12th graders, with a May 30 notice deadline that many families miss.
Running Start (Washington) Tuition-free college courses for juniors and seniors at Washington's community and technical colleges and a few universities. Families still pay fees and books, and the student gets to campus on their own.
College Credit Plus (Ohio) Open to 7th through 12th graders, free at Ohio public colleges for public school students, with an April 1 letter of intent and a 30-credit annual cap.
Dual credit (Texas) Each college sets its rate and each district decides how much to cover. Students who qualified for free or reduced lunch in the last five years pay nothing at colleges in the FAST program.
Dual enrollment (Florida) Tuition-free by state law, with a 3.0 unweighted GPA and a qualifying PERT, SAT, or ACT score to get in. Public school students get textbooks covered too.
Dual enrollment (California) Community college courses for 9th through 12th graders through a district partnership called CCAP, with no enrollment fees and no textbook costs, capped at 15 units a term.
Dual Enrollment (Georgia) State funding covers tuition, fees, and books for 30 semester hours, mostly for juniors and seniors. After 30 hours the family pays the college's rate, and ninth graders are outside the program entirely.
Career & College Promise (North Carolina) Tuition paid by the state at community colleges for juniors and seniors with a 2.8 unweighted GPA. Whether the district covers fees and books, and who drives, varies by district.
Concurrent Enrollment (Colorado) Open to 9th through 12th graders with an approved academic plan. The district pays tuition at the community college rate; books and fees are usually the family's, and so is getting to campus.
Dual credit (Illinois) Governed by the Dual Credit Quality Act and a model agreement between each district and college. Whether your teen pays depends on that agreement.
Early College Credit and Start College Now (Wisconsin) Two programs, one for the technical colleges and one for universities, both for juniors and seniors. The district pays most or all of the tuition, and applications are due March 1 for fall and October 1 for spring.
Dual credit (Indiana) Every Indiana high school has to offer dual credit. Priority courses at public colleges cost at most $25 a credit hour, and nothing for students on free or reduced lunch.
Dual enrollment (Michigan) Grades 9 through 12, for courses the high school doesn't offer. The district pays tuition up to a state-set share; anything above it, plus books, is yours. Ten courses across high school.
Dual Enrollment (Alabama) Rising 10th through 12th graders with a 2.5 GPA, at $133 a credit hour plus fees, with a state scholarship that covers some courses when the legislature funds it. No credit cap at all.
Dual Enrollment (Tennessee) The lottery-funded Dual Enrollment Grant pays up to $620.55 for each of the first five courses, then much less. One June 30 application covers the whole academic year.
Dual enrollment (Pennsylvania) Every school entity has to hold at least one dual credit agreement, and none of them has to pay for the courses. The agreement states the cost, and published rates run from $83.50 to $230 a credit.
Dual enrollment (Virginia) Juniors and seniors at the community colleges. Courses on a College and Career Ready Virginia pathway cost the family nothing, and courses outside it are billed at the college rate.
Dual enrollment (Arizona) A community college course taught inside the high school during the school day. Concurrent enrollment is the separate arrangement where the student goes to the college. Price is set district by district.
Dual enrollment (South Carolina) College courses through the state's 16 technical colleges, priced by each college and district, with Lottery Tuition Assistance covering part of the tuition once a student carries six credit hours in a term.
Dual enrollment (Louisiana) A Board of Regents floor for eligibility, four ways to clear it, and a bill the district assembles out of state and federal funds. TOPS Tech Early Start covers career courses for juniors and seniors.
Dual enrollment (Maryland) The Blueprint moved the bill off families for students who meet the College and Career Readiness Standard, and set a floor of two covered courses each fall and spring. Counties add their own terms on top.
Concurrent Enrollment (Utah) College courses for $5 a credit hour, taught mostly inside the high school by a college-approved teacher. Each college sets its own admission bar, and books are still yours.
Concurrent Enrollment (Oklahoma) Juniors and seniors get tuition waived by the State Regents, 18 credit hours a year for seniors and 9 for juniors. Fees and books stay with the family, and each college sets its own entrance bar.
Dual enrollment (New York) No single statewide program. CUNY's College Now is free for New York City public school students, SUNY campuses price their own, and a new state rule makes districts file their partnership agreements in 2026.
Dual enrollment (Massachusetts) Two state programs. CDEP waives tuition and fees at public campuses for eligible high schoolers, mostly in the spring, and designated Early College builds the courses into the school day at no cost.
Concurrent Enrollment (Iowa) College courses run through a district contract with a community college, at no tuition cost to the family. Iowa also runs PSEO, and the two programs treat a failed course differently.
Concurrent Credit (Arkansas) State policy bars a college from billing the family for tuition, fees, or materials on a concurrent credit course. A 2025 scholarship replaced the old Concurrent Challenge grant and pays $65 a credit hour.
Dual Enrollment and Dual Credit (Mississippi) Mississippi separates the two terms in statute. Dual enrollment earns college credit only; dual credit earns high school credit too, and the distinction decides whether the course helps your teen graduate.
Dual Enrollment (Nebraska) Nebraska has no single statewide program, so the price depends on which college your high school partners with. The ACE scholarship covers tuition and mandatory fees for students who qualify on income.
Dual Credit (New Mexico) A statewide program where the college charges no tuition and the school district buys the books. Families pay special course fees and transportation, and the guidance is two courses a semester until graduation requirements are done.
Early College (Maine) Maine pays college tuition for high schoolers through the Aspirations Program, and the class of 2027 forward gets 18 tuition-free credits for the whole of high school.
Dual and Concurrent Enrollment (New Hampshire) The state and the community colleges cover two courses a year for students in grades 10 through 12, and most of those courses are taught inside the high school.
Dual Enrollment (Vermont) Two vouchers, each covering tuition on a college course of up to four credits, for any Vermont student who has finished grade 10, including home study students.
Dual credit (West Virginia) A state-funded pilot pays tuition and academic fees for courses on approved career pathways, for public, private, charter, microschool, learning pod, and homeschool students alike.
Dual enrollment (Delaware) No statewide program makes it free. State regulation puts the policy on every district and charter, bars turning a student away over money, and most courses run through Delaware Tech.
Dual enrollment (New Jersey) No statewide free tuition. Public colleges must sign dual enrollment agreements and districts choose whether to join, so the price and the eligibility rules come from your own county college.
Dual enrollment (Connecticut) A board policy rather than a statute sets the rules. Concurrent credit courses are capped at $50 a credit, CT State covers two courses a semester for qualifying juniors and seniors, and UConn ECE has run since 1955.
Accelerated learning (Oregon) Oregon calls the whole category accelerated learning. Dual credit at the high school is free or close to it at most community colleges, and Expanded Options moves a junior or senior onto a campus at no charge to the student.
Dual enrollment (Nevada) No statewide free tuition. Districts sign cooperative agreements with NSHE colleges and each agreement names who pays, so the price runs from $25 a credit at the high school to $154 on a university campus.
Concurrent enrollment (Kansas) Concurrent enrollment means the college course is taught at the high school, and it is not free by default. Excel in CTE pays tuition for approved technical courses, and a district board may cover the rest if it chooses to.
Dual Credit (Kentucky) A $99 ceiling on what a college may charge a high school student, and a state scholarship that pays that rate for one general education course a year.
Dual Credit (Missouri) Missouri draws a line between dual credit and dual enrollment based on who teaches, and the price and the GPA tier both follow from that.
Dual Credit (Idaho) Every Idaho public school student gets $4,625 to spend on college credit between grades 7 and 12, and the fund pays $75 a credit, which is what colleges charge.
Dual Credit (North Dakota) Tuition is the family's here, at a reduced rate that changes with who teaches the course, and Bank of North Dakota covers two courses a year for students on free or reduced lunch.
Dual Credit (South Dakota) Juniors and seniors split a deeply reduced tuition rate with the state, at $80.37 a credit hour, under a statute with a hard rule about what happens if a course goes badly.
Dual and Concurrent Enrollment (Rhode Island) A state fund covers tuition and fees for part-time college courses at the three public institutions, and the statute behind it caps that fund at whatever the budget appropriates each year.
Early College and Running Start (Hawaii) Two programs run off one statute that never says who pays. Early College comes to the high school and the school usually covers it; Running Start puts the student on a UH campus at that campus’s published rate.
Dual Enrollment (Alaska) No state program and no state money behind it. What a college course costs an Alaska family depends on which University of Alaska campus offers it and whether the school district signed an agreement.
Dual and Concurrent Enrollment (Wyoming) State law bars a college from charging a participating student for textbooks, materials, student services, or any other fee, and from 2026-27 the state starts reimbursing districts for what it costs them.

Planning Dual Enrollment for your teen?

Save this page and the state's deadlines show up on your own My FastTrack page, next to the tools. 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.

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