Guides · State programs · By FastTrack Advising

Dual Enrollment in Nebraska, explained for parents

Published September 18, 2026

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Nebraska dual enrollment runs college by college rather than through one statewide program, so what a course costs depends on which college your high school partners with. Prices range from tuition-free at some community colleges to roughly $45 a credit hour at others. The Access College Early scholarship pays tuition and mandatory fees for students who qualify on family income.

Who: Set by each partnering college; several Nebraska community colleges open enrollment to grades nine through twelve
Tuition: Varies by college, from no charge to about $45 a credit hour
ACE scholarship: Pays tuition and mandatory fees for income-qualified students
Average ACE award: $199, about the cost of one course
Not covered by ACE: Books, supplies, matriculation and course-specific fees, background checks
Runs through: The Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education, for the scholarship

Why the price changes from one town to the next

Nebraska does not run a single named dual enrollment program with one price attached, so the answer comes from the college your district works with. Metropolitan Community College waives tuition entirely for Nebraska high school students in grades nine through twelve taking credit classes. Southeast Community College takes a different approach and covers 65 percent of tuition and fees, leaving the student $44.45 per credit hour for 2026-27.

That is a real spread. Three courses at nine credit hours costs nothing in the Metro district and about $400 in the Southeast district, before books. Some high schools cover part or all of the remainder for their own students, which adds a third variable.

What we tell families in Nebraska: find the partnering college's high school tuition page and read the current year's number yourself. These rates are set year by year, a waiver has an end date on it, and a figure a neighbor quotes from two years ago is the wrong number to plan on.

What the ACE scholarship pays for

Access College Early pays the tuition and mandatory fees for a qualifying high school student's college course. The Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education administers it, and the money goes to the college rather than to the family.

What it does not cover is worth listing, because the list is long enough to matter: matriculation fees, course-specific fees, books, other supplies, and background checks all stay with the student. On a nursing or a welding course those fees can exceed the tuition.

The average award in 2024-25 was $199, which the state describes as covering one course. Nebraska appropriated $1.5 million for the program in 2025-26, and the commission has said it anticipates no limit on the number of courses a single student may be awarded for the 2026-27 school year.

Who qualifies for ACE

The gate is family income, shown through a program the family is already in. Approval for free or reduced price lunch, Supplemental Security Income, TANF, SNAP, or WIC qualifies a student, and documentation is required. Free and reduced price lunch is how most recipients qualify, and half of Nebraska public school students were eligible for it in 2024-25.

A family that has been through an extreme hardship affecting income can apply on that basis instead, and a student in a designated Career Education program established by the Nebraska Department of Education can qualify that way.

The course itself has to be taken for a grade. Audit and credit/no-credit enrollments are not eligible, and a student is no longer eligible to apply once high school enrollment is complete. State law requires U.S. citizenship or lawfully documented non-citizen status, and students with DACA status are not eligible.

How the application works, and the part families get wrong

The student applies, not the school. Applications go through the commission's online system, and awards are first come, first served against a fixed appropriation, so early beats late in a way that is not true of most financial aid.

Applications are per term and per college. A student taking courses in the fall and the spring files twice. Multiple classes in the same term at the same college need one application; classes at two different colleges in the same term need two.

The deadlines run mid-term, not before it. For the fall term the window opens August 1 and closes December 15; winter opens November 1 and closes February 15; spring opens November 15 and closes May 15; summer opens April 1 and closes July 15. Career Education applications open later within each of those windows.

What the outcomes look like

In 2024-25 the ACE program served 2,727 students across 196 Nebraska high schools and 19 colleges and universities, about 100 more students than the year before.

The college-going comparison is the number worth carrying into a conversation about whether this is worth the paperwork. Among 2023-24 Nebraska public high school graduates, 82 percent of ACE recipients went on to college, against 48 percent of low-income students who did not receive an ACE scholarship.

Treat that gap as a reason to apply rather than a promise about any one student. Families who chase down a scholarship deadline differ from families who do not in ways that also affect whether a teen enrolls in college, and no state report can separate the two.

Questions to ask your counselor

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

Which college awards the credit for each dual enrollment course we offer?
What is that college's current per credit hour rate for high school students, and does our school cover any of it?
Does our school have anyone who helps families file the ACE application, and by what date?
What course fees and book costs should we expect on top of tuition for this specific course?
Which of these courses transfer to the Nebraska colleges my teen is considering, and as what?

Frequently asked

Is dual enrollment free in Nebraska?

It depends on the college. Metropolitan Community College waives tuition for Nebraska high school students in grades nine through twelve. Southeast Community College charges $44.45 a credit hour for 2026-27 after covering 65 percent. Books and course fees are the family's either way.

What is the ACE scholarship in Nebraska?

Access College Early pays tuition and mandatory fees for income-qualified high school students taking college courses. It is state funded and administered by the Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education.

How do you qualify for the ACE scholarship?

By approval for free or reduced price lunch, SSI, TANF, SNAP, or WIC, or through a documented extreme hardship affecting family income, or through a designated Career Education program. Documentation is required with the application.

How much is the ACE scholarship worth?

The average award in 2024-25 was $199, roughly one course. It pays the actual tuition and mandatory fees, so the amount tracks the course rather than a fixed figure.

When is the ACE scholarship deadline?

December 15 for fall, February 15 for winter, May 15 for spring, and July 15 for summer. Each term needs its own application, and awards go first come, first served while funding lasts.

Does ACE cover textbooks?

No. Books, supplies, matriculation fees, course-specific fees, and background checks stay with the student. Only tuition and mandatory fees are paid.

Sources

Nebraska Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education, Access College Early Scholarship Program · what ACE pays, the qualifying programs, and the term deadlines
CCPE, Access College Early Scholarship Program Overview (December 2025) · 2,727 students, 196 high schools, 19 institutions, the $199 average award, the $1.5 million appropriation, and the 82 versus 48 percent college-going figures
CCPE, Access College Early Scholarship information sheet for students · the anticipated absence of a course limit for 2026-27, the excluded costs, and the per-term application rule
Southeast Community College, tuition and fees for high school students · the 65 percent coverage and the $44.45 per credit hour student share for 2026-27
Metropolitan Community College, CollegeNOW! · the tuition waiver for grades nine through twelve and the costs students still carry
University of Nebraska Omaha, ACE Scholarship · how a university partner routes students to the ACE application

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 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 Enrollment (Montana) The first two courses or six credits carry no tuition anywhere in the Montana University System, fees are waived, and everything after that costs half of resident two-year tuition, around $60 a credit.
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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