Concurrent Enrollment in Oklahoma, explained for parents

What the tuition waiver covers

The Oklahoma State Regents waive tuition for concurrent students, and the size of the waiver depends on the grade. A senior receives up to 18 credit hours in the academic year. A junior receives up to 9, and that one carries the phrase "subject to the availability of funds," which is doing real work in a lean budget year.

Tuition is not the whole bill. Course fees and textbooks stay with the family unless the high school picks them up, and at a campus with high per-hour fees that runs to a few hundred dollars a term. Oklahoma City Community College adds a 9-hour waiver of its own for juniors, bringing a junior there to the same 18 tuition-free hours a senior gets, so the choice of college moves real money.

We ask Oklahoma seniors to plan both semesters before they register for fall, because 18 hours is an academic-year allowance and a heavy fall term leaves the spring short. Twelve hours in the fall and six in the spring is a different senior year from nine and nine, and the difference shows up in March when the courses your teen wants are the ones nobody has room for.

Who qualifies

A community college sets the floor lower than a university does, and Oklahoma City Community College states it plainly: a 3.0 unweighted GPA, an ACT or Pre-ACT composite of 19, or an SAT or PSAT of 990. Subscores are then checked against the specific course your teen wants to take.

The University of Oklahoma asks for more. A concurrent student there needs a 24 ACT composite or an 1160 SAT, or a 3.0 unweighted GPA plus a class rank in the top 33.3 percent, and in either case a 19 ACT in the subject area or a 510 on the SAT evidence-based reading and writing section. A test-optional path exists with restrictions, including one that rules out in-person courses at Norman and Norman North high schools.

That gap is the most useful thing on this page for a family whose teen is a solid B student. The same student turned away at one campus is admitted at another, with the same state waiver behind them, and the credit hours are worth the same when they move.

Staying in once your teen is in

Admission is not the last check. Oklahoma City Community College requires a concurrent student to hold a college GPA of at least 2.0 to keep enrolling as a high school student, which means one rough term can end the arrangement while your teen still has two years of high school ahead.

That rule is why we start families at a single course. One college class in a subject the student is already strong in produces a real grade to look at before anyone builds a schedule on 18 hours, and it costs one semester to find out.

Which college, and what that changes

A concurrent student belongs to whichever Oklahoma institution awards the credit. The transcript carries that college's name, its grading scale, and its course numbers, and that is the record a future admissions office reads. It is also the record your teen will be asking someone to send, sometimes years later.

For most families a community college is the better first move. Sections are smaller, the schedule fits around a high school day, and an associate degree finished on the way through is a credential worth having whether or not a bachelor's follows it. A student who wants a university name on the transcript can add a course there once the habit is established.

Does the credit transfer in Oklahoma?

The State Regents publish a course transfer matrix showing which courses move among Oklahoma public colleges and universities, and that is the right place to start a course list. It tells you a course transfers. It does not tell you the receiving college will count it toward the major your teen has in mind.

So the check has two halves. Look the course up on the matrix, then call the registrar or the department at the school your teen is aiming for and ask how it applies to that specific degree. The Regents give the same advice on their own page, which is to contact the destination institution about what a particular program requires.

How Oklahoma got to a funded waiver

The waiver has not always been paid for the way it is now. In fiscal year 2018, campuses were reimbursed for about 26 percent of what concurrent enrollment cost them to deliver. An additional $7.5 million in fiscal year 2019 moved that to roughly 87 percent, and the Legislature funded the senior program fully in the 2019 session.

That history is why the junior waiver still reads "subject to the availability of funds" while the senior waiver does not, and why some colleges pay for junior hours out of their own budgets. When you ask a college about junior eligibility, ask whether those hours come from the state or from the institution, because the second kind moves with a budget.

Questions to ask your counselor

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

• Which Oklahoma colleges does our school work with for concurrent enrollment, and what does each one require?
• Is my teen's junior-year waiver funded by the state or by the college, and how many hours does it cover?
• What will we pay per course in fees and books, on top of the waived tuition?
• What college GPA does my teen have to hold to stay enrolled as a concurrent student?
• Which of these courses appear on the State Regents' transfer matrix for the universities my teen is considering?

Frequently asked

Is concurrent enrollment free in Oklahoma?

Tuition is waived for up to 18 credit hours a year for seniors and up to 9 for juniors, subject to available funding. Course fees and textbooks stay with the family unless the high school covers them, so the bill is small rather than nothing.

What ACT score do you need for concurrent enrollment in Oklahoma?

At Oklahoma City Community College, a 19 ACT or Pre-ACT composite, with subscores checked for the course. The University of Oklahoma asks for a 24 composite, or a 3.0 unweighted GPA with a top 33.3 percent class rank, plus a 19 in the subject area.

Can a high school junior do concurrent enrollment in Oklahoma?

Yes. A junior who meets the admission standard receives a tuition waiver for up to 9 credit hours, subject to available funding, and some colleges add hours of their own. Oklahoma City Community College waives a second 9 hours so its juniors reach 18.

How many concurrent enrollment hours can an Oklahoma senior take?

The state waiver covers up to 18 credit hours across the academic year, counted over fall and spring together rather than per semester.

Is concurrent enrollment the same as dual enrollment?

Yes. Oklahoma calls it concurrent enrollment, and that is the phrase on the State Regents' pages and on the forms your teen signs. Dual enrollment is the national term for the same thing.

Do Oklahoma concurrent enrollment credits transfer?

The State Regents publish a course transfer matrix showing which courses transfer among Oklahoma public colleges and universities. Whether a transferred course counts toward a particular major is a separate question for the receiving school.