Dual enrollment in Pennsylvania: the law behind it

The statute

24 P.S. section 15-1525

Public School Code of 1949, agreements with institutions of higher education . Subsections (a) through (h), amended July 8, 2022, P.L.620, No.55.

The whole arrangement, in a page and a half. Subsection (a) is the mandate: a school entity shall enter into an agreement with an institution of higher education approved to operate in Pennsylvania so its students can attend while still enrolled. Subsection (b)(4) is the sentence families run into, saying a school entity may pay for tuition, fees, supplies, or other costs, which leaves the bill with the family wherever a district chooses not to. Subsection (b)(1) requires the credits to be the same credits a college student receives, subsection (d) requires the school to weight them like Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, or Cambridge advanced courses in its own grading system, and subsection (g) says the college courses should supplement rather than replace what the school already teaches. Subsection (h) defines school entity to include districts, area career and technical schools, charter schools, cyber charters, and regional charters.

24 P.S. section 15-1525.1

Public School Code of 1949, calculation of average daily membership for a dual credit course .

A short section with a large practical effect, added by Act 52 of 2023 and applied retroactively to July 1, 2023. It says a high school student enrolled in a dual credit course under a section 1525 agreement may be counted in the school entity’s average daily membership, notwithstanding the part-time attendance regulation that would otherwise reduce that count. A district worried that sending a student to a college course costs it state money is looking at the section that answers the worry.

24 P.S. sections 16-1601-B and following

Public School Code of 1949, Article XVI-B, concurrent enrollment .

The older article, added in 2005 and still on the books, which supplies the vocabulary. It defines a concurrent enrollment agreement as the written agreement between a school entity and each eligible postsecondary institution, and defines allowable tuition by institution type. The grant program this article was written to fund lost its appropriation, so what survives is mostly definitional, which is why the School Code says concurrent enrollment while the department’s current circular says dual credit and colleges say dual enrollment.

The administrative rule

22 Pa. Code section 11.5

State Board of Education, part-time attendance for potential graduates .

The regulation section 1525.1 was written to override, and still the rule for the students it covers. It allows a student of school age to earn a diploma through part-time attendance when officially enrolled part-time in a postsecondary institution, and counts that time proportionally for reimbursement. It also says a school paying for a student’s college courses as part of the high school program may continue to include that student in average daily membership.

Who pays, and under what authority

Dual Credit Innovation Grant Program

Pennsylvania Department of Education, Dual Credit Innovation Grant Program .

The state money that exists, aimed at institutions rather than families. Grants go to public colleges and universities to build or expand dual credit programs, and students inside a grant-funded program pay no tuition, fees, or other cost of attendance. Because the seats are attached to particular institutions, whether a partner college holds one of these grants changes what a Pennsylvania family pays more than any other single fact.

Agency guidance

Basic Education Circular on dual credit agreements

Pennsylvania Department of Education, dual credit agreements between school entities and institutions of higher education .

The department reading section 1525 for the people who administer it, issued December 22, 2022 and revised January 29, 2024. It confirms the 2022-2023 start date for the agreement requirement, repeats that a school entity may but is not required to pay, requires the cost of tuition, fees, and related course materials to be stated in the agreement, and sets the filing rule: copies to the department within 30 days of signing and again whenever the agreement changes. It also names the funding sources a district may use and confirms the agreements are listed in the statewide transfer system.

How it got here

Article XVI-B arrived in 2005 with a grant program behind it, and a 2011 amendment stripped out parts of the machinery. Act 55 of 2022 rewrote section 1525 into the agreement mandate that applies today, effective with the 2022-2023 school year and applying to agreements entered into or renewed after that date. Act 52 of 2023 then added section 1525.1 so a district counts a dual credit student in its membership.

Who administers it

These are the offices that answer a question about Pennsylvania 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.

• Pennsylvania Department of Education, dual credit circular · Interprets section 1525 and collects every agreement within 30 days of signing.
• Pennsylvania General Assembly, Public School Code · Where sections 1525 and 1525.1 are published with their amendment notes.
• Pennsylvania Department of Education, Dual Credit Innovation Grant · Awards the grants that make some programs free to students.
• PA College Transfer · The statewide transfer system where dual credit agreements are listed.

Frequently asked

Does the statute make the district pay?

No. Section 1525(b)(4) says a school entity may pay for tuition, fees, supplies, or other costs. The department circular repeats the point in the same permissive form, so most Pennsylvania families pay the college’s rate unless a grant or a local decision covers it.

Can a school refuse to offer dual enrollment?

A school entity that enrolls secondary students has to hold at least one agreement. The only exemption in section 1525(f) is for an entity that does not enroll secondary students at all. Holding an agreement and paying for the courses are separate questions.

Does the law protect how the course is weighted?

Section 1525(d) requires a school entity to weight dual credit in a manner similar to Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, or Cambridge advanced courses, and it says academic and technical courses alike. A grading decision that treats a college course as ordinary has a citation working against it.

Where can a parent read the agreement?

Agreements go to the department rather than to a public lookup, so the practical route is the counselor or the district office. The circular requires the cost of tuition, fees, and related course materials to be stated in the document.

What changed in 2023?

Act 52 added section 1525.1, retroactive to July 1, 2023, allowing a district to count a dual credit student in average daily membership despite the part-time attendance regulation at 22 Pa. Code 11.5.