Dual Enrollment in Vermont: the law behind it

The statute

16 V.S.A. § 944

Dual Enrollment Program . Subsections (b), (d), (f), (g), and (h).

The section that decides almost everything a family asks about. Subsection (b)(1) opens the program to a Vermont resident who has completed grade 10 and has no diploma, in a public school, a career technical center, a designated or tuitioned approved independent school, the Adult Diploma Program, or home study, provided dual enrollment is in the personalized learning plan and both the school and the college find the student prepared. Subsection (b)(2) gives that student up to two courses before the end of secondary school with no tuition charged to the student or the parent. Subsection (d)(2) requires the Vermont secondary school to accept postsecondary credit from a Vermont public institution toward its own graduation requirements, so the double count is a duty rather than a negotiation. Subsection (f) sets the rates the State pays, and subsections (g) and (h) preserve a district’s freedom to contract with a private or out-of-state college on its own terms and to pay for more than two courses out of its own budget.

16 V.S.A. § 941

Flexible Pathways Initiative .

The frame everything else hangs on, and the source of the personalized learning plan requirement families run into first. It directs the Secretary to publish guidance and model documents for districts, requires an ongoing personalized learning planning process for every student in grades 7 through 12, and lists dual enrollment among the flexible pathways a district has to make available. The section was added in 2013 and amended in 2024 and again effective July 1, 2025.

16 V.S.A. § 946

Early college .

The other door, for a senior who wants a full year rather than two courses. For each grade 12 Vermont student enrolled, the Secretary pays 87 percent of the base education amount directly to the participating institution, which accepts it as full payment of tuition. The student enrolls full time, is not concurrently enrolled in the district’s secondary school, and is left out of the district’s average daily membership for that year. A postsecondary institution may not accept a student into early college unless it was an element of the personalized learning plan.

The administrative rule

State Board Rule 2120.2

Series 2000, Education Quality Standards, Flexible Pathways . Rules 2120.2 and 2120.4.

The State Board rule that turns an option into an obligation for the school. Rule 2120.2 requires schools to give students the opportunity to learn through flexible and multiple pathways, naming dual enrollment and early college among them, under the supervision of an appropriately licensed educator and aligned to state standards. Rule 2120.4 carries the personalized learning plan the statute and the voucher process both depend on. A district that treats dual enrollment as a favor rather than an offering is working against this rule.

Agency guidance

Dual Enrollment Program Manual

Agency of Education, Dual Enrollment Program Manual .

The operating document, revised September 8, 2021, and the place the voucher rules are actually written down. Each eligible student gets two state-funded vouchers; each voucher covers tuition for a course of up to four credits and cannot stretch to a course worth more than four; materials fees and textbook costs sit outside it. Remedial coursework draws no funding, an Advanced Placement course qualifies only if the college designates it as credit-bearing, and a course has to appear in the college catalog. Vouchers are granted by trimester and unused ones are voided at the end of each trimester, and a voucher spent on a course a student withdraws from after the drop and add period is gone. Home study students have their accounts approved by the Agency rather than by a high school, and their parent or guardian provides the plan approval.

Dual Enrollment system account and vouchers

Agency of Education, account and voucher process .

The two-step process a student has to complete in order, and the step families miss. A student creates an account in the state system, the secondary school coordinator approves that account once, and only then can the student request a voucher for a named course. Starting the college application before the account is approved is the common way a term gets missed.

How it got here

The Flexible Pathways Initiative was created by Act 77 of 2013, which added section 941 and the statewide Dual Enrollment Program in section 944. Section 946 came later, added by Act 49 of 2017 and effective that May. Section 941 has been amended twice since, in 2024 and effective July 1, 2025.

Who administers it

These are the offices that answer a question about Vermont 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.

• Vermont Agency of Education, Dual Enrollment · Manages the program, publishes the manual, and pays the participating colleges.
• Agency of Education, account and vouchers · The portal where a student creates an account and requests each voucher.
• Agency of Education, Early College · The separate full-year program for grade 12 under 16 V.S.A. 946.
• Vermont General Assembly, Title 16 chapter 23 · Where sections 941, 944, and 946 are published with their amendment histories.

Frequently asked

Where does the four-credit limit on a voucher come from?

From the Agency of Education program manual rather than the statute. The manual states that each voucher covers tuition for a course of up to four credits and that a single voucher cannot cover a course over four credits, which is why a five-credit course is a problem worth catching before registration.

Does the statute require the high school to count the course toward graduation?

For a Vermont public postsecondary institution, yes. Section 944(d)(2) requires the secondary school to accept postsecondary credit awarded for a dual enrollment course as meeting its graduation requirements.

Can a district pay for more than two courses?

Subsection (h) says nothing in the section limits a district’s authority to pay for more than the two courses the statute funds, while state payment stops at two. Subsection (g) also lets a district contract with a private or out-of-state college on negotiated terms.

What do the vouchers not cover?

Materials fees and textbook costs, remedial coursework, courses outside the college catalog, and an Advanced Placement course the college has not designated as credit-bearing. A voucher used on a course the student withdraws from after the drop and add period counts as spent.

How do home study students get approved?

The Agency of Education verifies the account rather than the high school of residency, and the student needs a current enrollment notice on file before a voucher is issued. Dual enrollment also has to appear in the minimum course of study, which serves as the personalized learning plan.