Dual enrollment in Virginia: the law behind it

The statute

Va. Code section 22.1-237.2

College and Career Ready Virginia Program . Enacted 2024, cc. 647 and 684.

The section behind the word free. It establishes the program jointly under the Board of Education and the State Board for Community Colleges, and states that neither a comprehensive community college nor a local school board shall charge qualified high school students tuition or fees for enrolling and participating in program courses. Payment runs from a fund, disbursed by the State Treasurer and Comptroller on written request from the Chancellor and the Superintendent, which is how a course reaches a family with no invoice attached.

Va. Code section 22.1-237.3

College and Career Ready Virginia Program, transfer of credit .

The transfer promise in one clause. Credit earned by finishing Passport Program and Uniform Certificate of General Studies Program courses through College and Career Ready Virginia shall transfer to each public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth. Private colleges in Virginia and every college outside it evaluate the work under their own rules, so a plan aimed at one of those needs the receiving college’s answer in writing.

Va. Code section 23.1-907

Passport Program and Uniform Certificate of General Studies Program . Enacted 2005, c. 818; amended through 2024, cc. 647 and 684.

The structure a Virginia course plan is built on. The community college system, working with the Council and the public institutions, has to maintain a one-semester Passport Program of 15 credit hours sitting inside a one-year Uniform Certificate of General Studies Program of 30, with those courses transferable and satisfying a lower division general education requirement at any public institution. The same section tells each community college to develop agreements with the public high schools it serves, so a student can finish an associate degree, the Passport, or the certificate alongside a diploma.

Va. Code section 23.1-2904

State Board for Community Colleges, duties . Subdivision 7.

Where course quality is assigned to somebody. Subdivision 7 directs the State Board, working with the Council, the Department of Education, and the Virginia Association of School Superintendents, to develop and implement a plan holding dual enrollment courses taught in local school divisions to the same standards of quality, consistency, and review as any other course in the system, and to set criteria for transferability. A course taught in a high school building is meant to be the same course, and this is the provision that says so.

The agreement between the school and the college

Virginia Plan for Dual Enrollment

Virginia Department of Education and Virginia Community College System, dual enrollment .

The statewide framework the local contracts are written against, agreed between the Department of Education and the community college system. It covers student eligibility, admissions, which courses qualify, accreditation compliance, how credit is awarded, how faculty are selected, tuition and fees, and evaluation. The document a family will actually be shown is the local version: an annually renewable agreement between a school division and its community college.

Agency guidance

High school dual enrollment

Virginia Community College System, dual enrollment for high school students .

The system’s plain-language account of who may enroll, what a College and Career Ready Virginia pathway covers, and what a course outside that pathway costs. It is also where the system answers the credit limit question, and where a family can see which pathway a course sits on before registering, which is the difference between a no-cost term and a billed one.

Homeschool and private school students

Virginia Department of Education, dual enrollment for homeschool and private school students .

The department’s separate page for families outside a public school division, who reach dual enrollment through the college rather than through a counselor’s referral. Reading it before contacting a college saves a round of phone calls, because the paperwork and the point of entry differ from the public school route.

How it got here

The Passport and certificate structure dates to 2005 and has been amended repeatedly since, most recently in 2024. The no-cost part is newer: chapters 647 and 684 of the 2024 acts created College and Career Ready Virginia and added the sections barring tuition and fees for a qualified student. Virginia material written before 2024 describes a program where every family paid, which is why the date on a school handout matters here.

Who administers it

These are the offices that answer a question about Virginia 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.

• Virginia Department of Education, dual enrollment · Runs the school division side of College and Career Ready Virginia and publishes the plan.
• Virginia Community College System · Enrolls the students, builds the Passport and certificate, and signs the agreements.
• VDOE, College and Career Ready Virginia · The program page a family checks to see which courses carry no charge.
• Virginia Law Portal, Code of Virginia · Where the sections above are published with their amendment history.

Frequently asked

Which section makes the courses free?

Section 22.1-237.2. It says a comprehensive community college and a local school board may not charge qualified high school students tuition or fees for enrolling in and participating in program courses. The money moves from a state fund to the college instead.

Does the law guarantee the credit transfers?

Inside Virginia’s public system, yes. Section 22.1-237.3 says Passport and Uniform Certificate of General Studies credit earned through the program transfers to each public institution of higher education. Private and out-of-state colleges decide for themselves.

How many credits are in the Passport and the certificate?

Section 23.1-907 sets the Passport at 15 credit hours and the Uniform Certificate of General Studies at 30, with the Passport sitting inside the certificate. Both are meant to satisfy a lower division general education requirement at any public institution.

Is a high school course the same as the campus course?

That is the intent. Section 23.1-2904(7) requires the State Board to hold dual enrollment courses taught by local school divisions to the same quality, consistency, and review standards as courses taught anywhere else in the system.

Is there an administrative rule for this?

None specific to dual enrollment turned up. The statutes do the work, and the operating detail sits in the statewide plan between the Department of Education and the community college system plus each division’s local agreement.