On this page
Running Start is built from a run of statute plus one chapter of rule. RCW 28A.600.300 through .400 create the program and cap it at the equivalent of two academic years. WAC 392-169 is the rule three agencies wrote jointly, and OSPI publishes the guidance districts and colleges work from day to day.
For what the program costs and who is eligible, start at Running Start in Washington. This page is the paper trail underneath it.
The statute
RCW 28A.600.300
Running start program, definition .
The opening section names the program and, more usefully for a family, names the colleges. Community and technical colleges are in by default, along with public tribal colleges accredited in Washington. Central Washington, Eastern Washington, Washington State, and The Evergreen State College are in only if their own governing boards decided to participate. A four-year campus turning a Running Start student away is usually exercising that choice rather than misreading the law.
RCW 28A.600.330
Maximum terms of enrollment for high school credit .
The ceiling on the program. A student who starts in grade eleven may not take Running Start courses for both high school and college credit beyond the equivalent of two academic years of coursework. This section is what turns Running Start into a two-year plan, and it is the reason the decision about when to start belongs in 10th grade rather than in the summer before senior year.
RCW 28A.600.390
Running start program, rules .
The authority behind the rule below, and a piece of drafting worth knowing about. It hands rulemaking jointly to the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, and the Student Achievement Council, and instructs that the rules encourage maximum use of the program and not narrow the enrollment options the statute opened. A rule read as shrinking the program is being read against its own authorising section.
The administrative rule
WAC 392-169
Special service programs, Running Start program .
The operating chapter: how enrollment is counted, how money moves between a district and a college, and what the paperwork between them has to contain. Families meet this chapter through the enrollment verification form and through the full-time equivalent arithmetic that decides how many combined high school and college credits a student can carry in a term before somebody starts paying out of pocket.
Agency guidance
Running Start frequently asked questions, August 2023
OSPI, Running Start FAQ .
OSPI answering the questions districts and colleges kept asking, and the document to open first when a charge is in dispute. It covers what the state pays for, what a college may still charge a Running Start student, how books and transportation are treated, and how the enrollment limit lands in practice across a high school schedule and a college one.
Running Start technical guide
OSPI, Running Start: A Technical Guide for Enrollment and Reporting .
Written for registrars rather than parents, which is why it helps when a schedule is being built. It shows how a student’s combined enrollment is reported and funded, so a counselor who says a particular course load will not work can point at the page that explains why, and a family can see whether the limit is a state one or a local scheduling one.
Who administers it
These are the offices that answer a question about Washington 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.
- Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, dual credit programs · Publishes the Running Start guidance and administers the K-12 side.
- State Board for Community and Technical Colleges · Shares the rulemaking and runs the colleges where Running Start happens.
- SBCTC, CTE dual credit guidebook · How the career and technical side of dual credit runs inside the colleges.
Frequently asked
Which statute holds the two-year limit?
RCW 28A.600.330. A student entering Running Start in grade eleven may not take courses for combined high school and college credit beyond the equivalent of two academic years.
Do four-year universities have to take Running Start students?
No. RCW 28A.600.300 names four public universities as participants only if their governing boards decide to be. Community and technical colleges do not have that choice.
Who wrote WAC 392-169?
Three agencies jointly, under RCW 28A.600.390: the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, and the Student Achievement Council.
Where does the credit limit families run into come from?
From the funding arithmetic in WAC 392-169 rather than from a course count in statute. The OSPI FAQ and technical guide show how a combined high school and college load is measured against it.
Sources
- RCW 28A.600.300, Running start program, definition
- RCW 28A.600.330, maximum terms of enrollment
- RCW 28A.600.390, Running start program, rules
- WAC 392-169, Running Start program
- OSPI, Running Start FAQ, August 2023
- OSPI, Running Start technical guide
- OSPI, dual credit programs
Rules change. These were checked September 2026. Confirm the current version with your school before you act on any of it.
Reading the Washington rules with a decision in front of you?
Save this page and the citations sit next to the state's deadlines on your own My FastTrack page; the Washington guide saves separately. 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.