Dual credit in West Virginia: the law behind it

The statute

W. Va. Code § 18B-14-4

Dual enrollment pilot program established; definitions; funding; annual reporting . Added by House Bill 2005, 2023 regular session.

The section that created LevelUpWV and drew its boundaries. Its definition of an eligible student reaches any secondary school student, naming homeschool, charter school, microschool, learning pod, and private school students, which makes this one of the wider eligibility clauses in the country. Its definition of an eligible course requires credit toward both high school completion and a postsecondary certificate or degree, and rules out adult education applied academics, developmental education, physical education, and recreation and leisure studies. Subsection (b) confines the pilot to designated career pathways: direct care health professions, information technology, science and technology and engineering and math fields, education, advanced manufacturing, welding and fabrication, construction, agriculture, and any other program the Department of Commerce finds meets a workforce need. Subsection (c) has the Commission or the Council pay tuition and academic fees straight to the institution, and subsection (d) is the authority for the rule below.

The administrative rule

133CSR19

Higher Education Policy Commission, Series 19, Dual Enrollment Pilot Program . Effective March 29, 2024.

The rule that turns the statute into obligations a university owes a high school student. Section 7 states that participation is at no cost to the student and sets the reimbursement at $75 per credit hour while funds are available. Section 6 limits the pilot to juniors and seniors unless the approved pathway starts earlier, bars a university from setting a higher admission standard for these students than for anyone else or from varying the standard by grade level or age, and bars it from displacing a student already enrolled in a course. Section 8 requires an assigned academic advisor, a meeting with that advisor before the university’s withdrawal date so the student can weigh dropping the course, and a roster and withdrawal date sent to the high school counselor. Section 4 keeps Advanced Placement, the College Level Examination Program, articulated credit, and the state EDGE program outside the pilot. The rule terminates on August 1, 2027.

W. Va. 126CSR42, Policy 2510

Board of Education, Assuring the Quality of Education: Regulations for Education Programs . Effective July 1, 2024.

The school-side rule, and the one that decides whether a college course counts toward a diploma. County boards have to adopt a policy allowing students to earn credit for college courses taken outside the school setting, and if dual credit courses are used to meet graduation requirements, the county policy and its alignment documentation go to the Department of Education for review and to the Board of Education for approval. Section 6.4 lets a student substitute a dual credit or college course for a listed course in a program of study under that county policy, with a parent or guardian signature on the personalized education plan, and states that a student may not receive dual credit for an Advanced Placement course. Section 9.1 requires counties to issue weighted grades for dual credit courses that carry high school credit.

Agency guidance

Policy 2510 Best Practices

Department of Education, high school Policy 2510 best practices, September 2025 .

The department’s plain reading of its own rule, written for the people who build a schedule. It repeats the county policy requirement, says the school or county has to make sure the college syllabus aligns to the high school course the credit is awarded for, and requires students to have the chance to master both the high school standards and the college content. It also notes that counties update their dual credit course offerings each year in a state application, which is the list a counselor is working from when they say a course is or is not available.

How it got here

House Bill 2005, passed in the 2023 regular session, added Section 18B-14-4 and created the four-year pilot. The Higher Education Policy Commission filed its implementing rule, Series 19, on February 29, 2024, effective March 29, 2024, replacing an earlier Series 19 on early enrollment courses that dated from 2016. Both the rule and the pilot carry end dates, the rule on August 1, 2027, and the statute requires the chancellor to recommend by then whether the program should continue.

Who administers it

These are the offices that answer a question about West 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.

• West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission · Adopts the pilot rule, reimburses the institutions, and reports to the Legislature each December.
• West Virginia Department of Education, content standards and policies · Publishes Policy 2510 and reviews the county dual credit policies behind graduation credit.
• West Virginia Legislature, Chapter 18B Article 14 · Where the statute and its bill history, including House Bill 2005, are published.

Frequently asked

Does the law make dual credit free?

For an eligible course on an approved pathway, the rule says participation is at no cost to the participating student, and the Commission reimburses the institution $75 per credit hour as long as funds are available. The statute covers tuition and academic fees, which leaves books and materials outside it.

Which students does the statute cover?

Any secondary school student who meets the criteria, with the definition naming homeschool, charter school, microschool, learning pod, and private school students alongside public school students. The rule then limits the pilot to juniors and seniors unless the approved pathway requires an earlier start.

Can a college hold these students to a tougher admission standard?

No. Section 6.2 of the rule bars a university from setting admission criteria higher for pilot students than for its other students, and from applying different standards based on grade level or age. Once a student is enrolled in a course, the university may not displace them except for conduct or academic reasons.

Does a dual credit course have to count toward a West Virginia diploma?

Only under a county policy the state has approved. Policy 2510 requires each county board to adopt one, and requires the county policy and its alignment documentation to clear the Department of Education and the Board of Education before dual credit courses substitute for graduation requirements.

When does the program end?

Rule 133CSR19 terminates on August 1, 2027, and the statute frames the program as a four-year pilot with an annual report to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability and a recommendation on whether to continue.