Guides · State programs · By FastTrack Advising

Early College Credit and Start College Now in Wisconsin, explained for parents

Published September 13, 2026 · Updated September 17, 2026

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Wisconsin runs two dual enrollment programs. Start College Now sends juniors and seniors to the state's technical colleges, with the district paying tuition, course fees, and required books. The Early College Credit Program sends them to University of Wisconsin campuses and private colleges, with the district paying 75 percent of tuition and the state 25 percent. Applications are due March 1 for fall, October 1 for spring, and February 1 for summer.

Who: Public school juniors and seniors in good standing, with school and parent approval
Start College Now: Technical colleges; district pays tuition, fees, and required books
Early College Credit Program: UW campuses and private colleges; district pays 75%, state 25%
Minimum: Districts must fund at least 18 credits per student across both programs
Deadlines: March 1 for fall, October 1 for spring, February 1 for summer
The law: Wis. Stat. § 118.55 and 5 more

Which program is my teen in?

It depends on where the course is. A course at one of the sixteen Wisconsin technical colleges falls under Start College Now. A course at a UW campus or a participating private college falls under the Early College Credit Program, usually shortened to ECCP. The rules are similar but the money moves differently, so it is worth knowing which one you're in.

Both are for juniors and seniors who have finished 10th grade, are in good academic standing with no disciplinary or attendance issues, and have approval from the high school and a parent.

What does it cost?

For Start College Now, the district pays tuition, course fees, and required books. For ECCP, the district pays 75 percent of tuition and the state pays the remaining 25 percent; books and fees follow the district's policy. Districts must fund at least 18 credits per student across the two programs combined, and can choose to fund more.

Districts are only required to pay for courses not comparable to ones the high school already offers, and if your teen fails or drops a course, the district can require the family to repay what it spent. Both of those are district decisions, so they are on the list of questions below.

The March 1 and October 1 deadlines

The application to the high school is due March 1 for a fall course, October 1 for spring, and February 1 for summer. Those are the dates the district uses to decide funding, and they don't bend. March 1 is the date we tell Wisconsin families to work backward from, because a family that first hears about the program in August has already missed fall and is looking at spring at the earliest.

Does the credit transfer?

Within the University of Wisconsin System, credit from a UW campus moves well, and the system publishes transfer equivalencies through Transferology. Technical college credit is more mixed: general-education courses from a technical college often transfer to UW campuses under specific agreements, and program-specific courses often don't. Check the exact course before choosing the technical college route for transfer purposes.

Where did the Early College Credit Program come from?

The program has had three names. It entered the 1991 state budget as the "postsecondary enrollment options program," a near word-for-word copy of Minnesota's 1985 title, and passed without recorded debate. It became Youth Options in 1997, when technical colleges were added on a separate track, and the Early College Credit Program in 2017. From the start Wisconsin made districts pay tuition and book costs directly to the college rather than deducting the money at the state level, so every participating student shows up as a line on the district's budget. That is worth knowing before you ask a district to approve a course, because the cost is visible to the people deciding.

Questions to ask your counselor

Bring these to the first meeting. The answers decide most of the plan.

Is the course my teen wants comparable to one the high school already offers, which would let the district decline to pay?
How many of the 18 minimum credits has the district already funded for my teen?
Which of the three deadlines applies to the term my teen wants?
Does the district charge families back for a failed or dropped course?
What does the district pay for books and fees under ECCP?

Frequently asked

Is the Early College Credit Program free?

The district pays 75 percent of tuition and the state pays 25 percent for ECCP courses. Districts must fund at least 18 credits per student across ECCP and Start College Now combined.

What is the difference between Start College Now and ECCP?

Start College Now covers courses at Wisconsin technical colleges, with the district paying tuition, fees, and books. ECCP covers UW campuses and private colleges, with the cost split between district and state.

When is the Wisconsin dual enrollment deadline?

March 1 for fall, October 1 for spring, and February 1 for summer, submitted to the high school.

What grade can you start Start College Now or ECCP?

Junior year, after completing 10th grade, with school and parent approval.

Does the district have to pay if the high school offers a similar course?

No. Districts are only required to pay for courses that are not comparable to ones the high school already offers, so ask whether the course your teen wants is considered comparable before applying.

Sources

Waukesha County Technical College, Start College Now · eligibility, cost, and deadlines
University of Wisconsin, Early College Credit Program guide · the 75/25 split and the deadlines
Lodi School District, ECCP and Start College Now comparison chart · the 18-credit minimum and the comparable-course rule
Wisconsin Statutes, Chapter 118 (including the former section 118.37 postsecondary enrollment options program)

Rules change. These were checked September 2026. Confirm the current version with your school before you act on any of it.

About FastTrack Advising

FastTrack Advising. FastTrack Advising works on dual enrollment and nothing else. We help families choose college courses a high schooler can take now that will still count toward the degree later, we check every course against the transfer rules of the colleges they name, and we stay in the picture through registration so the plan gets used. When the answer for a student is to wait a term, we say that too.

Other state programs

All state programs

PSEO (Minnesota) Free tuition, books, and required fees for 10th through 12th graders at about 60 colleges, with a May 30 notice deadline that many families miss.
Running Start (Washington) Tuition-free college courses for juniors and seniors at Washington's community and technical colleges and a few universities. Families still pay fees and books, and the student gets to campus on their own.
College Credit Plus (Ohio) Open to 7th through 12th graders, free at Ohio public colleges for public school students, with an April 1 letter of intent and a 30-credit annual cap.
Dual credit (Texas) Free at most large community colleges, and capped at $60.10 a credit hour in tuition at FAST colleges. Students with free or reduced lunch in the last five years pay nothing there.
Dual enrollment (Florida) Tuition-free by state law, with a 3.0 unweighted GPA and a qualifying PERT, SAT, or ACT score to get in. Public school students get textbooks covered too.
Dual enrollment (California) Community college courses for 9th through 12th graders through a district partnership called CCAP, with no enrollment fees and no textbook costs, capped at 15 units a term.
Dual Enrollment (Georgia) State funding covers tuition, fees, and books for 30 semester hours, mostly for juniors and seniors. After 30 hours the family pays the college's rate, and ninth graders are outside the program entirely.
Career & College Promise (North Carolina) Tuition paid by the state at community colleges for juniors and seniors with a 2.8 unweighted GPA. Whether the district covers fees and books, and who drives, varies by district.
Concurrent Enrollment (Colorado) Open to 9th through 12th graders with an approved academic plan. The district pays tuition at the community college rate; books and fees are usually the family's, and so is getting to campus.
Dual credit (Illinois) Governed by the Dual Credit Quality Act and a model agreement between each district and college. Whether your teen pays depends on that agreement.
Dual credit (Indiana) Every Indiana high school has to offer dual credit. Priority courses at public colleges cost at most $25 a credit hour, and nothing for students on free or reduced lunch.
Dual enrollment (Michigan) Grades 9 through 12, for courses the high school doesn't offer. The district pays tuition up to a state-set share; anything above it, plus books, is yours. Ten courses across high school.
Dual Enrollment (Alabama) Rising 10th through 12th graders with a 2.5 GPA, at $133 a credit hour plus fees, with a state scholarship that covers some courses when the legislature funds it. No credit cap at all.
Dual Enrollment (Tennessee) The lottery-funded Dual Enrollment Grant pays up to $620.55 for each of the first five courses, then much less. One June 30 application covers the whole academic year.
Dual enrollment (Pennsylvania) Every school entity has to hold at least one dual credit agreement, and none of them has to pay for the courses. The agreement states the cost, and published rates run from $83.50 to $230 a credit.
Dual enrollment (Virginia) Juniors and seniors at the community colleges. Courses on a College and Career Ready Virginia pathway cost the family nothing, and courses outside it are billed at the college rate.
Dual enrollment (Arizona) A community college course taught inside the high school during the school day. Concurrent enrollment is the separate arrangement where the student goes to the college. Price is set district by district.
Dual enrollment (South Carolina) College courses through the state's 16 technical colleges, priced by each college and district, with Lottery Tuition Assistance covering part of the tuition once a student carries six credit hours in a term.
Dual enrollment (Louisiana) A Board of Regents floor for eligibility, four ways to clear it, and a bill the district assembles out of state and federal funds. TOPS Tech Early Start covers career courses for juniors and seniors.
Dual enrollment (Maryland) The Blueprint moved the bill off families for students who meet the College and Career Readiness Standard, and set a floor of two covered courses each fall and spring. Counties add their own terms on top.
Concurrent Enrollment (Utah) College courses for $5 a credit hour, taught mostly inside the high school by a college-approved teacher. Each college sets its own admission bar, and books are still yours.
Concurrent Enrollment (Oklahoma) Juniors and seniors get tuition waived by the State Regents, 18 credit hours a year for seniors and 9 for juniors. Fees and books stay with the family, and each college sets its own entrance bar.
Dual enrollment (New York) No single statewide program. CUNY's College Now is free for New York City public school students, SUNY campuses price their own, and a new state rule makes districts file their partnership agreements in 2026.
Dual enrollment (Massachusetts) Two state programs. CDEP waives tuition and fees at public campuses for eligible high schoolers, mostly in the spring, and designated Early College builds the courses into the school day at no cost.
Concurrent Enrollment (Iowa) College courses run through a district contract with a community college, at no tuition cost to the family. Iowa also runs PSEO, and the two programs treat a failed course differently.
Concurrent Credit (Arkansas) State policy bars a college from billing the family for tuition, fees, or materials on a concurrent credit course. A 2025 scholarship replaced the old Concurrent Challenge grant and pays $65 a credit hour.
Dual Enrollment and Dual Credit (Mississippi) Mississippi separates the two terms in statute. Dual enrollment earns college credit only; dual credit earns high school credit too, and the distinction decides whether the course helps your teen graduate.
Dual Enrollment (Nebraska) Nebraska has no single statewide program, so the price depends on which college your high school partners with. The ACE scholarship covers tuition and mandatory fees for students who qualify on income.
Dual Credit (New Mexico) A statewide program where the college charges no tuition and the school district buys the books, though the tuition waiver lives in rule rather than in statute. Families pay special course fees and transportation.
Early College (Maine) Maine pays college tuition for high schoolers through the Aspirations Program, and the class of 2027 forward gets 18 tuition-free credits for the whole of high school.
Dual and Concurrent Enrollment (New Hampshire) The statute funds up to four courses in each of grades 10, 11, and 12. The community college scholarship covers two a year, and most of those courses are taught inside the high school.
Dual Enrollment (Vermont) Two vouchers, each covering tuition on a college course of up to four credits, for any Vermont student who has finished grade 10, including home study students.
Dual credit (West Virginia) A state-funded pilot pays tuition and academic fees for courses on approved career pathways, for public, private, charter, microschool, learning pod, and homeschool students alike.
Dual enrollment (Delaware) No statewide program makes it free. State regulation puts the policy on every district and charter, bars turning a student away over money, and most courses run through Delaware Tech.
Dual enrollment (New Jersey) No statewide free tuition. Public colleges must sign dual enrollment agreements and districts choose whether to join, so the price and the eligibility rules come from your own county college.
Dual enrollment (Connecticut) A board policy rather than a statute sets the rules. Concurrent credit courses are capped at $50 a credit, CT State covers two courses a semester for qualifying juniors and seniors, and UConn ECE has run since 1955.
Accelerated learning (Oregon) Oregon calls the whole category accelerated learning. Dual credit at the high school is free or close to it at most community colleges, and Expanded Options moves a junior or senior onto a campus at no charge to the student.
Dual enrollment (Nevada) Every district has to run a dual credit program, and no statute says who pays for it, so the price runs from $25 a credit at the high school to $154 on a university campus.
Concurrent enrollment (Kansas) Concurrent enrollment means the college course is taught at the high school, and it is not free by default. Excel in CTE pays tuition for approved technical courses, and a district board may cover the rest if it chooses to.
Dual Credit (Kentucky) A published $99 ceiling on what a college may charge a high school student, a statutory formula that reads differently, and a scholarship that funds two general education courses across junior and senior year.
Dual Credit (Missouri) Missouri draws a line between dual credit and dual enrollment based on who teaches, and the price and the GPA tier both follow from that.
Dual Credit (Idaho) Every Idaho public school student gets $4,625 to spend on college credit between grades 7 and 12, and the fund pays $75 a credit, which is what colleges charge.
Dual Credit (North Dakota) Tuition is the family's here, at a reduced rate that changes with who teaches the course, and Bank of North Dakota covers two courses a year for students on free or reduced lunch.
Dual Credit (South Dakota) Juniors and seniors split a deeply reduced tuition rate with the state, at $80.37 a credit hour, under a statute with a hard rule about what happens if a course goes badly.
Dual and Concurrent Enrollment (Rhode Island) A state fund covers tuition and fees for part-time college courses at the three public institutions, and the statute behind it caps that fund at whatever the budget appropriates each year.
Early College and Running Start (Hawaii) Two programs run off one statute that never says who pays. Early College comes to the high school and the school usually covers it; Running Start puts the student on a UH campus at that campus’s published rate.
Dual Enrollment (Alaska) No state program and no state money behind it. What a college course costs an Alaska family depends on which University of Alaska campus offers it and whether the school district signed an agreement.
Dual Enrollment (Montana) The first two courses or six credits carry no tuition anywhere in the Montana University System, fees are waived, and everything after that costs half of resident two-year tuition, around $60 a credit.
Dual and Concurrent Enrollment (Wyoming) State law bars a college from charging a participating student for textbooks, materials, student services, or any other fee, and from 2026-27 the state starts reimbursing districts for what it costs them.

Planning Early College Credit and Start College Now for your teen?

Save this page and the state's deadlines show up on your own My FastTrack page, next to the tools. The law page saves separately, for the day a school gives an answer that does not match the statute. 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.

Save to My FastTrack