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50-State Comparison: Dual/Concurrent Enrollment Policies

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On this page

Dual enrollment is not one program, it is roughly sixty of them, and this is the reference work that keeps track. The Education Commission of the States reads the statute, regulation, and board rule in every state and sorts what it finds into program basics, access, courses, finance, and quality. Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia have a state-level policy, and twenty-eight of them run more than one program. The comparison is the fastest way to see that the answer to almost any dual enrollment question changes at the state line.

Who published it
ECS, 2022
What it is
Data reference
Where the data comes from
National

What it found

  • 48 states and the District of Columbia have a state-level dual enrollment policy, and 28 states have established more than one program.
  • 41 states set student eligibility criteria in policy, and 33 of those set a grade level requirement.
  • 26 states require students to meet the postsecondary institution’s own entrance requirements, and 19 require a recommendation from a school official.
  • 27 states require that students and parents be notified that the program exists.

What it does not show

  • It records what state policy says, not what a district or a college does with it.
  • The policy data were last updated in May 2022, and several states have changed their programs since.

How the study was done

A scan of statute, regulation, and board policy on dual and concurrent enrollment in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, current as of May 2022.

Why this matters to a family

Whether your teen qualifies and who pays the bill is decided at the state line, which is why two families in different states get opposite answers to the same question.

Sources

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 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.

Reading the evidence before a decision?

Save this page and it sits on your own My FastTrack page alongside your state's deadlines and the tools. Deciding which of these findings apply to one teen, in one state, aiming at particular colleges, is what a roadmap engagement settles.

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