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Research on Higher Education- The Benefits of Dual Enrollment

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Colin Wright

Professor Weaver

English 1102

29 April 2022

The Benefits of Dual Enrollment 

For many high school students, the transition from high school to college can be a difficult one. However, there are systems in place that can help make this transition into higher education easier with a bit of a boost. Dual enrollment is an amazing opportunity offered to students across the United States. Dual enrollment is a program where students can take college classes at a college campus while still being enrolled in high school (“Dual Enrollment”). Dual enrollment is an alternative option to Advanced Placement (AP) classes offered inside the high school and International Baccalaureate (IB) programs or can be taken in addition to them (Partridge and Schaller and Berry and Routon). This is made possible by school districts affiliating with colleges in the same area (“Dual Enrollment”). Students can earn college credits, get the feel of college life, and have an educational boost for college all before they graduate from high school (“Dual Enrollment Benefits for Students & Parents”).  

The transition from high school to college can be intimidating. With dual enrollment, high school students are exposed to college life while still in high school (Iland). Students can have a slower and easier transition with the support of their parents, high school teachers, and college staff. Many students do not have the luxury of getting this kind of backbone of support when they leave for college. Things as simple as using a college library, walking around campus to classes, and being in a college classroom with college professors and students all help the student adjust (An). College is different in many ways from high school. The way classes are taught, the way assignments are displayed, and the communication from student to professor can all take students by surprise. It is typical for dual enrollment students to not attend the college they are taking their college classes at. However, they can still get the experience of taking public transportation by themselves and traveling to a college environment from their home environment to a whole new college environment that can be very different from what the student is used to (Iland). It has been found that dual enrollment boosts a student’s success and puts them at an upper hand advantage because of the changes that are made in their academic life. Researchers have found that dual enrollment students have an improved rigor in their preparation for college (Iland), and better study methods after being exposed to different ways of retaining information than their high school acquaintances which leads to better study habits, and makes the student overall more motivated and confident to succeed in school (An). Along with dual enrollment’s educational advantages, it also gives students a social advantage by speaking to other college students in collaborative projects and communicating with their professors about the class that they are in (An). This differs from communicating with high school teachers because a student’s high school education is typically organized by their parents or guardian, while college life is much more independent. Students who are not in dual enrollment have no exposure to any of this. For example, dually enrolled students are 3.4 times less likely to take remediation in college (Grubb), 2.5 times more likely to graduate in five years (Grubb), and students who take dual enrollment are proven to be more likely to graduate from college than those who were never dually enrolled (Lee). These statistics starting to show especially over the past several years, with dual enrollment increasing by nearly 90 percent in popularity among high school students (Grubb).  

A common misconception about dual enrollment is that it is only available to a select few wealthy students. When in reality, dual enrollment is available to any student from any background who matches the requirements in school performance (“High Schoolers Can Get a Jumpstart on College”), and in some cases can even be free of cost (Partridge and Schaller and Berry and Routon). For students of lower economic ability, high school guidance counselors can help students fill out paperwork for free dual enrollment (Partridge and Schaller and Berry and Routon). Many low-class families have first-generation children in education and these high schoolers will also be first-generation in higher education. Taking dual enrollment will help bridge this gap between what the family is uncertain of since it will be their first experience with it (Partridge and Schaller and Berry and Routon). Even though dual enrollment is available for students of any background, race, gender identity, etc., it is still fairly selective. There are criteria that students have to match to be able to be considered for dual enrollment. These requirements include being a junior or senior enrolled in their high school for the upcoming school year (“High Schoolers Can Get a Jumpstart on College”), a minimum of a 2.5 GPA (this may vary depending on the school), a completed dual enrollment application, having no records of violence, and having no serious broken code of conduct rules for their respective high school (“High Schoolers Can Get a Jumpstart on College”). The cost for taking a dual enrollment course is actually far cheaper than it would be to take the exact same course in college (“High Schoolers Can Get a Jumpstart on College”).  

Dual enrollment allows students to explore what they want to do in the future before students who are not in dual enrollment (Iland). This ability for exploration saves money and will create more certainty about what classes they want to take in college (Gordon). For example, if a student wanted to major in mathematics took a dual enrollment course for math and English, and discovered that they actually enjoyed their English course more than their mathematics course, this would provide some extra knowledge of what classes they want to take in their freshman year and what major to declare. If this same student did not take dual enrollment and went into college as a mathematics major, they would discover they wanted to do something else later on, wasting time and setting them back in their education. This can prevent redemption in college, which would require students to take an extra course to make up for a course they previously failed (Gordon). If the student already has the knowledge of what their strong suits are in college-level classes, it can further propel them into a more successful college learning experience (Gordon). Dual enrollment can also help students graduate early (Gordon). Since their dual enrollment course is getting them extra college credits before even going to college, this gives them a head start in getting these credits (“Dual Enrollment Benefits for Students & Parents”). Many of their required courses will already be complete, especially if they are also enrolled in Advanced Placement, or “AP,” classes. If a student wishes to have a double major, this can also give them that opportunity (Gordon).  

Given the many benefits of dual enrollment, from getting the experience of college living to higher graduation rates, it is evident that students of all backgrounds and goals benefit from dual enrollment. 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited 
 

“Dual Enrollment.” The Education Trust, 14 Jan. 2022, https://edtrust.org/issue/dual-enrollment/.  

 

Lee, Jennifer. “Dual Enrollment Requires Sustainable Funding to Promote High School and College Success.” Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, 19 May 2020, https://gbpi.org/dual-enrollment-requires-sustainable-funding-to-promote-high-school-and-college- success/#:~:text=Both%20Advanced%20Placement%20and%20Dual,Dual%20Enrollment%2C%20and%20vice%20versa.  

 

Grubb, John M., Pamela H. Scott, and Donald W. Good. “The Answer Is Yes: Dual Enrollment Benefits Students at the Community College.” Community College Review, vol. 45, no. 2, 2017, pp. 79-98. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/answer-is-yes/docview/1875398352/se-2?accountid=11226 

 

“DUAL ENROLLMENT BENEFITS FOR STUDENTS & PARENTS.” US Fed News Service, Including US State News, Nov 26, 2014. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/dual-enrollment-benefits-students-parents/docview/1627993435/se-2?accountid=11226.  

 

Iland, Emily, M.A., and Iland, Thomas W, B.S., C.P.A. “The Benefits of Dual Enrollment.” The Exceptional Parent (Online), vol. 45, no. 9, 09, 2015, pp. 30-32. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/magazines/benefits-dual-enrollment/docview/1753202829/se-2?accountid=11226.  

 

Mark Allen Partridge, Tracey King Schaller, Reanna L. Berry & P. Wesley Routon (2021) “The Economic Benefit from Tuition Savings for Dual Enrollment Students in Georgia,” Journal of School Choice, 655-667,https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/15582159.2020.1865091  

  

“High schoolers can get a jumpstart on college: Dual enrollment programs offer many benefits to juniors and seniors.” Philadelphia Tribune, Oct 19, 2021, pp. 15. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/high-schoolers-can-get-jumpstart-on-college-dual/docview/2587942113/se-2?accountid=11226.  

 

An, Brian P. “The Role of Academic Motivation and Engagement on the Relationship Between Dual Enrollment and Academic Performance.” Journal of Higher Education, vol. 86, no. 1, Jan. 2015, pp. 98–126. EBSCOhost,  https://web.s.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer? vid=4&sid=feb882bd-c13d-4715-b43b-837de647ca41%40redis 

 

Gordon, Sherri. “Dual Enrollment: Is It Right for Your Child?” Verywell Family, Verywell Family, 10 June 2021, https://www.verywellfamily.com/pros-and-cons-of-dual-enrollment-4589995. 

Tyrell Academic Profile

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Tyrell Academic Profile 

By Colin Wright

Tyrell is a third-year student at Georgia State University. I got the pleasure of interviewing him to learn about his academic self and history. In the early portion of Tyrell’s life, he lived in Brooklyn with his family. He attended St. Marks Daycare as a young child. He then moved to P.S. 073 for elementary and middle school. This is where his academic career started off, and it started off strong. When he first started elementary school, his mother was very strict. He wasn’t allowed to watch children’s television shows, he was only allowed to watch jeopardy or animal planet periodically. In his free time, he read books. He studied and worked on homework every day. and he was a very competitive student, and wanted to pass his other classmates academically. He would be a step ahead of his other classmates by reading ahead in books they were reading in class. As he got older and he moved up in grades, the school material started to become more difficult, and the high confidence he had in previous years of school started to pull him back. He started to not study because he felt like the material was easy. This proved detrimental to his confidence in school since his grades started to go down. The school was then shut down which moved Tyrell to his next school, Brooklyn Collegiate school by College Board. Because of the difficulty of the school, he began to feel burned out because he had trusted his natural talent for learning too much without realizing there was still more for him to learn and do. This caused a major drop in his grades. Despite his hardships, he graduated high school. The day he graduated, his mother enrolled him in college classes to take over the summer. These classes were taking away from his summer. He didn’t want to take the classes but his mother told him he can either go to college or join the military, and that made college the only possible option for him. His family moved to Georgia where he planned on going to GSU in the city. However, due to the expenses of the city campus, he was advised to take his classes at a different campus and move into the city campus later. Fast forward three years later and he is still a GSU student and he enjoys it. During this English 1102 class, he has enjoyed the reading “Strong Writers and Writing Don’t Need Revision” by Laura Giovanelli. He understands the concept of writing more from it and feels more comfortable in his writing abilities knowing even the biggest writers don’t write something perfect by the first draft. Over this time he has found what academic self words fit him best, not just for college but for his whole academic career. He is studious because he is a good studier and he dedicates a lot of time to his education. With this studiousness comes anxiety about school, so he is also an anxious student. He’s very hardworking and has done a lot of work to get him to where he is today. However, after 3 years of college and 15 years of school total, he is exhausted. 

Tyrell’s passions include biology and cultures around the world. He is intrigued by how people live their lives compared to his way of living in America. Tyrell’s passion for foreign cultures has led him to have a minor in foreign language. Diving deeper into why he has decided on this minor, he learned it would give him an advantage in future jobs to be able to communicate with people of other languages and travel to different parts of the world. He got the idea to have a foreign language minor when he applied to get a job with GVI (Global Vision International) which is a community development organization that would require traveling to less fortunate places around the world and helping them. His uncle got him in with GVI, and he is following in his footsteps to get his foreign language minor so he is prepared and qualified for working at GVI as a plan for when he graduates. Tyrell has a STEM major in Biology. This major will bring him to his career goal of being a genetic engineer. He has always been interested in biology and plans on being a genetic engineer for the majority of his adult life. He also plans on using his foreign language minor to work in labs not only in the US but abroad. His bilingual talent will help propel him into having more reach and more knowledge about genetic engineering internationally. This career was inspired by his own interests in STEM and he is excited about what the future has in store for him. 

Above all, Tyrell is focused on his life now more so than the future. His goal is to finish up this semester with ease and with good grades. He also wants to find a new hobby since he strives to find something new to learn and do each year to keep his mind active. His past hobbies have included gardening, cooking, and baking. Next up, he might get into cocktail mixing. Anything that is interesting to him he will strive to do. He is a very respectable student and I am appreciative of the time I spent talking to him.