The Postsecondary Outcomes of High School Dual Enrollment Students: A National and State-by-State Analysis

 "The Postsecondary Outcomes of High School Dual Enrollment Students: A National and State-by-State Analysis" by Tatiana Velasco, John Fink, Mariel Bedoya, and Davis Jenkins of the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University

Spotlight author: John Fink

Released in October 2024, this report was the first to provide national and state-by-state results on the success of dual enrollment students, broken down by racial/ethnic group, income, and gender. The report and an accompanying data dashboard allow states to assess whether their policies and practices are maximizing the potential of dual enrollment for their students.

The report uses National Student Clearinghouse data to follow high school students who started taking dual enrollment (DE) courses in the fall of 2015 into college and up to four years past high school graduation. Though the analysis does not control for differences between dual enrollment students and other students who did not take dual enrollment, it is consistent with the findings of other more rigorous studies that show dual enrollment improves student outcomes.

National Top-line Findings

• Nearly 40% of new undergraduates overall and 60% of new community college students in fall 2015 were either current or former dual enrollment students.
• Eighty-one percent of dual enrollment students went to college in the first year after high school, compared with about 70% of students overall. Of those, 51% went to four-year institutions, and nearly a third to community colleges.
• Dual enrollment students who enrolled in college in the first year after high school completed college credentials at higher rates than students who entered college immediately after high school without dual enrollment. This holds across 41 states, with double-digit higher rates in 16 of those states.
• Almost a third (31%) of dual enrollment students were still enrolled in college and making progress toward a credential within four years of completing high school.
• High school students who took dual enrollment at a four-year institution did particularly well in college but were not as diverse as other dual enrollment students in terms of race/ethnicity and income.
• For community colleges, former dual enrollment students are a strong source of post-high-school enrollments, with more than a third of community college dual enrollment students returning for at least one term to the same community college in the first year after high school.

Outcomes for Low-income, Black, and Hispanic students

We also find that low-income, Black, and Hispanic students were underrepresented in dual enrollment nationally and nearly every state, and postsecondary award completion rates for these groups were lower compared to other dual enrollees.

• While 36% of dual enrollment students who enrolled in college within the first year after high school completed a bachelor’s in four-years, only 28% of low-income, 29% of Black, and 25% of Hispanic dual enrollees did so.

However, despite gaps among dual enrollees, low-income, Black, and Hispanic dual enrollment students had much higher outcomes than students who did not participate in dual enrollment:

• Nationally, DE students are two percentage points more likely to complete a bachelor’s than non-DE students, and this difference is larger for low-income (+8pp), Hispanic (+7pp), and Black (+11pp) dual enrollment students.
• States that have made progress in broadening access to dual enrollment for students from underrepresented groups tended to show greater disparities in outcomes after high school for these students. While other states that have stronger postsecondary outcomes overall and smaller gaps on those outcomes tended to have larger gaps in dual enrollment representation for low-income, Black, and Hispanic students.

Our findings illustrate a tension between equalizing access to dual enrollment and ensuring equitable outcomes for students taking dual enrollment coursework. As such, the report's findings call on states, colleges, and K12 partners implementing DE programs to focus on both delivering strong programs with good outcomes post-high school and broadening access so that DE students reflect the broader population of students.