'Great starting point': North Carolina sees increase in dual enrollment

On Feb. 21, the Career and College Promise program reported an increase in North Carolina high school students taking dual enrollment courses compared to the previous school year. 

The report stated that in the 2023-24 school year, 85,982 high school students enrolled in at least one college level program, ranging from general education credits to career certifications. There were 78,811 public school students enrolled in at least one CCP course, which marks a 9 percent increase from the 2022-23 school year. 

86 percent of students taking CCP classes completed their credit-level courses with a C or better, according to the report. 

“What the CCP program does, is it can allow those choices to be expanded, so students are now getting under the different options,” Pinecrest High School CCP counselor Josh Newton said. “It also gives students hopefully a chance to see what college is like while they still have a little bit of guardrails here when they're working at home.” 

CCP was established in 2011 in North Carolina and offers three pathways for students to achieve college level credit. The first is the College Transfer Pathway, which helps students get a head start on college-level general education requirements. Another pathway is through Career and Technical Education programs for job training in high-demand careers. The last pathway is through Cooperative Innovative High Schools which allow students to earn an associate degree while completing their General Educational Development test.

Tyjerion Daniels, a first-year at UNC-Chapel Hill, said he opted to earn his associate degree from Pitt Community College during his high school career. 

“I would say the dual enrollment program provided me with a great sense of rigorous courses before I actually touched a college campus,” he said. “It gave me a sense of what I wanted to study and what direction I wanted to go in when going to college.” 

Daniels said the College Transfer Pathway allowed him to enter his first year with 65 college credits.

Daniels is among the 3,498 CCP students who graduated with an associate degree in 2024 and the 12,694 CCP students who were accepted into UNC System schools, according to the report.  In the 2023-24 school year, CCP students earned 4,124 credentials, marking a 24 percent increase from the previous school year. 

“Hopefully it gives them not only the confidence, but the pathway to get that degree. [It] might be a two-year, four-year school or even a job certification,” Newton said. 

Oluwunmi Ariyo, Durham Technical CommunityCollege’s director of high school partnerships, said the educational landscape of North Carolina is changing due to artificial intelligence and an increased desire from students to enter the workforce out of high school. CCP gives them the option to figure out what their career is before taking on debt, she said. 

CCP students do not pay tuition for dual enrollment classes but must pay for course materials and equipment. Ariyo said program directors are observing disparities between students and are working to address them as soon as possible.

“I would say, definitely take the opportunity if you want to go further into your education journey," Daniels said. “I would say it will help you out a tremendous amount, and it would give you a great starting point when going to college.”

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