Dual or Concurrent Enrollment in 

Public Schools in the United States

DATA POINT 

December 2020 

NCES 2020-125 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

A Publication of the National Center for Education Statistics at IES

This Data Point examines dual or concurrent enrollment at public schools in the United States with students enrolled 

in any of grades 9–12. It uses data from the public school questionnaire of the 2017–18 National Teacher and Principal 

Survey (NTPS), which is a nationally representative sample survey of public and private K–12 schools, principals, and 

teachers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. State representative information is also available for public 

schools and their principals and teachers.

Dual or concurrent enrollment, 

which is enrollment in a class that 

offers both high school and college 

credit, is promoted as a means to 

help students prepare for college 

course work, as well as potentially 

save on college costs. The terms 

“dual enrollment” and “concurrent 

enrollment” are often used 

interchangeably. For ease of 

presentation, the term dual 

enrollment will generally be used in 

this report to refer to both dual and 

concurrent enrollment. This Data 

Point provides an overview of 

enrollment in and funding sources 

for dual enrollment courses in U.S. 

public schools by community type 

and percentage of students in the 

school approved for free or 

reduced-price lunch.

Is the type of community in 

which a school is located related 

to whether the school offers dual 

or concurrent enrollment and 

the funding source for these 

courses? 

In 2017–18, 82 percent of public 

schools with students enrolled in 

any of grades 9–12 offered dual or 

concurrent enrollment 

opportunities for students 

(FIGURE 1).

Among schools with dual 

enrollment,1 funding was provided 

most often by the school, district, or 

state (78 percent), followed by the 

family or the student (42 percent), 

or some other entity (10 percent). 

Dual enrollment may have multiple 

FIGURE 1. Among schools with students enrolled in any of grades 9–12, percentage that offered dual or concurrent 

enrollment and how it was funded, by community type: 2017–18 

NOTE: Detail may not sum to 100 because schools could select more than one funding source. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS), “Public School Data 

File,” 2017–18.

To learn more, visit https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ntps/. 

For questions about content or to view this report and supplemental tables online, go to https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2020125. 
Dual or Concurrent Enrollment in Public Schools in the United States 

funding sources, and schools 

selected all applicable sources. 

A higher percentage of schools 

located in rural areas offered dual 

enrollment than schools located in 

other types of communities 

(90 percent compared with 73 to 

83 percent). 

Among schools with dual 

enrollment, a lower percentage of 

those located in rural areas 

reported that the dual enrollment 

was funded by the school, district, 

or state than did schools located in 

other types of communities 

(72 percent compared with 77 to 

84 percent), and a higher 

percentage reported that it was 

funded by the family or the student 

than did schools located in towns or 

cities (50 percent compared with 

42 and 26 percent, respectively). 

A lower percentage of city schools 

than schools in other types of 

communities reported that dual 

enrollment was funded by the 

family or the student (26 percent 

compared with 42 to 50 percent).

Is the percentage of students in a 

school who were approved for 

free or reduced-price lunch 

related to whether the school 

offers dual or concurrent 

enrollment and the funding 

source for these courses?

A lower percentage of schools in 

which 75 percent or more of 

students were approved for free or 

reduced-price lunch offered dual 

enrollment opportunities for 

students than did schools with 

lower participation rates in free or 

reduced-price lunch programs 

(71 percent compared with 84 to 

93 percent) (FIGURE 2).

Among schools with dual 

enrollment, a higher percentage of 

schools in which 75 percent or 

more of students were approved for 

free or reduced-price lunch 

reported that the dual enrollment 

was funded by the school, district, 

or state, and a lower percentage 

reported that it was funded by the 

family or student, than did schools 

with lower participation rates in 

free or reduced-price lunch 

programs (86 percent compared 

with 73 to 76 percent, and 

28 percent compared with 43 to 

51 percent).

FIGURE 2. Among schools with students enrolled in any of grades 9–12, percentage that offered dual or concurrent 

enrollment and how it was funded, by percent of students who were approved for free or reduced-price lunches: 2017–18

NOTE: Detail may not sum to 100 because schools could select more than one funding source.

SOURCE: The U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS), “Public School Data 

File,” 2017–18.

Endnotes

1

 All findings are for public schools with 

students enrolled in any of grades 9–12. 

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Data Point presents information on education topics of current interest. It was authored by Soheyla Taie and 

Laurie Lewis of Westat. Estimates based on samples are subject to sampling variability, and apparent differences may not be statistically significant. All stated 

differences are statistically significant at the .05 level, with no adjustments for multiple comparisons. In the design, conduct, and data processing of NCES 

surveys, efforts are made to minimize the effects of nonsampling errors such as item nonresponse, measurement error, data processing error, or other 

systematic error.