Education Topic Papers: A Governor’s Dual Enrollment Framework For Success

This topic paper details how dual and concurrent enrollment programs can help states overcome workforce readiness and postsecondary access and completion challenges and how governors can strengthen these programs by using their bully pulpit, agenda setting authority and budgetary authority to do so. It concludes with a number of examples of how governors are acting to strengthen equity and access to these programs. It also includes a number of resources for interested policy makers.

America faces crises in both workforce readiness and postsecondary access and attainment. Projections indicate that while the percentage of jobs requiring a postsecondary credential continues to rise, businesses will continue to face shortfalls in filling these positions with workers who meet their criteria. And the outcomes for those who do attend college are less than optimal – fewer than 6 in 10 students who enter college go on to graduate, and students who drop out are more likely than graduates to experience difficulty paying off their student loan debts. For those who do graduate, their student loan debt can impose a heavy burden on their future finances, leading many to put off key life decisions such as buying a house or having children.