More Students Getting a Jump on College through Dual Enrollment

A new report from the Community College Research Center, High School Dual Enrollment Reaches a New High:3.1 million students finds that dual enrollment (or dual credit) students are rapidly becoming a sizable chunk of community college enrollment, up to 23% across the nation.

The report includes a state-by-state breakdown of growth in dual enrollment, including New Mexico’s 2024 data that showed a 14% increase in dual credit students. 

How big a factor are dual credit students in undergraduate enrollments? Here’s a paragraph from the story: “In other words, the gain of 600,000 dual enrollment students accounted for 37% of national growth in undergraduate enrollment. In 21 states, the growth of dual enrollment accounted for 50% or more of the total undergraduate enrollment growth. And in five states (Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming), dual enrollment accounted for 100% of the growth in overall undergraduate enrollment; without dual enrollment, total undergraduate enrollment would have declined.”

New Mexico is uniquely equipped to ensure our students and state get the most out of dual credit courses thanks to the wealth of resources available on the New Mexico Resource Center for CTE. Visit the site, click on the Career Frameworks tab, and explore the postsecondary program alignments and programs of study on each Cluster/Sub-Cluster page.