Dual-enrollment courses have become a popular way for states to boost college access for traditionally underserved students. But over time, minority and low-income students may become less likely to take those classes than their white and more-affluent peers, finds the RAND Corp.'s interim report of an ongoing evaluation of dual-credit programs in Texas
Dual-credit enrollment soared 650 percent between 2000 and 2015 in Texas, but from 2011 to 2015, the dual-credit enrollment gap between low-income and wealthier students grew 1 percentage point, with a 13 percent enrollment rate for low-income students and 23 percent for more-affluent students.
African-American students were 5.9 percentage points less likely than their white counterparts to choose dual-credit programs from 2000 to 2006, and 9.3 points less likely to choose those courses in the last three years of the study. Patterns were similar, though less pronounced, for other racial-minority groups.
