Ga. Senate backs changes setting limits to dual enrollment program

Georgia’s state Senate voted along party lines Tuesday in favor of legislation that would reduce how many college classes high school students can take that are currently paid for by state funds.

House Bill 444 would significantly change the state’s popular, but increasingly expensive, dual enrollment program. It would cap students to a total of 30 credit hours, limiting courses mainly to 11thand 12th-grade students. Currently, students can take up to 15 credit hours a semester.

Students who want to take more than 30 credit hours would have to pay for additional classes. The legislation has a grandfather clause allowing current dual enrollment students to continue under the system now in place.

The bill was approved by a 34-18 margin. The legislation, which has the support of Gov. Brian Kemp, now goes to the Republican-led state House of Representatives for a vote.

The governor tweeted Tuesday that the legislation “preserves our dual enrollment program for future generations of students.”

Other Republicans used similar language to support the changes. “We put guardrails on the bill for generations to come,” Sen. Brian Strickland, R-McDonough, said Tuesday.

Several Democratic senators, particularly African Americans, raised concerns that the changes will increase college costs for lower-income students who now earn credits by taking the courses in high school at no cost. They likened the changes to the 2011 overhaul of Georgia’s HOPE scholarship program, which now has tougher eligibility requirements and no longer completely covers tuition.

“This bill weakens our students’ education,” said Sen. Gail Davenport, D-Jonesboro.

Dual enrollment began in 1992 as a way for high school students to take college courses, earning college credits. The state pays the public or private college from which the student is taking the class. The average cost per credit hour at most Georgia regional and state universities ranges between $169 and $182.

Students can take courses in a wide range of subjects such as accounting, chemistry, information technology, psychology and welding. About three-quarters of credit hours are in core subjects such as math and English. About 60% of dual enrollment students are taking courses in Technical College System of Georgia schools.

Enrollment has nearly doubled in a recent four-year stretch, from about 27,000 students in fiscal 2016 to nearly 52,000 students in fiscal 2019, state records show.

A 2018 state audit, though, found general fund spending for dual enrollment increased by more than 325% over the prior five years.