Concurrent enrollment grows as funding shrinks
More Oklahoma high school students are signing up for college courses at the same time funding for the concurrent enrollment program is shrinking.
During the 2016-17 academic year, 19,358 high school seniors statewide completed 91,035 college credits and didn’t pay one penny of tuition. They saved an average $116 per credit earned, according to a report from the State Regents for Higher Education.
Colleges and universities are being reimbursed for only about 27 percent of the cost.
Regents requested $6.4 million from the Legislature to fully fund the program for the coming academic year, but did not receive it.
“I’m losing over $1 million at 27 percent,” said Jack Bryant, president of Redlands Community College in El Reno. “I can’t continue to lose funding.”
With 2,186 high school seniors in concurrent courses, Redlands waived the most in tuition — $1.478 million or nearly 14 percent of its total tuition. It’s
reimbursement was less than $400,000.
Since 2005, Oklahoma’s concurrent enrollment program has allowed juniors and seniors to earn college credit while still in high school. Seniors can receive a tuition waiver for six credit hours per semester.
“It’s another unfunded mandate from our Legislature,” Bryant said. “There’s no such thing as free. Somebody’s got to pay for it somewhere.”
Colleges pay more as reimbursements shrink and enrollments grow.
“We’ve grown almost 40 percent in two years. People are starting to understand the value in concurrent enrollment,” Bryant said.
Students from El Reno Public Schools come to campus for classes. Redlands sends instructors to high schools in Mustang and Piedmont, where the number of students enrolled is high, but no longer to small rural schools.
“We had to find another way to make it work,” Bryant said.
He used a $481,000 Rural Utility Services grant to install equipment in rural high schools so Redlands could broadcast classes to those communities.
“We’re not going to give up on concurrent. We’re going to have to figure out a way to revamp it.”
‘A taste of college’
“Concurrent enrollment for community colleges is a great thing because it gives the student an affordable option to get a taste of college,” said Cordell Jordan, spokesman for Oklahoma City Community College.
High school students who take concurrent courses are more successful in college and more likely to complete their degrees, Jordan said.
Colleges were reimbursed about 65 percent of the lost tuition for seniors until two years ago. At that time, OCCC was offering tuition-free courses to juniors too, even without a reimbursement for those students, Jordan said.
“At 27 percent we’re not able to sustain that,” he said. A total of 2,091 seniors took 10,760 credit hours in 2016-17.
Registration for fall 2017 already is one-third more than fall 2016 with enrollment continuing until late August.
Jordan said OCCC will accept everyone who enrolls. “We don’t want to stop. We’re not going to stop,” he said.
“The core of our mission is access to affordable, quality education. That’s the reason we’re here, is to offer that access,” Jordan said.
The majority of students come from the Moore School District, with many others from the Oklahoma City and Western Heights districts. Most don’t enroll at OCCC after high school graduation, but go instead to a four-year school, Jordan said.
‘Off on the right foot’
Tulsa Community College extends the tuition waiver to juniors, and will do so again for 201718. That decision is made one year in advance, said Melissa Steadley, director of concurrent enrollment programs.
Last academic year, TCC served 3,372 seniors and about 680 juniors, Steadley said. The senior tuition waiver cost the college more than $1 million and the state reimbursement covered the remaining $378,433. TCC covered the full $96.71 per credit hour for the juniors.
Steadley said she expects enrollment in the program to be about the same this year. TCC provides the program in 76 school districts in six counties. Many students earn 24 to 30 college credits while in high school, she said.
Concurrent enrollment ensures academic rigor for students their senior year and gets them “started off on the right foot,” Steadley said.
“Tulsa Community College is just committed to it because it’s the right thing to do for our students and our communities,” she said.