CHARLESTON, W.Va. — State Higher Education Chancellor Dr. Sarah Armstrong Tucker is asking for more money for the popular dual enrollment program.
Tucker asked the House Finance Committee for $290,000 to finish the out the current fiscal year.
“More and more students are wanting to take more and more classes,” Tucker said. “Without a supplemental (funding) what I will have to do is use what we have left in reserves and then feed in to the FY 2027 budget.”
The dual enrollment program, which allows high school students to also enroll in college courses, is in its third year. There are about 8,000 students in the program.
Tucker urged the legislature a few years ago to create the program where the state would pay for the classes in hopes of increase the state’s going to college rate which is currently just more than 47 percent.
“When you give students of various incomes, give students of various backgrounds, potential first-generation students, the opportunity to take a dual enrollment class, they are significantly more likely to enroll in college and they are significantly more likely to be successful in college when they get there,” Tucker said.
She told committee members she’s anxiously awaiting the next release of the going to college rate that will happen in a few weeks. Tucker said it appears it’s improving.
“We are seeing a larger freshmen class and we’re seeing more recent high school graduates in that larger freshmen class and that is in the face of declining high school enrollment. So in my mind, that is a very positive indication that are we are going to see our college going rate tick-up as I was hopeful we would see our college going rate tick-up,” Tucker said.
There may be some restrictions put on the program in the future because of its quick growth, Tucker said.
“We will probably have to limit it to juniors and seniors in high school and then we’ll probably have to limit the courses they are allowed to take if we keep growing like we’ve been growing,” she said.