Dual Enrollment in California

Dual enrollment is expanding in California.

• Dual enrollment enables high school students to take college courses and earn college credits. Two other college acceleration programs-Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate-award college credits to students who pass exams, while dual enrollment awards credits for the successful completion of courses.
• The California Community Colleges (CCCs) offer 97% of dual enrollment statewide at little or no cost to students. A growing number of four-year institutions have begun to offer the courses, too.
• After stagnating during the pandemic, participation began to rebound, reaching nearly 165,000 students or about one-third of the high school class of 2025.
• Recent growth in dual enrollment participation has been driven by the College and Career Access Pathways (CCAP) initiative. Established in 2016, CCAP aims to improve access for underrepresented students by offering courses on high school campuses and prioritizing partnerships with historically marginalized communities. CCAP now accounts for 45% of student enrollment in dual enrollment courses.

Participation in dual enrollment varies across demographic groups and regions.

• In the class of 2024, Latinos accounted for 49% of all dual enrollment students (vs. 57% of high school students statewide), followed by white students at 22% (vs. 21% statewide), Asian students at 16% (vs. 12% statewide), and Black students at 3% (vs. 5% statewide).
• Latino (56%), Asian (13%), and Black (4%) students in CCAP are more representative of their statewide shares. White (19%) students are slightly underrepresented in CCAP.
• Female students-who comprise 49% of the class of 2024-are overrepresented in dual enrollment (55%), and male students are underrepresented (43% in dual enrollment vs. 51% of the class of 2024).
• In 2024, the Los Angeles/Orange County region had the most dual enrollees (29%), followed by the Bay Area (19%) and the San Joaquin Valley (17%). Since 2016-17, dual enrollment participation has grown most in the Inland Empire (290%), the San Joaquin Valley (249%), and the North/Far North (126%).