Oakland Press: Sen. Peters reintroduces legislation to boost early college, dual enrollments for high school students

U.S. Senators Gary Peters (D-MI), Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and John Boozman (R-AR) have reintroduced bipartisan legislation to expand opportunities for high school students to obtain college credit.

The Making Education Affordable and Accessible Act (MEAA) would help improve high school and college graduation rates by expanding the use of existing grants to institutions of higher education to expand their dual and concurrent enrollment initiatives and early/middle college programs.

“Rising costs of higher education should never stop students from furthering their careers and pursuing their dreams. I’m going to continue working on ways to reduce the financial burden of higher education for Michigan families,” Peters said. “This bipartisan bill will support the many paths for Michigan students to gain college credit without having to take on student debt and prepare them to succeed in today’s workforce.”

The Making Education Affordable and Accessible Act (MEAA) would allow money from the Higher Education Act Title VII Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) to be used to provide grants to institutions of higher education. These grants can be used to:

• Carry out dual and concurrent enrollment programs as well as early/middle college programming;
• Provide teachers in these programs with professional development; and
• Support activities such as course design, course approval processes, community outreach, student counseling and support services.

 Concurrent enrollment provides high school students the opportunity to take college-credit bearing courses taught by college-approved high school teachers, while dual enrollment involves students being enrolled in two separate institutions.

Middle and early college high schools and programs are located on college campuses or within schools, respectively, and allow students to begin working toward an associate’s degree while they complete the necessary coursework for a high school diploma. This model often includes a 13th year to allow students to complete their associate’s degree.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), early college students on average earn 36 college credits, and 30 percent of early college students earn an associate’s degree.