History

Beginnings

The first dual credit program which offered college-level coursework to high school students was a project at Syracuse University in 1973. Syracuse University Project Advance (SUPA) has been in continual operation for 50 years (Benning 2018).
This first course differed from current dual credit courses in two ways: First, the high school students took the one-semester college course over an entire school year, which is not the case today.
And second, students had to pass an exam administered by college officials to receive credit for the course. This project was successful but did suffer from the same credit transferability issues that continue to plague dual credit programs.

In 1995 HB 1336 was passed. It introduced dual enrollment courses to Texas. https://capitol.texas.gov/billlookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=74R&Bill=HB1336
The Texas Legislature has regularly passed legislation in order to increase access to dual credit classes.

2003 HB 415: Both high schools and colleges could receive funding for DC programs. https://capitol.texas.gov/billlookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=78R&Bill=HB415
2005 HB 1: All high school had to offer the opportunity to earn 12 college credits. https://capitol.texas.gov/billlookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=791&Bill=HB1
2015 HB 505: Schools cannot restrict DC classes to only 11th and 12th graders. https://legiscan.com/TX/drafts/HB505/2015
From 2000 to 2015 the numbers of students enrolled in dual credit classes exploded from about 18,000 to nearly 134,000 a growth rate of nearly 650% (Miller 2018)

Dual Enrollment Programs have continued to expand over the past few years. High Schools, Community Colleges, and Four-Year Institutions have integrated these courses into their systems.
With their continuing expansion of dual credit programs, legislators have increased their affordability and accessibility by providing additional funding to participating high schools and colleges .

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