Dual enrollment funds face cut
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HARRISBURG -- When Highlands High School student Julia Helgert heads to the University of Pittsburgh in August to start her freshman year, she'll already have a little basic knowledge about how college classes work.
That's because Julia, like 34 other students attending her high school in Natrona Heights, participates in a dual enrollment program, which allows students to earn college credit while still working toward their high school diploma.
"The courses are really invaluable," Julia said of the advanced courses she is taking this year through Pitt.
"You're still in a high school setting, so you don't have a huge class that you would get during your freshman year. You get the same credits while getting individualized help."
This year the state paid 100 percent of Julia's and her fellow students' tuition costs for credits earned through Pitt and Community College of Allegheny County, which cost about $200 per credit.
But students at Highlands and around the state next year may not be so lucky.
Neither Gov. Tom Corbett's budget proposal nor the budget bill passed last week by the state House include funding for dual enrollment programs, despite remarks from the governor that he wants to expand those programs.
The governor's budget proposal talks about "unbundling education funding" to help high school students take college classes, but education department officials and the governor's spokesman did not respond to questions on how that would occur.
Last year's state budget sent $7 million to schools for dual enrollment assistance. A total of $43 million has been disbursed by the state since the program's inception in 2005, including more than $300,000 given this year to districts in Allegheny County.
While the cuts won't stop colleges from offering dual enrollment programs, local school officials and Democratic lawmakers are worried they will disproportionately affect low-income students who depend on state reimbursements to afford tuition costs.
"There's no doubt that this is a program that benefits poorer students," said Nicholas Morelli, director of finance for the Chartiers Valley School District. "Those students who are less affluent won't be getting any money next year. They'll go from paying nothing to paying everything, and many will have to stop participating."
First Published May 29, 2011 12:00 am
