The Dual Pillars of Dual Enrollment: Examining Two- and Four-Year Public Colleges as Providers of Dual Enrollment Programs

Abstract Scholars consistently document a national surge of dual enrollment in the U.S., butprograms are developed at the state level and build on existing public colleges anduniversities within each state. This exploratory study examines public four-yearuniversities as providers of dual enrollment alongside geographically proximatecommunity colleges that also offer dual enrollment programs. Guided by the concept oforganizational fields, we aim to identify predictors of whether public four-yearuniversities provide dual enrollment programs and the size of these programs. Usingcross-sectional data, our correlational findings suggest that public four-year universitiesare less likely to offer dual enrollment programs when more and larger dual enrollmentprograms are offered by in-state and within-proximity community colleges. Yet, whenstates formally authorize public four-year universities to offer formal dual enrollmentprograms, those institutions tend to enroll more high school students in college-levelcourses. We offer directions for future research based on our exploratory findings.