Scholarships entice more Kentucky students to take dual credit classes
Gov. Matt Bevin says that five months after its inception, the Kentucky Dual Credit Scholarship Program is yielding results across Kentucky.
Dual credit allows high school students to receive high school and postsecondary credit at the same time for approved coursework. The course may be taken at a local high school or a postsecondary institution.
Bevin and Education and Workforce Development Secretary Hal Heiner launched the Dual Credit Scholarship Program on June 1.
Preliminary Kentucky Department of Education data show that 36.3 percent more high school students are enrolled in dual credit courses this semester, compared with fall 2015; that’s 22,707 students compared to 16,659. There is also a 49.9 percent increase in the total number of courses taken in that time: 42,477 courses compared to 28,334.
The estimated Dual Credit Scholarship Funds reserved for Fayette County over the two-year period is more than $397,000, state officials have said. In the fall of the 2015-16 school year, before the scholarship program began, 753 students in Fayette County Public Schools took 1,049 dual-credit courses, according to the Kentucky Department of Education. This fall for the 2016-17 school year, 931 students took 1,356 dual-credit courses.
“The response to this initiative has been truly astounding,” Bevin said in a news release. “We want Kentucky to have the most well-educated, well-prepared and workforce-ready young adults in the nation.”
Beginning this school year, the program provides funds for dual credit scholarships for all 173 public school districts in Kentucky. The new program is administered by the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority. The Kentucky General Assembly allocated a total of $15 million for the 2016-17 and 2017-18 school years, applying Kentucky Lottery proceeds.
Valarie Honeycutt Spears: 859-231-3409, @vhspears
This story was originally published November 15, 2016 at 2:20 PM with the headline "Scholarships entice more Kentucky students to take dual credit classes."