CT State Community College

Overview

CT State Community College (CT State) offers an array of dual credit options for eligible Connecticut high school students in alignment with New England Commission on Higher Education (NECHE) and National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP) standards. These opportunities generally occur during the fall and spring college semesters in two categories:

Concurrent Enrollment programs are established partnerships with local school districts that offer credit-bearing CT State courses taught on the high school campus by credentialed high school teachers.

Dual Enrollment programs are available for eligible high students to enroll in credit-bearing courses taught at the CT State campus by college faculty.

CT State continues its long-standing High School Partnership (HSP) program with over 170 participating high schools. Additionally, high school students participate in over 500 sections of CT State courses offered on high school campuses.

Programming and Partnerships

CT State merged its twelve locations into one system in 2023 and in fall 2025 will use a standard CT State Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) template with all of its high school partners.

Dual and Concurrent Coordinators and Recruitment Specialists are the campus’ points-of-contact for establishing partnerships under the following programs:

• Concurrent Enrollment: A qualified high school teacher who is teaching an approved CT State course at their high school, tuition-free. Arrangements for books and other learning resources are organized by the school district.
• High School Partnership (HSP) Program: Eligible juniors and/or seniors who participate in the HSP Program through CT State have their tuition and fees waived but the district or the students are responsible for covering the costs of the books. To be eligible to participate, a student must be a junior or senior in their high school class and have met eligibility requirements including meeting the prerequisite requirements of the course, being in the top 20th percentile of their class and obtaining a 3.0 GPA. Students not meeting this requirement may still qualify if their Principal or School Counselor provides a letter to the campus noting that the student would benefit from taking the course requested. High School Partnership students may take one or two courses in both the fall and spring semesters of their junior and/or senior year of high school.
• Cohort Course: CT State provides a college course taught by its faculty to a cohort of high school students. CT State charges a flat rate of $10,000 per course for a 3-credit lecture course and prorates that for additional credits and/or lab fees.
• Traditional Tuition: Students who don’t qualify for HSP program or who do but wish to take more than the two courses for free, may pay tuition for courses they take taught by CT State faculty where they are singletons. The student is a singleton taking a college course with CT State's traditional population on any of our campuses, online or through a hybrid approach. To be considered eligible, you must meet the same requirements as any other college student.

Additional Programs

• National Programs: CT State continues to offer national programs, such as PTECH on the Norwalk Campus and Gateway to College on the Gateway campus.
• Middle Colleges: High school students may also access CT State campus and academic experience through three established middle colleges currently offered at Manchester (Great Path Academy), Three Rivers (Three Rivers Middle College Magnet High School), and Quinebaug Valley (Quinebaug Middle College High School) campuses.

Student Eligibility

The following criteria applies to CT State Dual Enrollment (with some programs, such as High School Partnership, maintaining additional eligibility criteria):

• A student in grades 9, 10, 11, or 12.
  • Students should contact their high school counselor for available courses by grade level. High School Partnership is open for grades 11 and 12 (with additional criteria); however, some high school agreements may have offerings for grades 9 and 10 or the student may apply directly to CT State using the traditional tuition method.
• Earn a minimum of a 2.0 High School Grade Point Average (GPA) or equivalent (C average) to be eligible to apply.
  • Students that have lower than a 2.0 GPA may submit a letter from their school counselor, school administrator, teacher or academic tutor verifying rationale as to how the student would benefit from admissions to the program.
• Complete an application.
• Attend a mandatory dual enrollment orientation facilitated by college personnel on the college campus, at their high school, or online prior to the start of the course enrolled in. It is also recommended that a parent or guardian attend the mandatory orientation with the student.
• Enroll in the recommended first course, CCS 1001 College and Career Success.
• Meet any prerequisite course requirements, this may include placement testing or other multiple measures. Prerequisite requirements may vary from course to course and can involve meeting placement requirements or additional foundational courses to have been taken with passing grades prior to enrolling in a more advanced course. Placement measures by subject area may be reviewed on the Course Placement resource. Course requirements may be accessed annually in CT State’s academic catalog.

Instructor Credentials for Concurrent Enrollment Courses

Connecticut high school teachers who are looking to teach as a concurrent enrollment instructor for CT State must meet the same requirements as CT State teaching faculty. Current and prospective high school partners interested in establishing new concurrent courses should reach out to their local Campus Coordinator to begin discussing action steps. These steps and the teacher application are available on the CT State Dual Enrollment webpage.

A high school teacher must meet the minimum faculty credentialing requirement of:

• A master’s degree in the field or a master’s in education and at least 18 graduate credits in field for subject matters that have a terminal degree at the doctorate level.
  • For other fields, where the terminal degree is less than a doctorate, the minimum qualifications will be the terminal degree in field. Examples of these fields include but are not limited to: Culinary Arts where a terminal degree is an associate degree; Manufacturing where a terminal degree is a certificate or associate degree.
  • CT State may consider an alternative credentialing option that demonstrates a high school faculty member’s competency in field on a case-by-case basis or allow qualified high school teachers to teach CT State courses but retains the right to determine if their credentials are equivalent to the credentials of the CT State faculty.

CT State:

• Follows NECHE and NACEP standards and guidance related to concurrent enrollment.
• Uses the courses that are part of an academic program that is externally accredited which may require additional faculty requirements including, but not limited to, recency or employment in field that will require a case-by-case evaluation.
• Retains the ability to observe and evaluate the outcomes of the course taught by the concurrent enrollment instructor to determine opportunities for continuous improvement, additional professional development needed, or whether to continue to grant the ability to teach CT State curriculum on a semester basis.

Registration and Fees

Admissions: High school students must complete the digital Dual & Concurrent Student Application whether taking a CT State course on a CT State campus or on the high school campus. The deadline also applies to the college’s receipt of supplemental application items. The link for the application may be obtained from a CT State Campus Coordinator and/or the student’s School Counselor.

CT State Dual Enrollment Programs occur during the fall and spring semesters. Students interested in independently enrolling in summer coursework, for example, will complete a general application and they are responsible for the tuition and related costs.

Orientation: Students must participate in a mandatory student orientation. Orientations for high school students are embedded into on-campus orientations or completed online asynchronously. Whether looking to access the orientation remotely or on campus, details are updated on the Upcoming Events section of the CT State’s Early College and Dual Enrollment website.

Registration: Participating high school students adhere to enrollment deadlines, such as registering courses, dropping courses, and withdrawing from courses. Dual Enrollment Programs follow the CT State academic calendar deadlines. Concurrent Enrollment Programs follow customized deadlines for high school campuses.

Fees: For cohort courses in which college faculty teaches to a cohort of high school students, CT State charges $10,000 per course for a 3-credit lecture course. CT State prorates that for additional credits and/or lab fees. High school students who choose to take additional college courses, such as during the summer, or outside of established dual and concurrent programs, are responsible for paying tuition costs and fees.

At this time, CT State waives fees for High School Partnership and does not charge tuition or fees for Concurrent Enrollment courses. School districts follow their typical planning and funding models for the development, scheduling, and resources of these dual credit opportunities.

Student Access to Resources and Services provided by CT State: Dual enrolled students (including concurrent enrolled students) are CT State students as they are enrolled in CT State courses and are therefore eligible to access and receive all resources and services provided by the college to other CT State students. This includes but is not limited to access to the college libraries, Advising, Disability and Accessibility Services, Tutoring, Financial Aid offices, Career Services and Mental Health Counseling and Wellness Services.

Supports for Multilingual Families

CT State supports learners and their families for whom English is not their primary language in a multitude of ways. We grant credit for prior learning when a student is fluent in a former language. The online Dual and Concurrent online orientation is offered in both English and Spanish, as well as academic tutoring and coursework when a student needs such services. In addition, many CT State promotional materials are available in several languages and provides resources for English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and international students.

Contact Information

Inquiries about options for students wishing to take college classes at CT State while still enrolled in high school may be sent to the following email address: CTState-DualConcurrent@ctstate.edu

High school seniors interested in enrolling at CT State after high school may contact CTState-AdmissionsRecruitment@ct.edu.