Dual Enrollment Equity in Rural America’s Two-Year Public Postsecondary Institutions

Abstract

ABSTRACT Two decades of growth in dual enrollment, also accelerated during the COVID pandemic, demands attention to equal opportunities available in rural areas. We use the IPEDS database to explore geographic equality of dual enrollment availability offered by two-year public postsecondary institutions in rural America. Shifts in economies and demographic changes across rural America present substantial equity challenges. In this study, we seek to provide a first description of the extent to which dual enrollment offerings in two-year public postsecondary institutions vary in different rural locales, in designated economic regions, and by race enrollment. We conclude students attending smaller two-year postsecondary institutions are less likely to have access to dual enrollment opportunities. Moreover, among all but the largest institutions, students attending institutions with higher minority enrollments are less likely to have access to dual enrollment opportunities. Regardless of locale (city, suburb, town, and rural), two-year postsecondary institutions with the least diversity offer less access to dual enrollment opportunities. Of the 1,164 institutions in the eight Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) regions, more than one-fourth (252 or 21.7%) do not offer dual enrollment. Moreover, almost half (115 or 46.6%) of the 252 institutions are in states of the Mid-East and Great Lakes regions. The Southeast region has the lowest (61.1%) dual enrollment availability among the highest minority enrollment institutions. In the most diverse institutions (>63.77% minority enrollment), however, three-fourths or more of the institutions in six of the eight BEA regions offer dual enrollment. Implications for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers are offered.