Does Financial Aid Help Low-Income Students Take Dual Enrollment Courses?

For the last two decades, dual enrollment has rapidly grown across the country. Previous studies consistently show that dual enrollment is positively associated with college enrollment, readiness, and persistence. However, descriptive statistics show that low-income students and racial minority students are underrepresented in dual enrollment courses. While the participation gap is well-documented, little is known about policies and practices to improve dual enrollment participation among historically underrepresented students. To fill the gap in the literature, this study explores the role of a statewide financial aid program, the Access College Early (ACE) scholarship in Nebraska, on students’ dual enrollment participation. Specifically, this research addresses the following questions: 1) Who received the ACE scholarship? and, 2) Did receiving the ACE scholarship relate to dual enrollment participation? We analyzed statewide data for the 2019 Nebraska high school graduating class with logistic regression and Poisson regression models. Results show that receiving the ACE scholarship is positively associated with dual enrollment participation and the number of dual enrollment courses taken. However, the ACE scholarship is disproportionately distributed to academically high-performing students who attend relatively wealthier high schools with better teacher resources.