The Florida College System’s dual enrollment program: Which college courses do high school students most often sign up for?

More than 25,000 Florida high school students took a first-semester college Freshman English course at Florida College System (FCS) institutions during the 2017-18 academic year via the system’s dual enrollment program, according to data supplied by the Florida Department of Education.

That enrollment level means that more than one-eighth of the state’s high school graduates – who number around 180,000 per year – have taken a dual enrollment Freshman English class while in high school.

The vast majority of the high school students who take the first semester college Freshman English course go on to take the second semester Freshman English course as well – more than 20,000 in 2017-18.

The two Freshman English courses are ranked first and second by enrollment among courses in the FCS dual enrollment program.

The third ranked course, College Algebra, is often taken by high school students who have completed the high school Algebra 2 course but who have decided not to continue on to the high school Honors Precalculus course.  College Algebra was taken by more than 18,000 students in 2017-18.

The top 25 FCS dual enrollment courses by enrollment are shown below.  After the top three courses, the enrollment numbers drop sharply.  The fourth-ranked course, the Introduction to Psychology course taken by college students majoring in psychology and preparing for health professions, had fewer than 11,000 enrollments in 2017-18.

The eighth ranked course, Intermediate Algebra, is taken by students whose scores on the math placement test used by FCS institutions, PERT, are too low to qualify for placement in College Algebra.  Intermediate Algebra does not earn credits toward a degree, but school districts must still pay college tuition to enroll students in the course.

The courses ranked 10th and 13th – titled “Strategies for Success” and “College Success”, respectively – are in a category of courses titled “Student Life Skills” (hence the “SLS” course number prefix).  In total, 22,000 high school students dual enrolled for Student Life Skills courses at FCS institutions in 2017-18.  Once again, school districts paid college tuition for these courses.