Dual Enrollment and Undergraduate Graduation Rates in the United States: An Institutional and Cohort Approach Using the 2006—2014 IPEDS

Carrie B. Myers and Scott M. Myers   |    Volume Twelve  |   

Previous studies have found that freshmen who enter college with dual enrollment credits earned during high school have higher 6-year graduation rates. Yet, we do not know if institutional graduation rates benefit in the aggregate from their practice of accepting dual enrollment credits among incoming freshman cohorts. In this study, we used institutional panel data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System and the 2006, 2007, and 2008 incoming freshman cohorts to address this policy issue. Based on regression results from generalized linear models, we found a contradictory pattern for the relationship between the institutional practice of accepting dual enrollment credits and graduation rates. Among the lesser selective institutions, those that accepted dual enrollment credits among their incoming freshmen realized higher 6-year graduation rates. But among the more selective institutions, this same practice was associated with lower 6-year graduation rates.

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