(The Center Square) – More Wisconsin students are taking dual enrollment courses than before with 78,703 students taking dual enrollment courses with the University of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Technical College, according to a new report from Wisconsin Policy Institute.

The numbers are a 3.4% increase from a year before and represent 26.6% of the state’s public school students.

Dual enrollment allows high school students to earn college credit while taking courses at their high school to enter post-secondary school after graduation with college credit already earned.

More high school students are both offered and taking the courses as the costs of college continue to increase, including a 5% resident undergraduate tuition increase in the University of Wisconsin System expected to be approved on Thursday.

“Providing students with opportunities for college or university coursework is a priority for Wisconsin, as demonstrated by its inclusion on the state’s school report cards and its popular adoption across high schools,” the report said. “Dual enrollment is the most widespread of these programs and has been steadily growing for the past decade, perhaps due to the range of benefits that dual enrollment programs offer students and schools.”

The Wisconsin Technical College dual enrollment program currently has four times the students at dual enrollment through the University of Wisconsin. But the University of Wisconsin program grew at a 12% year over year rate for 15,588 students, faster than the technical college program growth, which grew 1.5% to 63,115 students, according to the report.

Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses are counted separately but can also lead to college credit.

Another issue detailed in the report is the availability of the courses in schools, with larger and higher income schools having more course offerings.

Numbers from 2023 show that 85.7% of public high schools had dual enrollment, 73.9% had AP courses and 68.4% offered both.

Just have of high schools with 75% of students identified as economically disadvantaged offered dual enrollment but 91.1% of school where less than 25% had the same household designation had dual enrollment offerings.

Urban schools had a 19.7% dual enrollment participation rate while suburban schools had 28.3% participation, towns had 30.1% and rural communities had a 27.6% participation rate.

“Schools that offer no postsecondary opportunities, which are usually small and have high rates of poverty, may want to consider how they could work with the college systems to begin their own dual enrollment programs,” the report said. “Small schools would gain access to more resources and class offerings, and students from schools with high poverty rates could benefit from reduced educational costs and job-related training opportunities.”