CCCS Website Concurrent Enrollment
What is Concurrent Enrollment?
Colorado’s Concurrent Enrollment program is designed to improve the educational options and opportunities for Colorado high school students. Concurrent Enrollment gives high school students a jumpstart on their college career allowing them to simultaneously earn tuition-free college credit toward an associate degree or certificate that also counts toward their high school graduation requirements! What could be better?
Concurrent enrollment programs may also reduce the need for remediation, improve high school completion rates, improve matriculation rates to higher education, reduce the costs of higher education for students, provide an alternative to dropping out of school and provide equal access to higher education.
Authorized in 2009 the Concurrent Enrollment Programs Act (CEPA) enables high school students to take tuition-free college courses, taught by college-level instructors at their high school or on a college campus. Since the launch of the program, CCCS’s 13 colleges have become the state’s largest provider of Concurrent Enrollment, creating a supportive pathway to higher education for tens of thousands of high school students, especially those from underrepresented communities.
Celebrate Concurrent Enrollment in Colorado with CE Week in March!
Find concurrent enrollment information for your school district on Colorado Department of Education’s website.
In order to teach high school classes for college credit, instructors must have the same qualifications required by the colleges’ accrediting body, the Higher Learning Commission. For general education subjects those requirements usually include a Master’s degree in the content area or a Masters (in any discipline) plus 18 graduate credit hours in the content area. Our 4-year partners have created convenient and affordable options to earn those degrees or credits!
Please be sure to check with your local community college to ensure that this coursework will fulfill their requirements.
Requirements for teaching Career and Technical Education (CTE) concurrent enrollment courses include holding a Colorado Postsecondary CTE credential. Check with your partner community college CE team for more information.
This document provides a set of standards for all concurrent enrollment programs to ensure quality for all students while allowing the flexibility needed for colleges to design programs that meet the needs of state recognized secondary institutions in their service areas.
Concurrent Enrollment Statement of Standards
For a detailed look at Concurrent Enrollment, visit the 2023 Concurrent Enrollment Report
Concurrent Enrollment Academic Philosophy Statement for K12 Districts
The ability for students in Colorado to take concurrent courses and earn college credit at that student’s high school is a beneficial tool for early college success. It is also part of a significant partnership between the state’s many K12 districts and the Colorado Community College System, with all 13 CCCS colleges taking part in offering concurrent enrollment on high school and college campuses. To provide this service, all CCCS institutions hire qualified instructors in their discipline to ensure that each course meets the rigor and scope at the college level. This process and the associated qualifications are in accordance with the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) criteria for accreditation with the additional expectation that the content is designed for college students, including traditional college learners and concurrent high school learners. Because of these factors, and as academic leaders, we believe in the academic freedom of these instructors to deliver course appropriate, college-level material in a concurrent setting. Furthermore, we believe that this freedom is nonnegotiable regardless of district level governance decisions made by local boards or administrators. We look forward to continuing to serve Colorado’s concurrent students in a successful manner for years to come.