Dual enrollment has become one of the fastest-growing pathways to college access in the United States, with 2.8 million students participating nationwide. For many students, dual enrollment offers an opportunity to earn college credit, reduce future college costs, build confidence, and accelerate progress toward a degree or career pathway.
Yet for too many students, participation still depends on something far more basic: whether they can afford the textbooks and instructional materials required for the course.
While many states have made significant progress in addressing tuition costs for dual enrollment, instructional materials remain an often-overlooked barrier. Textbooks, access codes, lab materials, and other course resources can add hundreds of dollars to the cost of participation. In the absence of clear state policies, responsibility for those costs is often divided among colleges, school districts, and families, creating confusion and inequitable access.
State Policy Guidance: A Roadmap to Strengthen Dual Enrollment Through Alignment, Affordability, and Open Educational Resources
On June 9th, 2026, the #GoOpen National Network, ISKME, and the College in High School Alliance have released their new report: State Policy Guidance: A Roadmap to Strengthen Dual Enrollment Through Alignment, Affordability, and Open Educational Resources.
Based on interviews and focus groups with state leaders, policymakers, dual enrollment practitioners, and OER experts, the report identifies eight practical policy recommendations that states can use to strengthen dual enrollment through better alignment between K–12 and higher education, reduced instructional materials costs, and expanded use of open educational resources (OER).
The recommendations are not intended to promote OER for its own sake. Rather, they focus on helping states address real implementation challenges: who pays for materials, how instructors are supported, how students access resources across different systems, and how K–12 districts, colleges, libraries, and state agencies can work together more effectively.
A central finding from the research is that many of the barriers affecting OER adoption in dual enrollment mirror broader challenges across education systems—including awareness, capacity, procurement processes, technology infrastructure, and cross-sector coordination. For this reason, state leaders emphasized the importance of building on existing OER initiatives in both K–12 and higher education rather than creating entirely separate efforts for dual enrollment.
Importantly, the report demonstrates that meaningful progress does not always require major new funding. Many of the recommended actions can begin with stronger coordination, clearer expectations, improved partnerships, and more intentional use of existing resources. For states interested in longer-term investment, the report also outlines strategic opportunities to build sustainable infrastructure that supports affordability and student success over time.
As dual enrollment continues to expand, ensuring that students can fully participate should not depend on their ability to purchase course materials. By aligning systems, clarifying responsibilities, and leveraging open educational resources where they make sense, states have an opportunity to remove barriers and strengthen one of the most promising pathways connecting high school and college.