Policy Change Allows UND to Offer Dual Credit Classes for High Schoolers

University of North Dakota President Andy Armacost, left, and State Board of Higher Education Chair Kevin Black.   (Photo by Jeff Beach/North Dakota Monitor)

(North Dakota Monitor) – Families in Grand Forks and Cass counties may soon have different options for college courses for high school students.

The State Board of Higher Education last week approved a policy change that allows high school students in those counties to take dual-credit courses — earning both high school and college credit — through the University of North Dakota and North Dakota State University.

Students in Cass and Grand Forks counties had previously been required to take dual-credit classes through one of North Dakota’s smaller public colleges, with the college getting the tuition revenue. Those students could only take a dual-credit course from UND or NDSU if it was not offered at a smaller college.

Leaders of those smaller colleges have resisted the change in part because of the tuition revenue they get from students taking introductory college courses while they are still in high school.