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As more high school students than ever take college courses while still in high school – known nationally by names such as dual enrollment, dual credit, concurrent enrollment, and early college high school – there is an increasing focus on what we do and don’t know about how and which policies and practices best promote student access and success.

Postsecondary education leaders, policymakers, and funders are often eager to launch new programs to advance student success and meet policy and organizational goals. However they don’t always prioritize measuring and evaluating programs to truly understand if they work. And, it’s even more rare that they share when an initiative falls short of intended goals or is discontinued altogether and why.

One of the most profound policy changes in U.S. higher education is happening right now. In 2020, in an end-of-year bipartisan spending bill, congress lifted the ban on Pell Grant distribution for eligible people in prison. The legislation amends the 1965 Higher Education Act to restore Pell Grant eligibility for eligible incarcerated people who are enrolled in an approved prison education program. What is an ‘approved prison education program,’ you ask? Well, you can read more about that here as we wait for the Department of Education to release final guidance from the negotiated rulemaking.

Every year in the United states, about 1.4 million high school students --or 9% of all high school students -- enroll in college courses in programs called dual enrollment, concurrent enrollment, or dual credit. Once considered niche programs for a relatively small group of students, dual enrollment programs have now reached the majority of American public high schools and are accessible to a much broader group of students.

Welcome to the Collaborative for Higher Education Research and Policy (CHERP) at the University of Utah. This Collaborative is a community and platform intended to advance scholarship, policy, and practice on timely and perennial postsecondary education issues at the local, state, and national levels.