Senate Bill Aims For Free College Courses For H.S. Juniors & Seniors
A Senate Bill could see a change in public high schools allowing every junior and senior to take two college courses free of charge starting next school year. It’s an effort that’s got the support of Gov. John Bel Edwards. Higher Ed Commissioner Kim Hunter Reed said while Louisiana does offer dual enrollment, there isn’t universal access for students.
“It’s all over the place in who pays, and what access students have, so we want a statewide framework so that every student, every junior and senior has access to dual enrollment courses,” said Hunter Reed.
Hunter Reed said the state Board of Regents is looking into ways to keep the students from having to foot the bill on dual enrollment classes following a fee-shaming study that was conducted last year.
“A lot of the conversation was around lunch fee shaming, but what I understand was there was when there was a study commissioned, a lot of the discussion was around dual enrollment,” said Hunter Reed.
Hunter Reed said emphasizing the importance of college through easier access to dual enrollment is a message that needs to be given to students.
“They begin there college journey early and we say to every student, ‘You are going beyond high school, you’ve got to do that,’ I think that’s very important, so the signalling is important,” said Hunter Reed.