Opinion

Wee fee?

TBO.com
Published: February 13, 2013

For various reasons, mostly having to do with money, dual enrollment — in which high school students take college courses and earn credits that can speed their march toward a degree — is increasingly popular at Pasco-Hernando Community College. In fact, it is so popular that PHCC President Katherine Johnson has publicly expressed concerns about the cost dual-enrollment program is having on the college.

Under the program's state-mandated rules, PHCC waives tuition and fee costs for double-enrolled students and the Pasco School District pays for the text books the high-schoolers use at PHCC. As a result, Johnson says, dual-enrolled students are getting "an unfunded scholarship" from PHCC. This could be why the ranks of dual enrollment program at PHCC have swelled, to 2,150 students in the 2011-12 school year, up about 34 percent from 1,598 in 2009-10, costing the college some $2.5 million in revenue.

The concern about the cost of dual enrollment has Pasco School Superintendent Kurt Browning suggesting the Legislature may want to consider imposing a "small, small fee" to get into it. That fee, however, would be less than the full tuition cost of whatever course a dual-enrolled student might take, he stresses.

Interestingly, Tim Beard, PHCC's vice president of student development and enrollment management, is cautioning against doing anything that would discourage dual enrollment.

Students and parents may not relish paying a bit for dual enrollment, but we're not sure who else would if they're not.