Paul Hammel
Nebraska Examiner
LINCOLN – Soon after beginning her studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, McKenzie Murphy, then 19, applied for a part-time job.
She had graduated from high school only a few months earlier, but Murphy’s application also read “graduate, associates degree, Northeast Community College.”
Her interviewer didn’t believe that someone so young could have a two-year college degree.
“Oh my gosh, when did you graduate?” Murphy was asked.
In May of 2023, Murphy received her diploma from Bancroft-Rosalie High School. But because she had participated in a state dual enrollment program, she also earned a college degree by taking college-level classes while in high school — classes that came with both college and high school credits.
During her last semester of high school, Murphy took 21 credit hours of such dual enrollment classes, completing a lot of general education courses normally taken at colleges or universities, but also learning about investing.
“I like to stay busy,” she said.
A strong head start
This year, more than 20,000 Nebraska high school students at more than 200 schools across the state are taking dual enrollment classes, with hundreds each year, like Murphy, graduating with two diplomas when they finish high school.
Students, including those home-schooled or in private schools, get discounted tuition when taking the classes. In two areas of the state, tuition and books are free, those served by Omaha-based Metropolitan Community College and Norfolk-centered Northeast Community College.
But the future affordability of the program for families statewide is being threatened by a reduction in funding.
The $5 million a year from the federal pandemic-related American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) is going away, leaving only $3 million a year in state funding remaining.
On Thursday, several administrators of community colleges and Nebraska high schools joined a student and a representative of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry in testifying in favor of state legislation to keep the program affordable for high school students and their families. It would provide an additional $21 million over the next two years to continue.
Supporters of the additional funding praised the program as jump-starting student higher education, which they said leads to higher rates of college enrollment and earlier graduation. It also gets students into the workforce sooner, in high-need jobs like welding, teaching and health care, and is a proven way to reverse the “brain drain” exodus of educated young people from Nebraska.
“This maybe has been the most successful higher education partnership with K-12 education and business in all my years in education,” said Randy Schmailzl, the long-time president of Metropolitan Community College, which had nearly 9,000 dual enrollment students this year.
Students, schools embrace program
Mark Shepard, the superintendent of Fremont Public Schools, said the program had helped boost a local career and technical education program that has trained 200 student welders over the past nine years. Seventy of those trained are now working in well-paying, high-demand jobs in the state, he said.
“We view these programs as a true game changer for our state,” Shepard said of the technical training offered in Fremont through dual enrollment.
Murphy, whose family lives in Walthill, said she could not have taken the classes she did if she had been required to pay full tuition, which is $108 per credit hour at Northeast Community College.
At her high school, students have taken 790 credit hours of tuition-free dual enrollment classes this year with eight of the 18 members of the senior class on track to graduate with community college associate degrees, according to Jon Cerny, superintendent at Bancroft-Rosalie.
At Millard Public Schools, 2,200 students took dual enrollment classes last year, earning 26,000 credits. Superintendent John Schwartz said that added up to just short of $2 million in tuition that families didn’t have to pay.
The result, the two educators told members of the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee, is that students complete college sooner and with less debt, and are able to graduate earlier and join the Nebraska workforce.
“It’s hard to find a better program that supports young people and our economy,” said Michael Johnson of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce, who called the state’s shortage of workers “the number-one barrier to economic growth in the state.”
“This program presents a win-win-win opportunity for all of us,” said State Sen. Jason Prokop of Lincoln.
Bill offers replacement funding
His proposal, Legislative Bill 173, would provide $10 million for the dual enrollment program in 2025-26 and $11 million the following year.
Prokop said it exceeds the $5 million a year in ARPA funds that are going away because that money hasn’t covered all costs of the program, which are nearing $20 million a year. He said funding also hasn’t kept up with the 65% increase in students taking the courses.
“This program produces a pipeline of skilled labor that Nebraska employers desperately need,” the senator told the committee.
LB 173 wasn’t included in the preliminary budget recommendations of the Appropriations Committee, which is now taking testimony on its proposed budget. Senators are seeking to close a budget gap, leaving little funding for new spending.
Omaha State Sen. Christy Armendariz, a member of the committee, praised the program. But more than once, she asked whether other funds — rather than state taxpayer money — might be found to finance the dual enrollment program, or whether it could be more focused on families who could not afford to pay the tuition.
An official with Northeast Community College said that institution doesn’t have the funds to continue to offer free tuition on its own, and would have to start charging students. Schmailzl said that when Metro used to offer the classes at 50% of full tuition, it “cut a lot of people out.”
Shepard, the Fremont superintendent, said that 40 some businesses have contributed to the vocational programs in his district, but that ending free tuition, or having students fill out a waiver to get a tuition break, would present barriers.
No immediate action
The Appropriations Committee took no action on the bill after the public hearing on Thursday. It received 70 online comments in support of the bill and no opposition.
Murphy, the UNO student, wasn’t able to attend the public hearing. She’s working three part-time jobs as she pursues her pre-medicine degree in hopes of eventually becoming an ophthalmologist.
Besides saving money and getting a jump start on her university studies, she said dual enrollment and the rigors of college classes forced her to get more organized. She made a daily list of what she needed to get done each day.
It also helped her get hired.
“When you see someone who graduates with an associate degree, they realize that’s a hard-working person, Murphy said.