Minnesota funds teacher credentials and covers student costs to expand dual enrollment

Crystal Iqbal Agbonao, director of student access and academic partnerships at Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (standing in for a colleague), described a combination of legislative funding and system-level supports used to remove cost barriers and expand dual enrollment.

"In Minnesota, students do not have any cost" for participating in dual enrollment, Crystal said, adding that the legislature appropriated $3,000,000 in 2016 for a regional teacher credentialing pilot and $375,000 in 2017 to support reduced-cost credits for teachers over four years. Those appropriations, she said, helped establish course approval processes and tuition support so teachers could earn the 18 graduate credits many colleges require for concurrent enrollment instruction.

Crystal described the system's Pathway to 18, a coordinated set of approved graduate courses across Minnesota State campuses that teachers may use to meet credential requirements, and cited external funding partners that awarded scholarships for teacher tuition. She said the state continues to prioritize credentialing work through system-level guidance and funding where possible.

Why it matters: Teacher credentialing has been a common barrier to expanding high-quality concurrent enrollment; Minnesota's combination of appropriations, course approvals, and tuition support is presented as a model for removing cost barriers for both students and instructors.

Next step: Crystal said resources and links to the Pathway to 18 materials would be posted in the webinar chat and on the system website.