Many states’ dual enrollment policies are silent on (or leave to local discretion) which party purchases dual enrollment textbooks – the district or high school, the postsecondary institution, the student’s family, or some combination thereof. Although passing on textbook costs to families understandably has the most direct detrimental impact on equitable dual enrollment participation, in the current fiscal environment, arrangements in which the K-12 or postsecondary partner covers textbook costs can culminate in other adverse equity implications downstream, such as reductions to the number of dual enrollment students who can be served in a given academic term, or on the number or type of dual enrollment course offerings.
