Can You Be Enrolled In Two Community Colleges At Once? Get the Details On Dual Enrollment

Dual Enrollment Factors to Consider

Sometimes called “co-enrollment,” dual enrollment in two colleges is entirely possible and completely okay to do. With that being said, it's not for everyone. Before you take the plunge and enroll in two community colleges, you will want to consider all the factors below.

Attending Classes

Dual enrollment attendance can take place in a few different ways:

• All classes taken online from both colleges
• All classes taken in person from both colleges
• In-person classes with one college and online classes with the other college
• A mix of online and in-person courses with each college
  

If both campuses are in your area, you may choose to take all of your courses in person at the two different schools. 

This has the benefit of allowing you to focus on a specific college on any day of the week. 

For example, you might attend three classes at College A on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, while attending two classes at College B on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

This will allow you to more or less block out whatever you have going on at College A on Tuesdays and Thursdays -- something that may be more difficult to do when you take online courses.

Related: Is Community College a Bad Idea?

Subject Grouping‍

Dividing up your in-person classes at each college on different days can be even more effective if you are able to group your subjects together at each individual college. 

It’s not always practical but if you could take both of your literature courses from one college and your science courses from another it becomes even easier to keep track of which courses relate to which college.

(It’s much easier to remember Monday and Wednesdays are my “science days at College A” and Tuesday and Thursdays are my “literature days at College B.”)

This is also a great way to minimize the impact from task switching between subjects, which can take a toll on your productivity.   

Be Mindful of Finals ‍

When attending two colleges at the same time, you need to be really careful around finals time because class schedules tend to get pushed around and you obviously want to avoid having final exams scheduled at the same time or too close to each other. ‍

Tip: Many colleges will allow you to arrange a different time to take your exams so be sure to look into those options if needed.

Credit Transfers

Before you enroll in courses at two different colleges, you need to consider your long-term plans. Will you ultimately be transferring to a four-year university? Many institutions place limits on the credits that you can transfer. 

Of course, this is something you need to consider even without dual enrollment, but dual enrollment does make the process more difficult. 

When you are co-enrolled, you need to cross-check courses at each community college to see which credits you will be able to transfer later on. 

Cross-checking would involve looking up the exact courses you plan to take to see if their credits could be transferred to the exact university you plan to attend in the future. This would have to be done for all of your potential courses at both community colleges.

The reason why this is more difficult with dual enrollment is that sometimes colleges number courses differently and that can cause confusion.

For example, a macroeconomics course might be listed as something like “Econ 2301” at College A and “Econ 2302” at College B. Meanwhile the microeconomics course might be listed as “Econ 2302” at College A and “Econ 2301” at College B. 

If you weren’t paying close attention you could enroll in “Econ 2301” at College A and “Econ 2302” at College B mistakenly thinking they are offering you different credits when they are actually the same course!

Because you are mixing and matching colleges you likely will not have a college counselor helping you on your course selection which means that it is all on you to make the right decisions. 

Related: 10 Benefits of Attending a Local Community College

Dual Enrollment and Financial Aid

When you enroll at two different community colleges, you’ll want to consider the cost. Be aware that financial aid can be complicated with co-enrollment. 

Federal financial aid can only be applied to one school. So if you are receiving assistance for one community college, you will have to pay for the other one out of pocket. 

It is worth noting that there is an exception to this. If you want to use financial aid towards both schools, you have the option of establishing what is called a “consortium agreement” with the two colleges. 

A consortium agreement is an agreement between two educational institutions that allows a student to be enrolled at both schools while receiving financial aid at one of the colleges. The student designates one college as their “home school” and the other as their “host school.” 

In a consortium agreement, the student receives financial aid towards their home school. This institution is then allowed to pay government aid towards the credits at both schools the student is enrolled in, as if the credits were entirely at the home school.

This means that you would take most of your credits at your home school and only a few at your host school, amounting to full-time credits. Being a full-time student would then qualify you for federal financial aid.

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Dual Enrollment: The Pros and Cons

Pros: Quicker degree path

By doubling up on your college enrollment you may be able to obtain your degree quicker. 

Sometimes colleges only offer certain courses during certain times of the year so by pursuing opportunities at a second college you can expedite the timeline to achieve your degree or certification (sometimes even when just taking one class).

Luckily, there are much quicker paths available for various careers these days like those offered by the Unmudl network of accredited community colleges, which produces diverse, job-ready talent for many leading employers such as Netflix, Choice Hotels International, and many others.