The College Connect Courses program is a new, optional dual credit or dual enrollment program. Effective fall 2023, the College Connect Courses program encourages and authorizes public institutions of higher education to deliver innovatively designed dual credit courses that integrate both college-level content in the core curriculum of the institution alongside college-readiness content and skills instruction.
These innovatively designed courses will allow students the maximum flexibility to obtain college credit and provide integrated college readiness skills to students who are on the continuum of college readiness and will benefit from exposure to college-level content. More information about the College Connect Courses program can be found in Texas Administrative Code, Title 19, Part 1, Chapter 4, Subchapter D, Section 4.86.
Student Eligibility
An eligible student must be enrolled in a public school district or open enrollment charter school as defined in Texas Education Code 5.001(6) and must meet dual credit requirements (see Texas Administrative Code, Title 19, Chapter 4, Subchapter D, Section 4.85). An institution may exempt from the Texas Success Initiative (TSI) a high school student who is non-degree seeking if the student has fewer than 15 credit hours of college courses. For students who are non-degree seeking, an institution may require additional eligibility criteria, such as a minimum high school GPA or completion of certain high school classes, like English I or Algebra I.
College Connect Course Content
An institution may offer College Connect Courses within the institution’s core curriculum. The College Connect Course must also incorporate supplemental college readiness content to support students who have not met a college readiness benchmark on the Texas Success Initiative Assessment (TSIA2). An institution may deliver this supplemental instruction through a method at their discretion, including embedded course content, supplemental coursework, or other methods.
Funding and Tuition
A public junior college may submit for funding any course that meets the requirements under the Community College Finance Program. Students may qualify for free dual credit courses under the Financial Aid for Swift Transfer (FAST) program.
Students are encouraged to check with their high school counselor to find out if their high school is participating in the College Connect Courses program, to see if they qualify for free dual credit, and to get more information about signing up.