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Georgia Senate bill capping dual enrollment credit hours could impact Bibb County students

The bill has a cap of 30 credit hours for students, which could impact Bibb County Schools, where dual enrollment has grown.

MACON, Ga. — A new bill in the Georgia State Senate could limit the amount of dual enrollment courses students can take and how early they can take them.

Bibb County high school students can work toward a nursing certification through dual enrollment courses with area colleges, helping junior Raven Davis get closer to her nurse practitioner dreams.

"You're getting your high school credit, so you're getting anatomy and physiology. We're also getting med-term credits. We're getting our CNA certification, we're getting CPR certified. We're getting all of those in one," Davis said.

Currently, students can take an unlimited number of dual enrollment courses, but the state senate has backed a bill to cut that back.

"The new proposal is that students would have a cap of 30 credit hours and students would be able to start as early as 10th grade instead of 9th grade," said Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education Director Cassandra Washington at Hutchings College and Career Academy.

She understands the cap, since the state paid colleges $105 million for dual enrollment classes last year.

"Dual enrollment has grown. It's grown in Bibb County. We started out probably about six years ago with 42 students, and now you're looking at about 500 students," Washington said.

She's mainly worried that students who plan to work after high school won't get the credits they need for certification.

That would affect future nurses like Davis, but also students studying welding, culinary arts, and more.

"If we want to stay the number one state to do business, of building a workforce, we really need to think about those high demand CTAE programs that are dual enrolled in our technical colleges," Washington said.

Students would have to pay for extra courses after reaching 30 credit hours.
Davis says that would discourage students from pursuing skilled careers.

"This is a career that's in high demand. It's well needed, and you're making it easily accessible which means that students are going to gravitate towards it more. When you take that away, you lose more CNAs," Davis said.

Washington says some of their students graduated with associate degrees along with their high school degree and have started out making $30,000 to $40,000 in trade skill jobs.

Associate degrees are about 60-65 credit hours.

The Georgia Department of Education shows growth in dual enrollment numbers going from 11,000 students in 2013 to more than 52,000 in 2019.

The bill will now move to the House of Representatives for a vote.

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