Rapidly Increasing Number of High School Students Taking College Credit Courses Via Eastern Connecticut State University

A rapidly-growing number of high school students across Connecticut are earning college credits, exploring new academic interests, and getting a head start on their college plans – many as the result of an innovative "concurrent enrollment" program offered by Eastern Connecticut State University, known as the Eastern Early College (EEC) program.

Students take the Eastern courses in their home high school, taught by high school teachers who have been approved by the University faculty. Each course also features an Eastern professor who serves as a liaison to the high school instructor, creating an ongoing collaboration between participating high schools and the corresponding Eastern academic department.

University officials point out that not only do the students earn college credit that they can apply to their college degree, but they also get to take courses not necessarily offered by their high school.

Enrollment in the EEC program has nearly tripled in the past two years, from 518 students in 2023-24 to 1,481 in the current 2025-26 school year, according to data provided by Eastern. In 2023-24, 15 high schools participated. This year that number has grown to 23, with additional high schools expected to sign on to participate. Currently, high schools include Windham, Coventry, Norwich Free Academy, Bolton, and E.O. Smith, Fitch, New London, and Newtown High Schools.

A total of 58 courses are being offered in 104 sections - up from 65 sections in 2023-24 - in 21 subject areas ranging from art to English, economics, sociology, music, psychology, political science, geography and more.

More students are taking more courses as the program grows: the number of credit hours taken has tripled from 2,109 in 2023-24 to 6,433 credits in 2025-26. Since Eastern's concurrent enrollment program began in 2015, 5,242 students have taken more than 24,000 Eastern credits.

"We have nearly every academic department on campus now offering courses concurrently at partner high schools," explained Chris Drewry, coordinator of the program in his role as Eastern's director of co-curricular academic programming.

Both Eastern and its high school partners have benefited from State of Connecticut funding support. In 2023, Governor Lamont announced a Dual Credit Expansion Grant to grow high school dual credit programs, with $3.8 million in funds. The following year, grant funds were offered to institutions of higher education as well.

Eastern is in year two of a three-year $178,000 grant to support its concurrent enrollment efforts. The state grant addresses both access and quality by requiring Eastern to waive tuition for low-income families and commit to going through accreditation. The National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Programs (NACEP) is the accrediting agency; Eastern anticipates receiving news regarding its accreditation application later this spring.

Officials also indicated that one of the unique aspects of Eastern's program is its emphasis on bringing concurrent-enrollment students to campus.

"A keystone of our program is our campus visit model," said Drewry. "We've hosted increasingly higher numbers of students on campus each year and make sure that every visit has an academic component during which students are interacting with university faculty, staff, and students, in addition to touring campus and eating in our dining hall. It all adds up to them getting a great introduction to college life and hopefully connecting with Eastern in a meaningful way. Above all, we hope this gets students excited about the idea of higher education, especially if it's not something they've been planning on pursuing up to this point."

Bolton High School guidance counselor Todd Giansanti commented: "While we began with a single math offering and one teacher … we now offer classes in business, communications, and multiple math offerings, which has created a positive environment where students are rising to meet higher expectations and faculty are inspired by their growth.”  He added, “Even as a new program, it is already strengthening our school culture by building excitement around academic opportunity, responsibility, and achievement, as we continue to pursue other offerings in English, psychology, music, art and science."

"In recent years, we have had students graduate with almost 30 college credits," said Peter Ettlinger, director of school counseling at Rockville High School.  "I find that it helps me to stay relevant in regard to college expectations, and it allows my students to get a jump start on their higher education," added William Balsewicz, who is teaching an Eastern communication class.

Stephani Jones, NFA's director of curriculum and instruction, explained, "Our partnership with Eastern's Early College program strengthens our academic mission by expanding access to rigorous, college-level coursework within our already diverse curriculum. With a broad range of offerings, ranging from Calculus to Psychology, Public Speaking to Politics, students can easily find courses that challenge them at an advanced level and align with their interests."

Another important goal of the program has been to expand access to students from underrepresented populations. Since 2023-24, the number of Latino students in the program has increased fourfold, from 60 to 248, while the number of African American students has gone from 37 to 96.

"We want to make sure that not only are we offering early access, but that we're offering it in an equitable way, and the program has seen an increase in diversity in terms of ethnicity, especially in recent years," noted Drewry.

Eastern Connecticut State University is the state of Connecticut's public liberal arts university, serving upwards of 4,000 students annually on its Willimantic campus, offering 41 majors and 68 minors.  For more information, visit www.easternct.edu.

Chart and images courtesy ECSU; photos - Bolton High School students visit ECSU; director of co-curricular academic programming Chris Drewry.