House Bill 1277: Mississippi Dual Credit Scholarship Program

February 9, 2023March 1, 2023 Bill Tracker

Latest Action

---

The Senate Appropriations Committee failed to take action on HB 1277 by the February 28 deadline, causing this bill to die in committee.

Explanation of the Bill

---

House Bill 1277 would create the Mississippi Dual Credit Scholarship Program, which would provide funding for high school students to enroll in dual credit courses. 

Mississippi Dual Credit Scholarship Program

Institutional Requirements

Any public or not-for-profit postsecondary educational institution could choose to offer courses to students through the Mississippi Dual Credit Scholarship Program. Participating institutions would be reimbursed at 40% of the average community college credit hour tuition cost for the current year. It is unclear whether the institutions would be agreeing to accept this lower tuition amount by choosing to participate in the program or if students would be responsible for covering the remaining tuition amount. 

Only courses on the “Approved Academic Dual Credit Listing” in the manual for the State of Mississippi Dual Enrollment and Accelerated Programs would be eligible for funding. 

Student Requirements

Private school, public school, and homeschooled students would be eligible to complete courses through the scholarship program. However, early college students and dual-enrolled students would not be eligible. 

Participating students could receive funding for a maximum of 15 dual-credit hours. They would be required to participate in an advising component to ensure understanding of the credit transfer process.¹

Funding

The scholarship program would require a specific appropriation from the legislature. Without funding, it would not go into effect.  

HB 1277 is almost identical to Senate Bill 2487, aside from its exclusion of dual-enrollment students (SB 2487 extends eligibility to these students).

---

 ¹Dual-enrolled students differ from dual-credit students in that they only receive college credit for postsecondary courses. In contrast, dual-credit students receive high school and college credit for postsecondary courses. HB 1277 mistakenly reports that the definition of a dual-enrolled student is described in Code Section 37-15-37(1)(a). This should be revised to note the location of the definition as Code Section 37-15-38(1)(a).