The Ohio Postsecondary Enrollment Opportunities (PSEO) Program: Understanding Its Under-utilization

The Ohio PSEO Program is a legislated dual enrollment curricular offering. The program provides higher educational courses that are also credited at the high school and funded at state expense for qualifi ed students. Although individual and institutional benefi ts of the program abound (i.e., accelerated postsecondary completion, decreased expenses, articulation agreements, seamless education, and reduction in developmental college courses), the utilization rate has not appreciably increased, with competition from other programs being a major reason. A designed instrument and focus group interviews were utilized to determine Advance Placement (AP) students’ rationale for their lack of participation in the program. Included in the study were AP and PSEO students and fi ve guidance counselors from fi ve large high schools. Quantitative results and qualitative responses concluded (a) AP students are satisfi ed with their courses and believe the curricula are comparable to college classes; (b) counselors and teachers are not program proponents; (c) AP students desire to remain with their peers; (d) AP students trust their qualifying courses will transfer to postsecondary institutions; (e