More College Credits for High Schoolers: Colorado's Push for Off-Campus Classes

What This Bill Actually Does

Colorado's concurrent enrollment program is incredibly popular, and for good reason. It allows high school students to take college-level classes, earn dual credit for both high school and college, and let the local school district foot the bill for the tuition. It is a fantastic deal for families. However, under current law (Section 22-35-110 of the Colorado Revised Statutes), there is a frustrating restriction: off-campus courses offered by higher education institutions are explicitly banned from this program.

Historically, there has been only one exception to this rule: the TREP program (Teacher Recruitment Education and Preparation), which allows off-campus courses specifically to fast-track high schoolers into teaching careers. HB26-1078 essentially asks the question: if it works for future teachers, why not everyone else? The bill strikes that strict exclusion from the law, officially allowing off-campus courses—including remote or extended studies programs at four-year universities—to qualify for concurrent enrollment statewide.

Naturally, the state isn't just opening the floodgates to any random seminar or unverified online class. The bill explicitly requires that these newly eligible off-campus courses meet all existing concurrent enrollment standards. Furthermore, the courses must be backed by an accrediting agency that is recognized under federal law. This ensures that when the state and school districts are paying for these credits, the students are receiving rigorous, transferrable college education, not a watered-down substitute.

What It Means for You

If you are a parent looking down the barrel of future college tuition bills, this is a wallet issue you need to track. College tuition in Colorado isn't getting cheaper, and concurrent enrollment is basically a legal cheat code to knock out your child's freshman year for free. By expanding eligibility to off-campus courses and university extended studies, your child could soon have access to specialized classes that their local high school or community college just doesn't offer. Imagine your teenager taking an advanced engineering or agricultural sciences extended study course through CSU or CU Boulder while still living at home—that's the kind of access this bill aims to unlock.

However, you need to manage your expectations: this bill is purely optional for your local school district. Because the district ultimately pays the college tuition out of its state funding, they have to willingly negotiate a cooperative agreement with the university to make these classes available. If your local district is currently cash-strapped or short-staffed, they might not jump at the chance to offer these new, potentially more expensive four-year university classes right away. The bill is slated to take effect around August 12, 2026 (assuming the legislature adjourns on time in May), meaning the earliest you would likely see these options is the 2026-2027 school year.

Here is what you should do next:

• Check with your high school counselor this fall. Ask if the district is monitoring HB26-1078 and if they plan to expand their concurrent enrollment agreements for the 2026 school year.
• Contact your local school board to express your support for funding expanded off-campus college courses. They need to know parents actually want these options before they spend the time negotiating contracts.
• Watch the effective dates. If you have a freshman or sophomore right now, this could directly impact their junior and senior year course load.

What It Means for Your Business

At first glance, this looks like a purely educational bill, but if you look closely, it is fundamentally a workforce pipeline issue. If you run a business in Colorado—especially in highly specialized fields like advanced manufacturing, healthcare, technology, or agriculture—you are likely struggling to find qualified, entry-level talent. By allowing high schoolers to tap into university-level off-campus courses, students can start specializing much earlier. This means you could soon be looking at 18-year-old job candidates who already have highly specific, university-backed coursework or certifications under their belts.

The direct, immediate business impacts will be felt most by higher education institutions and educational service providers. Universities now have a massive financial incentive to market their extended studies programs directly to local school districts, capturing a brand new revenue stream in the form of tuition paid by the districts. Additionally, secondary industries like education-technology software companies, private tutors, and even transportation services might see a bump in demand as school districts try to manage the logistics of students taking off-campus, university-level classes.

Here is what you should do this week to prepare:

• If you are a Higher-Ed Administrator: Start drafting proposals for your off-campus and extended studies programs now. You want to be ready to pitch these to local school districts the moment the bill takes effect in August 2026.
• If you are a Local Employer: Reach out to your local school district's career and technical education (CTE) coordinator. Suggest specific university courses or certifications you would love to see added to their newly expanded concurrent enrollment menu.
• Verify your partnerships: Ensure any off-campus program you partner with is recognized by a federal accrediting agency, as this is a strict legal requirement for eligibility under the new bill.

Follow the Money

Expanding the menu of approved college courses naturally means a bit more red tape for the state. According to the official fiscal note, this bill will cost the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) exactly $80,178 in FY 2026-27 and $85,374 in FY 2027-28. That money comes straight from the state's General Fund. Why the extra cost? The CDE conducts about 20 random audits of school districts each year to ensure they aren't billing the state for unapproved classes. Adding extended studies and off-campus courses makes these audits significantly more complex—adding an estimated 15 hours of staff time per audit. The funding covers roughly 0.6 FTE (Full-Time Equivalent) staff members split between the CDE's Audit and Postsecondary Workforce Readiness divisions.

For school districts and higher education institutions, the financial impact is completely decentralized and discretionary. If a school district decides to expand its concurrent enrollment offerings, it will have to negotiate tuition rates with the universities and pay that tuition out of its own existing budget. The universities, in turn, collect that revenue. Because this is an opt-in system, the true cost to local taxpayers depends entirely on how aggressively your specific school board pursues these new agreements. There are no state mandates forcing local schools to spend more money.

Where This Bill Stands

HB26-1078 was officially introduced in the House on February 2, 2026, and has been assigned to the House Education Committee. One of the most important things to note about this legislation is its strong, bipartisan backing. It features prime sponsors from both sides of the aisle, including Rep. Lesley Smith and Rep. Eliza Hamrick in the House, and Sen. Janice Marchman and Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer in the Senate.

Given the relatively low fiscal impact (under $100,000 annually) and the bipartisan, universally popular nature of expanding educational access, this bill has a very smooth trajectory ahead of it. Keep an eye on the House Education Committee calendar for its first scheduled hearing. Assuming it passes cleanly through committee and both chambers, expect it to hit the Governor's desk by late spring. It will take effect at 12:01 a.m. on the day following the expiration of the 90-day period after final adjournment—which puts the target date at August 12, 2026, perfectly timed for the start of the 2026-2027 academic year.