The Rhode Island Office of the Postsecondary Commissioner (RIOPC) has released statistics pertaining to the first year of Prepare RI.

Prepare RI is an initiative that was funded this past year by a $1.3 million investment of state monies. The goal of the initiative is to provide high school students with the chance to acquire college credit while still enrolled in high school. It offers two different mediums through which students can receive college credit. The first is the concurrent enrollment course, which is taught at the student’s high school by a trained high school teacher. The second is the dual enrollment course where students attend classes at one of the state colleges or at Community College of Rhode Island. The courses are offered free of charge to the students.

According to the RIOPC, 3,100 high school students participated in the initiative during the Fall 2015 semester. In total, 93% of the schools in RI participated, with Cranston and East Providence providing the highest level of participation.

Continued funding for this initiative of an identical amount as the current year is itemized in the Governor’s budget proposal for the FY 2017. In addition, the RIOPC has released a list of courses that have been approved as transfer equivalents for concurrent enrollment courses. Interestingly, WRT 104 at University of Rhode Island is the only writing or English course that has been approved as an equivalent for a concurrent enrollment course. Foreign language, specialized engineering, and some business courses are more widely approved as concurrent enrollment course equivalents.

As a side note, the Governor’s budget proposal for FY 2017 also calls for an increase of $11 million for higher education in Rhode Island.