How One Family Is Halving College Costs Through Dual Enrollment Amid Soaring Tuition

When Stephanie Thomas attended college more than 25 years ago, she financed her education through a combination of parental support, student loans, and a part-time job coaching gymnastics. By graduation, she had accumulated roughly $20,000 in student loans — debt she considered “good” because she managed to repay it over time via an income-driven plan.

Today, Thomas, 49, is a certified financial planner in Raleigh, North Carolina. When planning for her daughters’ education, she recognized that replicating her own path would no longer suffice. With tuition skyrocketing, she and her husband prioritized saving in 529 college savings plans and sought additional strategies to reduce expenses and maximize the return on a degree.

Their youngest daughter, Ainsley, 16, is currently completing college-level coursework through a dual-enrollment program in high school. By the time she graduates, she will have earned an associate degree and enough credits to enter a four-year university as a junior.

This approach is gaining traction nationwide. According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center’s spring 2026 report, dual enrollment participation surged 9.6% year over year.

Stephanie Thomas and her daughter Ainsley.

Justin Kase Conder | CNBC

The urgency to cut costs is well founded. Between 1995 and 2025, average tuition and fees rose 74% at private four-year institutions and 101% at public four-year colleges after adjusting for inflation, according to the College Board, which tracks higher education pricing trends.

“We’re trying to be strategic about reducing the overall cost,” Thomas said. “With the rising cost of higher education, finding creative ways to cut expenses feels much more practical.”

Asking the question: Is college ‘worth what it costs’?

A generation ago, self-funding a degree with modest aid and a part-time job was common. Today, experts say that model has largely collapsed. Not only has the price of college soared, but the debt required to cover it has become a growing concern.

Nearly half of families now borrow to pay for college, according to Sallie Mae’s recent How America Pays for College report, pushing total outstanding student debt to $1.85 trillion across federal and private loans.

During the Great Recession, steep state funding cuts drove sharp tuition hikes, shifting costs onto students, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan Washington, D.C., research group. The pandemic-induced recession triggered another wave of funding reductions.

For the 2025–26 academic year, the average annual cost of attendance — tuition, fees, room, and board — reached $25,850 at in-state public four-year colleges, $45,780 for out-of-state students, and $60,920 at private four-year institutions, the College Board reports.

A college education is now one of the largest investments an individual will make in their lifetime.

David Plunkert | CNBC

The financial burden on students has intensified as costs hit record highs. Parent income and savings now cover just 39% of college expenses, while student income and savings account for 10%, Sallie Mae found. Scholarships and grants cover roughly 27%, with student and parent loans financing the majority of the remainder.

That debt load is increasingly difficult to manage. As of June 30, about 9.3 million federal student loan borrowers were in default, up from roughly 6.2 million a decade earlier — a 50% increase, according to Education Department data released last month.

Rising default rates have fueled recent policy efforts by the Trump administration to restrict access to federal loans, including a proposed lifetime borrowing cap, as a check on escalating tuition.

Assessing the affordability of a degree

The return-on-investment calculus hinges on whether debt payments are affordable — which requires securing a well-paying job after graduation. Yet the early-career labor market is growing uncertain, largely due to the rapid rise of artificial intelligence, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers. U.S. entry-level job postings have fallen 35% since January 2023, with AI playing a significant role, labor research firm Revelio Labs found.

Technology and software development roles are under particular pressure, according to a separate report by job site Indeed. Conversely, home health and nursing positions appear more insulated.

Faced with an unpredictable job market, families are questioning the value of a four-year degree, and some students are opting out entirely. Many are exploring alternative pathways and short-term credentials, additional research from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center shows.

Enrollment in undergraduate certificate and associate degree programs each grew about 2% last year, while bachelor’s degree enrollment rose less than 1%. Community colleges now enroll 752,000 students in undergraduate certificate programs — a 28% jump from four years ago.

Staying positive: ‘Americans haven’t given up on higher education’

Most parents of children under 18 want their child to pursue some form of postsecondary education immediately after high school — ideally a bachelor’s degree, a recent Lumina Foundation and Gallup poll found.

The four-year degree remains the “gold standard,” said Courtney Brown, chief data and research officer for the Lumina Foundation, which advocates for expanded higher education access. Even amid AI disruption, a college degree is widely seen as the most reliable path to upward mobility, especially in tight labor markets.

Stephanie Thomas’ daughter, Ainsley, 16.

Justin Kase Conder | CNBC

Ultimately, the outcome is less certain. “Americans haven’t given up on higher education. They want it for their children … but they are questioning whether they can afford it,” Brown said. The question isn’t whether college is worth the investment, she added, “but is it worth what it costs?”

For Thomas and her daughter, the math of accelerating the timeline is compelling. When Ainsley completes her associate degree, she plans to attend North Carolina State University, a public college in Raleigh, for two more years. If all goes according to plan, she will earn her bachelor’s in 2030 — at roughly half the typical cost, with borrowing reduced to near zero.

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