Colorado bill would expand off-campus concurrent enrollment if Polis signs it
HB 26-1078 has cleared the legislature and would broaden which college courses can count for concurrent enrollment, while adding a July 2028 funding test for new approvals.
Colorado House Bill 26-1078 has passed the legislature and was sent to Gov. Jared Polis on May 29, according to the Colorado General Assembly bill page. The legislature page lists the measure as “Passed” and in the governor’s hands, but the available materials provided here do not independently confirm that Polis has signed it.
If signed, the bill would change the state’s concurrent-enrollment rules by allowing some off-campus college courses to count, so long as they meet concurrent-enrollment requirements and the standards of an accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, the bill summary says. The measure would also preserve the existing exception for the teacher recruitment education and preparation, or TREP, program, the final act text says.
The bill would broaden access for students and institutions, including colleges and universities that had been excluded from the off-campus model. But it would not do so without limit: after July 1, 2028, additional courses eligible for concurrent enrollment could not be approved unless the General Assembly’s appropriation to the Department of Education is sufficient for the department to carry out course-audit and oversight requirements, the act text says.
That funding gate would matter in two ways. First, it would create a formal state-budget test before any new courses beyond those already approved could be added after mid-2028. Second, it would direct lawmakers to include a footnote in the 2028-29 budget stating whether funding is sufficient for those oversight duties, according to the act text.
The bill would also shift money within state higher-education and K-12 administration budgets. For fiscal 2026-27, it would reduce $80,178 from the College Opportunity Fund program for fee-for-service contracts and from the related University of Colorado reappropriation, while appropriating $66,056 to the Department of Education for administration tied to public school finance and postsecondary workforce readiness, the act text says.
The measure includes a safety clause, so it would take effect upon passage if Polis signs it, the act text says. The July 2028 approval restriction would apply prospectively, meaning courses approved before July 1, 2028, would keep their status under the bill’s language.