Swim Digital Group launches dual enrollment research study

Swim Digital Group is recruiting up to 12 community and technical colleges for a national study of how dual enrollment students are connected to career pathways, with $30,000 grants for each selected school. The First Mile Study aims to create the field’s first shared benchmark for the stretch from first interest through the first college term, with findings due in July 2027.

Why it matters: - Dual enrollment is a major entry point to higher education, but many students do not persist after high school. - The study targets a gap colleges have struggled to measure: whether students understand why they are there and how coursework connects to careers. - Swim Digital Group is aiming to create the first shared benchmark for this stage of the student journey.

What happened: - Swim Digital Group announced The First Mile Study, a national research initiative focused on how community and technical colleges connect dual enrollment students to career pathways. - The inaugural cohort will include no more than 12 colleges nationwide. - Each selected college will receive a $30,000 Research Partner Grant. - Applications are open through January 15, 2027. - Colleges can learn more and apply at the study application page.

The details: - The study will examine the path from a student’s first interest in dual enrollment through the close of the first college term. - Research questions center on access, experience and transition. - Access covers how students learn dual enrollment is available and which students are never reached. - Experience looks at where students encounter the link between coursework and career, on campus and off. - Transition focuses on which practices between high school graduation and the first college term keep students enrolled. - Areas of inquiry include communication between high schools and colleges, visibility into wages and career outcomes, employer exposure, work-based learning, career advising, credit transfer into a program of study and coordination across enrollment, student services and workforce teams. - Each Research Partner will get an assessment of its own dual enrollment pathway from first interest through the first college term. - Each college will also receive a private briefing for its president in May 2027 on fall 2026 dual enrollment results. - The package includes an institutional action brief, two research convenings and recognition in the national white paper, with anonymous participation available on request. - The total participation cost is $60,000 per college, and Swim is covering half through the grant. - The cohort is limited to 12 colleges so Swim can compare results across a balanced mix of size, region and student population. - Findings will be published in a national white paper in July 2027. - Research Partners may join an optional implementation cohort in fall 2027, separate from the study and with its own fee.

Between the lines: - Swim is positioning the project as a data-building effort for a field that lacks common measures for dual enrollment-to-career connection. - The structure suggests Swim wants both research output and practical adoption, since participating colleges get an action brief and a follow-on implementation option. - Trimeka Benjamin, president and CEO of Swim Digital Group, said the sector has focused heavily on college affordability but not enough on helping students see a reason to continue. - Benjamin said dual enrollment students are leaving at alarming rates and that the study is meant to understand why students drop away and whether eligible students ever learn dual enrollment is an option.

What's next: - Swim will review applications from community and technical colleges nationwide through Jan. 15, 2027. - Selected colleges will contribute data for the study and participate in convenings at the start and close of the project. - Swim plans to release the white paper in July 2027. - Colleges in the cohort may later opt into the fall 2027 implementation group.

The bottom line: - Swim Digital Group is betting that colleges will pay to help define a new benchmark for dual enrollment success — not just access and affordability, but connection to a career path.