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It can cost a local high school student as much as $1,032 to enroll in a single University of Hawaii course as part of a college jump-start program offered to eligible public school students across the state.

The program is widely seen as a very effective way to boost college attendance and graduation rates among low-income students. Most states don’t automatically make such students and their families , according to a from the but Hawaii does.

The education policy think tank has produced a that evaluates dual enrollment policies across the country and analyzes recent trends. It offers a of how Hawaii’s dual-enrollment programs — which in general allow eligible high school students to enroll in introductory college courses for credit — stack up against those in other states. The biggest such program in Hawaii is called .

A notable change in the report: the number of states that is dropping rapidly, from 22 states in 2008 to 11 this year.

Hawaii is one of the remaining states, meaning that the vast majority of students enrolling in college courses have to pay the standard course fees. At community colleges a course costs between $318 and $424, depending on the number of credits it offers, while one at UH Hilo or UH West Oahu costs between $774 and $1032.

Dual enrollment programs allow high school students to take college courses, often for credit at both institutions. Program scope varies greatly from state to state, with some requiring schools to offer dual enrollment options, while others leave it up to the schools. (The law in Hawaii doesn’t specify whether schools are required to offer dual enrollment, according to the ECS report.)

Efforts are underway across the country to ensure students get the most out of dual enrollment, including new legislation that makes requirements about course quality and the gathering of more data on participating students

Hawaii is one of 47 states with laws stipulating dual enrollment opportunities.

Jennifer Dounay Zinth, a senior policy analyst who co-directs the education commission’s , described the surge in statewide policies as an encouraging sign that could result in greater numbers of kids taking advantage of such programs.

Sheldon Tawata, who coordinates Kapiolani Community College’s high school outreach initiatives and serves as counselor for high school students who enroll on campus, hailed Running Start as an opportunity that significantly boosts teenagers’ academic and social confidence and gets them excited about college. He said the program also has practical benefits because students can earn credits early on and get a head start on college and their careers.

“These students can compete,” Tawata said, noting that such high school students often outshine their college peers. “They carry themselves sometimes a lot more professional(ly) than the college-age students.”

Much of that is because the courses are more academically challenging than those in high school, but Tawata and other educators suspect it’s also because the experience gets them pumped up about, and acclimated to, advanced learning culture. Tawata pointed to the simple things, too, such as how the high school students’ faces brighten when they receive their first college ID card.

“That’s huge because that’s a physical tangible thing that shows that they’re doing something,” Tawata said.

But, for the most part, the only financial aid available to students comes through GEAR UP Hawaii, which offers about $85,000 total in scholarships to a relatively small number of eligible low-income students. During the 2011-12 year, 443 kids received the scholarships, which distributed among the group comes out to less than $200 per student. Slightly less than one in three students who participate in Running Start and similar programs come from families that struggle financially, meaning they receive free or discounted meals, according to Hawaii P-20 Partnerships for Education Executive Director Karen Lee. Statewide, about 54 percent of students are considered low-income.

And while initial research shows encouraging results among Hawaii dual enrollment students — they have higher college retention rates and are more likely to earn a bachelor’s degree or higher, for example — it also reveals that participation among Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, males and economically disadvantaged students is lower than among their peers. Those students are also less likely to go to college, stay in college and earn a degree or certificate.

“Dual credit helps to close the achievement gap for those groups,” Lee said, adding that students who received the scholarships are more successful in college than those who don’t.

Without a solid means of financing all students who want to take college courses but might not be able to afford it, Hawaii may be deterring low-income students from participating, Dounay Zinth suggested. More financial aid might help decrease the achievement gap given that from New York City suggests low-income male students benefit more from dual enrollment than their peers.

But Tawata said the university’s “hands are tied” because the federal government only offers financial aid to students who are enrolled in a degree program. The high school students are not. The high cost of the college courses could make taking Advanced Placement classes, which are free aside from the $100 exam fee, more appealing to students, Tawata suggested.

Just a small percentage of Hawaii’s juniors and seniors enroll in college courses even though Running Start was established as a in 2001 and offers both college and high school credit. In Running Start, high school students can take courses at every campus except UH Manoa.

The state also offers a range of other small dual-enrollment opportunities through newer programs such as Jump Start, Early Admit and Waipahu High’s Early College. Meanwhile, certain schools offer college courses on campus. For example, Kaimuki High offers a Pacific Island Studies class “in an effort to reach out to the middle-performing underrepresented students,” Tawata said. Next year, the school will offer a religious studies course whose enrollment is already at capacity, according to Kaimuki High Principal Mark Araki.

During the 2011-12 school year, 830 students statewide participated in dual enrollment, according to Lee. That accounts for less than 4 percent of the state’s estimated . Students must have the approval of a counselor and on math and English placement tests.

Dounay Zinth said states’ investment in dual enrollment has increased significantly in the past three or so decades that it has been around but that certain policies are still lacking in Hawaii and other states, such as those regulating course quality.

As of now, fewer than half of all states — Hawaii excluded — have a system for ensuring the quality of courses and professors, but the number has grown since 2008 — from 15 to 22.

Dounay Zinth also said that Hawaii and other states should do a better job of creating a good support system for students, one that includes counseling to ensure that students are prepared for the rigor and expectations of such courses. (College schedules often differ from those of public high schools, and students must still attend a course if it falls on a public school holiday.)

“My hope is that we’ll see more states look at their profile against” the best practices in other states, Dounay Zinth said.