College Planning
At the beginning of the high school years, you and your student should take a look at some of the requirements for application to the types of colleges your student is interested in. Do they need 3 or 4 years of math? What level? Is foreign language study required? How many years? Do you need science courses with labs? Will you need to submit lab reports?
You want to tentatively plan, and then be very flexible and adjust the plan accordingly. Your student might have wanted to study computer programming, but now needs to prepare a portfolio for art school. They might have planned to get a commercial driver license, but now want to get HVAC certification at a community college. What you don’t want to have is a situation where your child says, I want to do such and such, but I can’t because I don’t have this course work or music training, or whatever. Keep looking ahead to all of the options and possibilities.
Applying to College
Most colleges these days have a separate page on their websites that specify requirements for homeschooled applicants.
It’s most important to call the admissions office of the school and ask them what they would like to have submitted if it’s not clear. Explain that you’re sorry you are calling instead of the student, but because your child is homeschooled, you are the principal and guidance counselor and need to know what to prepare. It can be very helpful if you offer what you can give them first, rather than wait for the school to demand various things. Say that you are prepared to send in a transcript with (or without) grades, a brief course description of the classes your student took, and letters of recommendation. You might not have letters from, say, a math teacher and an English teacher, but you should offer what you do have, (maybe letters from an employer, volunteer director, sports coach, theater director). These days, colleges are very happy to hear from homeschoolers, but the specialized colleges (such as art schools) and trade schools often don’t quite know what to do with homeschoolers and ask for things that don’t exist (like a school district’s write up of your high school program).
Let’s take a look at the materials you’ll need to have ready.
Transcripts and Course Descriptions
Transcripts are the list of courses, grades, and often course credits of a student. Some are arranged by year, some by subject area. You can easily make your own good looking transcript using table formats on Word, Google Drive, and other programs, and there are many templates out there online. Usually a GPA (grade point average) is calculated for each year and for the student’s work up to the current semester.
Sample transcript 9th and 10th grades
Here is part of a transcript made from a template on the HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association) website. You see that the major courses are listed and worth one credit each. Less demanding coursework, music lessons, phys.ed., are listed as being worth .5 credit and graded as pass/fail. Grades of A, B, C etc. can be turned into numeric grades on the standard scale,
A 4.0
A- 3.7
B+ 3.3
B 3.0
B- 2.7
C+ 2.3
C 2.0
C- 1.7
D+ 1.3
D 1.0
D- 0.7
F 0.0
Some high schools “weight” the transcript; that is, honors or AP (advanced placement) classes are given a higher numeric grade. Instead of A =4.0, an A = 4.5 or 5.0. This can be too complicated for a homeschool transcript; the scale must be noted, and honestly, the grades given by parents will always be examined critically. The colleges will be looking for confirmation of the grades via test scores and courses taken outside the home. And they will be looking at the level of the coursework in the course description.
In our sample transcript, under grade 9, we have an A-, B+, A-, A+, and A. (Pass/fail grades don’t count). These grades become 3.7, 3.3, 3.7, 4.0, and 4.0. Add the numbers and divide by 5 (five courses, five credits) to get an average of 3.74. If some courses are worth more credits than others, you would need to multiply each of the grades by the number of credits for that class. The cumulative GPA, listed at the bottom of the transcript, will be the average of all of the years/credits together.
The school will provide a transcript for any courses taken online, at the local high school, or community college. That transcript will need to be submitted to the college directly by the school, but you CAN use the grades in your transcript, so that the transcript shows the complete list of courses taken each year. Just put a little mark, maybe an asterisk *, and add a note at the bottom of the transcript, saying something like “course taken through VLACS.”
Course Descriptions
The transcript itself, if it’s just the name of a class and a grade, doesn’t mean much. That’s why colleges like to have an attached course description. It can be as simple as the name of the textbook and the topics covered in it, or it can be a more detailed list of books read, projects, and field trips.
An example of a course description made from a student’s personal interest and study:
Astronomy Course consisted of self-study of aspects of astronomy including lunar geography, the planets, asteroids, meteors and comets, use of binoculars and telescopes, telescope optics and physical limitations, the sun, major deep sky objects, stars and their spectra, and orbits. Extensive time was spent in actual observation of the night sky using binoculars and a 4.5’’ equilateral Newtonian reflector telescope. Texts: Seeing the Sky, Fred Schaaf; Imaging Saturn, Henry S.F. Cooper, Jr.; Stargazing with Binoculars and Telescopes, John Mosley; Stars and their Spectra, James B. Kaler; Hubble’s Universe, Simon Goodwin; Turn left at Orion, Guy Consolmagno and Dan M. Davis; Skywatching, David Levy; Comets, David Levy; The Messier Objects, Stephen James O’Meara; The Hatfield Photographic Lunar Atlas, Jeremy Cook; Secrets of the Night Sky, Bob Berman.; Topics in Encyclopaedia Britannica.
An example of a course description derived from the description of the text in the publisher’s catalog.
Algebra II
In addition to covering topics of second year algebra, this course covered a considerable amount of geometry. Specific algebra topics covered included: graphical solution to simultaneous equations, scientific notation, radicals , roots of quadratic equations including complex roots, properties of the real numbers, inequalities and systems of inequalities, logarithms and antilogarithms, exponential equations, basic trigonometric functions, algebra of polynomials, vectors, polar and rectangular coordinate systems, and a wide spectrum of work problems. Time was spent developing geometric concepts and writing proof outlines. Set theory, probability and statistics were also treated. Text: Algebra 2, John Saxon.
An example of a course description from a teen activity
Literature Discussion Group
This monthly group provides an opportunity for homeschooled teens to give their impressions and discuss themes in some classic books on high school and college book lists. Titles selected include Brave New World, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Sense and Sensibility, The House of the Seven Gables, The Importance of Being Earnest, Frankenstein, Cry the Beloved Country and the short stories: “The Death Disk”, Mark Twain; “The Cask of Amontillado”, Edgar Allan Poe; “The Lady and the Tiger”, Frank R. Stockton; and “The Patented Gate and the Mean Hamburger”, Robert Penn Warren. Students enjoy socializing and exchanging ideas over refreshments.
Testing
College admission counselors know the standards at specific high schools all over the country. Because they can’t really tell the level of work a homeschooled student has been doing at home, most colleges rely on test scores to give them a sense of where a homeschooled student stands academically. (But academics aren’t the only thing they’re looking at, activities, essays, employment, etc. count too.) Even colleges that do not require SAT or ACT scores, usually do require them from homeschooled applicants.
The SAT (used more by colleges in the East and West Coast) and the ACT (used more in the Midwest) are the standard aptitude tests required. There is a new test, the Classic Learning Test, not accepted by many colleges at present, that uses online testing, gives same day results, and tests a slightly different range of abilities.
If you use testing for your annual evaluation for a few years, your student will have a sense of how it works. Still using test prep materials is a necessary part of getting a good score. Books are usually available at your local library or can be purchased, and practice materials are online at Kahn Academy and the College Board. Your child needs to be familiar with the test format, the style of questions, and how much time they will have. Doing practice tests is a great way to get ready and to give your student a sense of the level of college they are qualified for.
One common schedule is for a student to take the SAT, or ACT, in the spring of their junior year. Then the student can repeat the test in the fall of their senior year. Their scores inevitably go up because they are less nervous, have matured a bit, and have learned more.
Tests in Specific Subjects
Many of the more competitive colleges will ask for scores from SAT subject tests, often one score in a math or science, and one score in a language arts or social studies area. SAT subject tests are short, one hour tests. Three different ones can be taken in one session. Do note that SAT subject tests cannot be taken on the same day as the SAT, so you’ll want to check dates and make a plan. These tests actually are great for homeschoolers. They are easy to study and prepare for and the scores confirm grades given by parents.
Students can take AP (advanced placement) courses in co-ops, online, and at schools or you can teach AP level material at home. BUT the teacher and student must sign up for the spring AP exam in that course (exams given at the local school) in the fall. New guidelines have just been released with September 4 as the first deadline!
CLEP tests allow a student to receive college credit in a variety of subjects. Credits are accepted by many colleges, but not all. Modern States is a non-profit organization that provides free and low cost college courses, allowing students to bypass the freshman year at some colleges. They will now pay the fee for students to take CLEP exams to place out of classes (at some colleges) https://modernstates.org/
Diplomas and Self-certification of Completion of High School and its connection to Financial Aid
You should know that colleges are not allowed to ask that the student take a GED to be accepted to receive financial aid. They are often confused about this. Refer them to the “Dear Colleague letter” . Among other things in this letter from the U.S. Department of Education is the statement:”With regard to documenting a home-schooled student’s completion of secondary school in a home-schooled setting, an institution may accept a home-schooled student’s self-certification that he or she completed secondary school in a home school setting, just as it may accept a high school graduate’s self-certification of his or her receipt of a high school diploma.”
Sample Self-Certification of Secondary School Completion
Confusion at College Admissions Offices about Certification of High School Completion
We are hearing of colleges asking that homeschooled students submit a state or school district issued high school graduation credential, a certificate of completion from the local school district or state board of education, or proof that they have met the requirements of their state for graduation for homeschool students with their application. Colleges may set any admission requirements they like, but they usually set the requirements for homeschooled students with federal student aid guidelines in mind. They want to make sure all students will be able to comply if need be.
Because of recent changes in the Federal Student Aid handbook, college admissions offices have gotten confused between states that do issue such credentials and states that do not. New Hampshire does not.
There are no specific requirements for graduation for homeschoolers in New Hampshire and New Hampshire issues no high school completion credential. New Hampshire homeschoolers “self-certify.” Sample Self-Certification of Secondary School Completion
The Federal Student Aid Handbook https://ifap.ed.gov/federal-student-aid-handbook/2021FSAHbkVol1 states:
Homeschooling
Though homeschooled students are not considered to have a high school diploma or equivalent, they are eligible to receive Title IV funds if their secondary school education was in a homeschool that state law treats as a home or private school.
Some states issue a secondary school completion credential to homeschoolers. If this is the case in the state where the student was homeschooled, he/she must obtain this credential to be eligible for Title IV funds if the state requires it. You may rely on a homeschooled student’s self-certification that they completed secondary school in a homeschool setting. The student can include in his/her homeschooling self-certification that he/she received this state credential.
Since New Hampshire does not issue a secondary school completion credential, you do not need to submit one. You may need to cite this part of the Federal Handbook to the admissions counselors at the college.
On page 10, under Academic Qualifications, you will see
ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS
To receive Title IV funds, a student must be qualified to study at the
postsecondary level. A student qualifies if she:
• has a high school diploma (this can be from a foreign school if it is
equivalent to a U.S. high school diploma);
• has the recognized equivalent of a high school diploma, such as a
general educational development (GED) certificate or other state sanctioned test or diploma-equivalency certificate;
• has completed homeschooling at the secondary level as defined by
state law;
• has completed secondary school education in a homeschool setting
which qualifies for an exemption from compulsory attendance
requirements under state law, if state law does not require a homeschooled student to receive a credential for their education; or
• has completed one of the ability-to-benefit (ATB) alternatives and
is either currently enrolled in an eligible career pathway program or
first enrolled in an eligible postsecondary program prior to July 1,
2012.
A student may self-certify on the FAFSA that he has received a high
school diploma or high school equivalency certificate or that she has completed secondary school through homeschooling as defined by state law. If a student indicates that he has a diploma or high school equivalency certificate, your school isn’t required to ask for a copy (except as noted below), but if your school requires a diploma for admission, then you must rely on that copy of the diploma or high school equivalency certificate and not on the student’s
certification alone.
From https://ifap.ed.gov/federal-student-aid-handbook/2021FSAHbkVol1
You see that you may self-certify completion of high school through homeschooling as defined by state law. You may find that you need to explain how the New Hampshire homeschooling law works and that federal requirements do not ask for these credentials from New Hampshire students, and that New Hampshire is a “self-certifying” state.
The New Hampshire Department of Education has placed an explanation on their website http://education.nh.gov/instruction/school_improve/home_ed/index.htm. You may find it helpful to direct admissions officers to this page.
Other Places to Find Information
Do talk with your area NHHC representative if some of this is confusing. If the representative doesn’t have a lot of experience with college applications, they will put you in touch with a NHHC Board member who does. We have an active Board of homeschoolers with a wide range of experience.
Kemlo Aki, former New Hampshire Homeschooling Coalition Board member, has put together an excellent Homeschooling Through High School page on her website http://sites.google.com/site/kemakihsinginfo/Home/highschool. You will find many resources there to get you started.