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College Savings – Why or Why Not?

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student loans are a "debt" sentence

Photo courtesy of DonkeyHotey via Creative Commons license.

College savings is a big question for many parents, and rightfully so. After all, it is a daunting task. Today, the cost for one year of college and expenses at a public university is a whopping $19,000. Nationwide, college tuition increases an average of 7% per year. Everyone can get student loans. Perhaps my kids will get a scholarship. And what if my children decide not to go to college?

When I graduated high school, my parents had no college savings. Although my grades were good, I had no plan. Because of this, I started college without any scholarships. My parents made too much money for grants yet too little to pay for my school. My first tuition payments were made with student loans.

Generally parents fall into one of three categories in saving for college:

  • They save for college. These parents have made the decision that their children will go to college. Having the money set aside removes the biggest obstacle and objection to going to college.
  • They want to save for college but cannot. College savings plans are too far down on the budget right now. These parents hope that someday they can begin to save. Or, they hope to pay for part or all of college when their children reach that age.
  • They will not save for college. Since college is not a requirement, their children will pay their own way. Perhaps these parents paid for their own college. Or , they believe that their children will get loans, grants, or scholarships.

If you are saving for college, that’s great. Just be sure that you are saving enough. I have a neat little spreadsheet that you can use to help you calculate your college savings needs. Should you find that your savings are lacking, take a look at my post “Ten Tips To Add $650 Per Month To Your Budget.” Use a 529 plan or an Educational Saving Account (ESA) to save in a tax-free plan.

Also make sure that you’ve placed the right priority on college savings. The best approach is to first save for retirement each month, then save for college. Nobody will be funding your retirement so you must take care of that first. If you aren’t planning to pay the entire college bill, make sure your children understand that.

If you believe that your children can get student loans, you are right. According to USAToday, over $100 billion was loaned to students in 2011. Outstanding student loan debt now exceeds $1 trillion and exceeds the total outstanding credit card debt. Student loan default rates are on the rise. Many graduates find that they cannot earn enough to live and repay their loans.

A better option than loans is for your children to work their way through school. Of the $19,000 mentioned earlier, approximately half of that goes to living expenses. If your child lives at home, then they can work to pay for their tuition, fees, and books.

You might be ready to save but the college savings plans mentioned above may not be appealing. In this case, you could save outside of these plans. This will cause you to lose the tax advantage, but you can spend the money in whatever manner you choose.

Scholarships are plentiful, but they aren’t automatically awarded. An intentional scholarship search can be the best defense against the lack of college savings. Take a look at my two-part series on scholarship secrets every parent should know.

Scholarship Secrets, Part 1

Scholarship Secrets, Part 2

There are no right or wrong answers on this. For transparency’s sake, we do not have college savings set aside for our kids. My wife and I believe that our kids will work harder and value their education more if they pay for it. We do support them in other ways but paying for college belongs exclusively to them.

Whatever your approach, be sure that you discuss this early and often with your children.

Application Question – What is your position on saving for college? Do your children know this position?

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Scholarship Secrets Every Parent Should Know, Part 1

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In the world of scholarships and every parent’s struggle to pay for college, there is a dizzying array of choices and options marketed to juniors and seniors. This post reveals some of the most valuable secrets that every parent and student should know in order to maximize their scholarship offers.

Scholarship Preparation Begins Before High School. In way too many schools and homes, administrators, teachers, parents and students start talking about scholarships about halfway through high school. By then it is too late. Grade point average (GPA), extracurricular activities, and service and volunteer opportunities demonstrate what you’ve accomplished through high school and are extremely important to scholarship selection committees. The best time to begin preparing for scholarships is in middle school or junior high. The second best time is now.

Make Sure That You Know The Deadlines. Colleges have strict deadlines for priority scholarship consideration, usually December 1 of your child’s senior year. Plus, if your school requires the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) then there is a separate deadline to have that paperwork submitted. Be sure that all applications and paperwork have been submitted prior to the stated deadlines.

Some Scholarships Are Automatic. We tend to think of scholarships as awards which have many applicants with only one recipient. Almost every college has merit scholarships for incoming freshmen, which are awarded based on academic achievement. To qualify, you must generally meet a GPA and entrance exam score combination. Know what those limits are by checking the scholarship information on each school’s web site.

You Must Enter To Win. This is a mistake that I made during my high school years. In order to receive a scholarship offer from a given school, you must be accepted as a student at that university. Schools don’t just send out scholarship offers to all students who qualify; you must go through the application for admission process in order to be considered. This means that you must complete the application for admission, pay the required application fees, and submit your high school transcript and entrance exam scores for each school that you’re interested in. Don’t overlook this very important step.

Bigger Is Not Always Better. It is easy to look at the monetary value of all scholarship awards and take the one with the highest value. That’s not necessarily the best approach. A better way to look at it is to figure out the total cost of attendance at each school and determine how much will not be covered after all scholarships and financial aid has been applied. The “right” choice from a financial standpoint is the one with the smallest deficit.

In the next post, I will reveal four more secrets that parents and students need to know. By equipping yourself with this knowledge and paying attention to all of the deadlines, you will find yourself miles ahead of the pack and in a position to maximize your scholarship opportunities.

Application Question – Have you begun to research scholarship opportunities? Are you facing upcoming deadlines for your high school senior? Do you talk with your child about rounding out their resume as they approach scholarship time?

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You’ve Got Your Diploma, Now What?

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In the last couple of weeks, high schools across America have graduated the class of 2012. As the tassels were moved to the right side of the cap, thoughts about “what next” drifted through the minds of graduates and their parents alike. In this article, I’ll look at five of the most common scenarios for each year’s graduating class and give some tips that you might not have thought of for each.

An interesting article came out a couple of weeks ago on MSN Careers about what happens after high school. According to the article, fully 68% of all 2011 high school graduates were in college as of October 2011. Among black, white, and Hispanic students, each category averaged between 66% and 67%. However, 86.7% of all Asian students were enrolled in college, speaking to the cultural importance of education among the Asian community. As I build out my list below, I’ll work from what I perceive as the most common scenario to the least common.

You’re going to college in the fall. You’ve been admitted and orientation is just around the corner. Some points of consideration for students in this category revolve around how to pay for college and how to get off to a good start. I recommend enrolling for classes as soon as possible and buying books and required materials in the most economical manner. School-based scholarship deadlines have passed but students should continue to seek other resources like private scholarships to lessen the financial burden for the fall. Begin to look for part-time work; according to the article mentioned above only 38.8% of those in college were working or looking for work.

Not going to college, working instead. There is no shame at all in going straight to the workplace. According to the same article mentioned above, 68.7% of those students who did not continue on to college held some type of job. If you are working at this age, it likely is not the dream job that you someday hope to hold. However, don’t let that deter you; be taking stock of your talents, skills, abilities, personality traits, dreams, and passions and be proactively moving towards a career that matches all of those. Check out these books, both on my Resources page: 48 Days To The Work You Love (for job hunters) or No More Dreaded Mondays (for budding entrepreneurs) both by Dan Miller.

Wanting to go to college but no solid plans. Maybe you didn’t perform as well as you would have liked in high school. Perhaps you were not admitted to your school of choice and gave up at the time, but now you’ve regrouped. Or, the money just isn’t there to go to your number one school. A great solution for those in this situation is to go to a local community college in the fall. The cost is much less than a four-year university and there are programs to ensure that your credits are accepted when you transfer. Please, whatever you do, don’t take out a student loan to cover any deficits. Read this article for reasons why.

Military. An excellent option, this one overlaps the working category. And if you have college plans, the Post 9/11 GI Bill is an AWESOME plan to go to school after you separate. While you are in the military, if you can choose a specialty that lines up with your talents, skills, abilities, personality traits, dreams, and passions, rather than simply taking the recommendation based on your ASVAB scores.

Service and volunteerism. The motivations and intrinsic rewards from service can be excellent, and everyone should be involved at some level in serving others. Especially since you’re giving your time away, choose something that you are passionate about and love doing. Be careful, though, not to hide behind your volunteer roles to avoid moving into the workplace and becoming independent. Reference the same books listed above to find work that fits you.

All in all, in whatever path you choose you are entering a new phase of life. College is certainly an excellent option but is by no means a guarantee of success, so if you aren’t starting in the fall then don’t let that discourage you. In fact, if you aren’t ready for college or don’t yet know what you want to do with your life, then exploring one of the other options will be much better than spending all that money to “find yourself.” Congratulations class of 2012 – go out and change the world!

Application Question – Are you or your new graduate accepting college without a plan? Have you considered the options listed above and the tips associated with each?

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Summer Activities For Your Child, Part 2

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In my last post I explored some of the more structured summer activities that are available for kids. Many of these are very time-intensive and require a level of commitment to participate, and others can cost quite a bit of money as well. As we wrap up this two-part series in today’s post, I’ll look at some activities and ideas that can be tailored to suit you and your child’s needs if you aren’t ready to commit to a formal program.

The local library has summer reading programs geared generally towards younger kids. These are also free and provide your child with some motivation to meeting the goals set out by the program. And it’s a great fallback to have when there’s rain. A way to bond with your child – you can participate along with your child and set a good example for them. Check out the post that I wrote last year on this topic.

Summer is also an excellent time to volunteer. Your teens in particular are probably building their resume for college applications and many of the activities listed above are always looking for volunteers. There are also community service projects and mission work opportunities that your child can participate in and do some good for others. Check out “Twelve Service Opportunities For Your Child” for the list that I compiled earlier this year.

For families who have the luxury of a stay-at-home mom (SAHM), you can get creative without breaking the bank. Run a mini neighborhood day camp with other SAHMs. Each home can take turns being host for the day and run different games and activities, giving the other moms a break for the day. Or explore your city with your child – attractions that are right in our own back yard are often the least visited by local residents. Many of these have free admission, so pick out two or three of these for a day and pack a picnic lunch.

Finally, it might be time for your child to work. You might cringe at the idea but the reality is that someday they need to learn what work is all about. Summer is an excellent time to introduce work without interfering with school. I named off a couple dozen work ideas in “Twenty-Six Jobs for Teens” back in February. And the best paying job for older teens just might be in the scholarship search process, discussed in this post.

However you decide to handle summer activities, be intentional about it. Without a plan, you’re likely to spend more money on a last-minute activity that isn’t exactly what you had in mind for your child. And remember, kids need time to be kids. Part of their growth and maturation process is in unstructured play and free time where they have to be creative in how they spend that time.

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Twelve Service Opportunities for Your Child

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For your aspiring college student, nothing rounds out a stellar academic performance like a solid history of service. Scholarship committees, particularly those who award the endowed scholarships, like to know that their money is going to someone with a history of giving back. With summer coming, your student will have time on their hands to give back to the community so in this post we’ll look at some of the opportunities in your back yard or halfway around the world.

  1. Your child could participate in a Habitat for Humanity project. If you live in a mid to large-sized town, there should be several projects going on at any one time. You can find more information at http://www.habitat.org.
  2. Nursing homes are always eager to have young people to visit with the residents. Your son or daughter can read to the residents, visit and talk with them, or share a particular talent they may have. Find a home online in your local area and call the coordinator for more information.
  3. Community projects, like playground or park cleanup efforts, are a good one-time activity that lets your child participate on a Saturday. Look for these events to be posted on local signs, businesses, or in the community newspaper.
  4. Your teenager might participate as an assistant coach for a child’s sports team like baseball or basketball. This is a solid opportunity to develop leadership skills as well as teach some skills to up and coming kids. Check with the local youth recreation organization to find out more about this.
  5. To continue the theme of mentoring younger children, your teenager might be a tutor, ambassador, or student aid in the local elementary or middle school. As part of the development process for these younger kids, schools look for role models that have come through the system and can represent the system well.
  6. Maybe your child wants to pursue career interests. While finding a paying job might be a challenge, doing an unpaid internship or assistantship can be an excellent service opportunity. It also gives them a chance to see if their career interests in a particular field are worth pursuing. Universities and private businesses in the area are the best candidates for this opportunity.
  7. Churches across America put on Vacation Bible School during the summer. Typically a week-long event, they are always on the lookout for teens who can help out. Churches also typically participate in a food pantry or soup kitchen ministry to the local needy or homeless. Teens are always welcome to help distribute food at these venues.
  8. For animal lovers, your local zoo might be a possibility for a service opportunity. During the higher-traffic summer months they use volunteers for any number of tasks to help the full-time staff. Animal shelters are mostly non-profit and could use your child’s help. Find their website and contact them for more information.
  9. Summer camps are filled with activities that teens could help with if they are unable to secure a paid camp worker spot. Check with the camps in your area.
  10. Summer festivals are always in need of volunteers, and your child can benefit from free admission and other perks of helping the organization put on their event. As news of the event comes out, find their website for contact information.
  11. Fundraising activities like Light The Night and other events always need volunteers. As with other one-time events, consult with the website to learn more.
  12. Thinking more globally, there are mission opportunities around the globe that your church may participate in. These can be more costly because of the transportation and lodging involved, but they can be a wonderful teaching tool for your child to understand the challenges facing people in other countries. Raising money for such a trip is also a good character-building exercise. Check with your church and begin to plan early as immunizations, passports, and other requirements will have to be met.

Whatever activities your child participates in, they need to connect with a sponsor or supervisor who can validate their work if necessary. I also recommend finding something that your child can get excited about instead of just going through the motions. They might be called upon to relate their story to others, so hopefully their experiences will make an impression on them and they can take something of value from their service. The service credit earned might satisfy some scholarship requirement, but it is the memories and the experience that will impact your child and make a difference in their life.

Question – Is my child getting adequate exposure to the problems facing the world around them? Do they understand the importance of giving back? 

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Decision Time – Selecting The Right College

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Now that you’ve gone through the scholarship letters and negotiated the best offer that you can from each college, the hardest part still lies ahead – choosing their school. This is perhaps the biggest decision that the student has faced during their young life. Ultimately the student and parents need to come to the best decision possible but there are a number of factors yet to be considered. In this post we’ll look at a process that you can use to make that decision.

Obviously your student needs to go to a school where their major field of study is offered. Hopefully the finalists in your list all offer the major that your student wants to study. You might also look at schools that offer a very similar major if everything else is competitive. For example, your child might want to major in chemical engineering, but there may be a couple of schools that are finalists who offer biomedical engineering or material engineering. Be sure to keep those schools in mind also.

Next, total out-of-pocket costs need to be considered. The work completed from the last two posts, maximizing your scholarship offers and normalizing the annual award amount, will be used in this step. Of the schools that offer the desired course of study, weigh the annual award amounts against each other. As a parent, this is also the point where you need to commit to the amount that you’re willing to pay towards college so that your child knows the full financial impact of their choice. Your son or daughter may really be leaning towards an out-of-state or private university; this might be the point of heartbreak where the cash outlay becomes painfully obvious and those schools are eliminated from consideration.

As a parent, you might have an amount in mind that you’re willing to contribute to college. This is where you have significant leverage over the selection process. Let’s say your child is choosing between two schools and the out-of-pocket amount is significantly more at one school. If your student selects the less expensive school, you may keep the excess amount of your contributions for a graduation or wedding gift or maybe a down payment on a home. Consider your use of this strategy judiciously; it can be a way to steer the decision in your favor. In fact, if you’re contributing at all to the cost of college, then I’d say that the parent is ultimately in charge of the decision process.

After the money consideration, if two schools are within $1000 per year of each other then this is where you would use the feel-good criteria as a tie breaker. These factors include the cultural, student-teacher ratio, facilities, extracurricular, sports, and other niceties that you’d like. These are important, but I fully believe that they should come at the end of the selection process. Course of study and cost need to be the primary factors, and if the gap is wider than $1000 per year, then you should decide on the less expensive school.

One thing you might encounter through this process is that there may not be a clear-cut winner. Two schools might rise to the top of the list, then it gets tough. At this final point, it might come down to a coin toss, but generally something else wins out like distance from home and other external factors not previously considered.

Be sure that you know the deadlines for scholarship acceptance for each of your finalist schools so that you don’t miss out on any opportunities. The important part is to use a systematic approach that attempts to remove emotion from the equation. Emotion can cost you a lot of money if not controlled. Congratulations on getting this far in the process, and good luck in making the best decision possible.

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Negotiation Time – Maximizing Your Scholarship Offers

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High school seniors across the country are receiving their scholarship offers right about now. In our last post we talked about making sense out of those offers by placing a per-year dollar amount on awards from each school. Once that process is complete, you and your senior might find that their preferred school has not made the best offer. In this post we will look at ways to maximize those offers through negotiation with each school.

You have probably found through your calculations that your child’s scholarship offers fall short of the full cost of attending college. Outside of athletic scholarships, a “full ride” where everything is paid is rare. If this is your situation, negotiating can close the out-of-pocket gap for your child’s college education. Or, if your child does have a full ride, then negotiating can actually put money in your child’s pocket. The way financial aid works, any funds remaining after all costs have been paid to the university is refunded to the student. So, whatever your child’s initial scholarship situation, it pays to negotiate.

I believe that there are four steps you can take in order to get the best deal possible from a school. I recommend taking these steps with each school under consideration because you might be surprised at each school’s willingness to bring your child in as a student. The four steps in the process are:

First, recognize that the first offer is just that – an offer. Schools, particularly public institutions, will tell you that they have little leeway but there is always room to negotiate. Ask for additional scholarship money. You might also ask for additional aid in the form of work study, grant money for particular programs, research assistantships, or other non-scholarship programs.

Second, play each school against one another. If there is a school that you really want to go to but you have a better offer from a similar school, use that information to negotiate with your ideal school. The worst they can do is say is no.

Third, ask for discounts. Private schools may be more willing to offer these than public schools, but it can’t hurt to ask. This may come in the form of a fee waiver, tuition or room discount, or other enticement. Your child might be considering an out-of-state school; perhaps the school will give your child the in-state tuition rate, which is generally half the cost. If you get this, be sure to lock it in for the full term of your undergraduate studies.

Fourth, for each of these strategies, be prepared to make your case as to why you are deserving of these considerations. It may take a couple of conversations with your school’s scholarship office, and it becomes easier for them to gain approval if you tell a compelling tale.

Once you’ve made your best deal, go back to the previous post on analyzing your scholarship offers and update your numbers. We will use the results from this process in the next post where we make the college decision.

Besides purchasing a home, college is generally the largest financial commitment that an individual will make during their lifetime. If your child is in the position where they have multiple scholarship offers to consider, this can remove that huge burden. Using these negotiation tactics wisely, you may be able to improve your offers significantly. The last thing you want to do is leave money on the table. Next time we’ll look at making the big decision and committing to the college of your choice.

What other tactics can you suggest? Where have you seen this work? Please share your thoughts and feedback on this topic.

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Award Time – Making Sense Out of Your Senior’s Scholarship Offers

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Your child has worked hard for years, and now the fruits of their labor are ready for harvest. March is the time when the scholarship offers begin to roll in for high school seniors across the nation. Mom and Dad are perhaps at their proudest and schools begin to woo your senior in earnest. It is a time of joy and celebration but it can also be a confusing time for those with multiple offers. How do you make sense of these offers? Let’s spend a few minutes talking about it.

Start by getting organized. The scholarship offers should all come in letter form, so collect all of those letters and sort them by school. Create a spreadsheet or a simple handwritten table with each school’s name at the top of each column. Then review each letter to determine the details of the award. Put the awards that are renewable each year at the top of the column and put the one-time awards next in the column. For all awards that are dependent on choosing a particular major or program, place those at the bottom of the column.

Some of the renewable awards might say “full tuition, books, and fees” instead of a specific amount. You can handle this by checking on the school website for the projected costs for each of these categories for the upcoming school year and using those values instead. Make sure that you understand if tuition includes in-state or out-of-state amounts and plug in the proper amount.

Next, we’ll annualize each school’s offer. What this means is that the recurring awards should be converted into the annual amount if not readily available. Divide the one-time awards by four to determine the annual amount for each of these scholarships. Finally, for the department-specific awards, convert those to an annual amount by determining if they are renewable or one-time and treating those like described previously. Sum up the annualized offers from each school and to find the total year-one award that the school is offering.

Your child might also receive scholarship offers from independent sources that can be used at any school. Those offers should also be converted to an annualized amount if not already in that form and added to each school’s total amount. This is because that amount needs to be factored in at all schools, although you will only use it at the one you attend. The alternative is to leave off these awards because they are the same wherever you go, but I like to include them so that you can determine the total out-of-pocket or surplus for each school.

On each school’s website you should be able to find the total first-year cost for an incoming freshman. Transfer that information to the table or spreadsheet below the total award amount for each school. Be sure that the expenses include everything that your child may spend, and be sure that you’re looking at the total yearly cost and not just the first semester. Also make sure that you pull the right number from the in-state or out-of-state student category as applicable to your child. Many schools now require first-year students to live on campus and have a meal plan so be sure that room and board are included if applicable. Make sure that you include an amount for books and supplies if not factored in to the school’s total cost.

Here’s where the fun begins. Subtract the total first year cost from the total annual award amount. If the amount is zero or positive, congratulations – your child can go to that school free for the first year, and any positive amount will be refunded to your child. If the amount is negative, that is the out-of-pocket cost that your child will incur during the first year.

There might be other money or opportunity from grants depending on your family’s situation, but this gives you a way to normalize all of the offers so that you understand the real financial impact. In the next post we’ll try to figure out what it all means and help you with the decision-making process.

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Twenty-Six Jobs For Teens

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My middle child starts his first job today – congratulations Nick! As we get closer to summer more and more kids will be looking for work. In addition, more companies will have temporary openings as their own permanent staff enjoys vacations with their families so the opportunity is there for summer help. This post will take a look at several work ideas for kids and discuss the practical life lessons that parents can teach through a child’s work activities.

Here is my list of twenty-six possible jobs, in no particular order:

  • Lifeguard
  • Fast food worker
  • Busboy
  • Server or host
  • Grocery store clerk
  • Mowing yards and general yard work
  • Babysitting
  • Dog walking
  • Retail clothing stores
  • Tutoring
  • Musical lessons
  • Social media work
  • Bookkeeping
  • Working on construction crew
  • Camp counselor
  • Cleaning houses
  • Photography work
  • Movie theater attendant
  • Vet clinic assistant
  • Delivery person
  • Personal assistant
  • Computer repair and home network setup
  • Car washing and detailing
  • Amusement park worker
  • House sitting
  • Office attendant

Of course, not all children can do these jobs. Some require certain skills, while others require a driver’s license and access to a vehicle. Some of these jobs are seasonal and summer only, while others could be part-time jobs year round. For the budding entrepreneur, there are jobs in this list that could be done on a freelance basis for multiple customers so several of these could be the start of a small business.

Parents need to encourage this activity as there are so many good lessons that kids can learn from the demands of a job. Besides the obvious lessons on responsibility and working as part of a team, parents have the opportunity to teach some sound financial principles from a recurring stream of income. Issues such as taxes, saving, budgeting, and so forth are best taught when the child has their own income to work from. With a steady paycheck, it also gives the parents an opportunity to open a checking account with their child and teach them basic checkbook management.

If your child wants to work, I strongly encourage you to let them explore the possibilities. In this economy I understand that there are people struggling to find work. However, most of the jobs that I mentioned above are generally pretty dynamic and companies are always in need of people to fill these roles.

Your child’s grades and overall responsibility and accountability are important considerations, but if at all possible it would be good idea to get your teen in the workforce. The experience gained from working a job will follow them into college and possibly give them an advantage when seeking on-campus employment. The lessons that they learn from work can be valuable content for the scholarship essay or interview. You, and society as a whole, will appreciate that your child has learned about work and how to handle money before they move into adulthood.

What other ideas do you have for summer jobs? Are there jobs that you think teens should avoid? At what age do you think it is appropriate for a teen to work? Readers please comment with your thoughts!

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Scholarships and Home School

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One of the major concerns of parents who are considering home school is the availability of scholarships. It is certainly no question that home school students can get into colleges throughout the country. Their ability to complete the required courses and be competitive on entrance exams has been proven over time. But what about scholarships? Are home school students able to compete for the same scholarships that traditional students have available to them? We’ll explore that question in this post.

In short, any competitive scholarship that does not have the requirement of graduation from a traditional high school is open to all home school students. Any entrance exams, resumes, interviews, or other requirements of these scholarships can be met by all students regardless of where they graduate from high school.

The problem for most home school students will come from the institutional scholarships offered by all colleges. These scholarships are usually sensitive to graduation from an accredited high school; most public and private high schools meet this requirement and for the ones that don’t, the colleges treat them as if their diplomas are accredited. Diplomas are awarded by the institution which the student attended, and for home school students this is generally done by the parents themselves. The states with HOPE scholarships funded by the local lottery commission do not allow participation for home-schooled students as entering freshmen. Some, such as the one sponsored by the state of Georgia, will retroactively qualify a home school graduate after they complete their first year of a college with a ‘B’ average or better.

An option is to complete your high school curriculum with a charter or private institution. Many of these offer a home schooling option for their students so their accreditation allows them to issue diplomas to those students who successfully complete the prescribed home school program. Your child may have to take some classes specifically offered by these schools in order to complete the program, but this gives you the accredited diploma that colleges, employers, and the armed forces recognize.

One other option that you might consider is the GED. The GED is a functional equivalent of the high school diploma, and according to the Wikipedia article on the GED, approximately 95% of colleges accept the GED. Realize, however, that the GED does have a negative connotation in some circles because it is perceived that the student took the GED because they could not pass their high school requirements.

A third option for your college-bound student is to take some dual enrollment courses. These are classes that are offered through your local junior or community college, which upon completion award both high school and college credit. These are a great way to economically earn college credit, establish your credibility (and GPA) with taking college-level courses, and build towards your degree before even finishing high school. As mentioned earlier about the Georgia HOPE scholarship, completing these classes also gets you closer to completing your first year of college that much sooner.

In summary, college admission is no problem for home-schooled students. There are avenues into scholarship awards for home school students, but exploring those takes a little more planning and consideration. As is our common theme throughout The Affluent Student, start early and be intentional about your scholarship search and you’ll be just fine.

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