Homeschoolers and Federal Student Aid
Recently a Friend of AHEM wrote to us wondering how homeschoolers were to answer a question on the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) regarding secondary school completion. Question 25 of the paper FAFSA asks: "Will the student have a high school diploma/GED before he or she enrolls?" He pointed out that many homeschoolers, however well qualified they may be, have neither a GED nor a formal high school diploma.

The 2005-2006 Federal Student Aid Handbook, Volume 1, Chapter 1, p. 4 addresses the above concern:

"A student may self-certify that he has received a high school diploma or GED or that he has completed secondary school through home schooling as defined by state law... Because the current FAFSA doesn’t contain a self-certification for home schoolers, such
students may certify that in writing to your school, for example, on an admissions application...

Though home-schooled students are not considered to have a high school diploma or equivalent, they are eligible to receive FSA funds if their secondary school education was in a home school that state law treats as a home or private school. Some states issue a
secondary school completion credential to home-schoolers. If this is the case in the state where the student was home-schooled, she must obtain this credential in order to be eligible for FSA funds. Her self-certification that she was home-schooled (see above) can
include that she received this state credential.

Some students finish home schooling at an age younger than the age of compulsory school attendance for their state or your school’s state. Another part of the federal law defines an eligible institution as one that admits as regular students only persons who
have a high school diploma or equivalent or are beyond the compulsory attendance age for the school’s state. The Department considers a home-schooled student to be beyond the age of compulsory attendance if your school’s state would not require the student to further attend secondary school or continue to be homeschooled."

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The information on this website does not constitute legal advice; it is provided for informational purposes only.