Community College courses for 15 year old...

[rlw74]

My state has a dual enrollment program in place but you must be in 11th grade and be in partnership with a public school program. There are a lot of criteria for being accepting - passing multiple exams, maintaining a certain grade-point average etc. I know homeschoolers who are allowed to dual enroll by having part-time enrollment at the high school and taking dual credit courses with the community college. Some of those homeschool students participate in school sports and things like drivers education, but the majority of their work is completed through their homeschool curriculum. It isn't an easy program to get into even as a traditional public school student but if you are accepted it is at no cost.

The only other thing I've seen was a 16 year old homeschooled student who did an accelerated online program, graduated high school at 15 and enrolled in the community college at 16. He had to have proof he graduated before they accepted him.

I'm not sure community colleges in my area accept anyone at 15 without some kind of major exceptions. My daughter is 13 and a public school student so I've been researching for her. I don't want her to pursue ACE credits because all of her career choices at this point involve something in the medical field. She'll need to attend a traditional B&M school. There is a limit to the amount of CLEP exams you can take for most schools so if that becomes her only option we'll focus on just a few for gen eds. The school she is in won't consider any kind of dual enrollment before 11th grade so we have a couple of years still.

[cookderosa]

Ok, so the good news is that Texas allows teens to enroll in college classes at the community college. The bad news (relatively) is that Texas colleges all decide the specifics for themselves. This makes it hard for parents to wrap their heads around what is allowed and required for enrollment and tuition costs because often when you talk to someone you'll hear one thing, while someone else's experience will be totally different.
I have a Texas Homeschooling for College Credit group- which you are welcome to join (just do a search for it on Facebook) and ask the parents questions (I don't live in Texas, so am not an expert) but I will provide info here that other parents have shared/found there. I like to answer posts on this page instead of sending people elsewhere.

all of the Alamo schools call it Dual Credit - and offer 1 free course per semester but the age isn't listed, so worth checking. https://www.alamo.edu/sac/dual-credit/

Austin Community College district allows dual enrollment/ dual credit as well as Early College ( a different program only just offered to homeschoolers) and has a tuition waiver program you have to apply for. They cap you at 2 courses per term. Ages not listed http://sites.austincc.edu/dual-credit/

University Texas RGV has many restrictions but is free. Is open only to Jr/Sr high school students (dual, concurrent) https://www.utrgv.edu/undergraduate-admi.../index.htm

Non-Texas Regionally Accredited options: Liberty University upon completion of 10th grade (note no age, so you as the parent can decide when that is) http://www.liberty.edu/onlineacademy/dua...dmissions/

BYU University - any age/grade for college credit as well as AP courses if interested. https://is.byu.edu/

[DIGI-212]

College of Dupage in Illinois accepts out of state homeschoolers into their online early admissions program if students meet testing requirements. The website states that the student must be under 18 (and not yet graduated/GED) but does specifically state a minimum age. Interestingly, the information page also states that "Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 requires any student under the age 13 to have a Parent or Legal Guardian signature to acquire a College of DuPage email address." Otherwise, the school will only knowingly speak/email the student. They will not talk to the parent even during the course payment process. The student needs to be able to undergo the phone interview process and navigate admissions counseling on there own, successfully to be admitted. The online courses follow the regular semester timing and cost around $500 (for 3 credit hours) for out of state students. Students do have to meet prerequisites for classes through ACT, Reading & ALEKS placement tests. Students are required to take general ed courses unless they have CLEP tested out of prerequisites before applying. My daughter was 17 when she took a course there. She had to transfer in ACE/CLEP scores to meet the reading level pre-requisites for a 200 level course. The professors are not told the student is in high school. My tip is to have your "student" email them for information otherwise the response is very slow, if at all.

Info:
http://www.cod.edu/admission/degree_cert...index.aspx
http://www.cod.edu/admission/degree_cert...s/new.aspx

Online Catalog:
http://cod.edu/online/catalog/

[namwen]

Thanks everyone! I will do some more digging on these options.

[rlw74]

So I misspoke on a previous post. Last year the requirement was you had to be in 11th grade in my district (or at least that is what I was told by the previous guidance counselor). The handbook for this year says it's possible to enroll as early as 7th grade - so 12/13 years old. We are going to attend the College Plus program on Monday night. If our school district has this at such a young age (and I'm really surprised they do) I don't see why other school's don't have this. I would check with your local school district. Ours is open to homeschool students here so it might be the same for you.

[cookderosa]

So I misspoke on a previous post. Last year the requirement was you had to be in 11th grade in my district (or at least that is what I was told by the previous guidance counselor). The handbook for this year says it's possible to enroll as early as 7th grade - so 12/13 years old. We are going to attend the College Plus program on Monday night. If our school district has this at such a young age (and I'm really surprised they do) I don't see why other school's don't have this. I would check with your local school district. Ours is open to homeschool students here so it might be the same for you.

I might have missed it, but what state are you in?

[rlw74]

We are in Ohio

[cookderosa]

We are in Ohio

You're in a very good dual enrollment state- it's not their first day. The College Plus program is state-wide, making it easy for parents to apply and participate. I do wish they extended funding a little deeper, but overall, other states should be so lucky!