Advice for California teen(15) 9th grade for big three and WGU accelerated with ACE

[djdja]

Got a teen in my family who has excelled in homeschool for three years, based in California. I myself did running start in Washington state and got my AA in when i finished high school. While such programs exist for 11th graders, they do not appear to exists for 9th. Looking to get him enrolled in the big three or WGU preferably. Very open to community college or duel enrollment, as long as he can start at his age. He has started taking classes on sophia.org and has been doing well. He's fifteen and would be entering 9th grade if going to normal school. Could we get him enrolled in a local community college, or one of the big three schools (or WGU which is his first choice)? thanks.

[Vle045]

Have you seen this website? https://homeschoolingforcollegecredit.com/
They may have some great resources for you

[bjcheung77]

@djdja, Hey, Welcome to the board! I am in the Seattle/Renton area of WA State! That's a great intro post with some details, my nephew is also 15 and in a pretty similar situation as your teen. My suggestion right now is to provide us an even better overview with extra details by following the template and last post addendum here: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

In addition to what was mentioned by Vle045, (we have members of the board who are moderators for several states on that website)... You should review the following links as it has details with several suggestions.  Dual Enrollment, AP/CLEP, ACE for up to 90 credits or more while the teens still going for their HS diploma.  If you have questions, update this thread and we can further discuss options with you.

Link: Plans for a high schooler
Link: High Schooler Options - BSBA / BABA
Link: High school & college?
Link: Quickest Associates Degree and degree plan?

[dfrecore]

TESU does not allow anyone under 18 to enroll. Excelsior doesn't allow anyone without a high school degree to enroll unless they're in NY and working under the Dual Enrollment program there, which would not apply to you, and is expensive. COSC requires you to be 16, but is also not cheap. WGU requires you to be a HS grad I think, they are very pricy for a high school student ($3500+ per 6mo term) and don't have associates degrees.

Instead, as a CA resident, you should be looking at CC's in CA, many of which will be free. They all have different rules on DE, and what age they'll allow, so you'll have to research that. Worst case, you wait to do CC until he's 16/11th grade, and do CLEP exams prior to that if he's a good test-taker. All CA CC's and the CSU-system school will accept at least some CLEP exams (and the CC's will also take DSST's, although the CSU's won't). UC-system schools will not take CLEP exams.

You might also want to look at DE programs outside of CA that are inexpensive (check Homeschooling for College Credit to see, she has a list). Certainly not as good as free though.

Some additional thoughts - finding what you student is interested in, and doing things that may not be worth college credit but will keep him interested in school. IT certs, Sophia or Study.com courses, Civil Air Patrol to become a pilot, all kinds of things out there for kids to do that are inexpensive or free.

[studyingfortests]

Instead, as a CA resident, you should be looking at CC's in CA, many of which will be free.  They all have different rules on DE, and what age they'll allow, so you'll have to research that.  Worst case, you wait to do CC until he's 16/11th grade, and do CLEP exams prior to that if he's a good test-taker.  All CA CC's and the CSU-system school will accept at least some CLEP exams (and the CC's will also take DSST's, although the CSU's won't).  UC-system schools will not take CLEP exams.

I second the notion of CA community colleges as a starting point. A little known site that CA runs is cvc.edu, which is a reasonably up-to-date listing of all online/distance classes offered at California colleges.  There are some hidden gems in there -- tiny community colleges in the middle of nowhere with unusal offerings -- as well as lots of regular offerings.

One that i really like is Palo Verde College (paloverde.edu).  They have an old-school correspondence program, that's really intended for incarcerated people, but anyone can sign up.  So assignments are 100% self-directed. You get a syllabus, buy your textbook, mail in your assignments via snail mail (though some professors will accept them via email, but others will not.)  The nice thing is, while they run on the semester schedule, and do have deadlines, you can work as fast as you want, and most professors are fine if you mail in a bunch of stuff in advance.  So it's sophis-like in that it is at your own pace (mostly).  The only catch is that midterm and final are proctored, so that usualy means either finding a Sylvan learning Center or a local community college that offers proctoring, and that's usually about $35 per proctored exam. And the exams can't be taken on your own schedule, it's about a week in the middle and at end.  But I liked it because I could work completely around my schedule. Many of the online community collegeclasses has more strict assignment schedules, work doesn't open up in advance, and some are synchronous.

And as I said, there are some nice little gems in the CVC site that are worth checking out as well.

[PaintTheSunset]

Have you seen this website?  https://homeschoolingforcollegecredit.com/
They may have some great resources for you

I absolutely second the suggestions for the Homeschooling for College Credit website. They have information directed specifically to high schoolers and their parents. They even have info on free and cheap dual enrollment credits - some from regionally accredited colleges/universities that offer prices exclusive to dual enrolled high schoolers.

[rachel83az]

TESU does not allow anyone under 18 to enroll.

TESU now (as of this month) allows 16-year-old students who have graduated HS to enroll. I would suggest getting as many free/cheap DE enrollment credits as possible through local CCs first. Then he can get a Bachelor's from TESU at 17 or 18 if he winds up graduating HS early.

[dfrecore]

TESU does not allow anyone under 18 to enroll.  

TESU now (as of this month) allows 16-year-old students who have graduated HS to enroll. I would suggest getting as many free/cheap DE enrollment credits as possible through local CCs first. Then he can get a Bachelor's from TESU at 17 or 18 if he winds up graduating HS early.

Agreed.  DE is going to be your least-expensive options for courses, and I wouldn't graduate early unless it was absolutely necessary.