11-yr-old’s Ultimate Goal: phd Theoretical Mathematics

[TorsMama]

First, what state do you live in?
Second, you'd probably be better off at HomeschoolingForCollegeCredit.com to find out about homeschooling in your state and the options you have.

Third, there aren't enough UL math courses to get a degree at one of the Big 3, so they're not really an option.

I think your best bet is a BA in Math at your local state school, where he will qualify for financial aid, possibly covering his entire tuition for 4 years.  Between grants, scholarships, and a part time job, he can probably get through without any debt.  If he could live at home, that would certainly help.

There are mainly 2 ways to shorten the BA path when going the traditional route: 1) You should have him take AP exams if the schools nearby allow it.  They don't HAVE to, so you have to find a place for him to take AP exams ahead of time (they are only given once a year, for 2 weeks in May, and you have to register in advance).  So you need to know where you're going to take them, and that is not always an easy thing to find; 2) Make sure that the state schools you're looking at accepts CLEP, and possibly DSST exams.  Then, you could incorporate CLEP into your homeschooling plan, to get him as much college credit as possible.  Schools usually accept unlimited AP credit, but may limit the CLEP/DSST credit (in CA, they will only take 30cr of CLEP), so AP is definitely a better first choice, with CLEP being a distant 2nd.

The last thing to look at is a CC, with a transfer to a state school.  That would decrease your costs considerably in most states.

[font=.SF UI Text][font=.SFUIText]1. Texas[/font][/font]
[font=.SF UI Text][font=.SFUIText]2. I am on all those forums and facebook groups. Homeschooling is  easy in Texas, but we do not get free or even reduced dual credit mostly so that is hard. The local university that can offer those UL maths, University of Texas in Tyler, does NOT accept many community colleges dual credit classes, it has different class codes. I do not know why, but it is super frustrating. Also, the DE classes locally are very expensive, $400+ for 3 credits. [/font][/font]

1. [font=.SF UI Text][font=.SFUIText]TESU would be an option because he could transfer in those UL courses from another college. [/font][/font]
   
2. [font=.SF UI Text][font=.SFUIText]He is very gifted and a good test taker. I am pretty confident he could get a full ride at for a BS in math at UT Tyler at age 18 unless he wanted to graduate high school earlier. But again, UNTIL THEN, we feel stuck. He WANTS to get a degree earlier BUT currently does NOT want to graduate high school early. He does not want to WAIT to do his lower level classes. He wants to do them in the next few years so he can focus on high level maths later. [/font][/font]
   
3. [font=.SF UI Text][font=.SFUIText]I emailed the admission to our local uni yesterday. I know they do accept CLEP and AP no DSST as he has taken a few CLEPS there already and it is listed on their site.. but I don’t know yet HOW MANY cbes they accept. Will look at AP too, its more expensive though as he can do CLEP for very cheap. [/font][/font]
   

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I wouldn't necessarily rule out a TESU Math degree. I've read extensively about Ph.D programs, and almost everything I've read carries the refrain: it doesn't matter where you did your undergraduate degree. The bigger issue with a TESU math degree is that there aren't a lot of options for within the major, but it's still possible that transferring into their program may be cheaper because he can knock out all the GenEd/Electives for extremely cheap, leaving you only the major to worry about.

He'll want to focus on graded credit within the major, which isn't really a problem given that you have limited options for alternative credit anyway. I don't think doing the Calculus CLEP for the Calculus 1 requirement would hurt (don't think a math grad program is going to care too much about your grade on Calc 1 once you've done well in advanced math), but for the most part you'll want regionally-accredited credits.

Not sure if they enroll minors, but APU has a lot of math courses that would transfer to TESU.

Now, I'm not saying that TESU is your best bet, but I don't think you should throw it out.

Thank you. Yes, I know that most of the math classes will have to be graded, which will be good for masters or phd programs. I am just wondering if they look at the school and toss the application. This concerns me.