Issue Description
Information and recommendations regarding college admissions and financial aid requirements and preparing your homeschool student for college.

Issue Background
For several years, the Home School Legal Defense Association has been working on state and federal issues to improve admission procedures for homeschoolers at colleges and universities across the country. In 1996 HSLDA conducted a nationwide college survey sampling the homeschool admissions policies in all 50 states. This survey revealed that although many colleges eagerly accepted homeschoolers, just as many had not formulated any policies regarding homeschool admission, and were confused about the legal issues involved. This was compounded by the fact that homeschooled students could not get Federal financial aid without obtaining a GED or state-certified diploma. Therefore, the Association drafted federal legislation to place homeschool college applicants for admissions and financial aid on the same footing as traditional applicants.

This language was included in The Higher Education Act Amendments of 1998 (Pub. L. No. 105-244) and changed what post-secondary schools could require of homeschool applicants. These new guidelines, however, have only slowly reached local financial aid offices, and HSLDA has recently been heavily involved in educating these offices on the documentation homeschoolers can be required to give for financial aid.