[Oasfaa] Home-School Students

[Larry Hollingsworth]

Hi Folks, 

As many of you know, I have a vested interest in fair treatment of home schooled students. I think that most of us have revised our old policies which were designed when many uncertainties existed regarding how to handle home schooled students. Below is an excellent discussion regarding inaccurate admission and financial aid policies which still may exist. Particularly of interest to me was the comment regarding incorrect SFA Handbook information. Hopefully, if any of us are still accidentally throwing up inappropriate barriers, we can correct our policies.

Have a great summer,

Larry

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May 29, 2002
To:     Financial Aid Officers and Admissions Officers
From:    Christopher J. Klicka, Esquire, Senior Counsel, Home School Legal Defense Association
Subject:     Eligibility of Home School Students for Financial Aid

By way of introduction, the Home School Legal Defense Association is a nationwide membership organization of more than 70,000 home schooling families.  Our association is dedicated to preserving the fundamental rights of parents to direct the education of their own children.

As a result of errors and inaccurate guidance that appears in the Federal Student Aid Handbook, home school students seeking admission or financial aid have been discriminated against by many colleges.  Upon
locating the source of these errors, we have worked over the last six months to achieve a clarification.  Not only will the Student Financial Aid handbook be revised and contain the corrected guidance, but the
Office of General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Education has issued a guidance letter bringing final resolution to the conflicting interpretation of the Higher Education law.

The guidance letter from the Office of General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Education is available for viewing at http://www.hslda.org/docs/GetDoc.asp?DocID=1507&FormatTypeID=PDF. Please read it closely and adjust your university policy to reflect the official interpretation of the Higher Education law in regards to home schoolers admission and eligibility for federal student financial aid. This guidance letter is effective immediately and requires colleges to remove the various barriers for home school students.  In short, the guidance letter from the Office of General Counsel states: "A home school student can be admitted to a post-secondary institution as a regular student without jeopardizing either the institution's
eligibility to participate in federal student assisted programs or the student's eligibility to participate in such programs."  Below is a short summary of the major points of the guidance letter.

· Home school students of any age are not required by federal law to obtain a GED in order to gain admission to a higher education institution that receives federal funds.

· Home school graduates of any age are eligible for federal student financial assistance.

· Home school graduates of any age do not have to take an ability to benefits test, an ACT test, or obtain a GED in order to be eligible for federal student financial assistance.

· Home school students of any age who have "completed a secondary school education in a home school setting" are eligible, according to federal law, for federal student financial assistance.

· Home school students are considered to be "beyond the age of compulsory attendance" if the state where a post-secondary institution is located would not consider that student truant once he completes a
home school program; "in other words, the state would not require that student to further attend secondary school or continue to be home schooled after completing a secondary curriculum."

· Home school students may self-certify the completion of the secondary school curriculum just as high school graduates may self-certify their receipt of a diploma.

· Home school students need not obtain a state certification of home school completion.

· The Office General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Education states: "We expect the post-secondary institution to accept such self-certifications in application documents, in a letter, or in some other appropriate letter."

In essence, the improper and inaccurate guidance provided in the Federal Student Aid Handbook must be ignored.  All the barriers for home schoolers seeking admission and financial aid delineated above must also
immediately be disregarded and removed from the policy of your university.

We are thankful for this clarification of the original intent of the Higher Education law.  This guidance letter brings interpretation of the law in agreement with the congressional intent as it appears in the report language of the committee, which is also attached to this letter. In the report language, the Congress makes it clear that requiring home schoolers to take GEDs, take SAT II exams, or obtain an accredited
diploma is considered discriminatory.

Feel free to send us a copy of your changed written policy or letters that you will be sending to the home school graduates seeking admission or federal financial aid.  If you have any further questions or
comments, please do not hesitate to contact me at collegepolicy at hslda.org.