Unintended Admission Consequences of Federal Aid for Homeschoolers

Journal of College Admission, Fall 2004 by Callaway, Sean

On October 10, 2002, one week after the federal regulations were published in the Student Aid Handbook, Dona S. Bulluck of the SUNY Office of University Counsel released a memorandum to the SUNY Community College Chief Student Affairs Officers. It said in part:

"...Education Law... has been interpreted to mean that community college applicants must possess a high school diploma or its equivalent. The SED has determined that there are only two acceptable alternatives to a high school diploma. The first is a GED certificate. The second relates to homeschooled students, who must submit a letter from the superintendent of the school district within which the student resides, stating that the student's home instruction is substantially equivalent to the instruction offered by that student's local high school. Please note that the ability-to-benefit test is not accepted by SED as an alternative to a high school diploma and may not be used as such.

"Education Law... has been interpreted to convey that a high school diploma or its equivalent is required for admission into a program leading to a degree or certificate.

"There appears to be confusion about the ability-to-benefit test and its appropriate use. ...the ability-to-benefit test... establish[s] eligibility for financial aid, which is not the same as meeting requirements for admission.

"Some of you stated that when a student enrolls in a 24-credit hour program (in lieu of a GED), you have adopted a practice of simultaneous enrollment. You enroll the student in both the 24-credit hour program and a degree or certificate program at the same time ...However, if a high school diploma or its equivalent is required for matriculation... then simultaneous enrollment appears to violate an institution's admissions policy for matriculation."19 [Emphasis Bulluck]

Unintended Consequences: New York Students

The positions of the State Education Department and the State University, in response to the change in federal regulations, were driven in large measure because of the huge financial exposure New York State has under its Tuition Assistance Plan (TAP grant) program open to New York residents attending postsecondary education in New York. Annually, $750,000,000 millions are distributed. State educational law requires qualification standards for TAP awards by statute. Students cannot self-certify for TAP. At the minimum, an ABT is required.

Nevertheless, the responses in October of 2002 to the updated Student Aid Manual create huge confusion and upset in homeschooling circles and in postsecondary education in New York. In private institutions in New York State, one can matriculate without a GED or high school diploma if the admission staff believes the student can succeed and benefit from the education. However, under the interim regulations, the same student cannot receive a bachelor's degree without first obtaining a valid high school diploma or GED, or producing a letter from the district superintendent attesting to the completion of the homeschool program.20 This, generally, was not enforced until 2002 when a graduating senior at NYU, with a doctoral fellowship to Harvard, was told a week before graduation that he needed a GED. As a New Hampshire homeschooled student, he had enrolled in NYU without a valid high school diploma or a GED and New Hampshire rules do not provide for superintendent's letters. NYU had to get a waiver from the SED to award the student a GED based on NYU coursework (rather than on the more than 24 college credits the student had taken while in homeschool-regarded as dual enrollment). The student received his B.S. and went on to Harvard.