Somewhere along the line, some well-meaning soul is going to say, “Well, what about a High School Diploma? You can’t get into college or even get a job without a High School Diploma! You’ll have to sell drugs on the street corner! That’s not what you want, is it? You HAVE to get a High School Diploma. The best you can get with homeschooling is a GED. At least go take the test for the GED so you might get into college!”

Our school system has been spending a lot of time letting us know that a High School Diploma is just beyond essential and that those who do not receive them are already circling the drain of doom and despair, standing on the brink of wasting their lives. So it might surprise you to know that you DO NOT need a GED to get into college. That it may--in fact, likely WILL--harm your ability to get into college in the first place.

The main problem with it is that the GED has a certain stigma attached to it. One friend of mine has a (now adult) daughter who dropped out of school, then decided to homeschool to finish out her education. She was assured by many experts that, “A GED is just exactly the same as a high school diploma.”

“It’s not,” she said bitterly. “It’s not the same at all, as we’ve learned the hard way. Many colleges have basically slammed the door in our faces when they see “GED” on the application.” She feels it has severely limited her daughter's ability to get a higher education.

Another parent of a homeschooler with a GED said the designation was a giant pain...not only did it limit the student’s college options, but it forced her to live on campus for another year, which translated into a huge outlay of money.

The letters GED cause schools and employers to consider you a high risk. Why? Because the designation turns you from a hardworking homeschooler into a remorseful dropout. Very few colleges will demand a GED, and if they do, they’re likely not worth their salt in the first place.

(Tip: If you’re getting the information from the Registrar’s office that you MUST have a GED, work your way up the ladder of authority. The Registrar is the first line of defense, and they toe the party line pretty well. Once you work your way up you’ll find that the Deans of various departments are totally open to welcoming homeschoolers. I once wanted to take some college courses for software training and the Registrar folks couldn’t wrap their heads around the idea that I already had a degree and was running my own business and wanted to take just those classes, even with a signed note from the professor. (Who was the first one I contacted about it, by the way.) In order to take those courses, you HAD to take the prerequisites, period. Both the professor and I had to work on them pretty hard to let me in, and even then they enrolled me with the stern warning: “You know, you’re only hurting yourself if you haven’t taken those prerequisites.” They’re not very good at thinking outside of the box! I have heard of homeschoolers being turned away from the financial aid office, only to find out later that the people in that office had NO CLUE about homeschooling and their position wasn’t the official stance of the university AT ALL.)