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Colleges, universities more welcoming of homeschooled students

Like many high school students, Tara Hart of Marseilles worries about getting into college.

But her worries have less to do with her grade-point average -- she's got a 4.0 -- and more to do with whether her transcripts will be accepted, since she's been homeschooled for all of her educational career.

At Hart's insistence, her mother, Pat Blackledge, enrolled her in American School, an umbrella school geared to homeschooling families. American School supplies the textbooks and handles formal transcripts and a diploma, but Blackledge still is Hart's teacher.

Hart is part of a growing number of students who are taught at home rather than in a traditional classroom. The U.S. Department of Education reports that 1.1 million, or 2.2 percent of all students in the nation, are homeschooled.

And where colleges and universities once questioned how to accommodate homeschooled students -- and sometimes even shunned them -- institutions of higher learning now are increasingly more welcoming when their admission applications arrive.

In 2000, 52 percent of all colleges in the country had a formal evaluation policy for applications from homeschoolers, according to the National Association for College Admission Counseling.

Four years later, the number jumped to 83 percent. During that time, 45 percent of colleges reported receiving more applications from homeschoolers.

Tracy Morris, director of admissions at Illinois Valley Community College, said community colleges often are an ideal place for homeschooled students to begin their college careers since anyone age 16 or older can enroll through a fairly simple application process.

"IVCC is an open admissions institution," she said. "A home education diploma or GED is not required for admission. Transcripts are also not necessary for admission."

Students must fill out an application form, obtain a letter from the school district where the student resides that indicates the student is homeschooled and take either the ACT or IVCC's placement tests.

Morris added that some homeschooling families use IVCC to teach higher level courses, like calculus, as part of their high school curriculum rather than trying to wade through that subject at home. Hart said she will begin supplementing her homeschool education with one IVCC course beginning this fall, having received special permission to enroll at the college as a 15-year-old following an interview process.

While nervous about starting college courses, Hart feels she's up to the challenge. People often assume homeschoolers are sheltered and shy, but Hart already has broadened her educational experience by visiting Japan as a foreign exchange student and she continues to work on her Japanese as part of her home curriculum.

"She's probably not a typical homeschooler," said Blackledge. "She gets out a lot. She's very active in 4-H and volunteering, that kind of stuff."

Hart said her ideal educational path would lead her to the University of Illinois, where she would like to study to become a psychologist.

Morris said being homeschooled should not hold Hart back. Morris surveyed several state universities and found them accepting of homeschooled students, though how rigorous they make their entrance requirements varied. Some put more weight on standardized tests, others require a personal essay or statement and ask for more information about the courses taken at home. For other schools, however, a homeschool background makes little difference in the admission process.

"We require application, ACT score and transcript just as we would for any freshman applicant from a recognized high school," said a representative from Western Illinois University in an e-mail message to Morris.

However, all of the schools Morris surveyed said if a student receives an associate degree from a community college first, providing high school transcripts and taking the ACT would no longer be an issue.

"Applying there as a freshman is one ballgame and as a transfer student is another ballgame," Morris said of admission to a four-year university. "The truth is (with an associate degree) they never look at high school. It really works to the student's advantage. It's much easier that way."

The financial aid and scholarship process are identical for homeschooled and traditional students, meaning homeschooled students also have access to the dollars they may need to pay for their education.

"Colleges are far more familiar with the backgrounds of homeschoolers and their needs," said Ian Slatter, director of media relations for the Home School Legal Defense Association. "We have had fewer and fewer problems."

Blackledge said the changes at the collegiate level reflect the changes she sees in her daily life. While she used to have to "fly under the radar" about her decision to homeschool when she began teaching Hart at home, she's found people today are more accepting.

"It's funny but when she was in kindergarten people would ask me if I knew what I was teaching her. I would say, 'I sure hope so.' The thing is you learn as they learn. People say, 'I don't remember algebra.' I didn't either, but it all comes back to you É You learn even more than what you knew before."