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Human Error: Admission Staff Misunderstands Homeschooling

College Admission Featured

Monday, 14 January 2013

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Don't be surprised if some colleges have a misunderstanding about homeschoolers. College admission personnel have a lot on their plate. There are rules, regulations, urgent issues, and heart-wrenching decisions to make.

I can imagine it's a difficult job, and probably hard to keep up with all the details. I'm sure that to some people, homeschooling might seem like a detail they don't need to understand. Of course, if their lack of understanding has a negative impact on your child, it's time to "help and encourage" the admission personnel. Calmly and kindly explain the situation, using small words if necessary. Kathy wrote to me explaining how successful her homeschool transcript was, at least once she explained to the admission office a few details about homeschooling.

Dear Lee,

Your help and knowledge were so much appreciated in creating a very nice and professional transcript for my daughter. I was very confident with how we were able to translate our unschooling, and bible studies into class credits.

The trouble I ran into was human error at the college level. I came into contact with a woman, who, number one, thought that I needed a "governing" entity over me that I would be "reporting" all our school activity to, so that they in turn would be printing out a transcript and diploma. Secondly, she informed me that no scholarships would be awarded to anyone with only 6 semesters on their transcript (my daughter graduated at the end of her junior year). She kept on pressing this point. I kept on insisting that she has graduated and therefore qualifies. She finally relented and went into the directors office and had a small discussion with him, all the while emphasizing that there were only "6 semesters" on this transcript. After a seemingly long two minutes, she emerged to tell me that "we were good to go" and then proceeded to tell me how much the scholarship would cover towards tuition. I thought to myself, "how many people have been totally discouraged and turned away by this woman?!"

In looking back on the situation, I felt my only saving grace, was this:

1. I knew the state laws of Kansas concerning homeschool record keeping and that no governing entity was required.
2. I had personal experience with early graduation. I, myself, had graduated at mid term from my own high school and therefore did not have 8 semesters on a transcript, I only had 7 semesters. If not for this personal experience, I possibly would have turned away and been very disappointed for the sake of my daughter and beat myself up, thinking I had done my daughter a disservice in some way.
3. I am so thankful for the strength from the Lord, the knowledge from you, and for my own personal experience, to persevere through this instance.
4. My daughter now has a presidential scholarship (which pays for 90% of her cosmetology education) and a Pell grant which pays for the rest!!

Thanks again for your help! It was so worth it to be able to talk with you personally and have access to the templates and other information! I would recommend your services to anyone who might have the slightest bit of doubt when it comes to making a transcript for their young adult who is entering college.

Joyfully in Christ....Kathy

There are people who just need a little more concrete information in order to fully understand the situation. Give them the information they need in a calm and courteous way. Notice that in Kathy's story, this incredible stressful situation was solved within two minutes of providing the missing information. Human error did not truly cause disruption in the long run, because Kathy was assertive, and handled the situation well.

Usually I hear these situations resolve the same way. One person consults in the office talks to someone else who knows the homeschool policy better, and it's quickly fixed. Without an assertive parent, this situation could have ended differently. I can image there are parents who might think the first answer is the ONLY answer, and could lose thousands of dollars in financial aide.

For more information about the transcript help that I gave to Kathy, you can read about The Total Transcript Solution or take the free class A Homeschool Parent's Guide to Grades, Credits and Transcripts.

If you face human error, take a deep breath, force yourself to be calm, and give them whatever piece of the puzzle seems to be missing.

For more information about how your child can earn great college scholarships, watch my video, “Getting the BIG Scholarships,” available as an online class.