Colleges and Homeschoolers

Last week The Chronicle of Higher Education last week featured an article on the growing supply of homeschoolers applying to college -- and the growing demand for them.

As recently as 20 years ago, home schooling was illegal in many states. Today its students are edging toward the mainstream — and are eyed by some colleges as a promising niche market. .... Years later, just about every college takes home-schoolers seriously, and admissions offices everywhere report increasing numbers of applications from them. In 2000, 52 percent of colleges had written policies, like Stanford's, to evaluate home-schooled candidates, according to a study by the National Association for College Admission Counseling. By 2004, 85 percent did.

Dr. Karen Palasek at the John Locke Foundation posted the notice on the original article from the subscription site, and Sharon Henderson at Spice-Line found a link to the text so the rest of us could read it.

The websites of the University of North Carolina, N.C. State, and Duke all say there are no additional requirements for homeschooled applicants. I haven't seen the policy for Wake Forest yet but they have an additional certification form for homeschoolers interested in financial aid - though it seems to recognize most homeschooling arrangements. Davidson and Meredith, though, warn applicants to expect additional testing - a requirement that was dropped by the UNC system nearly ten years ago after they were confronted by North Carolinians for Home Education - and the legislature - for unequal treatment.