<p>This came in a financial aid package for dd, class of 2011:</p>
<p>"The US Department of Education requires home-schooled students to take an approved "ability to benefit" test before they may receive any Federal and in some cases, State funded financial aid resources. The most common ability to benefit test is the ACT. The SAT test is not an accepted ability to benefit test."</p>
<p>This is new to us, last year it was not a requirement for ds 2010. Is anyone familiar with what other tests meet the "ability to benefit" requirement.</p>
<p>This has me concerned..........why would a homeschool student need to prove their ability to benefit by attending college?</p>
<p>OK.......this has my dander up. On Homeschool Legal Defense, I found the following.</p>
<p>Congress has revised and clarified federal law affecting homeschoolers. The U.S. Department of Education has changed its policy as well. Both point to a common principle: homeschoolers should be admitted to colleges and granted financial aid without having to take additional tests beyond what is required of traditionally schooled students. Ignoring a homeschool graduate’s diploma and requiring him to take a GED, SAT II, or ability-to-benefit test, while graduates from traditional high schools are not required to do so, is seen as discriminatory by Congress.</p>
<p>Furthermore, institutions of higher learning that receive federal aid can admit homeschool graduates, at any age, without endangering their institutional eligibility. For federal financial aid, homeschoolers need only self-certify their homeschool diplomas.</p>
<p>Well, the ACT is a pretty well rounded test. I would not worry about it. Think optimistic, if your child earns a good score on the ACT...then that will be a few dollars less you would have to pay for University. </p>
<p>I reckon that the FAFSA folks want some kind of testing done as some sort of safe guard. I think that all you folks on this area of the web site are darned thoughtful about your children's schooling, but some folks actually aren't thoughtful about their children's schooling.</p>
<p>Believe me, I am not worried about the ACT for my dd. I agree that it is a suitable test. However, my dd has already spent enough weekends,time and money taking standardized SATI and SAT II test that prove she is an acceptable candidate for the institution to offer her admission. Proving and reproving herself is a waste of her valuable time. Let's not forget that homeschoolers must represent their work for the past 12 years in a transcript, similar to schooled kids, to be accepted in to higher educational institutions.</p>
<p>I must repeat from above post, that ignoring a homeschool graduate’s diploma and requiring him to take a GED, SAT II, or ability-to-benefit test, while graduates from traditional high schools are not required to do so, is seen as discriminatory by Congress.</p>
<p>You can find people and schools everywhere who "aren't thoughtful about their children's schooling", but is it is OK to just put homeschoolers under the microscope.</p>
<p>Checking the DOE website, it sounds like most/all home schoolers should escape meeting the requirement through testing. I'll detail that in a moment.
Actually the ACT test listed as qualifying on the site is the ASSET program Basic Skills test (Reading, Writing and Numerical) administered by the ACT.</p>
<p>The site says that a student can self-certify that she has completed secondary school through homeschooling as defined by the state.
At another point it says "If a student doesn't have a high school diploma or equivalent and was not home-schooled, she can still qualify for aid by passing a Department-approved "ability-to-benefit" test.
Somebody at the DOE likes hyphens.</p>
<p>I agree, the school must be mistaken, I found the following review</p>
<p>In 1998, Congress created a third option for non-high school graduates to demonstrate that they had the “ability to benefit” from federal financial aid. (Pub. L. No. 105-244, Section 483.) This third option allows students who have “completed a secondary school education in a home school setting that is treated as a home school or a private school under state law” to receive financial aid. 20 U.S.C. ? 1091(d)(3). The U.S. Department of Education’s regulations restated the above law, explaining that a student is eligible for financial aid if he was homeschooled, and either (1) obtained a secondary school completion credential as provided by state law, or (2) has completed a secondary school education in a homeschool setting under state law. (34 CFR ? 668.32(e)(4).)</p>
<p>So how does this hold up for homeschoolers (US citizens) outside of the states? We used to live in Nevada, and every year they still continue to let us homeschool under Nevada state law. However (for various financial reasons), we thought that maybe this year we would stop filing. But according to this, it should be better that I stay under Nevada's homeschooling law for better chance of financial aid (or else I would have to take an extra ACT test? Uh...confused.</p>
<p>Reading further on the US Dept. of Education website, this gets simpler and simpler.
Graduates of traditional high schools self-certify that they have or will have a high school diploma through an answer on the FAFSA. "However, because the FAFSA does not include a question regarding home-school completion, institutions may accept such self-certification in institutional application documents, in letters from the students, or in some other appropriate record".
That's it.
For those poor souls (not home schoolers) who actually have to take a test, they are pretty rudimentary. One that qualifies is the Wonderlick Test, a 12 minute IQ test.</p>
<p>danas- thank you, this is CC at it's best --- supporting one another!</p>
<p>Could you direct me to the section on the US DOE website where you are reading this. I seem to be having trouble finding Pub. L. No. 105-244, Section 483 which I referred to earlier. </p>
<p>["However, because the FAFSA does not include a question regarding home-school completion, institutions may accept such self-certification in institutional application documents, in letters from the students, or in some other appropriate record"].</p>
<p>Question on interpretation:
institutional application document- meaning something from a school</p>
<p>student personal letter - a letter saying you have attended and completed your homeschool</p>
<p>other appropriate record - one of these certified "ability to benefit " tests</p>
<p>So this can be resolved this easily! However, the supporting references will help to educate the institution for future homeschoolers.</p>
<p>jelomom...
I'll post the document in a moment.
"Institutional Application" means your daughter's certification that she will be a home school graduate in her college application.
"Letter" means she writes to the school and tells them she is/will be a home school graduate.
The last covers any other way, such as something from an online school, etc.
That's all just my interpretation but I'm pretty sure I am right.</p>
<p>I had my discussion with the Financial Aid folks today. Actually, they were very happy to receive the information and to understand how "ability to benefit" is to be viewed in respect to homeschoolers. I provided the following</p>
<p>It really came down to lack of knowledge. They were pleased to learn how homeschoolers can be accomodated. Also, they made the point that homeschoolers are excellent applicants and they don't want regulations to discourage them from becoming future students.</p>