Being Home Schooled and in need,

Parents Forum
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<p>I am going to be home schooled and am taking several online courses as it is, please refrain from posting online courses here since I want to keep this thread simple and focused, </p>

<p>I want to discuss taking college courses preferably with undergraduate students, and how that works. NYC (I live here) has a special program called "CollegeNow" which enables high schoolers take college courses in some of the CUNY's. However it is very limited and does not go beyond high school chem and physics; calculus is limited to Calculus II. I am seeking more advanced courses and more options, is there any way I can contact undergrad college to enroll? how does cost work? and such. </p>

<p>I am mainly looking for info from people who did not have special programs such as CollegeNow and instead made local arrangements, any advice on that? </p>

<p>Other people feel free to post your questions as well, I don't want to waste a thread solely on myself, when everyone can benefit.</p>

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<p>You might try posting this question in the homeschool subforum.</p>

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<p>Most community colleges will allow you to take courses as a non-matriculated student.</p>

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<p>This might not help you, but depending if you want the college class experience, or just want college credit while being home schooled, you can take the CLEP. The CLEP is a test you can take that will give you college credit without taking the college course. There are many CLEP’s you can take (English Lit, American Lit, Chemistry ect). You take the test, and if you get a certain score, (each college determines what school they will accept to give credit for a certain test), you get college credit. CLEP will not help you GPA wise, but it will help you if you want to get alot of your college classes out of the way. The test is expensive (around $80/test), but it is worth it. I am not sure if this is what you are looking for, but I thought I would add my 2 cents in.</p>

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<p>I will repost this into the home school forum, </p>

<p>I am looking at community colleges, unfortunately many of them only offer remedial courses, guess some are better than others depending on the city/state, </p>

<p>thanks for the info about CLEP, but I am looking for courses, although this is good to validate something I’ve self studied, so it wasn’t what I was looking for, but it turns out to be rather useful, :)</p>

<p>I don’t know how to say this without angering some CCer’s, but perhaps it’s a wrong illusion, but Community College tends to be rather low functioning and many won’t offer advanced courses beyond Calculus II or Physics/Chemistry.</p>

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<p>My son took dual-enrollment courses at six schools before matriculating so I have a little experience in this area. Most colleges and universities prefer students 16 and over and getting kids under 16 in is more work. All of the schools required transcripts and a letter from the school district (guidance counselor or superintendent) recommending the student for dual-enrollment courses.</p>

<p>I also found that colleges and universities could have rules on what students could take but they could often waive rules. What I found useful was one-on-one meetings with someone high enough in the management chain to get around rules. The parent has to convince the administrator that the child can benefit from the class without causing any problems in the classroom.</p>

<p>In the earlier days of homeschooling, one or two bad experiences with homeschoolers at a college could leave a negative impression of them with college administrators. I think that’s much less of an issue today as the number of homeschoolers (and those attending public and private schools) has increased.</p>

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<p>Community colleges vary widely across the country, both in costs, quality, and the level of courses that they offer. Even courses within the same institution can vary considerably in quality. It may be that the community colleges in your area run at a low level.</p>

<p>I used to contact the professor asking about the difficulty level when choosing courses for our son. We ran into this problem and used universities thirty to forty minutes away to get the course quality and variety that we were looking for. Logistics was definitely a headache. UIUC NetMath generally resolved the quality and logistics problem for Calc, Differential Equations, Probability and Linear Algebra.</p>

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<p>That’s an interesting observation…but have you checked with your community college to see WHAT they offer? My husband took a number of his engineering prerequisites (not remedial by any measure or means) at the local community college.</p>

<p>Community colleges offer courses of study leading to two year degrees in most places. Are you saying that ALL of the courses towards the degrees at the community colleges are REMEDIAL. Sorry…I don’t believe that.</p>

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<p>The OP (stated in another post) is looking for mainly university math courses. Many community colleges top out at Calculus II. Some don’t even offer Calculus. I have run into a very few that offer moderately more.</p>

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<p>You do have access to the entire SUNY Learning Network - most of the SUNY schools offer some distance learning classes each semester and you can choose by course/campus. Tuition and fees are reasonable for instate students. Or you might check our Empire College - which is a SUNY school with more comprehensive online course/degree offerings. </p>

<p>Regarding costs, as a HS student, I’m not sure you can actually be a matriculated student though and that is what’s generally required for financial aid if you’re not part of one of the special programs. If your inquiry was about how payment is made, the SUNY tuition structure is set at one rate (207/credit) for the 4-year schools, a slightly lower rate for the tech schools, and the lowest rates are at the CCs. Each school may also assess a fee for technology, etc…it’s generally $50 or so. The links provided from this page will help clarify and you can always email the bursar/registrar at the individual schools - they’re very good at responding to inquiries.</p>

<p>[Online</a> Degree, Online Course and Online Certificate Programs from the SUNY Learning Network and the State University of New York](<a href=“http://sln.suny.edu/index.html]Online”>http://sln.suny.edu/index.html)</p>

<p>Note: If you do decide to take a class at a CC, make sure you get a certificate of residency from your county in order to avoid the “out of county” surcharge…that can save you several hundred dollars per course.</p>

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<p>My homeschooled d. had 66 credits from both two- and four-year institutions before matriculating. She started taking community college classes at 12-13. None of them were remedial (one was pre-med chemistry; one was a year-long class in ethno-botanical medicine - very intense.)</p>

<p>She threw them all away upon matriculation, and started again.</p>

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<p>My heart aches a bit for a student who is taking advanced college classes on line. You are missing out on the interactions, humor, and insights that an advanced professor brings to a group of advanced students. There is no way that an on line course can mimic the discussion and passion that comes from being in the same space with an educated crowd bent on being further enlightened. </p>

<p>I am not knocking homeschooling. I have done some myself. But college is (or should be) different than grade school or high school. Are you going to get yourself to a campus at some point? Why not now?</p>

<p>Please don’t think that an “A” in an online physics class is the same as an “A” in a physics class at a university with that department as a strength. The two experiences are not comparable. If you are in NYC, why not hop a bus and get to a campus?</p>

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<p>I agree that distance learning may not be ideal, especially for the young learner. There are some early college partnerships in your area…perhaps one of those would be of help?</p>

<p>[suny.edu</a> - SUNY Launches 11 Smart Scholars Early College High Schools](<a href=“http://www.suny.edu/sunynews/News.cfm?filname=2010-09-16EarlyCollegeHSLaunch.htm]suny.edu”>http://www.suny.edu/sunynews/News.cfm?filname=2010-09-16EarlyCollegeHSLaunch.htm)</p>

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<p>Thank you guys!! This is great amount of info, I don’t think I am ready to head over to college, because I am only advanced in Math and Sciences, and while I perhaps could go to a CC now, I’d rather wait a year or two (applied for Andover high school and will go if am accepted) and then matriculate to a mathematically inclined college such as MIT, UCLA, Waterloo, Harvey Mudd, Princeton, Cal-Tech etc…</p>

<p>@Olymom, you’re right, the classroom has many advantages and I only take online if I have no choice, or in the case of Olympiad, I take 2 classes online, and 2 in real life, so I have a healthy balance (other than being ultra competitive about olympiad) and for regular classes I’d like the classroom dynamic. </p>

<p>@Mini, what did you mean by the last line that “She threw them all away upon matriculation, and started again.” are you saying it’s not worth taking the courses or what? </p>

<p>@Sk8termom, Thank you very much!!! While not ideal, these are a great default option, and I will look into these and see what I can find, I am in the city, so I primarily think of CUNY’s, I forgot about the SUNY’s. </p>

<p>@Thumper1, I apologize for the controversy about CC. At least the 3 CC’s that I looked up in my area, they don’t offer anything beyond Calculus II. Although Calculus 1 and 2, are split into 6 tri-mesters. Most of the math courses are remedial, hence in the mildest way possible I just want to say perhaps it’s not the best environment for me.</p>

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<p>shushugah, do you already have college credits for the lower level courses? I think you’ll find that schools are going to ask for proof that you’ve fulfilled the prerequisite requirements when you try to register for the more advanced classes. It’s not clear from your original post whether that’s the case or not.</p>

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<p>I’m a sophomore and going to finish Calculus 2 this year, am willing to take Calculus 1 if they require me, but am looking for other places that will offer Linear Algebra and Multivariable, which can be taken at same time upon completion of Calculus 2. </p>

<p>I have this semester, and 2 more years afterwards.</p>

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<p>What do you think of the EPGY physics courses from Stanford. I believe that you get Stanford University credit for the university-level courses. I think that it’s harder to do
the lab-based stuff but there are some courses out there that do a pretty good job at
it.</p>

<p>Our son took several of the UIUC NetMath courses and these were tough and allowed
the student to do explorations that you don’t typically see in classroom courses. I looked
at a dozen colleges and universities as much as an hour away and couldn’t find the quality,
schedule and relative ease of admissions at UIUC.</p>

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<p>“@Mini, what did you mean by the last line that “She threw them all away upon matriculation, and started again.” are you saying it’s not worth taking the courses or what?”</p>

<p>She decided to use none of the credits toward her matriculation, didn’t use them to advance standing, and instead decided to study new things. (She averaged around 21 credits a term when she got there as well.)</p>

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<p>^ My homeschooled D1 similarly accumulated 50 credits at our local public flagship university during her HS years, under a program in which the state pays for qualified HS students to take college classes. We just counted those college classes as part of her HS curriculum; she didn’t seek to transfer any of the credits when she started as a freshman at her highly selective LAC. I believe the college limits AP andor transfer credits to the equivalent of 2 courses, but D1 didn’t even seek those credits. Her reasoning? She wanted a full 4 years of college, graduating with her class. That’s what the college wants, too, which explains their policy on limiting AP/transfer credits. She did, however, use her French to place into advanced (3rd-year) French in college, though even there, she tested into that level, rather than using the credits per se. </p>

<p>Was it worthwhile to take the college classes in HS? Absolutely. She learned a lot. She found the classes challenging and intellectually stimulating, much more so than anything available at our local public HS where she also took a few courses “a la carte.” She developed college-level study and time management skills, making the transition to full-time college much easier. (Sometimes even very successful HS students coming from a highly structured HS learning environment have a hard time adjusting to the independence and self-discipline needed to be successful in college.) She developed a high level of self-confidence in her ability to be successful in genuine college-level work (as opposed to, say, HS AP classes which claim to be “college level” but often aren’t). And for a homeschooler, all those graded credits on her transcript from a highly respected university were a valuable, objective verification of her readiness to do college-level work, which helped enormously in the admissions process.</p>