Credits, Credits, and more Credits

When your student reaches high school it will be important to record the credits that each course is worth. If your seventh or eighth grade child has mastered a high school level course they may receive a high school credit. Even in the event it takes more that one-year to master this course, you may give credit for this course on their high school transcript.

The method of calculating a high school credit in the public school system is 120 hours per credit course. This is called a Carnegie Unit (120 hours). Home schools are not bound by law to use the Carnegie Unit as a measurement for the assigning of high school credits. Often, the credit is issued after the child has successfully completed his course material. However, if you were to add the hours of study together you would most likely total 120 hours or more.

One unit or credit is the equivalent of 120 hours of instructional time over a period of at least 36 weeks. In other words, in the typical school year, there are four quarters of 9 weeks each. A 40 minute class held five days per week for four quarters of 9 weeks each would also work out to one unit or credit.

The Carnegie Unit is a format the public school and college admissions department are both familiar with. Credits are earned by the .25 (one-half semester or one quarter school year), the .5 (a semester or one-half school year), or in whole units (one school year).

How are you going to determine the minimum requirements for your student's credit?

You may use the Carnegie Unit. Some home schools educate well over the 180 days a year requirement making the 120 hours of instructional time an easy objective.

You may award a credit when the student has completed the course. Once the course has been completed the student should understand the material, and be able to demonstrate through testing, he or she understands the material.

To be on the safe side, the system you choose should be documented. You may or may not need to explain your method of awarding credits to the college admissions department.

When your child enters high school, they should have some idea of what their interests are and where they may like to go to college. For instance, if they are musically inclined they may want to obtain a music degree.

The following table provides a view of the graduation requirements from various state departments of educations and state universities prerequisites. Home schools are not required to follow the graduation requirements set by the Department of Education for students attending public school.

Instead, you will want to contact a minimum of five universities your child may attend, such as USC Aiken, and ask them to send you an administration booklet providing a list of prerequisites, or requirements a high school student must complete, in order to enter their university. Select the university with the greatest requirements, and adopt them as your guide line.

	Dep. of Education (Graduation Requirements)	State University (Units)
South Carolina	24	21
Florida	24	18
Georgia	21	16
New York	22	17
North Carolina	20	14

Important Note: In our example, we would choose USCA because they have the greatest requirements. Be sure to compare USCA’s requirements against those of the other universities in the event additional requirements must be met. For example, North Carolina may have a requirement in place that South Carolina does not and that requirement will have to be met as well if you want to keep your options open with North Carolina.

Visit Web sites of various colleges and universities and use their search engines to look for words such as “graduation requirements”, or “prerequisites”, or “admissions policies”, “high school course units”, etc. Most colleges and universities Web sites will have a search tool that searches their institutes Web site. If they do not, they should have a site map available that provides a structured view of their Web site.

A student is required to have held at least a "B+" average in all academic subjects (grades 9 through 12) and test scores of at least 24 (composite) on the ACT or 1100 (verbal plus math) on the SAT.

Florida State’s review process will include a written essay, the pattern and quality of courses and curriculum, grade trends, class rank, and educational objectives, and so forth.

Be aware, every institution has its own set of standards. Even though these standards are similar, they will be exclusive to the institution. In addition to their standards, each institution will have a unique style for how they administer their standards. Some institutions will be home school friendly, while others may not be. The same goes for other types of educational organizations beginning with the department of education and school districts right on down to the public, private, and charter schools. They all do things a little differently.

You may choose to use the South Carolina Department of Education’s graduation requirements, 24 credits, as your goals. Graduation requirements for public school students can be found at the SC Department of Educations Web site.

Subject	Units Required
English/Language Arts	4.0
Mathematics	4.0
Science	3.0
U.S. History and Constitution	1.0
Economics	.5
U.S. Government	.5
Other Social Studies	1.0
Physical Education or Junior ROTC	1.0
Computer Science (including keyboarding)	1.0
Foreign Language or Career and Technology Education¹	1.0
Electives	7.0
Total	24.0
1 For a student in a College Prep program to meet the state high school diploma requirements, one unit must be earned in a foreign language (most four-year colleges/universities require at least two years of the same foreign language); for a student in a Tech Prep Program, one unit must be earned in career and technology education. 2 The student must demonstrate computer literacy before graduation. 3 Must pass the exit examination. This information is available from the South Carolina Department of Educations Web site. This information is provided for educational purposes only, and is subject to changes. It is the reader’s responsibility to ensure they have the latest data.

College credits: When your student begins to accumulate college credits, you will need to keep a close account of these.

It is possible for your student to attend a college or a tech school in your area and earn college credits as well as high school credits. Dual enrollment courses are offered through participating institutions of higher education and may be awarded the same weight as honors courses. Information concerning college prep, tech prep, honors, dual enrollment, and advanced placement courses is provided from the Rigorous Courses Web page.