Online High

One of the greatest challenges for students and parents seeking a legitimate online high school is whether it is a real school with real accreditation. Here’s a little advice:

1. Don’t trust Google to help. Google does little to differentiate between good and bad options in this field.

2. Don’t trust how high a school shows up in listings on Google, Yahoo, Bing, and more. When I do a Google search, on the very first page, I discover schools that I would never recommend because I believe that, at best, they lack any reliable recognition and, at worst, are out-and-out fakes. That’s on the first page.

3. Fake schools are very good at getting good page rankings. They spend much time working to make sure that they are one of the top options available.

How can you fix that? If you ask about a specific school in the forum, I am happy to help.

It seems simple and it seems like the place where you should start, but so many don’t even make the attempt. What is it?

Get referrals.

How do you get referrals? You can:

1. Ask people you know.
2. Ask your local school district (but don’t be surprised if they don’t know much; it varies widely).
3. Ask in our Forum.
4. Ask on other websites.
5. Ask current students by finding them using Google.
6. Ask former students by finding them using Google.

Importantly, don’t just sign up for a school without doing your due diligence. Even when an online school is free, time is not. Best to determine if a school will be a good fit for you right up-front.

I received the following email. The name has been deleted to protect the innocent:

We live in the Virgin Islands, St Croix. I’m looking for a free online high school. I have 1 child in the 10th grade and 1 child in the 11th grade. We just moved here from Texas and I don’t want to put them in public school here. Any information would help. Thank you.

—K

This is a difficult question in some ways. My initial thought is that there is not one available for you. Free online high schools are typically limited to students within a specific state, county, region, or similar geographic reference. The only possibility that comes to mind is seeing if you could use one from your home state. Unfortunately, Texas is behind the times in terms of online high schools. The only option available is:

Texas Virtual High School

When last I checked, this school does not have a diploma option. If you are interested, you would need to contact the school to see if that is even possible.

I am always pleased to be proven wrong, so if others know of additional options, please post a comment here.

Hello,
I am in high school at the moment and ready to graduate as early as possible. I found this website and feel confident in using what it offers. I live in South Carolina and was wondering if you could help me find out where and how to apply for this program.

–A

Thank you for your question. You are fortunate that the state of South Carolina offers three solid choices from which to choose. The easiest way to do it is to contact the schools through their websites. The schools in South Carolina are:

Insight School of South Carolina

South Carolina Connections Academy

South Carolina Virtual Charter School

If you have questions, feel free to post them in the comments section.

I received this question in my email today. The student was wondering if there was a difference in that and an online high school. “Cyber high school” is one of those terms could have been the one that made it. Another one that was in the mix was “virtual high school.”

These are both terms for what are now primarily called “online high schools.” Perhaps the second most common would be that “virtual high school” one. I rarely see the “cyber” one anymore. For a while, though, people were attaching “cyber” to anything related to the Internet. While I won’t call the term dead because it is certainly still out there, it has suffered from overuse, that is certain.

However, for our purposes here, all three terms – online, virtual, cyber – are synonyms. There is no difference at all.

I received the following email from a young lady who wants to desperately complete high school. I have deleted information of a personal nature. Amber says:

I need help on choosing the right online high school. I am 17 years old, and had to drop out of high school to take care of my bedridden grandmother and my younger siblings, because my mother abandoned us. I really want to attend xxxxxxxxx. I can’t get my GED because I am not 18. So online high school seemed the best option. But I am really confused…I don’t know if the college I want to go to will accept the online diplomas or not.

If there was ever a person who needs an online high school, it would be you, Amber. You are fortunate that, given what are probably troubling financial issues, you live in a state that has three free online high schools. They are:

Florida Connections Academy

Florida Virtual School School

Florida Virtual Academy

I would contact all three and see which one seems to be the best fit for you. Talk with them about what equipment they supply and what support they offer.

You can do this.

You can finish.

You can get your diploma.

I really like to receive questions and occasionally share some here. I received this one this week:

I am 20 years old and I don’t have a high school diploma because I dropped out of school. I really want it now. It’s been my goal for a while. I was going to go to Job Corps, but I am not getting along with my grandma, so I will be moving back home. Since I won’t be able to do Job Corps, I want to earn my diploma online. What do I have to do to get started and do I have to pay anything?

M.C.

First, let me congratulate you on the most difficult part: You’ve made the decision to change your life.

How can you get started? First, find out how much of a high school education you have already had. Don’t look at the number of years because that is often meaningless. Instead, look at the number of high school credits that you have earned. You can likely get a copy of your high school transcript from your old high school. If not, they can tell you where to go to get one.

Will you have to pay anything? It is difficult to know without knowing in which state you live. However, the one and only way not to need to pay for an online high school is if you live in one of those very few states that have an online charter high school. Because charter schools are public schools, they are free. Your state or county department of education should be able to tell you if you have one available.

Should you not have one available, then I would encourage you to take a look at the fine online high schools that we offer on this site. The costs vary widely if that is a concern. I think a good place to start is to contact some of them and have them mail you information.

After you have received the information, begin to ask the schools the right questions. One example would relate to how many credits they will accept in transfer. The answer should be most or all. Again, you do not want to repeat what you have already done.

I would encourage you to come back and ask another question when you get to this stage. I would be happy to help you come up with the right questions to ask.

I was wondering if you have any information about the schools BYU Independent Study and Christa McAuliffe Academy? I am interested in finding an online high school that offers teacher support, creative online material and a credited diploma. Any information and help would be most appreciated. I am currently in Austria and don’t have access to your book. Is it possible to view it online?

DC

Dear DC,

I think that both programs are of high quality. In regards to the BYU program, it is my understanding that it does not offer a diploma to teens. The diploma track is specifically for adults. I do not believe that has changed, but you will want to confirm that with them. There are now so many choices available that it is difficult to keep track of all the requirements.

As for Christa McAuliffe, it has a solid reputation and has proven popular with the online crowd.

Unfortunately (or fortunately for my children’s college fund), my book is not available online at this point. I am working out a way to offer it in a digital format and it should be available in just a couple of weeks.

If you wanted to ask more specific questions, I would be happy to help. I believe that both of those programs do meet your cited requirements, but there are many other choices as well.

Tom Nixon