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NEW MEXICO

Law helps homeschooler into college

Colleges across the country are trying to figure out what to do with homeschoolers who have neither an accredited diploma nor a GED. The United States Department of Education has stepped in to clarify, explaining that schools are in no danger of losing federal benefits if they accept a homeschool diploma at face value. Despite this, a handful of schools (such as Kent State University in Ohio) refuse to accept homeschoolers without a GED. Fortunately, New Mexico law guarantees fair treatment for homeschool graduates.

On June 11, 2003, Home School Legal Defense Association Senior Attorney Christopher Klicka wrote New Mexico State University (NMSU) on behalf of one student. The director of admissions had informed a member family that their student would have to provide a GED to be admitted to NMSU. Klicka's letter drew the director's attention to New Mexico Statutes §21-1-1(B), which states,

In determining the standard of requirements for admission to their respective institutions, boards of regents [for institutions of higher education] shall not require a student who has completed the requirements of a home-based or non-public school educational program and who has submitted test scores that otherwise qualify him for admission to that institution, to obtain or submit proof of having obtained a general education development certificate. In determining requirements for admission, boards of regents shall evaluate and treat applicants from home-based education programs or non-public school fairly and in a nondiscriminatory manner.

New Mexico families worked hard to get that language into the homeschool statute in 1997. We must work just as hard today to make sure public officials understand and obey it.