Homeschool Dual Enrollment in Arizona
Yes. Arizona law says homeschooled students may fully participate in dual enrollment and earn college credit. Community colleges admit them under each college district's own policies, and the college charges its usual tuition.
How dual credit works for homeschoolers
Under section 15-1821.01 of the Arizona Revised Statutes (ARS), a community college district may offer college courses that count toward both high school and college graduation. These dual enrollment courses are taught at a high school during the school day under an agreement between the college district and the school district, and that agreement sets the tuition and financial aid terms.
Students enrolled in a school district must attend full time before they can take these courses. The statute lifts that rule for homeschooled students.
Dual enrollment courses must be at a higher level than the high school teaches and must transfer to a state university or count toward a community college occupational degree or certificate. Physical education courses are not offered for dual enrollment. A course uses the college's textbooks, syllabus, and grading standards.
Outside the high school agreements, a homeschooler can also take courses on a college campus as a concurrent student. Mesa Community College, for example, has homeschooled students take a reading placement assessment instead of sending a transcript or test scores.
Before your child can enroll
High school grade level
Students taking a dual enrollment course for college credit must be high school freshmen, sophomores, juniors, or seniors.
Course prerequisites and placement
Your child meets the prerequisites published in the college catalog and the college's placement rules for each course.
Disability accommodations
A child with an individualized education program (IEP) or a section 504 plan keeps access to the aids, services, and accommodations in that plan, as far as the college's accreditation guidelines allow.
Enrolling in a college course
First step
Ask your local community college how it admits homeschooled high school students, both into high school dual enrollment sections and as concurrent students on campus.
Course and funding limits
Each community college district writes its own admission policy and placement cutoffs, so the steps differ from one college to the next.
What it costs
The college charges tuition, fees, and books. An Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) can pay tuition, fees, and required textbooks at an eligible postsecondary institution, but a child with an ESA is not legally a homeschool student.
When to apply
Apply and finish placement testing before the college's registration date for the term you want; colleges admit on semester calendars.
A homeschool plan alongside college courses
We teach the subjects your teen takes at home and generate the homeschool transcript from that coursework.
$149/month per child after the trial.