Homeschool benefits: Southwestern Community College
Southwestern Community College offers tuition-free Career and College Promise courses to eligible homeschool juniors and seniors. Submit your student’s transcript and proof that your home school is registered with North Carolina before registration.
Who qualifies
Homeschool documentation on file
Provide a transcript showing cumulative grade point average (GPA) and credits establishing eleventh-grade status, plus verification of your home school’s North Carolina registration.
Meets pathway entry requirements
Juniors and seniors with an unweighted GPA of at least 2.8 do not need qualifying test scores for a College Transfer pathway. Career Technical applicants below 2.8 can qualify through satisfactory scores or written principal approval; some technical courses still require testing.
Chooses approved college courses
Your student can take only state-designated Career and College Promise courses in an approved pathway. The college also lists a College Transfer route for ninth and tenth graders with qualifying math, English, and reading scores and additional documentation.
What it gives you
The college’s Career and College Promise page confirms free tuition and specifies the permitted pathway combinations.
- Approved college course
- $0 tuition
- College Transfer pathway
- One transfer pathway plus one technical pathway
- Career Technical pathways
- Up to two technical pathways
Tuition-free does not mean textbooks are supplied. The bookstore page gives separate purchasing instructions for books and online access codes.
How to use it
- Before registration
Gather homeschool records
Send your transcript and state registration verification to the college.
- Before choosing courses
Contact your county advisor
Discuss the pathway and any testing your student needs. The college publishes separate advisor contacts for Jackson and Macon counties.
- If testing is required
Schedule an appointment
Email testing@southwesterncc.edu or call 828-339-4332 for Jackson or Macon campus testing; walk-ins are not accepted.
- Before classes
Arrange course materials
Use the course section number in MySCC to find textbooks. For online materials requiring an access code, purchase through the bookstore or directly from the provider.
What it includes
Included
- Approved college tuition
- College Transfer pathway courses
- Career Technical pathway courses
Good to know
Homeschool students can enroll with documentation
The college explicitly includes homeschool students, but requires a GPA transcript, proof of eleventh-grade credits for its main route, and state home school registration verification before registration.
Who to contact about dual enrollment
The county advisors help you with dual-enrollment advising and course registration.
L_Allen@SouthwesternCC.edu 828-339-4217 County advisor contacts
Homeschool rules and statewide help in North Carolina
You must file the Notice of Intent with DNPE at least five business days before home instruction begins; wait for DNPE acknowledgment before withdrawing or starting. No annual renewal is required while operating; notify DNPE when the school closes.
North Carolina sets these rules:
- Subjects: Parents choose the curriculum. Operate on a regular schedule for at least nine calendar months each year, excluding reasonable holidays and vacations.
- Testing: Administer a nationally standardized achievement test each year covering English grammar, reading, spelling, and mathematics.
- Records: Keep attendance and immunization records. Retain annual test results for at least one year and make them available to DNPE on request.
- Teachers: The teaching parent needs a high school diploma or equivalent in North Carolina.
North Carolina also has an education savings account that home-educated students can use.
- Education Student Accounts (ESA+) pay $9,000 a year, or $17,000 for certain disabilities, to students with a documented disability, including homeschooled students. Funding can run out before the school year starts.
Read the North Carolina homeschooling guide See statewide programs in North Carolina
Questions parents ask
- Does my student have to take a placement test for Southwestern CCP?
- Younger transfer applicants need satisfactory scores and additional documentation, and technical courses have their own testing rules.
- Can my student choose any college class?
- No. Enrollment is restricted to courses the state designates for Career and College Promise and to your student’s approved pathway.
- Can we use more than one pathway?
- Yes. Your student may combine one College Transfer pathway with one Career Technical pathway, or enroll in two Career Technical pathways.
- Are textbooks included?
- No. Tuition-free does not mean textbooks are supplied. Traditional books can be bought elsewhere using the listed International Standard Book Number (ISBN); online access-code materials must come from the bookstore or provider.
Turn support into your child’s next lesson
College classes can cover part of high school. We teach the subjects your child needs alongside them, starting at the right level in each subject.
$149/month per child after the trial.
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