Email of the Day:
My kidlet wants to attend Running start next fall, so she took the placement tests. The Community College Running Start Application, which has 5 boxes to fill out:
1. For College Use Only
2. Student – Kidlet signed this
3. Parent or Guardian – I signed this
4. High School – We live in the School District so the employee at SD (Bryan) signed this box, and filled in the blanks stating (a) the student is enrolled in School District, (b) she will start as a junior, and (c) the counselor’s name is Home School.
5. School District – The same SD employee (Bryan) signed this box and again stated that (a) the student will be a junior, and (b) is registered with Monroe School District.
The application says I must now mail the application with Compass scores to Community College, attn.: Running Start.
Background to my question: when I initially contacted the School District, I spoke with Heather who is normally the person to fill out the Running Start Application. She said she should fill out the boxes #4 and #5 above, plus she said I would need to fill out a registration/enrollment form for Highschool. Bryan didn’t know anything about that form, and let me go without having to fill out any other forms. He said they would contact me if they needed anything else. My question is: do I really need to fill out whatever extra form she was talking about?
Also, as a side issue, I would appreciate your input on this: Due to my daughter’s love of art, drama, and learning languages, she has way more credits than most students at this point. How many credits can I show on her transcript up to the end of 10th grade and still be eligible for Running Start?
Answer:
I see where you went wrong — and Bryan is a little confused.
You need the Running Start Eligibility Verification Form filled out by the highschool counselor, which should be available each quarter from the guidance counselor at the highschool your daughter is enrolled in (not for classes, purely for accessing Running Start as a homeschooler).
In a grossly oversimplified explanation for why this is, the state pays the school, and the school pays the college, so you have to declare intent (to be homeschooler) AND enroll in the local highschool (to get the funding). The counselor needs to be one of the folks at the highschool, not you. We spent a total of 40 minutes at the highschool over the course of 6 quarters — 15 the first visit with enrollment papers in hand, and 5 the other five quarters to get the RSEVF each term.
If your daughter is the traditional age for a junior (16-17 next school year), most schools won’t question her eligibility, and don’t even want to see her transcripts. If she’s older or younger, then you may be asked to produce proof.
As to the number of credits, it depends on what credit system you used. We used the college quarter credit system, so my daughter had a little over 90 credits (15 per quarter, 3 quarters a year) when she finished her sophomore year. As a guide, “half” of whatever your credit system adds up to would put a 4 year highschooler into beginning their third year. Also, the test/assessment that you use for the end of this school year should be a 10th grade one, if she’s finishing 10th grade.
Let me know if you have further questions.
Warmly,
–Jen Garrison Stuber, WHO Board Advocacy Chair