Email of the Day:
My student is a jr., Home Schooled since freshman, now in the X school district.
Q: Would you have knowledge of any home school parents who have been involved in obtaining “Running-Start” program scholarship funding in my district? I am seeking advice from parent-teachers who “know the ropes” in this area. (Office-or names to start with & best method’s of “initial-approach”)
Thank You for supporting my home-school experience through the years,
Answer:
I don’t have a “boots on the ground person” in my arsenal, but the process is the same everywhere in our state.
Here is the best way to go about accessing Running Start as a homeschooler:
1) Go to the college and take the placement test (this will be some combination of the COMPASS/ALEKS/ASSSET, etc.). Your student needs to place into college level English and math, as RS does not pay for pre-curriculum coursework. This step will probably require your student to sign up to get a student ID, and will cost about $35 for the test.
2) Submit your Declaration of Intent (this you’ve, of course, already done back in September). You don’t need to do it a second time, but you need it to be done.
3) Enroll at the local highschool. You must do this because the state pays the school and then the school pays the college. If your student is not 16-17 for junior year and 17-18 for senior, you will likely need to produce documentation proving that *he is a junior or senior. Transcripts and your annual test/assessment scores should be more than enough documentation for this. Most school districts do not ask for this if the student is of traditional age. This is also why I recommend starting with the college placement test first — showing that your student is ready for college work helps this process along smoothly and demonstrates that you’re not wasting the school’s time.
4) Meet with the guidance counselor to get the Running Start Eligibility Verification form. There is likely a counselor assigned to the homeschool RS students. (This and step 3 are usually done together for the initial enrollment).
5) Take the RSEVF to the college and enroll in classes.
6) Each quarter, you will repeat numbers 4 and 5 — with an appointment, this usually takes 5 minutes, max.
The Running Start eligibility is to be a junior or senior. Each year gets 3 quarters at the college, up to 15 hours each quarter. There is no “red shirting,” so if you have a junior now, and *he didn’t take the fall quarter, it is past. If your student takes only 1 class in a quarter, that quarter is “used up.” If *he doesn’t take the winter quarter (which likely starts Monday), it is also past, and *he will have 4 quarters of Running Start left to have access to (beginning in the Spring quarter of this year). Summer quarters are not part of Running Start.
Let me know if you have further questions.
Warmly,
–Jen Garrison Stuber, WHO Board Advocacy Chair