Let’s look at what most students earn, and then I have 3 important tips for making sure your teen’s credits are hitting your target.
How many high school credits (NOT college credits) is a great question, because we can sometimes get hyper focused on college credit while forgetting that our teen’s #1 priority right now is actually graduating from high school!
Our U.S. Department of Education tracks the number of credits earned across the country by public and private school students. I’m sharing that data because homeschool parents often want to know how their student’s academic record compares to that of those attending group schools.
Carnegie Units are the norm (1 year high school course = 1 high school credit) but there are a handful of states that use a different system. When the government charts this data, they convert those other systems into Carnegie Units for consistency. If you’re in a state that uses a different number, just multiply accordingly. (ex. Indiana high school courses are 2 credits, so take everything you see below x2 to put it into “Indiana credit.”)
The “average” amount across the country is about 28 credits. This breaks out into 7 credits per school year, or any combination of 6-8 credits each year.
If you’re Homeschooling for College Credit, your student may be using college courses or dual enrollment. When a student takes a college course with a college, the student earns 1 high school credit per course, so a typical “1 year” time slot can generate 2 high school credits instead of 1.
High school only: 12th grade English = 1 year long = 1 high school credit
HS4CC: English 101 (1 credit) + English 102 (1 credit) = 2 high school credits
As you can see in the chart below students are earning more than 4 credits in some subjects, which can paint a picture of how dual enrollment may allow students to accumulate a lot more credit during the last year or two of high school. This is especially true if your teen earns an associate degree, which is a popular trend in 2024.
Hitting Your Target
- GRADUATION. All homeschooled teens should be sure they are meeting their state’s graduation requirements. The good news is that very few states actually have graduation requirements for homeschoolers, but if yours does, this is a mandatory part of your plan. Failing to hit this target calls the validity of your teen’s diploma into question for the rest of their life, even after they’ve earned a college degree. Your state may have specific numbers of credits, specific subject requirements, or other requirements. Know yours and develop a plan to hit that target!
- ADMISSIONS. If you know your teen’s target college or plan for after high school, browse their website for guidance. Admissions requirements and suggestions are always a good place to find out whether your teen’s last year should include specific courses, or if you can focus on electives. Admissions requirements and recommendations vary SIGNIFICANTLY from state to state, so students who are considering out of state colleges should be aware that their own state’s admissions requirements might be lower (or higher) than the state they are looking at. Never assume, always check. Finally, there is no perfect list that will check every student’s box for every plan. A student aiming for a competitive engineering program will have different courses in high school than a student aiming for admission into a music conservatory, admissions into an electrical apprenticeship, admissions into seminary, or admissions into an online bachelor’s degree completion program. In short, you can’t just lump “admissions” into one category. Always ask “Admissions to where?”
- DEGREE REQUIREMENTS. You reach the pinnacle of efficiency when your student’s high school courses meet graduation requirements, admissions requirements AND degree requirements! When that’s possible, you are truly making the most of your teen’s high school career. For students that are completing an associate degree in high school (60 college credits) they will earn no less than 20 high school credits on that activity alone. That doesn’t even count the high school credits that weren’t worth college credit. Meeting degree requirements means you’ve already met graduation/admissions requirements and you’re now checking boxes. It means your course selection process has taken a turn and you’re only choosing courses based on the courses you know will count towards a degree. This is not without challenges, as parents often worry about being in this planning space. As an example, if your student took English 101 and 102 in 11th grade (assuming they also took 9th Grade Language Arts and 10th Grade Language Arts for high school credit) they are usually done with English. They’ve earned 4 high school credits which checks the graduation and admissions boxes, but they’ve also completed the degree requirement! This sometimes worries parents because their teen isn’t going to take anymore English in 12th grade. There is nothing to take. They are “done” with English. Yikes. You might be surprised to know that I get a lot of emails from parents who don’t like being done with a subject.
So, what’s the magic number? Ha! No such thing!
If your student has
- ZERO college credit on the high school transcript: 24-30 high school credits
- 15 or less college credits on the transcript: 24-35 high school credits
- 30-60 college credits on the transcript: 24-40 high school credits
- more than 60 college credits? You’re already a unicorn! There are no rules.
