College Treats Homeschool Grad as Dropout—Won’t Release Financial Aid

When officials fail to grasp how homeschooling works it can cost families much more than lost time, wasted energy, and aggravation. It can also damage their finances.

HSLDA recently helped a homeschool graduate in Louisiana who found herself grappling with all these setbacks after college officials refused to process her application for financial aid. The solution we helped to attain should prevent other homeschool graduates from encountering similar obstacles in the future.

Two years after being awarded a high school diploma by her parents, Mary-Helen Peyton enrolled at the Eunice campus of Louisiana State University (LSUE) in 2023. She planned to pursue a two-year degree in radiologic technology for a career as a mammography technologist. 

Mary-Helen said she encountered no difficulties gaining acceptance into the school, but considered it odd that afterwards officials seemed to regard her homeschool credentials as substandard.

“She was treated as a non-matriculated student,” explained her mother Letitia Peyton.

When she asked why her financial aid had been delayed, officials told Mary-Helen that before they could process her application, she would first have to take the HiSET exam, which serves as an alternative to a high school diploma.

Making Sense of the Law

Further inquiries revealed that LSUE financial aid officers were confusing the two legal options for homeschooling in Louisiana. Both demand that families submit an annual notice. However, complying with the home study option—which the Peytons’ homeschool did not operate under—results in families receiving an approval form if they submit additional documents such as curriculum lists, standardized test results, and statements of academic progress.

LSUE officials kept asking the Peytons to provide copies of the homeschool approval form, which the family didn’t have because they homeschooled under a different option that involves establishing a home-based private school. No approval is necessary for this option (it’s even in the formal name: “nonpublic schools not seeking state approval”).

“They kept saying they needed another form, and I kept telling them what they were looking for didn’t exist,” Letitia said. “It became a never-ending circle.”

Letitia added that she felt additionally frustrated by the apparent disconnect in the way the various college departments treated her daughter. Financial aid officers apparently considered Mary-Helen’s diploma deficient, but admissions officers obviously recognized the student’s academic potential.

“For the program she’s in, over 200 students applied and only 30 got in,” Letitia said. “You have to be at the top of the class to even get admitted, and here they were saying she wasn’t even a high school graduate.”

Breakthrough

Letitia took advantage of her HSLDA membership and asked us to intervene. HSLDA Senior Counsel Will Estrada spoke with contacts in the federal government, who confirmed that LSUE officials were going beyond what is needed to request financial aid. HSLDA Senior Counsel Tj Schmidt also contacted the LSUE chancellor’s office on behalf of Mary-Helen.

Neither effort resolved the situation.

Finally, this fall, HSLDA Staff Attorney Amy Buchmeyer traveled to Baton Rouge for a meeting at the state capitol. The session was arranged by state Representative Beryl Amedée, who homeschooled her own children and has served as a longtime advocate for home education in Louisiana. Officials from the LSU university system and the general counsel for the state Department of Education were also present.

After some discussion to identify the crux of the issue, all agreed that the law had been misapplied and Mary-Helen should have received her financial aid. State education officials then decided to further clarify the matter by drafting a memo for all the schools in the LSU system.

“They stated that the not-seeking-approval option is a valid way to homeschool,” Buchmeyer said. “The memo also declared that the annual registration homeschool families send to the state education department is the only verification college officials need.”

Shortly after the memo was circulated to every LSU campus, Mary-Helen’s financial aid was released—including the portion withheld for the 2023–2024 school year. She said that in addition to federal aid she can now compete for several state and private scholarships.

Mary-Helen said the extra funds are a huge help as she heads toward the culmination of her studies, which involve committing extra hours to labs and other hands-on training. She is on track to earn her degree.

“We’re so pleased we could help clear up this misunderstanding over homeschool law in Louisiana,” Buchmeyer said. “Though it’s unfortunate Mary-Helen had to struggle with obstacles that should never have been put in her path, her perseverance is going to benefit other homeschool graduates.”

Letitia concurred.