Indiana colleges welcome homeschool students to higher ed

As homeschooling continues to grow nationwide, many colleges are welcoming homeschool graduates like Elise Jedlicka.

Now a sophomore at Indiana University, Jedlicka had already earned college credits during high school with dual-enrollment courses. She also chose to take the SAT to access scholarship opportunities and add to her college application.

“Applying, it was pretty easy,” she told Indiana public media of her admissions experience. “I had three older brothers that all went through it before, too.”

While critics often call for more regulations on homeschooling, Indiana is relatively relaxed in its approach to the practice. 

The Home School Legal Defense Association classifies it as a “no notice, low regulation” state compared to other “high regulation” states such as New York, which requires quarterly reports, individualized home instruction plans, and yearly assessments. 

Homeschooling’s inherent flexibility prepares its graduates well for higher education, said Amy Sager, director of communications for the Indiana Association of Home Educators. 

“In college, students make a lot of their own choices about classes they’re going to take and how they’re going to spend their time,” she explained. “Homeschooling allows children to explore that freedom more before they get to college.” 

Many area homeschool groups organize college preparation opportunities for students. In one example, a co-op meeting at a local church has offered SAT prep courses and support from a retired IU professor. 

“I think that (homeschooling) kind of lends itself to a college atmosphere,” said Annie Luidhardt, a mom who has sent three of her six children to college. 

“Obviously, you have a professor teaching, but a lot of it is, you have to read the material, you have to do the work on your own at home, and there’s a lot of self-management that has to go on there.” 

Many homeschoolers end up taking college-level classes by their junior year of high school, Luidhardt said. 

Groups like Sager’s association support homeschool parents in creating transcripts, tracking credit hours, and applying to different institutions. 

“There are so many different paths that students take these days, that there are many options in front of them,” Sager said of homeschool graduates who may choose to skip higher education altogether. “But I think homeschoolers are well prepared for college, should they choose to go.” 

Jedlicka is now pursuing a major in tourism, hospitality and event management. 

She recalled a list her Ivy Tech Community College professor gave her, detailing ways college differed from high school – for example, students needed to take charge of their own learning. 

“That was something that kind of, I don’t know, gave me some perspective into what it would have been like in a public high school,” Jedlicka said, adding she thought at the time: “I get it already.” 

Having been homeschooled from kindergarten to senior year, Jedlicka credits her educational experience with motivating her to enjoy learning at the college level and beyond. 

“I loved it, and I’ll hopefully homeschool my kids.”