GED Stories

I went to a private christian school in Missouri called Heartland Christian Academy for the last three years of high school. I was behind from being in public school and so I worked extra hard to get caught up. I studied 5-8 hours every night and on holidays and weekends for those 3 years and I managed to get A’s and B’s on my report cards. I graduated in May of 2000. I did not plan for college right away but went into the military. About a year ago I finally decided what I wanted to go to college for and took my first two classes. About a week from the end of the courses I found out that I would be kicked out of college at the end of the semester because my high school was not accredited and therefore my diploma was not worth the paper it was printed on. Needless to say I made an A in both college classes but was not able to keep the college credit and now I have to get my GED.

I left public school after my freshman year to get a better education in a private school at which I graduated in 2000.

Well since my diploma didn’t get me where I wanted to go I guess the GED is now my only option to get my degree so that my husband won’t have to work 80 hours a week. Right now I’m raising our 7 month old son but when he goes to school in 3 years I want to be able to bring in enough money with a career I enjoy so that my husband and I both can enjoy watching our son grow up and be able to give him the things he wants.

Jessie, 26, Missouri

Jessie,

What a horrifying story! The state ought to require that non-accredited schools give you a notification of their lack of accreditation before you graduate. This is a problem that we see a lot with online high schools… they can give you a diploma but often it’s worthless! I’d think it was unusual (at least!) for a private local brick-and-mortar high school. I hope your story informs many parents to make sure their children are getting the education they’re paying for.

The good news is that you have had a high school education, and so you should have all the skills you need to pass the GED. You might want to take a look at a practice test, and get a feeling for what kinds of questions are on the GED, to see if there are some things you need to brush up on. If math was always a struggle, you might need to do a little studying to remember what you’ve forgotten. On the other hand, you might be able to take the GED and pass it right away! The Missouri Department of Education has a GED website that you might find helpful: http://dese.mo.gov/divcareered/ged_index.htm.

As far as the way your college has treated you, you might want to challenge them taking away your credits from those classes. Talk to your professors. Talk to the dean. Explain your situation… there are always exceptions to be made, and you legitimately did the work you needed to do and EARNED those credits under the honest impression that your high school diploma qualified you for admission. Even the school admitted you using their normal admissions procedure and didn’t discover until later that your high school was unaccredited. That’s their error, not yours, that they’re penalizing you for. Retroactively canceling your credits seems extreme.

Good luck! And let us know when you’re back in college and on track. Don’t let this roadblock stop you!

The GED Academy