Credit transfer case study
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Many Semester and Year Program participants struggle to secure enough academic credits to graduate with their high school class. This is the story of one such participant, Peter (not his real name).
In the beginning of his junior year of high school at a public high school, Peter and his parents decided he'd spend senior year abroad with AFS. Peter was advanced enough to be taking many of his classes at the local community college, where he received both high school and college credit. He felt little in common with his classmates, so he was comfortable skipping the senior-year social "experience."
Before he left for his senior year with AFS, his family had calculated that in order to graduate when he returned, Peter would need to complete one required-subject class, for one-half credit, during summer school, plus make an in-person presentation for a culminating, independent-studies project. His US high school also required that while he was abroad, he pass his classes, including some challenging math and science classes.
Unfortunately, Peter underestimated the challenge of math and science classes in his host country high school, and he failed to pass the second semester of one of them. He also did not complete a planned independent study (1/2 credit).
In the spring, Peter's parents scrambled and learned that, by transferring from his public US high school to an accredited, alternative private school, Peter could still graduate "on time" by taking two summer-school courses, each worth one semester of credit -- the minimum number of classes required to matriculate at the private school. Peter completed the total 80 class hours during 5 weeks over the summer after he returned to the US. Graduation was made easier because the overall graduation credit requirement from the private school was lower: 19, vs. the 21 needed in the public school. Each class hour at the school cost $50, so this change of plans cost Peter's family $4,000. Had Peter completed all the credits he originally planned while abroad, this last-minute change of plans and expense would not have been necessary.
Peter's father thinks that an AFS-sponsored high school would encourage more high school seniors to study with AFS. He writes, "there is a big barrier in not knowing what credits will transfer back. If the student was given a more definitive roadmap I'm sure parents would be grateful."
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