What to Know When Your Teen Gets Both a GED and a High School Diploma
The guidance counselor slid two printed course plans across the linoleum desk, and I leaned forward, squinting. My 17-year-old son, Javi, was picking at a loose fray on his gray hoodie, staring at the dented water cooler in the corner of the office. “So let me get this straight,” I said. “He can stay on track to graduate with his class for a traditional diploma, and also finish his GED this semester? At the same time?”
That’s when the counselor nodded and explained what I’d never known was an option. Javi had struggled with social anxiety since the start of 10th grade, after a bad panic attack at a school assembly left him too embarrassed to show up for three weeks. By junior year, he’d missed a total of 42 days, split between partial weeks off for therapy and sick days when his anxiety flared. He was half a credit short on electives, and even with extra online work, we were all staring down the real possibility he’d have to repeat senior year.
I’d always assumed it was one or the other: either you stick it out and get a high school diploma, or you drop out and get a GED. Javi was the first to say he didn’t want that choice. “If I get the GED now,” he said, leaning forward to tap the paper on the desk, “I don’t have to worry about what happens if I miss another week of school. I’ll already have something. Then I can just take the summer class to finish the credit for the diploma, no pressure.”
I called my cousin, who’s a counselor at another high school an hour away, that night after dinner, to ask if this was some kind of gimmick. She told me she’d been recommending this route to students for about five years, mostly for kids who’d struggled with mental health, chronic illness, or family issues that kept them out of school for chunks of time. It’s not for everyone, she said, but it’s a good middle ground most schools don’t advertise.
We decided to go for it. The school let Javi do GED prep during his daily free period – he was enrolled part-time that year to keep his workload manageable, so it didn’t take time away from his required core classes. We skipped the $120 online prep course the testing center recommended, and found a two-year-old prep book at the library’s annual used book sale for $15. Javi did 20 minutes of practice after dinner most nights, and took the test four months after he started studying. He passed all four sections on the first try, and we got the results in an email while I was stirring spaghetti sauce for dinner. He set his phone on the table, just said “done,” and went back to eating.
The biggest change I saw was immediate. For a year and a half, Javi had woken up with stomach aches at least once a week, stressing that he’d get too far behind and end up with nothing after four years of high school. Within a month of getting his GED, the stomach aches stopped. He still had to make up that half credit of health over the summer between junior and senior year, which he did through a low-cost evening class at the local rec center. That was easy, and by the start of senior year, he was fully on track for his diploma.
There are a few concrete things I wish I’d known before we started, that I tell other parents who ask about this now. First, if your kid is struggling with inconsistent attendance or falling behind on credits, ask your guidance counselor explicitly about this option. Most schools don’t bring it up on their own, because it’s still not a common path, so you have to ask. Second, double check the fine print for college admission and financial aid. Federal student aid accepts both GEDs and diplomas, but most state grants and many four-year universities require a traditional high school diploma. Having both means you never have to rule out an option because of your credential. For Javi, that meant he could apply for early orientation at community college with his GED, and still qualify for the state grant he got with his diploma. Third, don’t accidentally frame the GED as a consolation prize. I messed this up at first, kept saying “it’s okay if we end up with just the GED,” and Javi stopped talking about the process for a week. When we sat down to talk about it, he told me he didn’t want it as a backup plan he’d have to use – he wanted it as insurance, just in case. After that, I started saying “this is just an extra credential that gives you more choices,” which is what he needed to hear.
It wasn’t all easy. There were weeks Javi complained about having two sets of work to do, and he skipped a handful of practice sessions to go to baseball practice with his friends, which was fine. We didn’t push him to be perfect about it.
Javi graduated with his class in May, and he hung both his diploma and his GED certificate on the wall above his desk, next to his acceptance letter to the local community college’s automotive technology program. He starts classes in six weeks. Last week, a neighbor asked why he bothered with both, said it seemed redundant. Javi just shrugged and said it wasn’t redundant when he was 16, scared he’d lose everything because of his anxiety. We still don’t know how college will go, or if he’ll ever need to pull out that GED for anything. But for right now, this path worked. It’s not the straight line we expected when we walked him into 9th grade, but it’s his.
Please indicate: Thinking In Educating » What to Know When Your Teen Gets Both a GED and a High School Diploma