Completion of a legitimate high school program is a prerequisite for admission as a regular student to WITS and for eligibility for federal financial aid.

 

To comply with these requirements WITS staff review the students’ high school documentation on file (generally a transcript or diploma) to determine its legitimacy. Students who were homeschooled must provide documentation of completion of a homeschooling program as per the requirements of the state in which they reside.

 

The reviewer checks if the information is complete and clearly documents high school graduation from a legitimate high school. Specific focus is placed on the name and address of the high school to ensure that the entity issuing the documentation is not a bogus institution or an entity that charges a fee for the issuance of the diploma while requiring the student to perform little or no work.

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WITS utilizes the following procedure to verify the high school information:

 

• Is the high school well known to WITS staff as a legitimate institution? (Faculty and staff are familiar with the majority of high schools that students who apply to WITS have attended). If yes, high school is verified and so documented on a student checklist.

• If the high school is unfamiliar, the name of the high school is checked against established and reliable national high school directories to see if school is listed. If it is, the high school is verified and so documented on a student checklist.

• If the high school does not appear in any established national directories, the high school is contacted directly and information about the school‘s high school curriculum, programs, faculty, officials and graduation requirements is gathered. A professional and informed determination is then made as to whether the high school information received appears legitimate and consistent with generally acceptable high school standards. If it is, the high school is verified and so documented on a student checklist.

• If the high school does not meet any of the criteria listed above, the high school is not verified and cannot be used to satisfy the requirement of successful high school completion.

 

Recognized equivalents of high school graduation include the following: 

 

• GED

• Successful completion of an associate’s degree program

• Successful completion of at least 60 semester or trimester credit hours or 72 quarter credit hours that does not result in the awarding of an associate’s degree, but that is acceptable for full credit toward a bachelor’s degree at any institution

• Enrollment in a bachelor’s degree program where at least 60 semester or trimester credit hours or 72 quarter credit hours have been successfully completed, including credit hours transferred into the bachelor’s degree program.