Transfer credits

What a transfer credit actually is

A credit represents a course you completed and passed. When you move between schools, the receiving school decides which of those credits count toward its own graduation requirement. That decision is the credit evaluation, and it is the single most consequential thing that happens during your enrollment.

It determines how many courses you still have to take, how long the program will take, and — because of the $30-per-credit discount — what you pay.

How ARHS evaluates your records

Our academic team compares your previous coursework against ARHS graduation requirements. Credits that match our standards in core subjects and electives are accepted and applied to your plan. Where a course does not map cleanly, we tell you which requirement it falls short of rather than simply rejecting it.

Most evaluations are completed within 2 to 5 business days of receiving your records. It takes longer when we have to contact several schools on your behalf.

You receive the result in writing: credits accepted, credits not accepted, courses remaining, and your tuition after the discount is applied.

What to send

• Official transcripts — the strongest evidence, and what we ultimately need on file
• Unofficial copies or report cards — enough for a first review so you can see where you stand
• Records from more than one school — send all of them; credits from different schools combine
• Certificates from other programs — send them and we will tell you whether they map to anything

Full instructions, including what to do if a school has closed, are on the transcript submission page.

Ask us this before you enroll

These are the questions worth putting to any online school, including this one. A school that will not answer them in writing is telling you something.

• Are official transcripts required, or will unofficial copies do for the first review?
• Will I get the evaluation result in writing, listing what was accepted and what was not?
• How many of my credits actually transferred, and which requirement does each one satisfy?
• What does the result do to my tuition and my remaining course list?
• If a credit is rejected, what specifically was it short of?

Can I transfer high school credits online?

Yes — and can I transfer my high school credits to an online school is the same question. Transfer high school credits online works the way it does between two bricks-and-mortar schools: the receiving school reviews what you completed and decides what counts toward its own requirement.

High school credit transfer for adults differs from the teenage version in one respect only — the gap. Records are harder to locate after fifteen years, and that is an administrative problem rather than an academic one. The credits themselves do not decay.

So if the question is whether you can finish high school with credits you already hold, the answer is that this is the ordinary route, not an exception. Most people here are doing exactly that — finish high school with my old credits is the ordinary brief, not a special request.

Credit recovery, homeschool records and partial GED scores

Three situations that come up often enough to answer directly:

Credit recovery for adults online. If you failed or did not complete specific courses, those are the credits you re-earn — you do not repeat the ones you passed. The review establishes which is which.

Homeschool credits transfer to online high school programs routinely. Send whatever documentation exists: portfolios, curriculum records, standardised test results, or a parent-issued transcript. Whether and how much of it counts is a judgement the academic team makes by looking at it, and it is not a question anyone can answer generically.

GED partial scores transfer to diploma program requirements only indirectly. Passing some GED subject tests is not the same as holding high school credits, and the two systems do not map onto each other automatically. Send the score report anyway — it costs nothing, and it tells the review what you have already demonstrated.

In all three cases the honest position is the same: send it, and we will tell you. Nobody can tell you in advance.

Why to do this early

A credit review before you commit changes the decision you are making. It is the difference between "an online diploma costs about a thousand dollars and takes an unknown amount of time" and "I need six courses, it will cost $454, and here they are." Start the review before you pay anything.