Nearly 9,000 schools in Louisiana don’t need state approval to grant degrees.

Arliya Martin accepted her high school diploma with relief and gratitude.

It was her ticket to better-paying work, she felt, after getting kicked out of high school and toiling for eight years at factory jobs to support her children.

“This is a new path for me to get on with my life,” she said.

But Martin didn’t take any classes or pass any tests to receive her degree. She got it in July from a school where students can get a high school diploma for $465.

Unlike public schools, formal homeschooling programs or traditional private schools, nearly 9,000 private schools in Louisiana don’t need state approval to grant degrees. Nearly every one of those unapproved schools was created to serve a single homeschooling family, but some have buildings, classrooms, teachers and dozens of students.

  • @YoBuckStopsHere
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    291 year ago

    “We’re not here to make money,” she said.

    Yet a list of prices is taped to the front window of the school building: $250 for diploma services, a $50 application fee, $35 for a diploma cover and $130 to walk in a cap and gown at a ceremony.

  • @Sanctus
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    101 year ago

    Rejoice, for the world is a jest and you a jester, yet you suffer still.

  • Queen HawlSera
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    41 year ago

    Hey, given that they keep upping the requirements for my degree every time I’m about to graduate, this is actually a tempting offer, skip the classes just get the diploma. I mean fuck it sounds like it’s cheaper than College anyway

    • @eating3645
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      51 year ago

      Something sounds off, typically they lock you in a “catalogue year,” so that degree requirement changes are not retroactive, but only affect incoming students.

    • @autumn_rain
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      01 year ago

      You won’t be able to go to college, and many employers won’t accept the degree from a diploma mill either.