Common questions about obtaining a high school diploma for adults

We get asked a lot of questions from people considering going back to finish their high school diploma as an adult. We have found over the years that there are some very common concerns that individuals contemplating this decision have, which typically hold them back from going through with it.

“Is an online high school diploma legitimate?” “Will it be like being back in high school?” “Do I even need a high school diploma?”

We feel that answering these questions accurately and honestly is so important that we put together this page as a resource for these types of questions. However, if you feel you want to know more, please feel free to contact us, and we will do our absolute best to address any concerns you might have about obtaining a high school diploma for adults.

In this article:

Can you really obtain an adult high school diploma online?

How is a high school diploma for adults different from regular high school?

I have come this far without a high school diploma. Do I really need one as an adult?

How can I obtain my adult high school diploma online?

But wouldn’t getting a GED be easier than getting a high school diploma?

Yes, those over the age of 18 can absolutely obtain their adult high school diploma online. However, students must ensure that diplomas obtained online are from legitimate and accredited institutions. C4L Academy is accredited by Cognia, which you can learn more about here.

The online aspect of our education provision makes it perfect for meeting the needs of an adult looking to finish their high school diploma.

One thing that puts a lot of people off from finishing their high school diploma is the idea that they might have to sit through lessons they have already learned. This can be especially tedious and a waste of time, when we know time is already precious with the demands of working a job, being a parent and/or caring for a family member to consider first.

We eliminated this worry by giving you the option to challenge any course in our curriculum. This allows you to bypass material you have already learned and get straight to the areas that need development.

This can dramatically reduce the time needed to finish our program and graduate with your high school diploma as an adult. In some cases, people have literally shaved months off finishing their diploma because there were only one or two courses holding them back from graduating. This can be a game changer, especially for those who dropped out of high school for reasons outside of their control, despite being so close to graduating.

If you are still worried about working with the demands of adult life while going back to school, you can consider the benefits of enrolling in an online program, one being flexibility.

Our courses are set up to be tackled in any order. We recognize that everyone learns differently, and many adults do not have the luxury of sitting down for six hours at a time to study. If you are a parent, you will know all too well that it is probably more like 15-minute windows that you have to work with, and our program structure is sympathetic to that. You can work through the course material at your own pace, working your studies around your other obligations without feeling overwhelmed or having to sacrifice huge chunks of your day in order to make any progress.

But what happens if in those 15-minute windows, you keep hitting a roadblock with a particular lesson? That can be frustrating, especially if it makes you feel like you are not getting anywhere in your learning.

To solve this, you can approach our curriculum in any order you prefer. Many of our students have found this incredibly helpful, moving to another topic when one is not sinking in, and then returning to it later with a fresh perspective. We find this helps people to progress through the curriculum with more ease than simply forcing everybody to follow the same path.

Meeting the needs of adult life is the red thread that runs through our entire approach to education. So much so, we designed our entire curriculum around doing just that.

One of the most common concerns about earning a high school diploma as an adult is that it is going to be similar to a traditional high school experience.

We get it. The idea of being back in a classroom, sitting behind a desk, a teacher telling you when you can and cannot take a break is frustrating.

Imagine instead that the classroom is your living room, and instead of sitting behind a desk, you are reclining on the couch. You are not squinting at a board because all the lesson material is right there on your phone. And nobody is going to tell you when it is time for a coffee break (except perhaps the kids!).

That is the wonderful thing about earning your high school diploma as an adult - you get treated as one.

Meeting the needs of adult life is so important to us that we built our entire curriculum to do exactly that, from the ground up. We designed our courses to be packed with information that is relevant to the demands of being an adult, with the goal of your learning benefitting you in your day-to-day life.

What does a curriculum specifically designed for adults look like then?

First off, we really put the math course to work. No more learning math purely for the sake of preparing you for the next math course! Our Financial Literacy course addresses topics you will encounter as an adult, such as renting and buying property, managing your finances, accounting, and handling taxes.

Our social science curriculum cuts to the core of some of the most essential things everyone needs to know as a modern day American. Everything from the laws that govern the society we live in to why we pay taxes fall under the umbrella of Social Science. Having this knowledge can improve your ability to participate in society as an informed and empowered citizen.

One final example of our curriculum being designed specifically for adults is in our elective modules. These include Study Skills and Adventures in Parenting. The latter was specifically designed to educate you about effective parenting skills and understanding your child’s needs.

The honest answer to this question is: it depends.

As we see it, there are three powerful factors that determine whether you need to get a high school diploma as an adult.

1. Increased Earning Potential

With a high school diploma you could earn, on average, $8,000 more a year than without one. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures break this down as being an income increase of around $154 a week.

Everybody’s situation is different, but we have found time and time again that this additional income can dramatically change peoples’ circumstances, whether that be through enabling positive lifestyle changes or reducing anxiety around finances.

2. Further Career Progression

The second factor is directly tied to the first, which is that obtaining your high school diploma can open doors to even further career progression, leading to even higher earning capacity.

There are many well-paying careers that only require a high school diploma to pursue, and they cover a huge variety of industries and interests. Obtaining your high school diploma unlocks all of them!

This article from Indeed describes just some of the career paths that become available to you once you earn your adult high school diploma. Here are some highlights:

• Insurance Agent:
  National Average Salary: $209,448 per year | Average base salary: $60,300 per year

• Transportation Inspector:
  National Average Salary: $74,453 per year

• Hotel Manager:
  Average Base Salary: $54,593

• Firefighter:
  Average Base Salary: $47,296

• Gaming Manager:
  National Average Salary: $35,630

Finishing your high school diploma can also be a springboard to continuing further education, such as career-specific training at a vocational school.

Earning your high school diploma as an adult can also build your confidence to pursue more advanced courses by giving you a solid foundation to build upon. We even have a Study Skills elective module that is specifically designed to help you “learn how to learn”!

3. Accomplishment

The final factor is perhaps the most rewarding part of obtaining an adult high school diploma. Many people experience a sense of failure without having earned their high school diploma. By earning your high school diploma as an adult, you can overcome any lingering feelings of disappointment and discouragement. “I finally did it!” is something we often hear from adults after earning their high school diploma with us.

Whether you are doing it to prove something to yourself, to provide a better life for yourself and your loved ones, or just for the satisfaction of tying up a loose end, the sense of achievement you will feel from obtaining your high school diploma cannot really be put into words: you will just have to experience it for yourself!

C4L Academy provides a fully accredited, 100% online, adult high school diploma program. When you have completed all graduation requirements, you will be a certified high school graduate.

In our experience, the way the GED is structured is typically not the most suitable option for meeting the needs of an adult learner. Depending on who you are and your learning style, pursuing your adult high school diploma may prove far easier than going for the GED.

The GED is built around a standardized test: the exact thing that most people returning to education did not enjoy when they were younger. With the GED you have to study on your own. It is relatively unstructured and there is not a lot of help available to you.

The benefit of C4L Academy’s adult high school diploma program is that there is structure. What is required is made clear every step of the way and your progress is shown so you can see your accomplishments. Open note quizzes help reinforce what you learned in each chapter and our Academic Support team is available to facilitate your learning and success.

If you’re still not sure whether an adult high school diploma is a better option for you than the GED, we cover the topic in much greater detail in this article.

Unsplash image credits (in order of appearance): Rochelle Nicole, Mateus Campos Felipe, Dillon Shook, Charles Deluvio, micheile.com, Clay Banks, Scott Graham, Muhammad Rizwan