Louisiana Homeschool College Admissions: What LSU, Tulane, UL Lafayette, and Louisiana Tech Actually Require

Parents who spent years building a solid home study program often hit a wall when it's time to apply to college. Louisiana universities each set their own homeschool admissions criteria, and the requirements at LSU are not the same as at Tulane or UL Lafayette. Getting this wrong — submitting the wrong transcript format, using the wrong high school code on the ACT, or missing a secondary credential — can delay or derail an otherwise qualified student's application.

Here is a practical breakdown of what Louisiana's major universities actually want from homeschooled applicants, plus the universal documentation standards that apply across all of them.

The Foundation: BESE vs. Nonpublic School Status

Before getting into university-specific requirements, one distinction matters above everything else. Louisiana has two legal homeschooling structures. Students enrolled in the BESE-Approved Home Study Program have a state-recognized academic record that universities understand how to process. Students operating under the Nonpublic School Not Seeking State Approval framework are technically enrolled in a private school — which is treated differently by admissions offices and disqualifies students from TOPS entirely.

If your student is in the BESE-Approved program, use ACT code 1595 on the ACT registration form and Home Study High School Code 969999 in the ACT school-code field. The 969999 code is not a transcript-submission code. If the wrong code is used, correcting the score record can take time.

LSU Homeschool Admissions Requirements

Louisiana State University evaluates homeschooled applicants through its Common Application and academic record. Current LSU guidance has no minimum ACT score; applicants below a 3.5 cumulative weighted GPA must submit ACT or SAT scores, while applicants at 3.5 or above may choose test-optional review.

For homeschooled students specifically, LSU requires:

• A parent-prepared high school transcript listing courses completed, credit values earned, and final grades or percentage scores. LSU does not provide a template; the format is at the parent's discretion, but it must be clearly organized and complete.
• Official ACT or SAT scores when required by LSU's current review policy, sent directly from the testing agency. For the ACT, use the codes described above.
• A course description document can be useful, particularly for sciences and dual-credit courses, to describe the curriculum, textbooks used, and instructional methods.

LSU does not require a GED for home study graduates. If a student's academic record raises questions, the admissions office may request supplementary documentation.

TOPS eligibility at LSU follows the same standards as any Louisiana public university. Under Act 359, BESE Home Study graduates now qualify using the same standard ACT baselines as public school students: 17 for TOPS Tech, 20 for TOPS Opportunity, 23 for TOPS Performance, 27 for TOPS Honors, and 31 for TOPS Excellence.

UL Lafayette Homeschool Admissions

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette requires home-school applicants to meet the current freshman requirements plus a qualifying pathway. The current pathways include meeting all in-state freshman requirements; completing at least 17 qualifying units with a 2.5 core GPA and a 23 ACT or 1130 SAT; or earning a 26 ACT or 1230 SAT. Official test scores are conditional on the pathway or scholarship policy, and the in-state route means meeting all current in-state requirements.

UL Lafayette's homeschool-specific documentation requirements:

• A parent-prepared transcript with course names, credit values, and grades. Like LSU, there is no mandated format, but the transcript should clearly show the student's coursework.
• Pathway documentation and official scores required by the current freshman or scholarship policy. Contact UL Lafayette before submitting materials if the student's pathway or degree program creates additional requirements.

Transfer credits from dual-enrollment or community college coursework may apply to degree requirements under the receiving program's policies. If your student completed any dual-enrollment courses through a Louisiana community college, submit that institution's official transcript separately and confirm how the credits will be evaluated.

Tulane University Homeschool Admissions

Tulane approaches homeschool applicants through its traditional first-year application and review requirements. The documentation bar is higher not in bureaucratic terms, but in substance.

Tulane's current homeschool guidance asks applicants to provide:

• A detailed homeschool transcript with grades and credit designations. Course descriptions can clarify an advanced or unusual sequence.
• Dual-enrollment transcripts accompanying the homeschool transcript when applicable.
• One or two recommendations from non-relatives are strongly recommended, including someone who can speak to academic rigor.

Tulane's financial aid office does not participate in TOPS. If TOPS funding is a factor, a Louisiana public institution is the right destination. Tulane has its own merit scholarship programs, including the Distinguished Scholars Award, which is based on GPA, test scores, and application quality.

Louisiana Tech University Homeschool Admissions

Louisiana Tech's current guidance says home-school transcripts are sent directly by the home school. Test scores are not required for initial admission but are required for merit scholarship consideration; final transcripts are required before enrollment.

Louisiana Tech requires:

• A parent-prepared transcript documenting all high school coursework. The document should list subjects, credit values, and grades, and should be sent directly by the home school.
• Official ACT or SAT scores if required for merit scholarship consideration.
• Louisiana Tech encourages homeschool applicants to call the admissions office directly. Staff there are accustomed to working through non-standard transcripts and can often advise on how to document specific courses before the application is submitted, rather than after.

Louisiana Tech participates in the TOPS program. BESE Home Study graduates should verify current TOPS and institutional requirements with LOSFA and Louisiana Tech.

Documentation Standards That Apply Everywhere

Regardless of which university a student is applying to, three documentation elements carry weight at every institution:

A professional, complete transcript. The transcript is the primary document admissions officers use to evaluate four years of academic work. It needs to show course names, credit values, grades, GPA calculations, and graduation date. A disorganized or incomplete transcript creates unnecessary friction and may prompt requests for additional documentation that delay the process.

The right ACT fields. Use ACT code 1595 on the ACT registration form and Home Study High School Code 969999 in the ACT school-code field. The 969999 code is not a transcript-submission code; follow each institution's current instructions for SAT scores and financial-aid records.

Course descriptions for anything non-standard. Universities may ask for context on courses they do not recognize. A well-written one-paragraph description of an unconventional course — its content, the materials used, the instructional method, and how it was assessed — can reduce ambiguity.

The Louisiana Portfolio & Assessment Templates includes a professionally formatted high school transcript template calibrated to BESE Home Study documentation requirements, along with course description frameworks and a TOPS tracking checklist updated for the Act 359 changes. It is designed specifically so that parents are preparing the kind of documentation Louisiana universities and LOSFA expect to see, not a generic template that requires significant adaptation.

Starting Early Makes This Much Easier

The parents who navigate Louisiana homeschool college admissions with the least stress are the ones who started keeping clean records in 9th grade rather than trying to reconstruct four years of coursework in 12th grade. By the time a student is submitting applications in fall of senior year, the transcript should essentially already exist. The application itself is just filling in forms — the documentation should already be complete.

If your student is in 8th, 9th, or 10th grade and you're reading this because you want to know what you're building toward, the short answer is: build a transcript as you go, document every course in a consistent format, and track ACT or CLT scores against the TOPS tiers so you know exactly where your student stands each year.

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