High School of America
12 min readAug 31, 2021

Is Online High School Right for You? A Detailed Guide

Is Online High School Worth It?

For many, the idea of online high school is a scary prospect. It seems like an easy way to cheat your way out of having to face real life and all that comes with it: responsibility, academics, socializing.

But what if you could still get those things in a safe environment? What if you had access to learning from the best teachers available? And what if there was one place where you could find friends who were just as nerdy about Harry Potter or Game of Thrones as you are?

Online High School might not be for everyone, but it certainly has its benefits and doesn’t have any downsides (besides maybe being home-schooled).

Why not take the time to explore this option before deciding against it?

What is an Online School?

An online high school combines the convenience of distance learning with expert teachers and a strong academic curriculum. An online school allows students to work at their own pace and complete courses for graduation from a school of their choice. Most programs include work packets, textbooks to purchase, and teacher interaction through email or conferencing software.

Types of online schools vary significantly in terms of the amount of money they charge and the qualifications needed to attend. Depending on your situation, you may not need a high school diploma to be eligible for an online program.

Some schools can help you get your GED (general education development) or offer a high school diploma entirely online. Other programs are designed for home-schooled students who want to earn standard diplomas from established, accredited schools but at their own pace.

Choosing the Right Program for You

Before making any decisions about which online school will best fit your needs, you’ll want to scrutinize all of your options. How much does each program cost? Does it offer financial aid and scholarships? What is the academic calendar like? Is there specific software that you’ll need to download to participate in class activities and stay on top of my workload? What are the graduation requirements?

One of the biggest mistakes you can make as a student in any school is to sign up for a program that doesn’t give you all of the information you need to succeed. To help you choose an online high school wisely, check out reviews from past students and their parents. You’ll also want to find out if your state has any additional certification or licensing requirements if you plan on teaching in your local public schools once you’ve completed your diploma.

Benefits of Online High School

With over a decade of experience, High School of America (HSOA) has been helping students worldwide earn their diplomas through online high school programs that combine distance learning with live instruction. HSOA offers different formats for students to choose from. Some courses are exclusively distance learning, while others have a mixture of both live and online education.

Another benefit that comes along with studying through an online high school is convenience. Since students can work at their own pace, coming into contact with teachers only when necessary create a very flexible environment that works well for almost any schedule. Many students find comfort in not having to leave home for their education anymore but working around other demands on their time.

With HSOA’s Online High School Courses, You Get Quality Education for Less Money

HSOA combines years of experience with effective teaching methods to offer students a strong online high school program. At the core of our approach is an academic curriculum that incorporates federal standards and guidelines while also meeting Texas’ requirements for graduation. Because we are an accredited school, you will receive a diploma upon completion.

Whether you’re looking for an online high school that offers you the flexibility or something that is academically demanding and socially rewarding, HSOA Online High School has what you need. To learn more about our programs and how we may be able to help your child succeed, please call us today at +1-(888) 242–4262.

Online High School in Texas: Cost Comparison

If you’re looking at online high schools in Texas and are wondering how much it will cost, you can be confident that the cheaper option isn’t always the better choice. In many cases, an online school might seem like a great deal initially, but when all is said and done, you’ll end up spending far more due to hidden fees imposed on your student or by excessive amounts of out-of-pocket expenses for things like textbooks or other materials necessary to complete courses.

At HSOA Online High School, we eliminate the possibility of any such surprises by providing our students with a clear breakdown of their tuition costs, so they know exactly what they’re paying for every step along the way.

Our tuition rates are competitive with other online schools, but unlike many of our competitors, we have no hidden fees or additional charges that will come out of your pocket in the end.

Here’s how it works:

Tuition Fees for Hsoa Online High School Programs

With each new student at HSOA Online High School, every course is assigned a specific amount of money based on the difficulty level of the material being taught and the amount of time spent studying it. Once completed, if you decide to take an additional class with us, you’ll only be charged for that class without having to pay any enrollment fee again. This approach is far fairer than charging for some enrollment fee upfront and then applying it to subsequent courses if you choose to take additional courses.

Other Fees Charged by Hsoa Online High School

HSOA wants you to know that there are no hidden fees when it comes to your enrollment with us. Aside from tuition costs, all other expenses relating to taking courses and earning credits are done with money directly out of your pocket and then only after you’ve completed your selected coursework.

We don’t charge an “accounting fee,” nor do we have an obligation-free enrollment period that you need to complete before we can start charging you for services. We also don’t charge fees for making payments or other out-of-pocket expenses — all of the money that goes into our program is put toward your coursework and the materials needed to complete it.

Paying for Your Courses and Credits

Tuition fees are paid as the student progresses through their coursework. We use this money to provide students with all necessary materials, such as textbooks and other reference guides, and pay our teachers to develop their courses to high standards. Since we don’t require any enrollment fee or obligation-free period where you must pay us for classes that haven’t been taken yet, it is up to you — not us — to determine how much money will be needed monthly for your online high school education.

Payment plans made out inconvenient installments allow students at HSOA Online High School to budget their finances while meeting their personal economic needs, including:

  • Flexible payment schedule with no interest charged.
  • Most major credit cards are accepted, along with checks and money orders.
  • Free enrollment in our monthly auto-pay program where students can have their tuition bills automatically deducted from a checking or savings account each month without incurring any additional fees. This convenient option helps ensure that payments are always made on time — something that is very important to both HSOA Online High School as well as any parent who wants to avoid late fees related to not paying tuition bills on time.

In addition, all of the lessons and other materials used by HSOA Online High School teachers are available for free online through various sources throughout the Internet. This allows us to focus more funds on developing curricula that will benefit our students and improve their knowledge and performance in the classroom.

Our Promise to Students and Parents

1. Quality Education for Less

HSOA Online High School’s philosophy on school funding is simple: we know from years of experience as a leading accredited online high school that all money spent by our students — whether it comes directly out of their pocket or through their parents — should go toward improving coursework, not administrative expenses.

This is why HSOA does not charge monthly enrollment fees, collect account management fees, or require any up-front obligation-free period for us to begin providing you with services

2. Flexibility

Because HSOA Online High School is a privately owned academy without any state funding, we do not require that our students be enrolled for any certain number of months before they can receive their diplomas. We base high school graduation entirely on how much work a student completes and the level at which they accomplished it — nothing else.

The reason for this is simple: if we were to tie diploma awards into how long a student has been going to school through us, then we would also be compromising his or her ability to transfer credits into an institution of higher learning.

Why? Because public school systems use these exact requirements for awarding diplomas, and in order to be accepted by a public school system, students still have to graduate from the same institution that they began at. This means that there are certain restrictions on how long some students can attend our accredited online high school before transferring credits — especially when it comes to electives.

Therefore, HSOA Online High School’s commitment is simple: we do not care how much time you spend going through our courses or brushing up on your skills with various activities; as long as you demonstrate mastery of all coursework by passing all final exams with a grade of “C” or higher, then you will receive your official diploma from HSOA. A letter of completion will be provided for those who reach their graduation requirements after finishing all coursework, regardless of the time it takes.

3. No Minimum Grade Level

In addition to not imposing restrictions on how long a student can go through our accredited online high school before receiving their diploma, HSOA does not require any minimum grade level for students to be accepted into one of our courses. By implementing these two policies together, we have made sure that anyone who completes enrollment through us and then begins working toward earning credits will have as much time as they need to complete their studies.

And because all lessons are available free online from other sources, there is no limit to how you can go about doing this. All requirements are flexible — every lesson plan and unit outline has been designed for easy access through any device on any internet connection speed, so students are not only free to participate in their online high school courses from home, but they can do so from nearly anywhere in the world.

4. Legitimate, Accredited Education

Since HSOA Online High School was founded, we have been dedicated to providing a legitimate accredited education experience for our students. Our goal has always been to give them the tools needed for success throughout their entire life — whether it’s by transferring credits into a university or institution of higher learning, getting accepted into another school district, or simply living more comfortably and securely when entering the job market.

For us to accomplish this as efficiently and effectively as possible, we have tailored our courses not only toward high school graduation requirements but also toward college-level placement. All of our classes are designed to be flexible enough with their workload so that students can easily adjust their pace based on how much time they want to dedicate to each class, which will help those who need extra practice in a certain area before moving on or those who wish to finish sooner than expected.

5. Affordability

Because HSOA Online High School was initially designed as a private school alternative, we were able to create the entire curriculum from scratch to incorporate all of our flexible policies. This flexibility has allowed us to keep our costs down for students while also maintaining an extremely high level of quality, allowing us to provide a true college prep experience without the sky-high price tag.

HSOA Online High School is dedicated to providing an affordable education that makes sure no student experiences financial difficulty solely due to educational investment.

If you ever have any questions regarding how long it will take you to finish your degree or what options are available once you have completed that study, please do not hesitate to contact us, and someone will be happy to help.

Tuition and Payment Plans — Frequently Asked Questions.

What do the Words ‘Tuition’ and ‘Payment Plan’ Mean?

Tuition refers to how much a student pays for each course that he/she takes within HSOA Online High School. Payment Plans refer to what type of installments students are asked to pay their tuition in — monthly (first option) or yearly (second option).

Monthly Tuition Plans

How Many Months Will My Payments Be Spread Out Over?

The number of months your payments will be spread out over depends on the number of courses you enroll in, as well as which payment plan (monthly or yearly) you choose. If you are taking only one course at a time, your payments will be spread out over three months. If you are taking two courses at a time, your payments will be spread out over six months, and so on.

Please note that these times refer to how long it takes for each bill to arrive. We do not send bills until a student has enrolled in a class, and if he/she wishes to enroll in more than one course at a time, this process can take longer. Since monthly tuition plans require students to make payments before classes start, they tend to work better for students who know precisely when they will be taking courses for a semester.

The process is a lot easier if you have your schedule set in advance and you know how many courses you will be starting each term. If you are interested in enrolling in only one or two courses, this option is probably better since it allows students to take their courses on a week-to-week basis.

What Do I Need To Do Before I Can Start Making Payments?

To make monthly payments, follow these four easy steps:

  1. Choose which payment plan you would like to use (monthly or yearly)
  2. Review our payment options
  3. Download the required forms from our website and print out the forms
  4. Complete all of the necessary information, and return them to us via email (Click here to email) or by mail. Alternatively, fill out our online form in just a few minutes.

How Much Will My Monthly Payments Be, and How Often Do I Need to Make Them?

Monthly tuition plans run a little differently from the typical yearly payment plans because they require students to pay their tuition in advance — before any classes start. Therefore, while your course fees will still vary depending on which courses you choose, your monthly payments will remain consistent once you have made them for all of the courses you are enrolled in.

A Closer Look at Our Tuition Plans

We have accommodating payment options that can meet most budgets. Here is a more detailed list of our tuition plans and what each of those entails.

  • Full Pay
  • This plan costs $1599.
  • You would pay the full balance now.
  • There are no monthly payments or fees.
  • This plan offers the biggest savings.
  • Savings of $700 off the total cost of tuition.
  • AutoPay
  • This plan costs $2199
  • You would set up auto-draft monthly payments.
  • Has available low initial payments.
  • Savings on automated payments.
  • Savings of $100 off the total cost of tuition.
  • Bill Pay
  • This plan costs $2299.
  • Will make a monthly payment.
  • Can Pay by mail, phone, or online.
  • Has available low initial payments.
  • Has no added savings.

Check out our tuition calculator today!

What Can I Get If I Take Advantage of Your Tuition and Payment Plan Options?

The number one benefit you receive from using our online school is flexibility.

Although there may be other benefits associated with providing tuition in installments rather than paying it all at once, the ability to enroll in as many classes as you want without having to worry about coming up with a lump sum payment is worth taking into account.

Another essential factor to keep in mind is that financial aid is applied to tuition, not installments. We recommend contacting our office if you have any additional questions or concerns regarding this topic.

Wrapping Up

We hope you’ve found the information on this page helpful! If not, please let us know how else we can help by filling out a comment form below. The more detail you give us about your goals and what kind of situation you’re dealing with, the easier it will be for us to get back to you with an effective solution. To enroll in our accredited online high school diploma programs, contact us today.

Thank You!

High School of America

An accredited online High school (1999-present) aimed at providing high quality and affordable education.