Here we’ll explore college degrees and careers that can be pursued with just a GED and 20 colleges that accept GED for admission in 2024.
If you’re a GED-holder looking for a college, you may be in luck. There are plenty of colleges that accept GED for admission all over the U.S.
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Whether you’re hoping to go to a community college, a 4 year university, or an online college, you may have several options.
Can You Go to College with a GED?
Yes, many can go to college with a GED. You may be surprised at the number of colleges you could possibly attend with only a GED. Most 2 year schools have open admissions policies, which means as long as you’ve graduated high school and earned your GED or completed home school, you should be accepted.
You aren’t limited to only 2 year schools, though. There are many 4 year universities that also accept students with GEDs, and the few that won’t often accept transfer students after they’ve gone to another school for a year. In other words, as long as you have the grades, the scores, and the money, you may be able to go to any school you want eventually.
Many online colleges and universities accept GED students as well. There are even colleges that offer the GED and a degree at the same time.
Popular Online Degrees for GED Holders
These are some of the most popular degree programs that GED holders take. You can select the program that most interests you to jump to that section of the guide:
- Accounting
- Business Administration
- Criminal Justice
- Education & Teaching
- Finance
- Healthcare Administration
- Information Technology
- Management
- Marketing
- Psychology
Although there may be some crossover between these degree programs, each one has its own distinctive qualities to consider.
Accounting
If you’re good with numbers and enjoy budgeting, finances, and tax work, you might consider pursuing a degree in accounting. In an accounting program, you’ll likely take plenty of general education classes, along with numerous accounting, finance, and economics classes. You’ll probably also take courses in computers, auditing, management, and marketing.
There are many potential jobs you can pursue after earning an accounting degree. If you earn your bachelor’s degree, you may go on to become a CPA (Certified Public Accountant). You might also become an internal auditor, tax examiner, forensic accountant, public accountant, corporate accountant, or government accountant.
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Even at the associate level, there are many jobs you may pursue, such as bookkeeper, admin assistant, tax preparer, payroll clerk, accounting technician, or auditing clerk.
Business Administration
If you hope to break into the field of business, a degree in business administration might be your ticket. A degree in business administration is usually a lot more all-encompassing and comprehensive than other popular business-related degrees, such as finance, accounting, or human resources degrees.
This is because this degree is typically designed to cover all these aspects of business in a broad overview. Additionally, other classes might cover innovations, business strategy, leadership, and project management.
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The most popular jobs for people with this degree are supervisor/manager, business consultant, financial adviser, human resources specialist, store manager, relationship banker, and sales consultant.
Criminal Justice
A degree in criminal justice might appeal to you if you are interested in catching criminals, upholding the law, or working in corrections. At both the associate and bachelor’s levels, there are plenty of jobs a degree in criminal justice can help you pursue. These include jobs as a police or corrections officer, detective, forensic scientist, security guard, air marshal, or homeland security officer.
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There are a few different specializations under the umbrella of criminal justice, and your class curriculum will depend on which you choose. However, there are several classes you’ll likely be required to take no matter which specialization you choose.
Your classes will likely cover such topics as deviance and social control, principles of investigation, criminal law and procedure, crime prevention, crime statistics in the US, and drugs in society.
Education & Teaching
To become a certified teacher, a bachelor’s degree in education is required. However, whether you go for your bachelor’s or associate degree, both can help open up many career paths for you. Possessing a love of learning, children, and education itself can help you succeed in these careers. It also helps if you have a lot of patience.
For a degree in this field, you’ll likely take many classes focused on effective teaching practices. These may include courses on child development and psychology, educating exceptional children, and the philosophy of education.
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In addition to becoming a teacher, you might pursue becoming an education consultant, school administrator, teacher’s aide, youth director, or child life specialist with this degree.
Finance
A degree in finance is very much like a degree in accounting. With both degrees, it is beneficial to be good with numbers, budgeting, and managing money. These skills are crucial to this degree.
In a finance program, you’ll likely take many classes in finance, accounting, and economics. Additionally, you’ll probably take classes that focus on specific topics within the finance field, such as investments, risk assessment, auditing, financial reporting, bonds, business/corporate finances, statistics, and portfolio management.
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After graduation, most people with a degree in this field go on to work as financial analysts, financial consultants, accountants, financial or operations managers, loan officers, credit analysts, and other similar positions.
Healthcare Administration
An associate or bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration might be a great choice for you if your goal is to work in healthcare. A degree in healthcare administration can help you pursue jobs in nursing homes, hospitals, private doctors’ offices, and VA clinics.
Being good at working with people, having good communication skills, and being able to have grace under pressure can help you succeed in this field because you’ll likely be doing a lot of face-to-face work with the general public. Having a pleasant attitude and being able to deal with potentially angry people without losing your temper will be helpful as well.
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In addition to classes on healthcare administration and policies, you’ll probably also take classes in management, healthcare financing and billing, healthcare law, and human resources.
Information Technology
If you’re into computers and technology, a degree in information technology might be perfect for you. This degree often works well for people with moderate to advanced computer skills who like to fix things. Depending on whether you’re pursuing an associate or bachelor’s degree, your required courses will be a little different.
For either degree level, you’ll likely be required to take courses that focus on computer networking, troubleshooting and problem-solving, communications (specifically virtual communications), project management, and database management. If you’re working towards your bachelor’s, you might also be placed in an internship.
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With your degree, you’ll be able to pursue a variety of potential jobs that have an IT focus.
Management
Management is one field that most people are familiar with. Most of us have had managers at some point, and maybe some of us have even been managers. If you’re hoping to earn your degree in management, it’s likely you’re hoping to go into a supervisor, director, or management position.
Some skills that can help you succeed in this degree program and subsequent careers in management are great team-building skills, the ability to solve complex problems in innovative ways, critical thinking skills, strong leadership skills, and excellent communication skills. Being able to bring out the strengths of others is also a useful trait.
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There are a wide variety of management and management consultant jobs available in just about every possible career field.
Marketing
If you hope to pursue a career in marketing, business, sales, advertising, or public relations, a marketing degree can help you achieve your goals. A marketing degree often lends itself nicely to any of these fields because of the coursework required to earn it.
Marketing programs typically consist of courses on advertising, effective leadership, communications, business-to-business marketing, global marketing strategies, marketing research, corporations and finance, logistics, retail and sales management, and product branding.
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If your marketing specialty is more in the advertising element, you may also take classes on graphic design, finding a target audience, and other similar classes.
The most common jobs pursued with this degree are in those fields listed above (business, marketing, sales, etc.) and also human resources, purchasing, copywriting, media planning, and event planning.
Psychology
If you have an insatiable curiosity, love research, can listen without judgment, and genuinely want to help people, a psychology degree might be right for you. After earning this degree, you might go on to become a psychiatric orderly, youth counselor, home care aide, substance abuse counselor, career counselor, or probation officer.
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A psychology program can help you learn about deviance and aberrant behavior, child development, abnormal psychology, developmental and cognitive psychology, ethical issues, sociology, biology, substance abuse, experimental research methods in psychology, and more.
Are There Any Colleges That Accept GED Students?
There are actually many colleges that accept GED students. Regardless of the state you live in, there are likely to be some 2 year colleges. Most of these colleges have open admissions or open-enrollment policies. This means they accept anyone who applies.
There are also some 4 year universities and many online programs that accept GED students as well. If you’re unsure whether or not the school you want to attend accepts GED students, you can visit their website and check out their admissions requirements.
Both 4 year and community colleges will often ask for ACT/SAT scores along with GED certificates, but if you haven’t taken any standardized tests, you don’t need to be scared. In cases where you don’t have a test score to submit, many colleges will simply have you take placement tests to see which math and English classes you’re ready to take.
What Is the GED?
GED stands for “General Educational Development,” although some people claim it stands for “Graduate Equivalency Degree” or “General Educational Diploma.”
Either way, the GED is a four-part exam you can take to earn your high school equivalency if you didn’t graduate from high school.
What Are the GED Diploma Levels?
There are four scores you can receive on the GED. They are:
- Not Passing: This means you didn’t pass the GED and will have to try again.
- Passing Score/High School Equivalency: If you receive this score, you’ve passed the GED and have the equivalent of a high school diploma.
- College Ready: If you receive this score, not only did you pass the GED, but you’re also considered to be ready for college without needing to take remedial courses.
- College Ready + Credit: This is the highest possible score. At this level, you’ve earned your GED and are ready for college, and depending on your college’s policies, you may be able to earn some college credit just for the scores you made on your GED.
Any of the last three scores are considered passing and will award you your GED.
What Are the GED Exam Subjects?
There are four main sections to the GED exam. You must pass all four in order to receive your GED. Three of the subjects are math, social studies, and science. The last subject is language arts, but it’s broken into two parts—reading and writing.
What Is the GED Scoring System?
Each section of the GED is scored between 100 and 200 points. To pass the GED, you have to score at least a 145 in each section. This means that even if you make a perfect score of 200 on three sections, you’ll still fail the GED if you don’t make at least a 145 on the fourth section.
Am I Still Able to Get Financial Aid if I Have a GED?
If you’re taking for-credit classes at an accredited university, then yes, you should be eligible to apply for financial aid. If you’re enrolled at a non-accredited university or in a non-degree-seeking program, you probably won’t be eligible for federal aid. There may still be private scholarships for which you may be eligible, though.
If you are placed in remedial classes, there are some limitations on the amount of federal aid you can receive. In most cases, you can receive federal aid for up to 30 remedial course hours, though exceptions do apply.
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Again, private scholarships, school-specific scholarships, and program-specific scholarships have their own sets of rules, and you could potentially be eligible for them in any of the above-listed situations.
Are There Any Online Colleges That Accept GED for Admission?
Like community colleges, there are many online colleges that also have open enrollment policies and accept anyone who applies.
Others that don’t have open enrollment may accept GED students if they have high enough ACT or SAT scores or place high enough on the school’s placement test.
Are There Any Two Year Schools That Accept GED Students?
Yes. Most 2 year schools, be they junior colleges, community colleges, or technical colleges, have open admissions policies and accept GED students.
Are There Any Universities That Accept GED?
Despite what some people think, yes, there are a number of 4 year institutions that accept GED students. If you’re curious as to whether or not a 4 year university you’re interested in attending accepts GED students, you can check the admissions requirements on its website.
You might be surprised at some of the big names in universities that accept students with GEDs.
How Is the GED Different than a Regular Diploma?
A high school diploma signifies that you finished twelve years (less if you skipped grades) of regular schooling at public or private schools. A GED simply means you were able to pass a series of tests that represent the level of knowledge a person who graduated high school should have.
Both are widely accepted in the workforce and by many colleges and universities.
Universities Offering Online Colleges that Accept GED for Admission
Methodology: The following school list is in alphabetical order. To be included, a college or university must be regionally accredited and offer degree programs online or in a hybrid format.
Baker College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Bellevue University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Bryant and Stratton College is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
Capella University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
City University of Seattle is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.
Colorado Technical University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Florida National University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
Grand Canyon University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Granite State College is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.
Kaplan University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Liberty University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
National American University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.
National University is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.
North Dakota State University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Salem University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Stanford University is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.
Strayer University is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
Sullivan University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
The University of Maryland Global Campus is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
Walden University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Yes, Colleges Accept GED Students!
The important thing to remember is that yes, there are a significant number of excellent colleges out there that will happily accept a student with a GED. There are even some colleges that don’t require the GED or high school diploma for admission purposes.
You don’t have to let not graduating from high school keep you from getting the college education you want and deserve.
You may also be eligible for financial aid with your GED, so you don’t have to let the fear of paying for college stop you either. There are grants, federal loans, and a myriad of different scholarships open to GED holders.
That GED you hold is as good as any high school diploma when it comes to applying at many colleges in the US. You can start looking for your dream college today!
