At A Glance
Using The GED
According to a report from the Arkansas Department of Career Education the majority of GED test takers in Arkansas take the test to enter college or technical training.
BENTONVILLE — Violeta Solorza received her General Educational Development diploma in the mail while visiting family in Mexico during Christmas break.
“It was a wonderful Christmas present for me from God,” Solorza of Lowell said. “Now I am committed to go further.”
Solorza said she’s not sure she could have taken the test if it wasn’t free. Starting next year, the test could cost students in Arkansas up to $120. A variety of factors will lead to the increased price for the test.
Janice Hanlon, GED administrator for the Adult Education Division of the Arkansas Department of Career Education, said changes are coming following the implementation of the national Common Core Standards.
Common Core Standards is a national initiative working to have students learn the same standards at the same grade level from state to state. New testing procedures are being implemented with the procedures.
The GED test will change to reflect the testing of Common Core Standards at the high school level, Hanlon said.
“The new test will all be computerized,” Hanlon said. “It is pencil and paper now.”
The new test will continue to be managed by GED Testing Service, Hanlon said. However, the organization is partnering with the company Pearson, which will help the state develop data from the testing to help students and teachers know more about their scores.
“It will be a new and improved GED test,” Hanlon said. “The issue we are dealing with now is the cost. A person could pay up to $120 now to take the test.”
Solorza said it may have been impossible for her to take the test if it cost $120.
“Instead of paying $100 for the test, my kids need milk and cereal,” Solorza said. “It would be hard for someone who does not have the support in the home to pay for the test. It would be hard for someone that has no money.”
Solorza dropped out of high school 18 years ago. She lived in Mexico at that time and left school so she could marry her husband.
“My husband, after a while, he said he wanted me to go back to school, and I was telling him that we didn’t have enough money to go back to school,” Solorza said.
She said going back to school would have meant she couldn’t work. Solorza decided to get her GED after realizing she needed it to receive a teaching assistant certificate.
“The first few weeks, I couldn’t remember at all what it was all about,” Solorza said. “I started getting used to it. I was committed to getting my GED.”
In 2011, 8,375 students took the GED in Arkansas, according to a study completed by Hanlon’s office. The study states more than 7,000 of those students passed the test. About 5,000 of the GED test takers make less than $3,000 a year, Hanlon said.
Ben Aldama, dean of adult education at NorthWest Arkansas Community College, said he’s worried about the cost students could face. The college is the testing facility for Benton County. The college also offers classes to help students prepare for the test along with other adult education classes that help people gain skills for the workforce.
“I am worried that we are going to lose a lot of people,” Aldama said. “They just don’t have the money.”
Jack Loyd, an assistant principal at Bentonville High School, said the school does everything it can to keep students in school and help them graduate. He said in rare circumstance does the school refer a student on to a GED program.
“A majority of the students I release for the GED program is normally because they have a financial hardship,” Loyd said.
Paying for a GED test is another financial burden students could endure, Loyd said.
“It is going to be a financial hardship for those kids and those families,” Loyd said. “For some of these people, it is a month’s worth of gas for their car.”
Aldama said a GED gives people the self-confidence to continue their education. Oftentimes students can receive grants from the federal government to help with the cost of college.
“They feel more equipped to go to college and get a job,” Aldama said. “It is not just them but the impact on their families.”
Hanlon said 17 percent of the state’s population older than 25 doesn’t have a GED. She said the state loses $2.7 billion in lost wages throughout those people’s lifetime.
“It means we don’t have a prepared workforce,” Hanlon said.