Did you know that Louisiana has a program to enable public school students to access courses, at no cost to them, beyond those offered at their school?
It’s called Course Choice, or known formally as the Supplemental Course Academy (SCA). Through this program funded by the State of Louisiana, students can access courses for college credit, career training, foreign language courses, ACT prep, and much more. Courses are available in-person and online through nearly 68 different course providers, including private and non-profit course providers, colleges, and universities.
Access information about the program here and contact your student’s school counselor to register. Course prices listed are what schools pay the provider using program funds provided by the state—not paid by students or their families. Students are not charged a fee for taking courses through this program.
Beginning with the 2025-2026 school year, all public schools must provide all students with the state’s Course Choice/SCA catalogue at the beginning of the registration period. Students’ parents or legal guardians will need to sign off on the registration, and school counselors may disapprove of a course request found to not be academically appropriate for the student or aligning with the student’s Individual Graduation Plan.
What's Next?
Louisiana can continue to grow the Course Choice program by leveraging all public school funding to “follow the child/student” to their chosen course provider, not just dollars appropriated by the state for this particular program. The state can also standardize procedures and expectations for all types of providers in the program. Currently, private and college/university providers have different expectations and face differing levels of oversight.
