BYU Online High School

BYU Online High School revives a diploma tradition that ran from 1876 to 1968 at Brigham Young Academy. The current incarnation is a fully accredited online high school operated by Brigham Young University with a faith-friendly framing that welcomes non-LDS students but presumes a student body largely drawn from Latter-day Saint families.

Last updated: 2026-04-24 · Every Homeschool Editorial Team

At a glance

Method	Online academy (live Zoom + asynchronous tracks)
Worldview	LDS (faith-friendly rather than doctrinally assertive in core coursework)
Grades	7-12 (plus adult diploma track)
Formats	Digital, online live class, video course
Cost tier	Standard to Premium
Parent intensity	1
ESA-common	Yes
Accredited	Yes, Cognia and Middle States Association
Established	Current program launched 2020; diploma tradition dates to 1876
Website	hs.byu.edu

Our scoreboard (1-5)

Criterion	Score	One-line reason
Academic rigor	4	Standard and Advanced tracks; NCAA-certified coursework; BYU institutional backing
Ease of teaching	5	Fully teacher-led; parent is an observer, not a co-instructor
Content quality	4	Professionally produced, politically neutral American History and an ADEIL award-winning freshman English course
Flexibility	3	Semester Live and Flex On Demand both available, but the credit structure is fixed
Value for money	3	Per-course pricing beats a private Christian school; total diploma cost adds up
Worldview scope	3	Faith-friendly framing rather than doctrinally embedded; students of any faith can earn elective credit for their own religious study
Visual/design	4	Clean modern LMS, Zoom-native live classes, professional materials
Support resources	4	Teacher office hours, Student Success Center tutoring, a school counselor

Who the publisher is

BYU Online High School is operated by Brigham Young University, the flagship university of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The current program was announced in 2020 and serves students in grades 7–12 plus adult learners. Its founding framing places it in deliberate continuity with Brigham Young Academy, the Karl G. Maeser institution established in 1876 in Provo that once granted high school diplomas under the BYU banner until the brick-and-mortar high school closed in 1968. After a five-decade pause, BYU now grants a diploma online again.

The program is administratively housed inside BYU Continuing Education and holds regional accreditation from Cognia and the Middle States Association Commissions on Elementary and Secondary Schools. That accreditation matters in two ways for homeschool families: first, the diploma is genuinely a private-school diploma rather than a homeschool transcript, which simplifies college admissions and scholarship applications at most institutions; second, transcripts are routinely accepted by state universities nationwide, and the NWCCU accreditation of BYU's parent program provides an additional belt-and-suspenders credential that is useful in states with selective transcript requirements for athletic scholarships.

Theologically, the program's framing is worth describing precisely. The school states on its own site that it is "faith-friendly" and welcomes students of all backgrounds; its founding mission language uses BYU's standard phrasing about education that is "spiritually strengthening, intellectually enlarging, and character-building." In practice this means two things. The core academic coursework is not theologically saturated in the way some denominational Christian schools are, a student taking Algebra II is taking Algebra II, and the ADEIL-winning freshman English course focuses on literature and close reading rather than scripture. At the same time, the student body is drawn heavily from Latter-day Saint families, Seminary credit is directly integrated into the transcript, and the social fabric of Semester Live cohorts reflects that composition. Families from other traditions who enroll for the academic program should expect a culture shaped by LDS norms around language, media choices, and Sabbath observance, even where specific religious instruction is not in the syllabus.

The core pedagogy

BYU Online High School offers two distinct enrollment tracks, and the pedagogy differs meaningfully between them. The Semester Live track is a synchronous, cohort-based program that runs on a traditional August-to-May academic calendar. Students enroll in six to seven courses per semester, attend live Zoom classes with certified teachers, and complete work against fixed weekly deadlines. The Flex On Demand track is asynchronous and year-round; students have a six-month completion window per course and work at their own pace through recorded instruction, readings, and graded assignments.

Signature mechanics. (1) Certified teacher of record. Both tracks assign each student to a credentialed teacher who evaluates work, holds office hours, and issues grades. The parent is never the teacher of record. (2) Dual-track diploma structure. Students graduate with either a Standard or Advanced diploma, with the Advanced track requiring additional honors-level and above-grade-level coursework for students bound for selective universities. (3) Elective credit for religious study. Members of the LDS Church may earn 0.5 elective credit per year of Seminary completion (up to 2.0 total credits on the transcript); students of other faiths may earn equivalent credit for documented faith-based study in their own tradition. (4) NCAA-certified core courses, which makes the program materially useful for student-athletes who need NCAA Eligibility Center approval.

Credit structure is traditional. The Standard diploma requires 24 credits, with a minimum residency requirement that at least 25% of credits (six to seven credits, or twelve to fourteen half-credit courses) must be completed through BYU Online High School. This residency requirement is lower than many online schools and allows a family mid-high-school to transfer in with most credits intact. Each half-credit course is built around approximately 80–90 hours of instructional time across a 16–18 week semester.

A day in the life

A tenth-grader in the Semester Live track begins at roughly 8:00 AM by logging into a Zoom class for English 10, certified teacher leading a discussion of the week's reading, students on camera, breakout rooms for small-group work (about 60 minutes). Following a break, the student attends a live Algebra II class with a different teacher and cohort (60 minutes), then a live World History session, then a live Biology class that includes a virtual lab component. After lunch, the afternoon runs to asynchronous work: the Seminary elective completed through the student's local LDS institute arrangement, Spanish I completed via the school's language program, and independent work on assignments from the morning's live classes. Office hours are scheduled mid-afternoon for students who need one-on-one support. Total engaged time: roughly five to six hours, with the structure far closer to a traditional private school than to a typical homeschool day. Parent involvement is minimal, the parent may check the gradebook weekly and troubleshoot technology, but the teacher handles instruction, assessment, and intervention.

A Flex On Demand student runs on a very different rhythm. There are no scheduled class meetings. The student logs in when convenient, works through recorded lessons and readings, submits assignments, and waits for teacher feedback within published turnaround windows. This is the track used by competitive athletes on travel schedules, student actors, and families whose lives do not fit a fixed Monday-Friday, 8-to-3 schedule. The tradeoff is that a Flex student misses the cohort experience entirely and depends on self-discipline to keep moving.

What they do exceptionally well

The diploma itself. An accredited private high school diploma from a BYU-operated institution is a substantively different credential than a parent-issued homeschool diploma. For families whose student will apply to selective universities, compete in NCAA athletics, or pursue merit scholarships that ask about accreditation, this matters concretely. The NCAA certification and dual regional accreditation are not marketing points; they are gateposts to specific downstream outcomes.

Politically neutral social studies. BYU's American History and Government courses are described on the school's site as politically neutral. Our reading of the published course descriptions suggests this framing is real, the civics and history content stays close to documentary sources rather than taking a partisan editorial posture. For families who want serious American-history instruction without either progressive-left or evangelical-right framing, this is relatively unusual among private accredited online schools.

Teacher-delivered live instruction at a reasonable price. At $360 per Semester Live half-credit course as of the 2025–2026 school year, a full-time Semester Live student taking six courses per semester pays roughly $4,320 per year in tuition, plus the $50 application fee. This is significantly less than comparable private brick-and-mortar Christian or prep schools and meaningfully less than most premium accredited online competitors.

A clean mechanism for integrating religious study. The policy allowing up to 2.0 elective credits for documented faith-based study, whether LDS Seminary, a parish catechetical program, a yeshiva course, or another tradition's structured religious education, is administratively tidy and respects the family's own faith formation work. This is handled better here than at many nominally secular online schools that reject religious credit entirely.

What they do poorly

Cost scales quickly for ESA-ineligible families. While the per-course price is reasonable, a family enrolling two children full-time in Semester Live runs roughly $8,640 per year in tuition alone. For families without ESA funding or a church scholarship, this approaches private-school pricing.

The "faith-friendly" framing requires honest reading. The program does not impose LDS doctrinal content in core academic courses, and non-LDS students genuinely can enroll. But the student culture, peer norms, and Seminary elective integration reflect a student body that is predominantly LDS. A Catholic, Baptist, Jewish, or secular family considering the program should understand that their student will be in cohorts where LDS is the cultural default, and that is a different experience than attending, say, a denominationally mixed secular online school.

Less robust special education support. The program's published support resources focus on tutoring and teacher office hours rather than formal IEP-aligned accommodations. Families of students with documented learning disabilities should inquire specifically about accommodation workflows before committing.

Limited extracurricular ecosystem. Semester Live offers student clubs, a student council, and limited cohort activities, but families accustomed to the breadth of a brick-and-mortar school's extracurricular offerings will find the menu thin. The program is school-like in its core academic delivery, less so in its community life.

Who it fits / who it doesn't

• Pick BYU Online High School if: your family is LDS and values an accredited diploma with Seminary credit integration; your student is a competitive athlete who needs NCAA-certified core courses; you want teacher-delivered live instruction at sub-private-school prices; you have an ESA that covers per-course accredited online tuition; you want politically neutral American History and Government.

• Skip BYU Online High School if: your family is deeply rooted in a non-LDS faith tradition and wants doctrinal alignment in the core academic program; you want a fully asynchronous, self-paced elementary-through-high-school curriculum (BYU serves 7-12 only); you want heavy parent-directed instruction with minimal institutional involvement; your budget cannot absorb roughly $4,300 per student per year without ESA support.

Cost honest assessment

Tuition as of the 2025–2026 school year is $360 per Semester Live half-credit course and $275 per Flex On Demand half-credit course, plus a one-time $50 application fee. The program does not publish differentiated pricing for LDS Church-affiliated families versus non-affiliated families; the published rate applies uniformly. Financial assistance is available for qualified full-time students per the school's published aid policy.

A full-time Semester Live tenth-grader taking six half-credit courses per semester (twelve courses per year) runs roughly $4,320 per year in tuition. A Flex On Demand student on the same load runs roughly $3,300. Compared to Laurel Springs School (roughly $7,000–$10,000 per year full-time), BYU Online High School is meaningfully less expensive for comparable accredited online full-time enrollment. Compared to VHS Learning (roughly $450 per course single-enrollment), BYU is priced competitively for per-course consumption while also offering a diploma track that VHS does not.

A realistic all-in family budget for one full-time Semester Live student runs $4,400–$4,800 per year including application fee, materials, and any technology surcharges; two students run roughly $8,700–$9,600.

ESA eligibility notes

BYU Online High School is approved or commonly reimbursable on most state ESA marketplaces that fund online academy tuition, including Arizona's ESA program, Florida's Step Up For Students, and Utah's Utah Fits All, the last being particularly relevant given the program's Utah operational base. West Virginia, Iowa, and Arkansas ESA families have reimbursed per-course enrollments. Because BYU is religiously affiliated (LDS) rather than secular, states with restrictions on religious school funding may scrutinize applications; families in those states should verify eligibility with their program administrator before enrolling. ESA-funded families should also verify whether their program funds full-time enrollment, per-course enrollment, or both.

Alternatives

• Ensign Peak Academy, a family would choose Ensign Peak over BYU when they want an explicitly LDS K-12 program rather than a faith-friendly 7-12 program, with smaller live-class cohorts and a lower tuition point.
• Laurel Springs School, a family would choose Laurel Springs over BYU when they want a fully secular accredited private online school with a dedicated gifted academy and a college counseling department designed for selective admissions.
• Liahona Preparatory Academy, a family would choose Liahona over BYU when they want a classical, explicitly Restoration-education LDS program rather than BYU's less doctrinally-embedded model.

How we verified this

Our editorial team reviewed BYU Online High School's published program pages at hs.byu.edu, including the About, Semester Enrollment, Flex Enrollment, and Adult Enrollment pages. Tuition figures cited are from the school's own published rates for the 2025–2026 school year. Accreditation claims were cross-referenced against Cognia's public accreditation database and the Middle States Association's member list. We verified the program's founding announcement through BYU News' 2020 announcement and cross-referenced the Brigham Young Academy historical continuity through BYU's own institutional history pages. Prices and program details verified April 2026.