Building your student’s education plan is a simple and straightforward process that only takes a few minutes to complete on the OpenEd platform.
While creating an education plan, you'll see the option to select two types of subjects:
Required Subjects | Independent Studies |
Subjects that your student must participate in on a weekly basis to satisfy the program’s minimum requirements for their grade level | Optional subjects meant to enrich your student's academic journey |
Reported to your student's school of enrollment | Not reported to your student's school of enrollment |
Can't be changed past a certain date during the semester | Can be changed at any time during the school year |
How Independent Studies Relate To Your Wallet
To be reimbursed for the approved educational resources that you purchase with your OpenEd funds, those resources need to be related to a subject on your student's education plan.
Adding independent studies to your student's education plan is a great way to make sure that your reimbursement requests are clearly tied to your student's learning.
Example: Let's say you purchase some art supplies for a project that your student's working on.
If you add an Art independent study to your student's education plan, you can connect that independent study to those art supplies when you submit a reimbursement request.
To save you time, some required subjects might already be selected for you when you reach this page.
After working with your student to choose any independent studies they'll explore beyond their required subjects, just hit Submit!
Split Enrollment
Students in Minnesota in grades 10-12 have the option to take up to two credits per school year of split enrolled subjects – subjects that are taken in-person at your local boundary school, rather than through OpenEd.
With approval, students in grades 10-12 can take up to two credits of on-site classes per school year at their local boundary school. (Split enrollment with a charter school is unfortunately not an option.)
Adding a split enrollment course to your student’s education plan will deduct $250 per credit from your student’s wallet.
Requirements for On-site Split Enrollment
Your local boundary school must approve the split enrollment.
A split enrollment class must be a live, classroom-based course.
All split enrolled classes need to be part of – not in addition to – a student’s education plan.
Split Enrollment FAQs
Q: My split enrollment school follows a trimester schedule. How should I set that up in my education plan and budget for my wallet deduction?
A: We translate trimester schedules into semesters for consistency. Here’s how it works:
We’ll refer to trimesters as:
Trimester 1 = August–October
Trimester 2 = November–February
Trimester 3 = March–May
And we translate them into semesters like this:
Trimester(s) Enrolled | Corresponding Semester(s) |
1 only | Semester 1 |
2 only | Semester 2 |
3 only | Semester 2 |
1 + 2 | Semester 1 |
1 + 2 + 3 | Semester 1 & 2 |
When creating your education plan and budgeting, select the appropriate semester(s) based on your trimester participation. The corresponding semester rate(s) will be deducted from your wallet.
If you're unsure which combination applies to your situation, feel free to reach out –we're happy to help!
Want to make changes to your education plan?
As you create your student's education plan, it's easy to add and delete electives, independent studies, and split enrollment. (Required subjects can't be deleted.)
You can also edit your student's education plan after you submit it – but keep in mind that you'll need to resubmit the plan after you're done making changes.
Need help?
We're here to support you. Click here to meet with a certified teacher who will help you build the perfect education plan for your student. You can also email [email protected] or use the chat icon in the corner of your screen.