Arizona Doesn’t Give Out GEDs
“Go get your GED” is among the most common pieces of advice handed to adults without a high school diploma. In Arizona it is also, strictly speaking, impossible. The state does not issue GEDs. It issues the Arizona High School Equivalency Diploma, and the GED is one of three approved ways to earn it.
That distinction sounds like pedantry until it costs someone six months. Today we are publishing the GED & Arizona HSE Diploma Pathway Finder — a free page that asks what you have already done, names which pathway is shortest for you, and lists the Maricopa County programs that will prepare you at no cost.
The gap that stalls people
The GED® is a set of four subject tests owned by a private company, GED Testing Service. The diploma is a credential awarded by the Arizona Department of Education. Passing the tests does not, by itself, produce the diploma.
What closes the gap is the Arizona Civics Test, required on all three pathways. People pass all four GED subjects, assume they are finished, and discover the civics requirement only when they call to ask where their diploma is. It is the most common way this process stalls, and entirely avoidable if you know on day one.
There is also a change that has not propagated through most of the advice online: as of January 1, 2026, the passing score on the Arizona Civics Test rose from 60 to 70 out of 100. Anything still saying 60 is out of date. Better news: retakes are unlimited with no waiting period, and a civics score from middle school or high school can count — ask before paying to sit it again.
Three pathways, not one
Two of the three routes are almost invisible to the people who would benefit most.
The GED Testing Pathway is the familiar one: four subject tests, plus civics. Arizona charges $41 per subject — $164 straight through — but subjects are paid for one at a time, so the real entry price is $41. No residency requirement, and no requirement to take a class first.
The College Credit Pathway has existed since July 2018 and skips GED testing entirely. Complete 25 specific college credits — 6 English, 6 math, 4 natural science, 3 social and behavioral sciences, 3 computer, 3 college and career explorations, at 100-level or above with a C or better — pass civics, and the state issues the diploma. Anyone who started college and stopped may be closer to finished than they realize. Credits must be earned at, or validated by, an Arizona public institution, so out-of-state credit needs a transfer conversation first.
The HSE PLUS Career Readiness Pathway is for scattered progress, and it is the one we expect to surprise people. Instead of a uniform set of tests, you accumulate 22 points — 14 academic, 8 career — from high school credits, college credits, GED subjects already passed, adult education coursework, CTE credits, industry certificates, and employment. A partial transcript, one certificate, and two GED subjects passed can add up here when nothing else will. The catch: it runs exclusively through state-funded adult education programs, so you must be enrolled in one. Enrollment is free.
Fourteen free programs, and the part about the debit card
The tool lists every state-funded adult education program in Maricopa County, from the Arizona Department of Education’s own directory — Rio Salado’s five valley sites, Literacy Phoenix, Friendly House, ACYR, EVIT, Mesa, Gilbert, Queen Creek, and the FXG centers. Tap an area of the Valley and the list narrows. All of it is free, and Rio Salado runs morning and evening sections with monthly start dates.
One detail worth naming, because it stops people and almost nothing mentions it: GED.com accepts debit or credit cards only. Without either, that is a hard wall in front of a $41 test. The workaround is a reloadable prepaid card you can load with cash — GED Testing Service itself points to American Express Bluebird. An adult education program can also sometimes register and pay on your behalf. Ask; it is a normal question.
The tool also carries the rules for 16- and 17-year-olds — eligible, but needing a notarized parent consent letter and proof of formal withdrawal — plus notes on accommodations, Spanish-language testing, no photo ID, and doing this while unhoused. Nothing you tap leaves your device.
If a standard diploma is what you want
The HSE Diploma is accepted by employers and by Arizona public universities and community colleges, but some selective private colleges and certain military roles still weight a traditional diploma more heavily. If that is your situation and you are 18 or older, Phoenix has a route to an actual diploma: The Excel Center, a tuition-free public charter high school for adults with free childcare and transportation help, at 602-535-4401. It takes longer, and for some people that trade is the right one — the tool says so rather than pretending testing always wins.
Every phone number, address, fee, and rule was checked against the operator’s own website — the Arizona Department of Education and GED Testing Service, not aggregators — on September 21, 2026. Class schedules move, so call before you travel. If you cannot reach anyone, call 2-1-1, free and statewide, and ask for adult education near you.
Have a correction, or know a Maricopa County program that belongs in here? Contact us — we read every note.