Tina Brase, 22, moved to Austin from Owatonna to attend Riverland Community College and study cosmetology. Brase faced one problem: she didn’t have a high school diploma.

“I dropped out because I have kids and I worked full-time,” she said.

Twenty-four-year-old Angela Edge had the same issue. She left high school in ninth-grade to have a child. Now a mother of three, she wanted to get a degree in business administration at Riverland.

“It was just a matter of buckling down and doing it,” Edge said.

About a dozen students walked on stage at the Paramount Theatre Wednesday night to accept their GED (General Education Development) diploma, the equivalent of a traditional high school diploma. This year, 47 students in Austin received GEDs or Adult Education Diplomas.

According to Janice Mino, Adult Learning Program coordinator at the Community Learning Center, the average age this year of GED diploma recipients was about 22. The reasons people pursue a GED vary, she said, but most “decide they want to go for post-secondary.”

Those who are 16, 17 or 18 years old may pursue a GED with an age waiver. If their high school class has not yet graduated, “they can’t just walk in,” Mino said.

Chase Wynia, 22, who accepted his diploma Wednesday, works for the Austin Park, Recreation and Forestry Department.

“It’s been three, four years since I went to high school,” he said. “I have a pretty good job, but I decided to go back.”

Wynia said a GED can keep his options open so he can “hopefully go some place.”

The GED curriculum, which is usually offered at low cost, consists of a battery of five tests: science, social studies, math, language arts-reading and language arts-writing.

According to Mino, 85 percent, or 47 students, who took the GED test in 2007 passed — 2 percent above the state average.