Well lets look at this from another angle. Most (not all) schools have a GED program that allows the student to take the GED earlier (16/17) and once the student passes they can leave school without "dropping out". I'm certain the school counselor will give you all that information if you ask. It is legal and in some ares DOES NOT require a parent's permission to take the GED although most insist on parent's permission to leave high school for minors (under 18). There are exceptions that depend on circumstances say at home, or if you are married or if you are a rural farm family. Farm kids can get out of school easier in many cases than urban kids. Further GED on your job application reads as GED - no matter if you say GED 4.0 at age 16/17 or if you say GED 3.0 at age 40. The Key word being GED - and I fear that potential employers will see GED and think lower of you than if you have High School Diploma even if you got the diploma barely passing. It reads better. I fear that GED means "drop out" in a lot of people's world view - few consider the ramifications that can lead to a need for GED to leave early. I got my GED when I was 16 (Kentucky) It took written permission from my parent(s) - it also took parent consent for me to legally be on my own at age 17. College required parent consent until I was 18 (part time starting when I was almost 17). All that was fine and well until I went into the real job market and discovered that people are biased and do not read everything. They scan for Key Words like GED and do not focus on the conditions and the reasons or even how that worked into my further education. Once I got my degrees I stopped using GED at all. I infer high school diploma but then the focus becomes the degrees I have not my GED status. When you can start adding letters to your name, CPC, MA, etcetera then the GED takes a back seat. But between no letters and letters after your name there is a 5-8 year period where you will be flipping burgers or something to pay for your life until you get those letters. Unfortunately GED does not usually get you those better temp jobs. Letting apartments usually becomes and issue of persons and personalities. Although there are laws about minors, many potential landlords do not push the issue. Others will and do push the issue - only because age 17 brings to mind "child" which can have a lot of variables tied to that - usually meaning "big trouble". I do not know who your friend is perhaps this is a lover? If not fine, but I fear that many people do view living with each other as "lovers" especially in cases where one is a minor and one is not. I'm afraid in this day and age assumptions about relationships are made due to the media circus surrounding child molestations. This will be another bone of contention you will face in this journey of yours.