How do Universities deal with applicants from high schools that don't offer other languages
Is there any hope for students with their opportunities being defunded to compete with other applicants from better-funded high schools? Are students from underfunded schools SOL?


As a preface I will say that HS foreign language programs are much more forgiving than college or university programs, not just from an objective difficulty standpoint, but also because learning foreign languages is much easier at younger ages. 

Being said, unfortunately many institutions have an application process in place that can potentially disqualify a student automatically on the basis of missing credentials (not bad, missing). But, I cannot speak for every institution.

There are ways students can get around this, but they have to be proactive, @guifa put good options in the comments:

1) You dual-enroll in HS. I actually recommend this, because I did not dual-enroll and when I started taking college courses, I realized that they would have been a much better use of my time, personally.

2) Take a distance learning course. This is somewhat difficult due to technology/off-campus requirements, especially when we're talking areas where the schools can't afford their programs, but should be doable.

3) Go to a junior/community college for 2 years, transfer. You can take the foreign language at either institution sometimes, you mostly need it done ahead of time to transfer, but if not to get your degree you have to have at least 2 years done, 4 years for some Arts degrees. The big disadvantage here is some universities have big experiences like research or internships that junior/community colleges wont be able to afford you, so upon transfer you have to work harder for undergrad. experience and LoRs.

In all the above cases, before you do anything you make sure your credits are official and you make sure they transfer. I've seen plenty of cases where students take courses at community colleges with wonky accreditation to find out much, much later that the course in question needs to be retaken at the new institution because it didn't transfer. You can confirm this by talking first to your institution, and then to where you plan on transferring, and get in writing that the courses are going to be okay.