Earn College Credits Fast and Cheap
Whether a student is still in high school or graduated, it's a great idea to earn some cheap college credits that can later be transferred to college and applied to a degree. Here are some steps and options to consider. If after reading all this information, you feel like you need some guidance, I am available to to help you make a plan.
Background About Credits
- Most bachelor degrees are 120 credits total. Associate degrees are 60 credits.
- Most standard classes are 3 credits.
- General education requirements usually account for at least 30 credits. These are usually completed during freshman year.
- Usually, in a college year, a student finishes 30 credits each year - hence a bachelor's degree in 4 years and an associate's degree in 2 years.
- Regional accreditation is the most widely accepted accreditation for schools. Graduating from a regionally accredited program, whether associates or bachelors, will allow someone to easily transfer those credits earned to any other program, like a bachelors or masters degree.
- All colleges have a "Transfer Credit Policy." This policy tells you how many credits you can transfer into your program from outside sources. The policy also specifies what sources they will accept. Most colleges never make this policy prominent. So, if you have a school in mind that your son wants to transfer into, you should go to their website and search for their transfer credit policy. Most colleges allow at least 30 transfer credits to be applied to your degree (equivalent to one year of college).
- Transferring credits can come from other regionally accredited schools, or from AP exams, IB exams, or from other approved exams and even previous experience. This is where things get interesting! There are 2 other common exams/sources you can check for in the transfer credit policy -- CLEP exams and ACE approved courses. CLEP is more widely accepted. But, there are some schools that will accept ACE approved tests/courses. These exams/courses can usually be taken for a fraction of the cost of a college class - $5 to $200, depending on where you take them.
Colleges Have Different Transfer Credit Policies
If you already know which colleges you are interested in, go to their website, click on the search bar and look up "transfer credit" or "CLEP" and it should bring up the page that describes their policy on what kinds of alternative forms of college credit they allow and how much of each kind. Most schools fit into one of these categories below.
If you already know which colleges you are interested in, go to their website, click on the search bar and look up "transfer credit" or "CLEP" and it should bring up the page that describes their policy on what kinds of alternative forms of college credit they allow and how much of each kind. Most schools fit into one of these categories below.
- Colleges that allow you to transfer in 30 credits of AP, CLEP, DANTES - most state and selective private schools. This means you will essentially only be able to test out of all or some of your general education requirements, i.e. freshman year.
- Colleges that allow you to transfer in up to 75% or more of credits
- Each one is different in how they specify what you can transfer. But, I have divided the types of credits up into tiers to show how common it is for colleges to accept them.
- Tier 0: Regionally Accredited (RA) college courses from other schools --- all schools accept this.
- Tier 1: AP, CLEP, DANTES -- most commonly accepted
- Tier 2: ACE approved courses + Tier 1
- Tier 3: NCCRS approved courses + Tier 2 and Tier 1 options
- Tier 4: Nationally Accredited (NA) college courses
If you want to test out of even more college...focus on these types of schools
Finally, there are several regionally accredited colleges that have created the most generous transfer credit policy in an effort to market to people who want to get a degree without the expense and are willing to go an alternate route (CLEP exams) to get there. These select schools allow up to 90 transfer credits towards a 120 credit bachelor's degree! There is a fee for transferring credits, but it is still a lot less than taking all those college courses at market rate. Essentially, they allow you to transfer up to 3 years worth of college if you can find the approved tests/sources to do that. Additionally, these schools offer their own tests, so you can test out of classes if you are able to, and receive college credit. Their tests tend to be more expensive that CLEP and more comparable in price to Community College classes, but they are also an option if someone wanted to use them. These schools include...
Finally, there are several regionally accredited colleges that have created the most generous transfer credit policy in an effort to market to people who want to get a degree without the expense and are willing to go an alternate route (CLEP exams) to get there. These select schools allow up to 90 transfer credits towards a 120 credit bachelor's degree! There is a fee for transferring credits, but it is still a lot less than taking all those college courses at market rate. Essentially, they allow you to transfer up to 3 years worth of college if you can find the approved tests/sources to do that. Additionally, these schools offer their own tests, so you can test out of classes if you are able to, and receive college credit. Their tests tend to be more expensive that CLEP and more comparable in price to Community College classes, but they are also an option if someone wanted to use them. These schools include...
- Thomas Edison State University (CLEP and ACE)
- Excelsior College
- Charter Oak State College
- University of Maine at Presque Isle
- Note: The term "Global Campus" after a university name is a keyword that lets you know those degrees are online and usually that they have a very generous transfer credit policy. For example: University of Maryland Global Campus (CLEP and ACE). There are actually many "Global Campus" schools now. Just do a Google search "University Global Campus."
Earning College Credits without College through Credit Banking
Credit Banking is a financial hack that means amassing college credits through a bunch of non-college sources and then transferring them into a college.
CLEP exams are largely accepted for college credit and do not require that you take a formally approved course to take the exam. Sitting for a CLEP exam costs between $70 and $100 usually. With community college costing around $450 per course (not including textbooks) and universities costing at least $700 (public) per course, taking a CLEP exam is a great savings!
There are other options. To find out how people are earning degrees on a slim budget through credit transfers, visit the forum DegreeForum.net. These people are very generous in sharing how they are completing their degrees this way.
Credit Banking is a financial hack that means amassing college credits through a bunch of non-college sources and then transferring them into a college.
CLEP exams are largely accepted for college credit and do not require that you take a formally approved course to take the exam. Sitting for a CLEP exam costs between $70 and $100 usually. With community college costing around $450 per course (not including textbooks) and universities costing at least $700 (public) per course, taking a CLEP exam is a great savings!
- Modern States is a non-profit CLEP prep organization that offers free courses and free CLEP exam vouchers if you study through their courses. Their goal is to help students get their freshman year of college done tuition-free.
- I understand some CLEP exams are so easy they can be passed with reading a book.
- When you transfer CLEP exams, you don't transfer a grade...just credits. This means you can just "pass" it and get full credit for the class.
- Saylor.org - only $5 for proctored exams!
- Note: Saylor and Thomas Edison State University have a program where you can complete all your classes through Saylor to finish/transfer into an Associates Degree in Business at Thomas Edison (total $5000).
- StraighterLine.com - around $60 per 3-credit course (not including labs)
- Study.com - $200 per month, you can take up to 2 courses at a time
- Sophia.org - $99 per month, you can take up to 2 courses at a time
- Tellearning.org - $200 per course
There are other options. To find out how people are earning degrees on a slim budget through credit transfers, visit the forum DegreeForum.net. These people are very generous in sharing how they are completing their degrees this way.
My personal recommendations for doing College/Highschool Homeschool
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I can help you make a plan!
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