For many, the cost of a college education can be prohibitive; however the necessity of having a degree can be crucial when a job seeker is looking for work. Oftentimes, a college degree is used as a discriminator in the hiring process. Those with years of experience and talent may not even be considered for a position simply because they haven’t “filled in the blocks” required by a human resources department. Even if the degree is in an unrelated field, it is usually enough to get a person through the initial hurdles of the interview process.
However, even the costs of a local community college may be prohibitive to those who have to work and support a family – cost both in money and time. This was the situation I was faced with just a few years ago; however there is a solution.
In my hunt for a better and cheaper way to obtain that necessary sheepskin, I discovered the Bain 4 Weeks web site (I have no personal affiliation or compensation) which described the efforts of one woman who obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in just four weeks. While initially skeptical (think: diploma mill), I examined her method. Utilizing the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) and other college-level examinations, she was able to complete her four-year degree in just four weeks.
While I didn’t have an entire month available to dedicate to testing out of college credit, I did use the same principals to accelerate my degree completion while working full time, taking care of a family, and spending my evenings at home rather than in a classroom. In fact, I can proudly say that I was able to complete the entire degree with never having to set foot in a classroom. This method enabled me to adjust my education schedule to my life schedule. At some points taking a test a week for a couple of months was no problem; at other times, I was reduced to taking one test a month.
Perhaps a quick explanation of the CLEP program is in order. These exams are recognized by most accredited universities. These tests allow an individual to receive college credit (typically three to six credits) for specific subjects and cost $70 per exam. The first-year exams are six credits each for the five subjects (English, Math, Social Science and History, Humanities, Science) and will provide the typical test taker with 30 semester-hour credits. This means that the first year of college would cost $350. Imagine an entire year of school for less than the price of one class at a community college.
There are both paper and computer-based versions of the test available. They can be scheduled at many local colleges (paper versions) or at places like Sylvan Learning Centers (computer based). The advantage to the computer versions of the test is that the results are immediately known to the student after completion. Also, an enterprising student can take more than one exam in a single day at these centers. (However, I was never able to complete more than two in a day – I was mentally drained after the second test.)
There are plenty of study guides available online and at your local library – practice, practice, practice.
So, how would this work? Let us take the example of someone who has finished high school, is working part time and staying at home. He could schedule one test every two weeks and spend the interim weeks studying for the next exam. After 10 weeks, this student would have finished his first year of school. Keeping this same pace (most of the remaining exams are three credits each), the student could complete the remainder of his degree in 45 weeks. All total, he would have spent slightly more than a year working on a four-year degree. His cost would be approximately $2,450 for all 120 credits. So for about the cost of just one semester at a community college, this person would have completed all the degree requirements necessary for graduation.
Another scenario would be a single mother working to support her family. She doesn’t have a lot of money and can’t dedicate two to three nights a week to attend classes. Instead she decides to start taking CLEP exams. She studies a little each night after the kids go to bed. To get time off for testing, she saves up a little extra time from her lunch break throughout the month to spend a couple of hours at the test site (or takes a Saturday test). What happens if something comes up and she isn’t able to study enough to take another test that month? Nothing happens at all. Unlike taking night classes where she cannot afford to miss classes; earning credit with these exams allows her to adjust her test-taking schedule to fit in with what works for her life. If she averages one test a month, then in 10 months, she would have finished one year of school. In essence, she is able to go to school full time while working and raising a family without the financial or time burden traditional education would have created.
Granted, the folks who create the CLEP tests do not award degrees; so a person would have to transfer the credits to a school that does. In my case, I used Excelsior College. If a person completed all degree requirements and then transferred the credits to Excelsior, the enrollment cost would be $765 and the graduation fee would be $440 for a total of $1,260. So the grand total would be $3,710 for the entire degree. Most schools accept some CLEP exams (usually up to 60 credits) but require the remainder of classes be taken through their university. Excelsior (and there are a few others) have no residency requirements and will accept all credits taken through CLEP or other accredited colleges. Make sure to check around. Excelsior is a good school, but there are others that are also equally suitable.
A second advantage to this method of getting that “sheepskin” is that for those who home school or those who have a GED, getting accepted into a college can be challenging if not impossible. Most schools do not ask for or require high school transcripts or SAT/ACT scores for transfer students. What constitutes a transfer student? Most of the time schools consider a transfer student as someone who is going to transfer 30 to 45 semester hours of credit. In other words, if you have an enterprising student who was homeschooled but the one college she wanted to go to will not recognize her diploma, she can take her first year of CLEP tests and then be considered a transfer student with no restrictions.
As a side note, I shared this method with a gentleman at work whose son was a sophomore in high school. His son began taking CLEP tests over the summers and during the Christmas breaks. By the time he finished high school this young man had already earned an Associate’s Degree.
Is there a downside to this method? It would depend on what the person pursuing a degree really wants. If he or she is trying to get a specific degree, say in microbiology, then this method probably would not work because of the lab requirements. However, many of the techniques/concepts can be used to reduce overall costs and speed up the length of time it takes to get a degree. Hopefully, this information will be valuable to those who feel frustrated in their efforts to complete a college degree.
Lastly, if I had to do it all over again, I would have joined the Air National Guard or Air Force Reserve and learned a skill that would prove useful in a TEOTWAWKI situation. This would also provide me with a part-time job, free CLEP and DANTES tests and money for school if I chose to attend a specific college.
Please note that I am not endorsing any of the cited organizations. I simply want people to understand that there are alternative ways to get what you need. Being a survivalist means being adaptable and “thinking outside the box”. – V/R, USAF