Could You Earn Your College Degree in One Year? Part Two: Page 3

3. When it comes to testing out of your first 3 years of college, there are only a select number of legitimate, accredited colleges and universities who are willing to receive a huge number of credit-by-exam scores as transfer credits. Be sure you verify the college’s CBE transfer policy before enrolling in any program. Get all transfer policies in writing. Here a few accredited colleges and universities with what can be considered liberal transfer credit policies:

• Ashford University
• Charter Oak State College
• Excelsior University
• Thomas Edison State College
• Western Governors University

4. Make sure that you choose to enroll in a specific college for the right reason. You want to be sure that you earn a degree from a college that will help you get you the career you want. If you want to earn your nursing degree, you will have to enroll in a college that has a nursing program . Simply amassing a large number of college credits, and transferring them to any college that will accept them, may offer you the opportunity earn a degree, but not necessarily the degree or career you want. On the other hand, many well-respected online nursing programs like those available through Western Governors University, Kaplan University, University of Phoenix, Thomas Edison State College, or Liberty University Online all have generous college credit transfer programs – enabling you to save significant time and money as you work towards your earning your nursing degree through either CBE or online college course providers.

5. Before you enroll in any credit-by-exam program, ask the college where you plan on ultimately earning your degree about their transfer credit policy. Get in writing what college courses and what credit-by-exam programs they have determined as eligible to be accepted as transfer credit. Some colleges may only accept ACE CREDIT (which can be earned by passing StraighterLine online college courses), whereas others may accept a mix of CLEP, ACE CREDIT, UExcel and DSST exams.

Do You Really Want to Test Out of College and Earn Your College Degree in One Year?

The answer is: not necessarily. Your reasons, goals, and preparation for going back to college won’t necessarily be the same as the next student. That being said, all students, including you, should give serious thought towards taking online college courses or using credit-by-exam programs to greatly reduce the time and money it takes to earn a college degree.

How you choose to go back to college, which online college course or exam program you choose to use to earn transfer credit, and where you ultimately plan on earning your degree should based on your learning style, lifestyle situation, and education goals. Don’t leave money on the table, however – it pays to take advantage of the revolution in education made possible by the Internet and distance learning technologies.

With the online revolution in education, you can:

• Earn college credit before starting college,
• Have college credits accepted as transfer credit at thousands of colleges and universities,
• Move beyond the status quo that dictates the average college student graduates with $23,300 in college debt⁹. In fact, it may be possible for you to graduate from college completely debt free.
• Become an empowered student who uses all of the available college credit options to save money, time, and earn the college degree you’ve always wanted.
• Get the career you want with a college degree earned through an online college or university.

At the end of the day, earning your college degree with the accelerating power of credit-by-exam and online college course providers isn’t only about saving time. It’s not only about saving money either (though that is very important) – it’s about becoming educated at the college-level and achieving your career goals. Maybe you want to earn your college degree in a year, maybe you don’t. At the very least, you have a right to know that you can save significant money and time by earning college credit through alternative channels. It’s something every student should know. It’s something every student in the know should take advantage of.