If I was doing it, the first thing I would do is look into CLEP (College Level Examination Program) tests. About $30 a Credit hour I believe. You can knock out 2 years of school with it. To be fair, some are not easy.
Like someone else mentioned look at community colleges. Different states have different nomenclature. But generally public College is the first step, then University to finish.
If you are thinking IT, I would recommend Western Governors. It is online, you pay per 6 months, and you can take as much as you can handle. In theory you could graduate in 6 months, but I doubt that is practical.
Me and my whole family have gone to community college and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to save money and graduate with little or no debt.
The first two years at university are basically a rehash of stuff you probably should have already learned in high school IMHO (Calculus, English Composition, humanities electives) and junior colleges are a great way to take those courses at affordable costs.
One thing I would recommend - even over community college - is taking CLEP tests. I found out about them a little late but was still able to clep 2 years worth of spanish and french which meant I got credit for around 8 courses for a grand total of $160 bucks. I also clep'd most of my humanities electives like history and sociology. It requires some personal effort i.e. find a textbook at your local library and read and study it - but is definitely worth it from a time/costs perspective.
Anyways, I wanted to mention it because a lot of people don't know about CLEP tests and they saved me literally thousands of dollars (in junior college classes costs, probably 50k if you compared it to a top tier university).
Western Governors University is a choice in the US, too. I am currently attending, and it's different from any other college I have gone too. All of the classes are competency based and self-paced, meaning theoretically you can get a Bachelor's degree in 6 months.
Community college worked well for me. 2 weeks after graduating high school I started taking a heavy workload at the local community college. I was able to complete the prerequisites by the following year and transfer to a local state university. I was lucky that both were within a 45min drive from my house.
The result was graduating college with a bachelor's degree 2.5 years after graduating high school. I lived at home for the the duration (rent free as long as I maintained a 3.5 GPA) so the full cost was only around $6,000.
This was in northern California (Modesto Junior College and Cal State Stanislaus) with a relatively low cost of living. I know the costs have increased since then (I went in the mid 2000's), but I assume it's still relatively affordable.
It'd be cheaper to get your degree via CLEP, DANTES and GRE Subject tests and get a degree from Excelsior College, Charter Oak State College or Thomas Edison State College, the only three regionally accredited schools that don't have a residency requirement (meaning you can take one class from them and graduate coupled with credits from anywhere else that's regionally accredited)
It's the only reason I finally got a degree after coupling credits from 4 years in the Air Force and 3 years of undergraduate work @ 3 schools. It would've been cheaper had I done it entirely that way and probably less than $7000.
Go to a local community college for the first 2 years, then you can transfer to a UC or State college. Take the easiest/least time consuming classes you can find and try to work during those 4 years. Don't allow a useless college degree to make you broke. For most jobs/careers, You just need the certificate ~ at least in the long term.
Tip: Go to community college for the first two years of required classes that nobody cares about at prices that are almost as good as free. Most locals have a nice reciprocity system between the community college system and a local state school, often even sharing professors. Get an A.S. or A.A., transfer to the state university, first two years are done! If your GPA was stellar, get grants to cover the rest of tuition. Entire 4 year B.S. or B.A., books included, should be had for less than $18k minus grants and scholarships.
If they got loans for that amount, that's not really a big deal either. If the first job outside of school pays $60k, they can live OK and still pay that amount off in a year or two.
Why this simple formula escapes so many is a fantastic mystery.
As I said in another reply, I found a community college that is cheap enough for me to pay for the tuition in cash. I'll just get my degree and go from there.
That is excellent advice in many states. For instance, here in NC you can do the first 2 years of almost any undergrad degree (all the basic non-subject matter stuff) for a fraction of the cost, and every single credit transfers. Also, much much smaller classes.
Start with community college part time, get grades and take prerequisites, then apply to other programs. Spending two years at community college and then transferring to a 4 year college is pretty common as well if you want to attend full time, but part time is going to be easier.
I don’t know where you live or what you want to study, but if you focus on taking the coursework you need it becomes a lot easier. I’d suggest calling admissions departments as well, not trying to piece everything together yourself online. Feel free to email me if you want to share more information and I can give more specific and better researched suggestions.
If you’re US based there are exams like CLEP you can take for a small amount of money to gain credit in a lot of prerequisite general education courses.
If you’re referring to exams like admission material, you may be able to string arm your way in with enough money, but my experience is that the bureaucracy is very strong with these institutions and they are simply not designed for people like you.
Also finding a program that offers online physics courses may be a challenge. I’ve only ever seen one from the OU, mentioned elsewhere on this thread. Most online programs seem to either be CA, a handful of humanities degrees and what I’ll call “bullshit degrees”.
My advice is to go to a college that you can afford. I spent my first two years at a local community college and transferred 60 credit hours (about half of what's needed to graduate) to a large state university where I graduated Phi Beta Kappa with honors and I only had about 15K in student loan debt. I could have avoided the loans entirely if I had worked a few more part time jobs.
You don't have to go to a high-priced private university for four years to have a good career (that you enjoy) and live a nice life.
The solution is easy, and it exists here and in other countries: attend a "college" -- not a university -- for the first two years. Here in the US they are community colleges. No reason to do your intro Sociology or Calculus for Business Majors general ed class at Harvard or Stanford; the content is exactly the same as at Podunk U.
Instead, students should go to community college for the first two years and transfer into University upper-division majors (or, just get a 2 year cert rather than "dropping out" if you decide you don't really like college after all!). You can spend two+ years mucking around in Community College for the tuition cost of half a single semester at a private university -- my local community college credit-hour cost is literally 10x less than out of state tuition at a private school: $41 vs $441. It might even allow for some sort of internship or apprenticeship program in the interim period to let kids have some experience before they settle in on a major program.
All of this sort of assumes though, that the system actually cares about student success, rather than laundering privilege, credentialism, and the student-loan fleecing described elsewhere in this thread.
Community college 2 years with a transfer to a 4 year state school program may be best option. Depending on state and your income you could wuslify for at least community college being free.
If I was doing it, the first thing I would do is look into CLEP (College Level Examination Program) tests. About $30 a Credit hour I believe. You can knock out 2 years of school with it. To be fair, some are not easy.
Like someone else mentioned look at community colleges. Different states have different nomenclature. But generally public College is the first step, then University to finish.
If you are thinking IT, I would recommend Western Governors. It is online, you pay per 6 months, and you can take as much as you can handle. In theory you could graduate in 6 months, but I doubt that is practical.
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