real life inspiration

The Three Major Distance Learning Colleges

February 3, 2012

If you’re just joining us, read the first four parts of the series:

Most students can benefit from taking at least some CLEP or DANTES exams. Thousands of colleges and universities across the country accept them. Testing out of a course is cheaper, allows you to study at your own pace, use your own (often free!) textbooks and saves time. It is a wonderful way for high school students to get a jumpstart on their college education or for any student to speed up the time until graduation.

However, some of you may wish to earn a degree entirely (or nearly entirely) through distance learning methods. This is the route Joshua and I took, and why we were able to obtain our bachelors degrees for considerably less than $5,000 each.

photo by Mary Gober

There are three major distance learning colleges: Excelsior College, Thomas Edison State College and Charter Oak State College. These colleges all hold to a similar belief: you don’t have to sit in a classroom in order to learn.

They are geared toward adult learners and self-motivated students. Each college offers some degrees entirely (or almost entirely) through distance learning methods. (Though obviously some degree programs, like biology, require courses with hands-on lab credit which you can transfer from a local college/university.)

They award credit for CLEP and DANTES exams, prior-learning assessments as well as other lesser-known credit-by-examination tests. [Read more about Excelsior's ECE (which even offer some nursing exams) and Thomas Edison's TECEP exams.] Each college also offers its own online classes.

The colleges charge per year of enrollment. Upon enrollment, they evaluate your previously-earned credit to see what classes or exams you need to complete your degree and offer telephone support. Enrollment does not actually pay for any courses.

What we, and many other students do (after choosing a college) is look over their accepted exams and take as many as possible before enrolling, so that we only had to pay for one year of enrollment.

Once enrolled, we completed necessary exams and took any courses that college requires. For example, Excelsior, which we “attended”, requires their 1-credit-hour Information Literacy course in order to graduate.

Below are links to important aspects of the three major distance learning colleges. If you are interested in pursuing a distance degree, I highly recommend the Degree Forum (it appears to be down at the moment!) for much, much more information.

Excelsior College

Naturally, I’m rather biased towards Excelsior since that is where we graduated!

Degrees offered
Student Guide to Credit by Examination at Excelsior College:
Cost: $975 for one year, $250 for the required Information Literacy course, plus a $495 graduation fee and various other fees*
Financial Aid: I’m not sure if this is new, but students can apply for various scholarships and grants!

Thomas Edison State College (TESC)

For students who want a mentor to guide them through the distance learning process, College Plus! works with Thomas Edison to coach students to a degree.

Degrees offered
Ways to earn credit: They offer their own credit-by-examination exam (TECEP) as well as accepting credit from numerous other sources
Cost: One year of enrollment at TESC is $2,858.00 for out state students ($1,533.00 in NJ) with a $272 graduation fee and various other fees.*
Financial aid: TESC students can apply for numerous scholarships and grants (including the Pell Grant.)

Charter Oak State College

Unlike the other two, Charter Oak offers enrollment on a semester, not yearly, basis.

Degrees offered
Ways to earn credit
Cost: Enrollment is only $220 per semester, but you are required to take at least six credit hours through them at $220 per credit-hour *
Financial Aid: Charter Oak students can apply for numerous scholarships and grants (including the Pell Grant.)

*prices current as of Feb.2, 2012, to the best of my knowledge. Please do you own research before deciding on a school!

Next week I’m wrapping up the series with answers to common questions we receive. Have a question? I’ll do my best to answer it. Did you earn your degree non-traditionally? I’d love to hear about it!

linked up at Works for Me Wednesday and Frugal Friday

How to Get Your Bachelor’s in Less Time, For Less (Part IV)

January 27, 2012

photo by Mary Gober

In the past three weeks we’ve defined distance learning (otherwise known as a non-traditional college route); discussed its pros and cons and taken a look at the two most common credit-earning exams: CLEPs and Dantes.

Now it’s time to discuss how to prepare for the exams.

Not only does earning credit-by-examination save considerably on per-credit cost, you also don’t have to purchase highly priced textbooks. I about died when Joshua started law school and we had to fork over $80 for the cheapest used textbook on Amazon. We hardly spent that much for all of our undergrad resources combined.

Most of the resources necessary to prepare for CLEP or Dantes exams we checked out free from the library!

Resources to Prepare for Credit-by-Examination

Get to Know the Exams:

The first step when preparing for any test is to familiarize yourself with the exam.

There are 33 CLEP exams. The Collage Board describes the tests and offers a few sample questions. The Official CLEP Study Guide is published by the creators of the CLEP exams and offers full length practice tests, as well as recommendations for preparing for the exam. We took numerous CLEP exams and found the Official Study Guide to be an invaluable resource for checking our readiness to take the exam.

If you want to take a Dantes, GetCollegeCredit.com offers a detailed overview of each test with sample questions. The writers of the exam authored the Official Guide to Mastering DSST Exams to prepare students for their eight most popular exams.

Start studying:

Once you know what you need to study, it’s time to get busy!

Teaching Company Lectures: I absolutely LOVE these! The Teaching Company recruits distinguished professors from around the world to lecture on their area of expertise. They are fairly expensive, but we raided our library’s huge collection. The lectures cover everything from Mastering Differential Equations to The Classics of Russian Literature.

The best part? You can listen while you drive, do dishes or fold laundry!

My very favorite professor is Timothy Taylor who teaches on Economics. I listened to these while still living at home with my family. The lectures were like a magnet. My siblings inched their way into the kitchen so they could listen too. Timothy Taylor even got an 8-year-old to beg to dry dishes, just so she could listen to the history of economics. Impressive, huh?

Instant Cert: Instant Cert is great for areas in which you need a lot of work. It uses a series of multiple choice questions with detailed answers to quickly help you grasp the pertinent information.

I was delighted with how quickly it helped me prepare for my most dreaded CLEP: College Mathematics. In fact, rather than this CLEP taking the most time to prepare for, I was ready to take the exam in only a couple of weeks.

Membership is $20 a month and they offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee: if you decide you don’t like it during the first month, just cancel and your money will be refunded (no questions asked!)

Instant Cert also hosts a forum, which you can access for free, that is full of great information about schools, tests, etc…

Dummies or Complete Idiot Guides: If you prefer an actual book, these series have guides to almost every subject imaginable. Sometimes if you’ve listened to a lecture on a subject, it’s useful to follow-up with a glance through one of these guides. I spent an couple hours reading over the The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Economics after listening to Timothy Taylor’s lectures and together they covered all I needed to know for the two Economic CLEP exams.

Conclusion:

Thanks to a wonderful library system, we spent about the same on all four years of college credit than we did on just one of Joshua’s law books. (We purchased one month of Instant Cert flashcards and The Official CLEP Study Guide, and wouldn’t have needed to purchase it, but checked it out from the library SO many times we eventually decided it would be worth it! We also ordered a few other books that are no longer necessary.) Even if your library isn’t as extensive as ours was, preparing for a CLEP or Dantes exam is considerably less expensive than a regular college course!

Even if you’re going to a traditional college, I highly recommend that you consider testing out of some of your general education courses. It will save you time and money.

If you, like us, want to get your entire degree through examination, join me next week when we’ll cover the three major colleges that offer degrees non-traditionally and the pros and cons of each.

Have a question? Email or comment and I’ll do my best to answer it!

linked up at Works for Me Wednesday and Frugal Friday

(Full disclosure: The links to products in this post are my referral links.)

Tagged with: college series • real life inspiration • thriftiness

How to Get Your Bachelor’s in Less Time, For Less (Part III)

January 20, 2012

photo by Mary Gober

Now that we’ve defined distance learning (otherwise known as a non-traditional college route) and discussed its pros and cons, it’s time to get practical.

Distance learning operates under the assumption that you don’t have to sit in a classroom in order to learn. You can study anywhere, anytime and then test your knowledge using standardized tests. If you score well enough, you “pass” and earn credit.

Some students may want to complete their entire degree through distance learning. (I’ll share how in coming weeks.) However, you don’t have to take an all-or-nothing approach. Many colleges allow you to test out of at least some courses and have credit applied.

For example, here is a list from OTC (a local college where I grew up) of the tests OTC considers equivalents of their courses and what score you need to have the test count towards your credit. Search your school’s database or talk to an advisor to find what tests they accept.

Two Major Types of Credit-Earning Tests

College Level Examination Program (CLEP) exams:

CLEP exams are the most popular way to test out of entry-level college courses. For a 90 minute test that costs just $77*, you can earn between 3 and 12 credit hours! Nearly 3000 accredited colleges nation-wide award credit for at least some CLEP exams. (Check here to see if your college accepts CLEPs.)

CLEP exams cover 33 subjects including biology, Spanish, calculus and American literature. With the exception of foreign language and composition CLEP exams, the exams are made up of multiple choice questions.

Taking a CLEP exam allows you to choose your course material, save money, and gain your degree more quickly.

There are limitations to CLEPs: they don’t cover all areas and colleges generally only award lower-level credit for them.

Dantes Subject Standardized Tests (DSST/Dantes):

These tests were originally designed for the military, but civilians can now take them. Like CLEPs, Dantes exams cost a fraction of earning credit traditionally. Dantes exams are $80* for a 3 credit-hour exam and many of the test are even awarded upper-level credit! Nearly 2000 colleges across the country accept some Dantes exams for credit. (Search here to see if your college awards credit.)

Dantes exams cover 38 subjects including “Human Resource Management,” “Principle of Statistics,” and “The Rise and Fall of Soviet Russia.”

These exams are more difficult than CLEPs, but are multiple choice. Though Dantes require studious preparation, you can study at your own pace with the materials you choose.

(* Most testing facilities charge a $15-20 fee for administering the test.)

Coming up…

Next week I’ll share the wonderful resources we used to prepare for these exams. Then, we’ll take a look at three colleges that let you obtain a degree entirely through examination. I’ll wrap it up with answers to common questions.

Have a question? Email or comment and I’ll do my best to answer it!

linked up at Works for Me Wednesday and Frugal Friday

Tagged with: college series • distance learning • real life inspiration • thriftiness

Christmas Expectations

December 21, 2011

Christmas is almost here and expectations run high. Presents under the tree, Christmas parties and treasured time with loved ones and friends fill the air with anticipation.

But expectations don’t always get met: perhaps you couldn’t afford the gift you wanted for your child or long-anticipated plans were cancelled or you have to pull out the cough remedies (again.) Maybe your children take turns waking you up at night and you can’t remember what it feels like to not be tired. Maybe the trials aren’t little things. Maybe they are large and looming.

Even though Christmas is a time of excitement and expectations, we need to be careful to have our expectations grounded in Christ. To remember that His sovereignty extends to the details of our lives.

photo by mattnolt

I have been blessed by a “cloud of witnesses” in my life that point me to Christ and show trust and joy in the midst of trials. One of them is my brother’s beautiful bride, Amber.

On our most recent trip to see extended family, we dropped by Amber’s house. She was busily getting ready to fly out of town with my brother, but they had offered their home to a family in need of a place to stay while they left.

The house was spotless, she had cookies on the table and “Welcome” and “Rules of the House” notes on the table. [Rules like "God loves children. So do we. Everything in the house is replaceable. Let your kids be kids."]

It was obvious she had poured hours into preparing for their arrival.

Just before we left, my brother got a call saying the family didn’t want to come after all.

I watched Amber. Her face didn’t betray a trace of disappointment or being upset for all her “wasted time.” So I asked, “Aren’t you disappointed?”

“I wanted them to come, yes. But, Anna, I believe God is sovereign. He knows what is best.”

She wasn’t just saying it because that’s what a good Christian should say. She believed it and was just acting on it. Now of course, company canceling is not a major, life-altering trial. But sometimes it’s the little wrinkles in my plans that frustrate me.

God is sovereign.

I believe that. But sometimes I don’t act like I believe it.

God said He has “a wonderful plan for our lives,” and it’s easy to expect that to mean a decent job, a house, a car, food on the table at least three times a day and, well, a wonderful Christmas. After all, Jeremiah says, “I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you hope and a future.” (Jer. 29:11 ESV)

Unfortunately, this promise is made right in the middle of a prophecy of captivity. Seventy years of captivity.

God doesn’t promise His followers an easy life. He does pour out abundant blessings, but His wonderful plan for his followers often includes poverty, not a new Mercedes.

His wonderful plan for Mary was complete with a warning that “a sword would pierce [her] own heart.” (Luke 2:35) Yet she submissively welcomed His plan, knowing it would be painful. But also believing that it would give “hope and a future” to mankind.

None of our lives will carry the epic weight that Mary’s did, but we, like her, are still called to wait upon God and have our expectations satisfied in Him:

To hold our plans with open hands
To not expect a full night’s sleep, perfect health, a new house or for our laundry-list-of-Western-wants to be satisfied, but to expect God’s mercy to lead us on the right road.
To expect trials and joy, knowing that He is sovereign over all.

Linked up at Proverbs 31 Thursday

Tagged with: contentment • holidays • matters of the heart • real life inspiration

Look Into Your Child’s Eyes

December 15, 2011

“Enjoy your kids, they’ll be grown before you know it,” has got to be the most repeated advice given to moms with young children. I can hardly walk into a store without a sweet grandma pausing to smile at the kids and remind me, “They grow up so fast!”

I believe it.

Each child added to the family seems to make the “play” speed of life a little faster. The time between Christmases feels shorter.

photo by kordian deren

Recently I was talking with my mother-in-law and she repeated the sage advice but added, “Make sure you take time to look into their eyes.”

Eyes are the “window of the soul” and “the light of the body.” (Matt. 6:22) Of course I look into my children’s eyes! I love them. But I’ve been consciously stopping to do so more.

When I look into my infant’s eyes, her whole face lights up like I’d handed her the moon with a few stars thrown in.
When I gaze into my toddler’s eyes and smile, I don’t need to add “I love you.” He knows it and wraps his arms around me.
When I look into my preschooler’s eyes, life’s little vexations seem little again.

Gazing into a child’s eyes is like pushing the pause button on the fast march of time. They grow up so quickly. Push the pause button often and gaze into their eyes.

Linked up at Proverbs 31 Thursdays and Finer Things Friday.

Tagged with: childhood innocence • real life inspiration • toddlerhood

Just Obey

June 13, 2010

In her book Second Mile People, Isobel Kuhn described an acquaintance’s business like acceptance of God’s commands. An acceptance that stands in stark contrast to the way I try to wiggle my way out of simple obedience.

“…When he received instruction…he accepted it explicitly for just what it said… not… in the dubious manner in which many modern Christians approach God’s Book of Instructions:

“He did not eye it all over, then say to himself, ‘I wonder if this really did come from the Boss! Just as likely as not it is a forgery by his secretary, though why for the life of me I cannot think! But I had better be very careful about this and investigate it thoroughly before proceeding to obey.’

“Nor did he receive it in a second favorite attitude, ‘It doubtless is from the Boss, sounds like him. But how very drastic! ….It must not quite mean what it says. Now let me see, how could we interpret this to make it more plausible?’“

“Nor did he adopt a third even more popular plan, ‘Oh dear! This looks rather disagreeable ; guess I’d better not read it very carefully… it is just as well to be a little ignorant. One can always say then that one was ignorant.’”

What convicting inspiration to just obey!

photo by Colin Brough

Tagged with: book review • matters of the heart • real life inspiration

Radical Frugality with Radical Rewards

May 26, 2010

While we were up in Missouri, Joshua’s sister Crystal and her husband John Mark closed on a new home: a lovely nice home that you would not expect a young couple to be able to afford.

Especially a young single income family that have never earned more than 30,000 a year.

Yet in just under six years, they saved enough money to buy the home of their dreams with more than half down. They plan to finish paying it off in five years.

How did they do it? By always spending less than they earned.

John Mark began his job making minimum wage. They saved then. When his income rose, they saved more.

Pulling up into the driveway of their home filled me with inspiration. If they can do it, so can the rest of us.

They gave up expensive meals, date nights, new clothes and all the extras that we come to consider necessities. For years they went without cell phones and even internet.

Crystal is an avid garage saler and few things in her home (that weren’t gifts) cost more than a tenth of the retail value.

Packing a lunch for work is the obvious frugal thing to do, but when John Mark learned that a meat and cheese sandwich cost 25 cents compared to 10 cents for a pb&j, he said he didn’t need the meat sandwiches. He wanted to save the 15 cents.

15 cents a day won’t buy you a home, but radical frugality in all areas will.

They are radically frugal and have already reaped radical rewards.

part of Thrify Thursday and Frugal Friday

photo by Oliver Gruener

Tagged with: contentment • real life inspiration • thriftiness

Finishing Well

May 20, 2010

A baby’s first smile or the blush of the bride as she walks down the aisle and beholds the adoration of her groom are some of the sweetest scenes in life.

But another scene is even sweeter: an elderly lady pulling into the store parking lot and waiting as her husband, too feeble to drive, hobbles over to open up the door for her. They walk from their old car into the store hand in hand their faces aglow with love and contentment. Her smile wrinkles stand out prominently amidst the other creases in her face.

This scene is beautiful because it is a picture of finishing well. So many couples make vows in the ecstasy of love, only to break them a few years later.

But that elderly couple, despite all the hardships and the struggles and the poverty of many decades, is still walking side by side. Their relationship may not make it to the front pages of glamour magazines, but even in mundane tasks like grocery shopping, their love is shines on.

I’d take faithfulness like that over a hot and fleeting romance any day!

Which brings me back to the practical. In marriage, as in all areas of life, in order to finish well, I must be faithful in the little things today: faithful in loving and honoring my husband, faithful in making his meals and cleaning his clothes, faithful to pray for and support him, faithful in delighting in him and the daily adventure of life together.

photo by Julia Freeman-Woolpert

Tagged with: contentment • disciplined life • matters of the heart • real life inspiration

The Three Major Distance Learning Colleges