How I saved over $15,000 in college tuition and you can too
With the increasing rate of tuition many have asked, Is this really still worth it?
Unfortunately, the job market still requires a liberal arts bachelors degree even to be an administravtive assistant making 27,000k a year.
As I mentioned I finished college when I was 20 years old. I joke that I game'd the system and weaseled my way into a college degree. That may be somewhat true, and how I got my degree may have been slightly unique to my situation ( for example: I got myself out of Statistics because of a study abroad program that ended up falling through last minute - Hello Math and Society 101).
But regaurdless there are some steps I took that many other students could take to save them as much as $15,000 Buckaroos.
It really comes down to two words:
CLEP TESTS
CLEP tests are a lot like AP tests, only you don't take a class in high school to prepare for them. They cost less than the AP tests, and in my opinion, are easier than AP tests.
So if you got a 3 your AP Chemistry or AP Politics test and you needed a 4 for college credit, chances are you will pass the Chemistry I and US Government CLEP test with flying colors.
CLEP tests are given at designated testing areas around the country, they can be taken whenever you schedule them, so you don't have to worry about a deadline. I took them at the local university in my hometown.
Need Western Civ or English Composition? - CLEP
Does your program require 2 semesters of a language and you took Spanish for 4 years in high school? - CLEP
Did you love history in high school and don't see a reason to take (or pay for) US History 1 when your actually a history major? - CLEP (save that money for a fun elective on French colonialism in South America!)
To explain how my university handled it, let's do a little math.
I needed 128 credits to graduate. 60 of those credits were general education courses. I took 4 CLEP tests which equaled 4 classes worth 3 credit hours - My university granted those 12 credits fulfilled by the tests. That left me with only 48 credits left to fufill.
By taking 4 tests I saved over $15,000
By taking those 4 tests, I was able to skip a whole semester, this not only saved me the $9,000 it was for tuition, but also the $3,000 or whatever it was for my dorm, $2,000 for my meal plan and who knows how much in textbooks. That is at least $15,000
But most importantly, it saved me time. Time to spend in the workforce, time to focus on other classes that were important to me, time finding internships, I even found time to fit in a second minor.
There are lots of CLEP tests avaliable. I was lucky to go a a school that accepted CLEP tests in place of classes. Unfortunately, every University handles these types of tests differently. If you are a high school student making the choice about college now - I highly recommend you take the university's stance on clep tests into consideration.
The difference in policy to me is really a crime. Most colleges all meet the same standard for what they hope their students will learn in a 101 class. We all know these courses are really repeats of high school. And while not all high school experiences are the same, and some students may really enjoy sitting in a 101 course, or want the easy GPA booster on their transcript, college's shouldn't take away the option for students to test out. We can really only learn so much about the Baroque period in a 101 class.
I believe many colleges would see students excel even more if they allowed them to test out. The confidence I got from being able to tell people I "tested out" of a course was enough to make me feel like the bee's knees, but it also gave me the fire to see how much more I could do.
I ended up stacking my classes and taking well over 18 credit hours a semester to finish in half the time as my peers. I don't suggest this option is for everyone. But if you go into college with the mission of saving money and getting your degree, it may be worth looking into. (I can elaborate more in a later post)
If you are unsure on your school's policy on Clep Tests, visit your registrars office. They should have a list of tests they accept, or how they handle them.
If you would like more information on CLEP Tests, you can find that here.
As far as studying for them, CLEP puts together study guides you can get from their website, or most libraries. I would study for about 2-3 weeks before going in to take the test (depending on the subject), each test is just under a couple of hours.
Feel free to ask any questions in the comments!
photo credit to whoever I got this from on google - edits mine.
