College Resources – Page 4

So far on this site, I've listed a number of colleges where it is possible to complete a US college degree for an affordable cost and in the shortest time. Not only that, but these colleges also provide flexibility in curriculum, courses and credit options for completing the degree. The colleges have many online courses which makes it convenient for those who are working full time or part-time and still looking to complete their studies. Even if you are residing in the US, it is still possible to take some affordable foreign courses about then get them evaluated for US equivalent credits via a foreign credential evaluation. This is another way to reduce the overall cost of these accredited online college degrees. Live In Any Part of The World These flexible college degrees can actually be undertaken from any part of the world that you live in. Most of these colleges do not have any residency requirement, so you can live in any country and still study for your US college degree with them. While I was studying in Excelsior College which is located in Albany, NY, I've lived in multiple countries. Initially, I was living in Qatar at the time of my enrollment, then India and finally in New York before completing my college degree from Excelsior. Then finally about a year before my graduation, I moved to the US and this was very exciting. But that too is not mandatory; you can graduate from one of these colleges while living in any part of the world! Visiting the US But if you really want a more personal experience, you can travel to the US and meet the college administrators upon your initial enrollment and then a few years later for your graduation ceremony! To do that, you would want a good travel deal and a nice, affordable place to stay during your visit. For the best travel deals, check out Expedia.com or speak with one of your local travel agents for a great deal. Oftentimes, going with a travel site or agent provides the best travel deals as they are able to make bulk bookings and then pass on those discounts directly to the customer. Flexible Colleges List To reiterate once more, the colleges that offer this: Ability to study for US degree from anywhere in the world, Affordable cost (even from abroad), Many credit options and course choices, Reduced time for completing the US degree. are Excelsior College (Albany, NY) Thomas Edison State College (Trenton, NJ) Empire State College (SUNY, NY) Charter Oak State College (CT) Granite State College (Ohio) Franklin University and a few more colleges. See my post on Colleges with Top 10 Online College Degrees for more information. Affordable Cost At these colleges, the enrollment and other fees and even the tuition fees for their college courses are lower than many of the other US colleges. The costs can be further reduced by taking low cost online courses and standardized exams. If you are an international student and are enrolling in one of these colleges, you can continue your degree studies right from the place where you live. There is no reason to travel to the US for undertaking these US college degrees. In that case, you can also choose low cost college-level courses that meet the degree curriculum requirements, right from where you live abroad. In the next section, I will go over how to get the college courses you completed aboard to have the credits transferred to one of these flexible US colleges. Credits Transfer For college courses completed in the US, upon enrollment, the college will automatically evaluate the course contents and do a credits transfer to their student's transcript. Most of these colleges allow between 90 to an unlimited number of credits (out of about 120 credits) for a bachelors degree to be transferred from prior college-level courses. This is generally done free of charge at the time of the student's enrollment. For college courses completed abroad, there is first a process called Foreign Credential Evaluation that needs to completed. To do this, you have to submit the score report and the course curriculum to an external foreign credential evaluator who is approved by your flexible college. One such evaluator for Excelsior college is Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE). Local College-Level Courses To reduce your costs, you can continue to take local courses in your own country where you reside. Before starting a new course, just speak with the student advisors at your college to make sure that the courses you are about to take will meet your degree requirements at your flexible college. Once you have completed all your courses in your country, just submit all those score reports along with the course curriculum details to the foreign credential evaluators (FCE). Contact your flexible college to find out who is in their list of recommended foreign credential evaluators. Once the FCE completes the evaluation, they will provide you with a course-by-course report of US equivalent credits that they are awarding for each of your foreign courses. They will also mention which subjects and curricula the credits are for and provide a US course title which is similar/ equivalent to each foreign course. Once that report is submitted to your flexible college, those credits will directly make it to your college transcript for your online college degree. Online Courses and Standardized Exams Each of these flexible colleges have many online courses. Plus there is the added flexibility of taking many other accredited online courses such as Saylor, Straighterline, edX and so on. This provides absolute location independence and the courses are available to anyone all over the world. There are also CLEP exams that carry college credits. Most of the CLEP resources are available online and the test has to be taken at a proctoring center or college. There are many international CLEP exam centers all over the world. The World is Your Classroom! As you can see now, there is no reason to put off college and every reason to complete a US college degree from one of these colleges. Please note that I am not affiliated with any of these colleges, except that I once studied at Excelsior, nor do I get any commissions from them. There are other products and services I might recommend for which I earn commissions, but I take every care to ensure that I provide you the best and most affordable options out there first and foremost. These colleges and the credit options I've highlighted in this post and on the site are by far the most affordable ways to complete accredited online college degrees. The costs are comparable and many times less expensive than completing college in a brick-and-mortar college in most developing nations. For the most affordability, I recommend CLEP and online MOOC type of courses, as the online courses directly from the colleges carry a higher cost per credit. Also, be sure to conduct further research at your end before finally choosing the right college degree program to fit your needs.