I Need To Finish College: Degree Completion Programs To The Rescue

Many students in the United States are looking for ways to quickly complete college and get a job, but high college tuition costs are making this goal unattainable. That is exactly where degree completion programs come in!

To complete college, enroll into a degree completion program. These programs provide unlimited credits transfer and evaluate work experience for college credits. This can reduce the TIME and COST of your accredited US college degree by 60-90%.

Not all colleges provide these programs but there are several of them in multiple US states. Age is no barrier and any high school graduate with a few college credits is eligible. Students can even switch college majors more easily by enrolling in a degree completion program.

Finish College ASAP: Degree Completion Programs

1. Degree completion programs are highly transfer-friendly and can transfer about 90 or more prior college credits FREE of charge.
2. College board exams such as CLEP, DSST or AP can earn you about 3 to 6 transferable US college credits per exam. Each such exam costs less than $100 and there are many free and low cost textbooks and study resources.
3. All Saylor Academy courses are free to take online and with proctored exams, they are eligible for ACE-accredited college credits.

4. There are also several online course providers such as Study.com and Straighterline that provide accredited college credits. These credits can be easily transferred to your degree transcript at a degree completion college.
   

5. There are several degree completion colleges in the US and the top 3 include Excelsior college (NY), Thomas Edison State College (NJ), and Charter Oak State College (CT).
   
6. For a small fee, a college credit bank service is provided by some degree completion colleges to non-enrolled students for having all their prior learning evaluated on their credit bank student report. This report can be used by students to more easily get their transfer credits accepted when they enroll into any of these colleges.
7. Foreign courses can also be evaluated for US equivalent credits by foreign credential evaluators such as ECE (Educational Credential Evaluators). Each college has its own approved list of foreign credential evaluators, so please get this list from the college before starting this US evaluation of your international college courses.
   

8. No SAT or ACT scores are required by the degree completion colleges. So any high school graduates or adults are directly eligible for admission into a US degree completion college. The only requirement of the degree completion colleges is that the student needs to have some previous college credits before enrolling into this program.
   

9. So if you are right out of high school or still in high school, simply take a few CLEP exams or some courses at Study.com before enrolling into a degree completion college. In the enrollment application, you can mention your previously-completed college-level courses or credits for a transfer of credits to your new degree program.
10. There are rolling admissions or several enrollment opportunities at these colleges throughout the year, so students can enroll into these colleges without the stress of admission deadlines. Taking few months of break from college or a gap year is perfectly acceptable.

Colleges with Degree Completion Programs

The top 5 degree completion colleges in USA are:

• Excelsior college in Albany, NY is a private college and was previously part of the University of the State of New York (USNY)
• Thomas Edison state college in Trenton, NJ
• Charter Oak state college in New Britain,CT
• Empire State college in Saratoga Springs, NY is part of the State University of New York (SUNY)
• University of NH Online in Concord, NH

A list of the top 25 degree completion programs across multiple US states can be found in this post titled Top 25 Cheapest Accredited Online Bachelors Degrees.

The reduced annual cost for each college is provided for each of the 25 colleges all across the United States. Additionally, the best paying degree majors provided at these top colleges and a general career outlook is also included in this Top 25 Colleges post.

How to Choose an Affordable College

If you are looking for a way to study in college absolutely free of cost, consider these Strategies for Free US College Education. This post provides multiple ways by which students can take advantage of ways to study in college for free and without taking any loans.

Additionally in the book on College Shortcuts, I go into great detail on how to decide which degree completion college is right for you. You can also speak with the colleges directly on the phone or attend one of their in-person or online events for prospective students.

Speak with the college counselors and ask them all your questions and get your doubts clarified. You might also be able to meet other prospective students if you directly visit the college.

Alternately, you can ask the college staff to refer you to their alumni students or one of their current students. By doing this, you can gather direct student feedback about their experiences studying at the college.

CLEP, DSST Resources and Student Community

These exams are administered by the College Board and taken at test centers on each test center’s test dates/ schedules. CLEP is suitable for lower level college credits and so is DSST, though some DSST exams are also good for upper level credits.

But both of these exams are available to everyone and there are many test centers in the US and also in other countries. CLEP and DSST tests are free for anyone in the US military. CLEP tests are multiple choice and each test duration is 90 mins and DSST allows students 2 hours per exam.

With CLEP and DSST, it is best to first register for the exams in subjects that you already have some college-level familiarity. Once you’re more comfortable with the test formats, you can start taking more of the exams on subjects that are newer to you.

Be sure to take many practice tests to prepare for the real exam. The tests will actually test your college-level know-how on the topics, so they are not easy by any chance, though some exams are easier than others.

As recommended by most students, the following are the best resources for good scores on the CLEP/ DSST exams:

1. College Board’s Exam Study Guides
2. Instant Cert Flash cards (monthly subscription)
3. Petersons.com Practice Tests
4. Wikipedia and other general online resources

You can also find additional student feedback on the exams in the Degree Forum student community.

Free/ Low-cost Online Credit-eligible Courses

There are many online course providers some of whom are specifically for earning college credit, and others that are focused on building professional skills. A few courses/ providers are able to do both i.e. earn you college credits while simultaneously building you valuable skills for the workplace.

A few well known and recommended online providers specific to earning college credits are Study.com and Saylor.org. Study.com charges a monthly subscription for less than $100 and Saylor.org offers free courses.

However, many of Study.com’s courses provide upper level (UL) credits whereas only about 3 or so courses of Saylor Academy are upper level.

As for earning college credits along with professional skills up-gradation, some of the best options include MOOC courses that are part of college curriculum. Many of edX’s courses are credit-eligible.

With MOOC’s such as EdX, Coursera or Udacity, it is best for students to not just take the course but to also write the exams and get a verified certificate. The MOOC platforms in some cases have an agreement with university that administers the course to award college credits for a somewhat higher fee.

The other option with MOOCs is to get the course certificate and then to apply for a portfolio/ prior learning assessment at your degree completion college for evaluation into equivalent college credits.

For more information on free online college courses, take a look at this post with a Review of Online College Courses That are Free or Highly Affordable.

Career Prospects and Degree Completion Programs

Degree completion programs are offered by accredited colleges and are well received by employers and treated as on-par with most traditional colleges. In fact, most companies will hardly pay much attention to the college you graduated from, as long as it was accredited and as long as you got good grades.

Beyond your first one or 2 years of employment, most employers will pay the most attention to your quality of work experience, and will hardly care about whether you studied at an ivy league or at a degree completion college.

The industry, field or profession will certainly play a major role in the type of work and salary you are able to command. For example, someone with a degree in Healthcare or Computer Technology is likely to have more job opportunities and higher salaries than say someone else with a General Liberal Arts degree.

How Should We Think About College Affordability?

Some people might have heard of a friend who completed a degree completion program but most people have no clue what its about. Most people believe that college is expensive by default and are not aware of the highly affordable nature and flexibility offered by these programs.

So if you are ready to start or re-start your college this way, gather up family support by keeping them informed about the benefits of this program. If you are a student, be sure to share the details with your parents and anyone else who is supportive of your college goals.

If you are a parent and are interested in your child enrolling into such a program, tell them all that you know about it and have an in-depth discussion with your child about the merits of such a program. In case your child is interested in experiencing college campus life, s/he can follow a hybrid approach by enrolling into a regular college for an year or so and later transfer the credits to a degree completion college.

Alternately, to reduce costs, the student can attend community college for the associates degree and follow that up with a degree completion college for the bachelors degree and even a masters degree if needed.

There is usually peer pressure and some students prefer attending a college that their friends and former school classmates are planning to attend. If so, be sure to discuss the details of the degree completion program with your close friends. Jointly combine your college selection efforts with them and research more about it together if possible.

Having a close friend attending the same college as you can be motivating in many ways, so be sure to keep them in the loop about your latest research and decision on enrolling into a degree completion program.

Most degree completion colleges require newly admitted students to at least have a few prior college credits after high school graduation. So in case you do not have any college credits yet, just complete one or more CLEP, DSST and/or AP exams before applying for admission into a degree completion college.

In case your family or friends need additional convincing, you can always refer them to the top 5 degree completion colleges, or show them just how many students are successfully completing these courses in the degreeforum student community.

Degree Completion for International Students

At any of the degree completion colleges such as Excelsior or Thomas Edison, foreign college courses recognized by that foreign government’s education department are eligible for a foreign credential evaluation to US equivalent college credits.

So foreign students can pay the foreign credential evaluator a fixed fee for this evaluation, send in all the transcripts/ mark sheets along with the course syllabus/ curriculum, and then have the final report sent to your enrolled degree completion college.

These foreign credits that are approved can be credit transferred to the US college free of charge. Therefore, any international students or US students who travel frequently can enroll into such as US degree program. Upon traveling, simply update your new international address with your college and continue your US degree at a degree completion college as always.

Age of College Students

Anyone over the age of 18 (or over 16 in some cases) can attend a degree completion college. There is no upper age limit either.

In fact, many degree completion students are in their late 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s or even early 60’s.

Many such students are returning college students who are re-starting college which they dropped out of years ago. Financial problems or family issues might have previously prevented them from completing their college degree.

These programs are ideal for working adults and you can set your own study schedules to fit around your own work schedules. You get to decide which courses to take, whether online or at a college campus, or write credit eligible exams for credits. All that matters is that the course curriculum needs to fit the degree credit requirements at your degree completion college.

If you are working and your college major is in the same field/ industry, you have good chances of getting your work experience evaluated for college credits via a prior learning evaluation.

Switching Your College Major

There are times in life when students may be unsure of which college major to choose, or when a student may suddenly find a subject to be far more interesting than their chosen major. IN most traditional colleges, changing a college major would involve a long process and a lot of additional expenses.

But since the expenses and credits transfer at a degree completion college are so simple, all you would need to do is to re-enroll into the new degree major and then have all your general credits transferred to the new degree major free of charge. Any specialized credits can also be transferred as per the degree requirements for your new degree major.

Even More Secrets for College/ Career Success

There are nil-to-minimum residency requirements at these degree completion colleges so you can live right where you are and still enroll in many of these colleges. However, each college has its own requirement and some of colleges might expect you to earn about 30 college credits directly on their campus or via one of their online courses.

The key is to successfully complete college in about an year or more, so as to quickly move on to a great career. So don’t be too stuck up about experiencing college campus life or dorm life. However, if you are interested in this, you can still take some of your courses on-campus so as to enjoy college life.

Note that the sooner you complete your degree, the lesser your college expenses will be, and the sooner you can be start earning a good salary in your chosen field.

The real beauty of these 10 secrets is that you can avoid the financial stress of affording college and student loans, and simply complete an accredited US college education for a 5% to 10% of the cost of the high-priced US colleges.

Since a lot of your previous college courses, non-accredited learning, work experience, and writing CLEP and other such exams can earn you credits, the time for college graduation can be accelerated by about 50% to 80%, depending on individual circumstances.