How in the world do you pay for all of these exams?!

[Ohrenberg]

The people here are brilliant. Thanks for all the tips guys! And yes, I do plan on having a yard sale because I have a lot of stuff that needs to go!

[Ohrenberg]

What are some cheap schools that I could apply to that aren't in the big 3? I would love to hear of a couple.

[mrs.b]

In-state is usually, but not always, your cheapest. That does not mean you have to do butt-in-seat courses; most still offer online options. Neighboring states also often offer partnership rates. To start your search, go to your region's accreditation board and hit their search engine of member schools. Start in your own state and work your way down the list, hitting each school's website. You can usually find tuition rates within 1-2 clicks from the main page, so if they do not have a rate you like, move to the next on the list.

[cookderosa]

What are some cheap schools that I could apply to that aren't in the big 3? I would love to hear of a couple.

Rebel can give you good info on New Mexico Jr. College

[rebel100]

Rebel can give you good info on New Mexico Jr. College

I do love me some cheap accredited NMJC!
Start with your local cc....compare that to NMJC and Clovis, also in NM. Is consider starring there....nmjc even takes a lot of clep, you could complete your AA there and then transfer.

Consider CSU Pueblo independent study as well....they are more expensive, but you could concentrate On Upper Level courses that are harder to get via Clep/dsst

I have more to say, but its late

[Storyteller]

Don't forget FREE credits that can be applied to your degree. TESC accepts FEMA test scores, this translate into free credits because FEMA tests are free. I earned a TESC BA in History and AAS in Safety, Security & Technology and the school credited me with 21 FEMA credits. (That's equivalent to $2100.00 at the average community college)
Also, the ALEKS on-line learning is another very reasonable solution to accumulating math credits towards a degree.

[Lyanne]

I vote for ebay before a yard sale. I just did a major cleaning out and made $1285 after fees on ebay. Then have a yard sale with what's left over.Do some research on ebay. It's amazing what I originally had in the donate pile that ended up being my best sellers.

[sanantone]

This is how I personally paid for my exams. I took courses online at the local community college district of schools. The cost was about $2,000 per school year for a full course load and I got a full Pell Grant award of $5550. After books, that left me with about $2,500 extra. The great thing about TESC is that they gave me upper level credit for many of my community college courses.

[bluk30]

If you know how to maximize your PELL, you can get a degree for next to nothing. I only used the PELL grant for one year, and if I had been more patient and stretched it over another year or two I would have been able to accrue the
"leftovers" from the PELL to put towards the other courses. It's entirely possible that I could have done my degrees for free this way.

[OpenRoot]

Ill second Cookderosa's suggestion of taking up a part time cater waiter position. I bartend and put $20/shift in the zippy part of my wallet (or $10 if its a really slow night, but always something) - the money is out of sight and out of mind. Sometimes that means I dont have the cash to go out for drinks with coworkers as often as Id like, but hey - its worth it. A few small broken pieces of gold paid for one of my exams. And switching to Aldi for some of our groceries helped lower our costs. I also write content for websites and while it certainly wont pull in big bucks it does help.

On schools - have you looked at Southern NH University? I havent checked their rates in a while but I think I remember them being reasonable.