Need college suggestions!

[Jonathan Whatley]

Oh, a very good source of strong prospects: Member schools of the Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges consortium. SOCs work to "expand and improve voluntary postsecondary education opportunities for servicemembers worldwide." There are about 1900 institutional members, who enroll servicemembers, families and veterans. Additionally, there are specific networks and projects within the SOC system offering degree programs to individual branches.

SOC consortium member schools have to meet criteria including "reasonable transfer of credit," reduced academic residency "limited to no more than 25 percent of degree requirements with no final year or semester in residence (may require 30 percent for undergraduate degrees offered 100 percent online)," use of the ACE Military Guide for credit, which is distinct from but would tend to correlate with acceptance of the ACE National Guide for Straighterline and ALEKS and stuff, and credit for at least one national testing program like CLEP, DSST or ECE, but again that's just the baseline for membership.

[Yenisei]

I would ask that he consider getting an apartment right beside the school instead of a dorm.
Benefits include nobody asking questions when you bring girls home at any hour of the night and the cost is lower than a dorm if you have a roommate. I honestly don't know why anyone would want to live in a dorm where you don't get to choose your rommate and you have to share a small space with them. If these dorms were apartments nobody in their right mind would ever pay to live there, but since its part of the college experience, people think they have to do it.
I have been in dorms a few times and its really not cool. People act like children and make noise at all times of the day so its hard to study.
Its like living in the army barracks. I know because my friend was in the 82nd airborne and also lived in the dorms for his first semester of college.
Every time I spoke with him on the phone at the barracks I could barely hear him because people were hollering, cursing, coming in and out of rooms etc. As a quiet person I could never live in that environment.

Make sure he gets to see the dorms for real before choosing to live that way. He should make friends at the local state school and spend a little time in the dorms to see what I'm talking about.

University dorms are usually better than Army barracks, and, besides, you should really be studying in the library, which is open until midnight or later.

[rebel100]

LOL......Ryoder, priorities priorities!!! LOL......Think I will get my daughter a dorm room!

Cook......Indiana U BGS takes up to 90 credits http://www.iusb.edu/~sbgens/requirements_bgs.shtml Looks like some of the UL credits can even be transferred in.

[GoodtoGo]

I'm thinking out loud, and looking for ideas, so feel free to bounce suggestions at me. My son is still considering a military career upon high school graduation (he's a junior) but he does sometimes get wishy-washy, and I really (really) want him to focus on credit earning between now and then. I also am a type-A plan for all things mom. <cough>

I'm an old pro at the schools we talk about here, but what's going on in my mind is to find a state/public school that has dorms. If I can run him up into 30- 60-90 credits before he's done with high school, he can either head to the military or finish his degree. If he opts to finish his degree, I'd like him to get up into the 90 cr range and then head to the dorms for 1 year of "college" and he'd be done. I feel that this would give him the shared "experience" his peers are having (and let's not even go there, I know full well what it is/isn't) as well as saving tons of money using what I've learned here tempered with a good dose of online / butt in seat.

This brings me to a different kind of search. I'm going to try and build a good list of 2-3 schools (4 year only) that have amazing CLEP policy (going for 30cr.), possible ACE acceptance (to use ALEKS maths), and offer online options, and allow him to enroll as a special student without a high school degree. I'm not going to factor in cost just yet, because I think that will come later when the list is made.
I predict that my list will be short- very short. But, I'm still going to hunt for at least 2-3.

If you know of a school that you think I should look at, throw it out. Of course I'll share my findings here So, once again, the criteria:

1. 4-year state/public university
2. CLEP/DSST policy 30 or more credits
3. ACE acceptance
4. Online classes
5. Enroll before/without high school diploma
6. B&M Campus with dorms


...I'm off!

Hi Jennifer,
Ok, I'm not sure about #5 , but all the others are good.
I take classes at Southern New Hampshire University. (snhu.edu) The main campus is in Manchester, NH. They have a generous CLEP & Dantes policy and you can transfer in 90 credits. The offer many online classes, and they are 8 week sessions so they go quickly. I finished taking Professional Selling and just started Consumer Behavior. Classes are $900 for 3 credits, but you only need 10 classes from SNHU to graduate from there. I chose here because it is driving distance for me so if there is something offered on campus that isn't online, I have that option too. Here is a link to the tests they accept. Good luck! Holly
College Level Exam Program (CLEP) Credit & SNHU Equivalencies | SNHU

[Jonathan Whatley]

(On #1, though, Southern New Hampshire University is private.)

[mrs.b]

I can't say if it meets all the criteria, but Alabama State University is fairly friendly to CLEP exams. They administer them, and the last time I took a CLEP there, I overheard the advising staff talking about how disappointed they were that more of the test takers for my scheduled session were not students from the university (they seem to actively encourage their students to CLEP). And, if he attended the Mobile location, it's less than an hour to beaches and Spring Break territory. I mean, if we're talking about the college experience...

[SandraNC]

UNC-Wilmington, http://degreeplanners.com/media/UNCW.pdf, students may transfer a maximum of 93 credit hours - including credit-by-exam. DSST also accepted. This is a popular school--near the ocean. It's gotten so popular, I've seen SAT score requirements rise. I'd say it's the #4 choice in the state after UNC Chapel Hill, NC State, and Appalachian State Univ.

Western Carolina University, http://degreeplanners.com/media/WCU.pdf, - twenty-five percent of courses must be taken in residence; DSST also accepted. The website says "Western Carolina University honors ACE credit recommendations to the greatest extent possible." This is a quiet school in the mountains. Most kids don't want to go there because it's isolated, but it's a good school for outdoorsy types.

NC universities require a high school transcript with minimum course requirements met (the toughest being one math course past Alg II) Course & Admission Requirements

[cookderosa]

Oh my gosh, this is turing out to be harder than I thought! BUT, keep them coming Thanks!

[rebel100]

Hmmm...How about New Mexico State, NMSU: CLEP They indicate that CLEPS are fine except for the last 30 hours. I wonder if you could mix in a NM Junior College like Clovis or NMJC now, along with cleps to get him to 90 hours. The courses at Clovis and NMJC aren't as cheap as they once were, but still very competitive. We were going to enroll my oldest in Clovis until we found out dual enrollment in Florida was free, they will take your son as dual enrollment. Seems like that is a viable go around for skipping the SAT/ACT testing as well. I bet there is a matriculation agreement between Clovis or NMJC and NMSU as well.

Just a thought,

[ryoder]

Any chance of skipping the bachelors and CLEPing through it via TESC and then doing a masters at a state school?
Actually, if cost were a major consideration, I would CLEP through a bachelors, get a job and have the employer pay for my masters since a lot of them will do it. I know its not what an 18 year old wants to do though.