Texas A&M sub-$10K Cyber Security Bac degree!

[dcan]

Texas A&M has just announced a sub-$10,000 Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences in Information Technology. Through a partnership arrangement with the Texas CC system and high school systems, high school students will begin taking (free) dual-credit courses in their junior year. If they do this they will complete their entire first two years of college by the time they graduate high school. It looks like they will also look to CLEPs and the like, though they only mention AP in the article. The program is open to Texas high school students.

I think this is an incredibly bold move, and an ingenious approach that can lay down a path for other states to follow. And it's a degree from Texas A&M, not exactly an unknown school!

[Publius]

The cost of a degree through the traditional B&M college is outrageous. For the last 4 decades it’s price tag has been increasing 2-3 times that of inflation. Some schools are finally recognizing what the Big 3 have already recognized; there are faster and cheaper alternatives that are academically on or above par. And with the first 2 years of college being a repeat of the last 4 years of highschool, it makes nothing but sense if one can combine them!

Stuff like this is promising as it means more options! In a capitalist economy the more options and competition the lower the prices become! As small of a percent of the degree seeking population we are, we’re the trailblazers for this revolutionized algorithm for obtaining a college degree. As the ripple spreads, hopefully we’ll see more of this kind of stuff, from more colleges, offering more options in the near future.

[cookderosa]

Texas A&M has just announced a sub-$10,000 Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences in Information Technology. Through a partnership arrangement with the Texas CC system and high school systems, high school students will begin taking (free) dual-credit courses in their junior year. If they do this they will complete their entire first two years of college by the time they graduate high school. It looks like they will also look to CLEPs and the like, though they only mention AP in the article. The program is open to Texas high school students.

I think this is an incredibly bold move, and an ingenious approach that can lay down a path for other states to follow. And it's a degree from Texas A&M, not exactly an unknown school!

Thank you! LOVE THIS!

[dcan]

As small of a percent of the degree seeking population we are, we’re the trailblazers for this revolutionized algorithm for obtaining a college degree. As the ripple spreads, hopefully we’ll see more of this kind of stuff, from more colleges, offering more options in the near future.

I like to think that places like this forum do receive some notice by entrepreneurial minds in education and lead to changes like this. Maybe it's only wishful thinking, but I do find it interesting that with Texas A&M the "back was broken" so to speak by using "alternate" credit methods. Even CLEP was mentioned. I was glad Excelsior created the $10K degree last year (really just getting paid $10K to do what we do here for free) but I'm stunned that a major state brand like Texas A&M would do this. I know how government bureaucracies and education works and this kind of thing did not happen overnight. They've been talking about this intensey at the state and local levels for many months to get to this point.

[ryoder]

Very good news. I heard about something very similar as well. A high school girl in FL became CISCO certified by graduation and got a full time job as a network admin after high school. She then used company tuition assistance to finish a bachelors degree. Perfect example of employer sponsored benefits without government student welfare.