advice please to avoid the quarter life crisis!

[yb1]

haha well I hope the dramatic title might have gotten someone’s attention but holy.. I am getting tired of the prices for school and thinking what on earth could my options be?


School is super expensive and I do not have time to pay rent, go to work, go to school and four years down the road when I turn 29 in the hopes of getting a job just to pay off 50 thousand dollars in debt. I could think of a million things I would rather do then spend money on silly classes in school such as learning how to scuba dive.

Today I decided to take a fast track course for the winter for a basic math course in Montgomery County, Maryland. So I could test into the right math course in order to pursue a degree in information systems and I completely failed.
It got me thinking. The teacher didn't really teach me anything and I learned everything on my own so why waste my time. When I could study even harder for courses on my own pace and actually get credits for the fraction of the price. Plus I already have thirty credits, but I can’t go any further because I did pretty much all of the courses I would need in order to continue through school without having to take a remedial math class.


I have a sort of three year plan which involves going to South East Asia to teach English and live in a third world country for about a year. The idea behind this taking three years is because “they” say that you need to have a college degree in order to do this.

So I am asking you guys. Is testing out of courses and pursuing degrees online from reputable schools really possible. I’d rather stay away from ITT tech or Devry University (not knocking on anyone who might be attending these schools but I have just heard some horror stories over the years)

Is there a dummies guide to how to go about this?

Ideally a Dummies guide of the best schools that will let me pursue a degree for information technology, nursing, teaching English something that is recession proof (I am very open minded) and when I put the schools name on a resume that I don’t look like I just stepped out of clown college.
Would fafsa help pay for any of this, and or would I be able to get scholarships?
Just really any advice would be helpful.

I have been scrolling through this site and I think I have a gauge and an idea of how all of this works and I see a lot of conflicted posts and some post say that we are living in a new day in age where it is becoming harder and harder. This is all confusing me! Sorry is this is a repost but I honestly did try the search button and scrolled through a lot of information and it sounds like you guys are freaking killing it.

[sanantone]

I did write a dummies' guide.
http://www.degreeforum.net/general-educa...grams.html

Most of the people on this forum are attending what we call the Big 3: Thomas Edison State College, Excelsior College, and Charter Oak State College. These are unranked, non-profit colleges. I don't know if that's good enough for you. People here choose these schools because they don't have a 25% or higher residency requirement like every other school in the U.S. When I say residency requirement in this instance, I mean having to take a certain percentage of your credits at the institution online, on ground, correspondence, satellite, t.v., etc. We test out of many of our credits through CLEP, DSST, Uexcel, and other tests. We also utilized self-paced courses that either aren't at colleges or aren't at regionally accredited colleges, but are ACE or NCCRS-approved for college credit: ALEKS, Saylor, Straighterline, Sophia Learning, Propero, Penn Foster, etc. COSC students can use free FEMA credits for free electives. One can complete a bachelor's degree at COSC or EC for well under $10k. One can complete a bachelor's degree at TESC for under $5k depending on the program.

Then, there are competency-based programs that are self-paced. Many people are able to speed up the process of earning their degrees by attending these programs. Some of them even accept CLEP, DSST, and Straighterline courses. The programs at Western Governors University, Patten University (for-profit college, but generally unknown), and Northern Arizona University are cheap. Capella (a for-profit university that I would stay away from) and Brandman University are more expensive. I can't remember the price at Hodges and one other school. The competency-based programs at the University of Wisconsin system are expensive.

You can see all of the links to all of my TESC "test out" plans in the thread linked below.
http://www.degreeforum.net/excelsior-tho...-tesc.html

I'll also throw in this link.
Free Sources of Credit - Degree Forum Wiki

[sanantone]

Once you absorb all of that, and if you decide to attend TESC, then either I or someone else can explain TESC's Per Credit Tuition Plan to you. This will greatly reduce the cost of earning your degree.

[Yanji]

There's no such degree that is recession-proof, partly because degrees themselves are not recession-proof. I don't consider IT to be recession-proof and Nursing is a terrible major if you don't want to be a nurse. You may want to consider Accounting if you want a major that is relatively safe from economic downturns and can be mostly tested out of. Mind you, non-CPA accountants don't generally earn a lot, but there will always be work available.

[sanantone]

There's no such degree that is recession-proof, partly because degrees themselves are not recession-proof. I don't consider IT to be recession-proof and Nursing is a terrible major if you don't want to be a nurse. You may want to consider Accounting if you want a major that is relatively safe from economic downturns and can be mostly tested out of. Mind you, non-CPA accountants don't generally earn a lot, but there will always be work available.

Architecture is proof of this. Out of all of the college majors, it took the biggest hit during the last recession. Petroleum engineering programs have been growing like crazy the past few years with the shale oil boom, but look at the current oil prices. The shale projects might shut down because they aren't profitable when oil is this cheap. Many petroleum engineers and geologists were out of work during the last oil bust. I find it disturbing that nursing is now the 3rd most popular major in the country. I know there is supposed to be a nursing shortage, although many nurses will dispute this, but you really have to have the right personality and desire to be in the healthcare professions.

[yb1]

San I really appreciate you taking the time out and trying to help me figure this out.

Your write up makes total sense and I would like to do some further research. I always figured I would get a degree from a well known university. I was going to transfer into University of Maryland or try to apply to some top notch schools out of state. the older I get the less of a point I see for this. unless I was pursuing my masters or higher.

I feel like the Thomas Edison school would be a good choice. (my main reason for wanting to do cyber security is for all the hack that have been going on the pass couple of years but to be honest I have no idea what I want to do and if you were to ask me in a few weeks I might have a completely different plan in mind)

any ideas on degrees for someone who would rather leave the US and travel for work and live in another country as an expat. (or someone that thinks that is what they want to do and leaves and comes back a couple months later with a completely new zeal for life)


Also I don't understand what all the acronyms are for such as LSU, UL\\how do I take the free courses that are listed for credits. maybe ill start with those and go from there.

thanks again san for the detailed response

[sanantone]

There is supposed to be an old post here with all of the common acronyms, but I don't feel like trying to look for it. hilarious UL means upper level. Upper level courses at TESC (and probably also at EC and COSC) are 300-level and 400-level courses. Just about every bachelor's degree program will require a certain number of upper level credits. LSU stands for Louisiana State University.

The free college credits from TEEX, Kaplan, and NFA are ACE-approved. After you take the courses, you will have to open up an ACE transcript account and request for the credits to be put on there. I think the first requested transcript is $40, so you should probably wait until you earn all of the credits before you request to have you ACE transcript sent to a school. Every transcript thereafter is $15 each.
http://www.degreeforum.net/general-educa...redit.html
http://www.degreeforum.net/general-educa...-teex.html
USFA NFA Courses, Schedules and Instructors Course Search Results
https://www2.acenet.edu/credit/?fuseacti...ripts.main

[AngelaP]

I never realized you wrote a guide Sanantone! Kudos to you!! I just read it and it contains a lot of valuable information that can be useful to many.

I did write a dummies' guide.
http://www.degreeforum.net/general-educa...grams.html

Most of the people on this forum are attending what we call the Big 3: Thomas Edison State College, Excelsior College, and Charter Oak State College. These are unranked, non-profit colleges. I don't know if that's good enough for you. People here choose these schools because they don't have a 25% or higher residency requirement like every other school in the U.S. When I say residency requirement in this instance, I mean having to take a certain percentage of your credits at the institution online, on ground, correspondence, satellite, t.v., etc. We test out of many of our credits through CLEP, DSST, Uexcel, and other tests. We also utilized self-paced courses that either aren't at colleges or aren't at regionally accredited colleges, but are ACE or NCCRS-approved for college credit: ALEKS, Saylor, Straighterline, Sophia Learning, Propero, Penn Foster, etc. COSC students can use free FEMA credits for free electives. One can complete a bachelor's degree at COSC or EC for well under $10k. One can complete a bachelor's degree at TESC for under $5k depending on the program.

Then, there are competency-based programs that are self-paced. Many people are able to speed up the process of earning their degrees by attending these programs. Some of them even accept CLEP, DSST, and Straighterline courses. The programs at Western Governors University, Patten University (for-profit college, but generally unknown), and Northern Arizona University are cheap. Capella (a for-profit university that I would stay away from) and Brandman University are more expensive. I can't remember the price at Hodges and one other school. The competency-based programs at the University of Wisconsin system are expensive.

You can see all of the links to all of my TESC "test out" plans in the thread linked below.
http://www.degreeforum.net/excelsior-tho...-tesc.html

I'll also throw in this link.
Free Sources of Credit - Degree Forum Wiki

[Christopher]

That's why it's good to pick a usefull major. Community College / AA degrees are good for some major. Get an AA in Art History is fine I guess. I love art, and CC can be cheaper than university. But spending $50,000.00 on a degree of the History of Art isn't much of a payback unless you plan on moving on to get an M.F.A. in Art History. Some degrees there's no testing out of. If I wanted to go for the BA in Theater Arts, I would have to test ouf of "Acting" which there's no testing for (although I already have credit for the class three times over). YOu just have to have some plan. I re-learned you can't rush. I almost made the same mistake twice of majoring in a major that pretty much was useless. I figured Id just take my time and do it the right way instead of mickey mouse it.

Nursing is hard. California requires on-site certification hours. ITT Tech isn't regionally accredited, and I knew a friend that went there with a horrible experience. I dont know much about Devry.

The key is.."REGIONALLY ACCREDITED".

The big three is an option for us for all different reasons. Truth is, the only reason I'm going in that direction is because I dont have the means to take regular morning/evening classes. If I did, I would just finish up the one or two needed GE for transfer classes and just transfer to CSU-Channel Islands. But, most of their classes are morning or day classes. Plus, truthfully, as you get older you dont want too. I had a blast in CC. The times we had, so much fun. Our Theater classes, our studying at the beach, going to school. But I was 19/20 years old back in those days. I had no worries, didn't have bills to pay or major responsiblities, so I could do it. Now being 34, I would feel odd sitting in a classroom with all 19 years old looking at me like I'm some sort of social reject having to go back to college to survive even though I don't need a BA to survive I just want to get one (which is how we looked at adults in college when I was 19 years old. We would say "husband must of dumped her for a younger women so she has to go back to school to learn how to make a living." Cruel and sad I know, but when you're 18/19/20 years old you're not as mature as you are when you hit your mid-20s. Especially us guys hahaha.

Take your time and pick a major you like. If you hate History don't major in History. You'll torture yourself when you hit upper level credits. Be aware, some locations/districts are requiring MAs to teach. Our CC you need a min of an M.A. or M.F.A. to teach. B.A. won't cut it. In New York you need an M.A. to teach. Other states it's just an B.A. So make sure you check with the country/area you want to teach. And make sure it's not some crazy loony country that hates Americans or something and will just kill you five months are you get there. Read the book "A Chance to Die" by Amy Carmichael. It details how demanding and draining teaching or missionary in third world countries can be. It's not easy for sure.



So I am asking you guys. Is testing out of courses and pursuing degrees online from reputable schools really possible. I’d rather stay away from ITT tech or Devry University (not knocking on anyone who might be attending these schools but I have just heard some horror stories over the years)

Is there a dummies guide to how to go about this?

Ideally a Dummies guide of the best schools that will let me pursue a degree for information technology, nursing, teaching English something that is recession proof (I am very open minded) and when I put the schools name on a resume that I don’t look like I just stepped out of clown college.
Would fafsa help pay for any of this, and or would I be able to get scholarships?
Just really any advice would be helpful.

I have been scrolling through this site and I think I have a gauge and an idea of how all of this works and I see a lot of conflicted posts and some post say that we are living in a new day in age where it is becoming harder and harder. This is all confusing me! Sorry is this is a repost but I honestly did try the search button and scrolled through a lot of information and it sounds like you guys are freaking killing it.[/QUOTE]

[mednat]

I think it's important to decide on a major first. Then pick the school that makes sense for that. All of the big 3 have a great reputation on the forum. The process is very manageable (and even fun in a strange way). If you are unsure, try taking one of the cleps and see what you think.