Why are you earning credit this way?

[cookderosa]

I found this community a long time ago, and it blew my mind. I remember taking my first CLEP exam and thinking that I'd found the best loophole in the whole wide world, and I'd better hurry up and finish my degree before the colleges got smart and quit letting people use CLEP. It really changed my life. So, I'm curious, why are you here? What attracted you to the forum and the way people here DIY a degree?

[davewill]

I got mad. I was offered a job and accepted. I spent a couple of weeks asking about an actual offer letter and for a start date and suddenly some officious HR person declared that they could not hire me because I didn't have a degree. I had been very up front about it and the people I would actually be working for were fine with it, but I was still out.

It shouldn't have mattered, but I was fed up enough to look and see if online education had reached the point where I could finally finish my degree. Didn't take long to find this place. After a couple of months of lurking, I jumped in with both feet although I didn't do much, if any, posting about it. I didn't become active here until I was almost done.

[bjcheung77]

Basically the same situation as davewill, I got curious, envious, and mad - I wondered why others at work got promoted and were asking me, how come I didn't apply to the same positions as they did? Well, I did apply but apparently, the degree was the "lacking factor". So, I went ahead and jumped ship after 7.5 years at that previous company, at this current company for 9 years, it'll be 10 by June 2018. Below is a snippet of a post I had on Techexams, giving a glimpse of my unfortunate educational history. Basically persistence pays off, work hard, reward yourself, take care of your health and love ones in the process.

*sigh* It all started two years ago, I made up my mind to finish a goal of getting a degree after taking an 8 day vacation in Hawaii with my wife and kids (daughter/son). And this year, after 20+ years since HS graduation, I finally finished that elusive BSBA General Management/CIS degree. When I was in HS/College, I took EVERYTHING - from Arts/Science, to Business/Computers, to Several Trades without getting a diploma or degree, I dropped out of college, applied to an institute of technology, and dropped out again. Went to private schools, the school closed down while I was going for my internet/networking diploma.

I went onto Cleveland Institute of Electronics for a Nationally Accredited Associates in CIS and EET at the same time, 18 out of 40 courses were completed, they lost accreditation. I went to JIU (Jones International University), they closed down while I was enrolled in a Business Certificate program! I spent so much money on all my courses at the local college, institutes and at these online/distance education courses and was so frustrated as nothing got me closer to a job offer. At that time, I was devastated and was in debt (credit card/school loans, etc). I finally took a leap of faith and pinpointed what I wanted to do from all the courses/studying I've done (computers, as I use one at home).

I took training at the local institute again for A+/Net+, after I passed their program, I was about to actually go for the certification but was hired! I was estatic, I worked there for a year - it was mainly for a system sales/repair service role of computers, the wholesaler from where we get the components saw that I was a hard working individual and asked if I wanted to join their company. For a slight raise, I worked there for 1 year as well.

During that time, I was sending out resumes for better jobs - got hired for 3 of them, on the same day, I had to call two to cancel and picked the "best offer" and have been with them for 7.5 years, I didn't want to leave as I was getting $36k/year as help desk tech, at the last year/pinacle of my stay, I made $45k doing some sales of products as well. My ex-coworkers kept asking me to leave the joint as there were "better" fishes in the sea - they recommended me as they call me a "machine", I get things done quickly and properly, I said no a few times, until I had enough of nagging and did a calculation.

The new jobs (2 of them) were paying about 15K extra with better everything, such as benefits/vacation - if I stayed, it would take 20 years to catch up to the current pay grade, I applied to both and got hired... finally decided to go with the Technical Analyst one that has a Union instead of the Medical Imaging/System Admin role. I have been with them for 9 years and now working as a Senior Technical Analyst and with all the OT, I made 76K two years ago, 84K last year, 92K right now (may hit 95K by year end).

During my 7.5 years, I never took any benefits/tuition assistance or certification exams even though they were paid for. I was a "role model employee" and everyone thought I was a lifer at that company, I even had perfect attendance for the first two years until they decided to remove the "two days extra pay for perfect attendance". At the new company, 9 years now, I just started to use my benefits as my family requires them, I have gone for many free certs that they provide internally for training, but they don't provide any tuition assistance.

I paid off my degree with the money I saved working all these years. I know the direction I want and will work in getting more Business Certifications such as Six Sigma/ITIL and IT Certifications in my specialty (CASP/CISSP), not something out of those fields. In order to play it forward, I have helped other get their degrees and provide free advice by volunteering my time. MY RECOMMENDATION FOR EVERYONE: Find out what you want, since it's IT - go for vendor neutral certifications from COMPTIA, such as going for Security+,CASP and then decide if you want to go for Cisco/Microsoft or other certifications.

I hope you find your calling, it's great you want to go get "knowledge" in so many different fields, but it's not needed. I was a major in EVERYTHING back then in college/institute, but couldn't even get anywhere as I had no degree or experience. Work your way up, start small, and show everyone you excel at your job, ask for temp assignments in higher positions. You stay in IT if you want, just find that specialization. Peace out...

[originalamyj]

I had given up on a degree years ago because the school I went to out of high school in 1985 was a quarter school. So when I tried to transfer after I got married I was pretty much sunk. Instead of being able to just add more credits where I had deficits, they just said I had to start over. Or maybe I misunderstood, dunno.

FF to recently when I was researching stuff for my daughter to get her degree online. I thought, why not me? I have goals I would like to achieve now that my days of raising my kids are approaching an end. And though I am still a caregiver for my elderly mother in law, I think of some career options that may be part of "phase II" of my life. It seems like even chief cook and bottle washer requires a degree. I figured I should accomplish it asap. I'm thoroughly enjoying the process.

[clep3705]

It's because of cost, the cost of time and money.

[RANSOMSOUL]

I remember taking my first CLEP exam and thinking that I'd found the best loophole in the whole wide world, and I'd better hurry up and finish my degree before the colleges got smart and quit letting people use CLEP. 

This totally cracked me up because part of the pacing in how a ran through courses was because of the same fear that all of these options for credit or the schools that would accept them might go away. In the end, I am thankful because it was that fear that allowed me to tackle the degree(s). Minus this forum, I am pretty sure that I would have just kept the idea of completing a degree but most likely never finishing one.

[dfrecore]

After doing college in fits and starts, I had 75cr, and was nowhere close to a degree.  I was a Silicon Valley girl, so no degree needed back in the 90's, which had my motivation down to about a 0, even with tuition reimbursement (I did use it to full advantage for expensive UL credits, thankfully).  But I had a pretty good life, so didn't think about it a lot.

THEN, I got married, and we moved to a less expensive area, and suddenly, everywhere I applied wanted a degree (Sacramento, and for some crazy reason, close-toed shoes, but I digress).  It was just a really big change, very conservative, and asking for a degree where none was needed.  I commuted back to the Bay Area/worked from home part-time, but it got to be a lot.  Then I got pregnant, and quit.

FF to a few years ago.  My kids were little, and my husband traveled a LOT for work, so even taking classes at the local CC was not in the cards.  But, my brain was starting to atrophy (ask any SAHM about this, they will agree).  I wanted to do SOMETHING towards my degree but wasn't sure what.  Surfing the web brought me here, and the rest is history.

I STILL don't have my degree, although I'm finishing Microeconomics and Stats through Study.com right now (and kicking myself for dropping Microecon the semester after I took Macro, and for not taking Stats the semester after I took Finite Math for the easy A).  And, I got an extension for the Capstone, am finishing my final paper as well, only need a 37% on it to pass the course, so that's a relief.  I will either graduate in March or June, but either way, I'm fine.  I still don't have a LOT of motivation to finish, but know that at some point, my luck would run out, and I'd miss a deadline or something, get kicked out of my catalog, have more stuff I'd have to do, and really want to bash myself in the head with a hammer 50 times for being so stupid, so...

Also, I enjoy posting, helping, doing all things forum more than I actually care about getting a degree!

[2L8]

- Cost (I basically earned credit for FREE! So that was a very big deal.)
- Time ( I'm loving the whole college thing but , I feel that if I have knowledge of a subject why sit through it)
- Flexibility ( I was homeschooled so studying for CLEP came much easier than sitting in a classroom)

As selfish as it sounds my motives for college are to : go to school primarily for my major , get in little to no student debt and master the subjects/major.

[originalamyj]

I had given up on a degree years ago because the school I went to out of high school in 1985 was a quarter school. So when I tried to transfer after I got married I was pretty much sunk. Instead of being able to just add more credits where I had deficits, they just said I had to start over. Or maybe I misunderstood, dunno.

FF to recently when I was researching stuff for my daughter to get her degree online. I thought, why not me? I have goals I would like to achieve now that my days of raising my kids are approaching an end. And though I am still a caregiver for my elderly mother in law, I think of some career options that may be part of "phase II" of my life. It seems like even chief cook and bottle washer requires a degree. I figured I should accomplish it asap. I'm thoroughly enjoying the process.

I probably should have also said that the very biggest reason I embarked on this in the first place for my daughter is cost. We have no college fund and refuse to go into debt (nor do we think she should take on debt) for college (bachelors at any rate). It seemed impossible. And then... I find cookederosa on FB through my homeschooling circles and I fall down the rabbit hole here.

Thank you Jennifer!!!

[Joeman200]

- Cost (I basically earned credit for FREE! So that was a very big deal.)
- Time ( I'm loving the whole college thing but , I feel that if I have knowledge of a subject why sit through it)
- Flexibility ( I was homeschooled so studying for CLEP came much easier than sitting in a classroom)

As selfish as it sounds my motives for college are to : go to school primarily for my major , get in little to no student debt and master the subjects/major.

I have pretty much the same answer as you 2L8.  

When I was 18 I really didn't want to follow the crowd straight into college.  I also didn't feel that I was college material.  Unfortunately, the career I wanted requires a degree (and I wanted one for redundancy).    Anyways, after high-school I decided to work for a bit and start saving up money that I could potentially use in college later (I also checked out a community college but moved before starting any classes).   I personally don't like the culture on most college campuses today... I believe there is a lot of partying instead of learning, and a lot of group-think.  I moved to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and checked out the local state college there.   At $500 a credit hour, I didn't think I would ever afford it.   In addition to that, I didn't want to rack up a bunch of debt for something that I really wouldn't cherish anyways, I just wanted a degree.   After a bunch of research I found an article by Jay Cross on The Art of Manliness.  From researching that, I found you guys here. 

-Cost:  I still can't believe that there are third-party businesses that offer courses that are accredited, and that schools will accept them.  I will end up paying around $6.5K for my degree and will exit college without having debt hanging onto me for decades.

-Time:  I would say I have a "type A" personality, add that to the long winters in the U.P., and I thought I found a way to hack the system (Using self-paced learning methods meant for adult learners to take their time, but go 110% at them).  I'm going to be graduating sooner than peers that started college way before me. I really started studying in November 2016 (I did a few free courses before that to chum the water).  I spent a whole three weeks in November *attempting* to deer hunt, I went to firefighting training over the winter, I worked full-time for a month in early-summer, and then I finally moved to South Carolina in mid-summer.  I am now almost done with my degree.  I'm not bringing all these things up to make excuses, but to show that someone could potentially knock out a degree in half a year with the absence of interruptions.  This kinda ties into flexibility as well.  

-Flexibility:   The whole idea of really planning your degree is awesome.   I know people that go to the CC and take whatever courses are required and lots of "fun" electives.  Unfortunately, those electives might not transfer to 4-years as they expect.  The fact that I can choose which course  I want to take (e.g. for social science, Psychology, sociology, etc..) and then decide how to learn it (study for a CLEP, take a course through SL, read read read and PLA) --  I mean the whole thing is just amazing!

This fulfills my wants of really learning, but as fast and affordable as possible.  It also fulfills my goals of having a degree.  The only thing about using our method is the issue of "hands-on" degrees.  I think learning about fisheries and/or wildlife management, forestry, fire science, etc... would all be cool, but they require a lot of hands-on work.  Really though, it's the degree that matters the most to me and criminal justice will definitely suffice.

Great thread cookerosa!