My community college costs less than $2,000 annually (not including the summer semester) and I can take online courses with them, the other community colleges in the city, or any CC in Texas participating in the Virtual College of Texas. I qualified for a full grant, so I have thousands of dollars left to take tests. The maximum Pell Grant for this coming financial aid year will be $5550. Thomas Edison State College will take up to 80 CC credits and may even award upper level credit for some of the courses.
If you take the minimum 6 credits required to get financial aid at TESC, you will only get a fourth of your grant because the full amount is meant to cover 24 credits. A fourth of your grant money will not cover the tuition and fees needed for graduation. As an out-of-state student, it's going to cost me $4338 to take 6 credits at TESC and graduate. If you take all of your courses somewhere else or test out of them, it will cost you $3135 to graduate from TESC as an out-of-state student.
If you decide to do all of your coursework at TESC (which I would advise against), the Comprehensive Tuition Plan is best; but you would need student loans to completely cover it. The comprehensive plan is $7190 the first year and $6254 subsequent years for out-of-state students. If you're a New Jersey resident, it's much cheaper. The comprehensive plan covers 36 credits per year taken as TECEPs, guided study and online courses, prior learning assessments, and e-packs. But if you're receiving financial aid, it will only cover online and guided study courses.
As far as internet service, Clear is not reliable in all areas, so you would have to check into that. DSL from a company like AT&T might be your cheapest option. I have internet service from my cable company. If you know how to tether a phone and your cell phone company doesn't block it, that's free internet service right there.
I did very well on the US History I and Introductory Psychology CLEPs after only using Instantcert ($20 a month or $108 for 6 months) and Annenberg videos (free). The AllPsych website also helped for my psychology exam which is also free. You're going to need a high speed internet connection to watch online videos.
Annenberg Learner
If you take the minimum 6 credits required to get financial aid at TESC, you will only get a fourth of your grant because the full amount is meant to cover 24 credits. A fourth of your grant money will not cover the tuition and fees needed for graduation. As an out-of-state student, it's going to cost me $4338 to take 6 credits at TESC and graduate. If you take all of your courses somewhere else or test out of them, it will cost you $3135 to graduate from TESC as an out-of-state student.
If you decide to do all of your coursework at TESC (which I would advise against), the Comprehensive Tuition Plan is best; but you would need student loans to completely cover it. The comprehensive plan is $7190 the first year and $6254 subsequent years for out-of-state students. If you're a New Jersey resident, it's much cheaper. The comprehensive plan covers 36 credits per year taken as TECEPs, guided study and online courses, prior learning assessments, and e-packs. But if you're receiving financial aid, it will only cover online and guided study courses.
As far as internet service, Clear is not reliable in all areas, so you would have to check into that. DSL from a company like AT&T might be your cheapest option. I have internet service from my cable company. If you know how to tether a phone and your cell phone company doesn't block it, that's free internet service right there.
I did very well on the US History I and Introductory Psychology CLEPs after only using Instantcert ($20 a month or $108 for 6 months) and Annenberg videos (free). The AllPsych website also helped for my psychology exam which is also free. You're going to need a high speed internet connection to watch online videos.
Annenberg Learner
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