College Plus

[cookderosa]

Well, to get off the razor thin ice, let's look at it this way. It's a service. You can get a manual, find the parts and fix your car yourself--or you can pay for a mechanic. You can change your own oil or you can pay more and someone will change it for you. You can offer your house for sale "by owner" and save thousands in commissions and do all the work yourself, or you can hire a real estate agent. You can go to the grocery store and buy a bunch of ingredients and take them home to prepare a meal, or you can pay more and eat at a restaurant.

Sometimes it's easy to forget how befuddling this all can be when one first learns about the alternatives available to obtaining a college degree. If you're already on this board, chances are very good that YOU are a driven, self-directing person who can figure things out for yourself. Others need some help. It appears that CollegePlus exploits the $$ gap between the expensive traditional route and the relatively inexpensive "big 3" route. In other words, you can spend a little and do it yourself, or spend a little more--but still much less than most traditional degrees--and have an "adviser."

I don't know anything beyond what I've read on the CollegePlus site and this forum--but that's what I get from it. Additionally, it appears to be an outgrowth of the Christian home-schooling movement and to the extent that you remain part of that community in a formalized program I would think that has some value to people. Finally, if I understand the CollegePlus plan, they are also providing a connection for job experience and maybe missionary work--the theory being that their program is superior to a traditional program because you come out of it with your degree (in less time) AND work experience.

Michael, I like your answer. You are right, it is a service. I don't know much about CollegePlus either, but I have read what is available to joe public. You hit on something when you brought in home schoolers as clients of the business.

Home schoolers don't have guidance counselors- in fact, this is an area ripe for entrepreneurs. If I had a desire to launch a new business, it would be in this area. There is a rolling group of 2 million people who need college counseling and have ZERO. Statistically, most homeschool parents DID NOT go to a 4 year college- and really DON'T KNOW how to get there.

You should know that I fit this category (until last year when I started gettin' educated ) and had STRONGLY considered sending my son to private high school TOTALLY for the benefit of college counseling. I am not alone. This is a common concern.

You have to understand environment in a homeschool family. Homeschool parents give up a lot- at a minimum they give up half or whole of one income and at least one parent's career to do this. They have invested in out of pocket curriculum costs ($500-$2000 per child per year, most have large families) and must seek out ($) extracurricular and athletic activities for each of their children. All of this on one income. The same resources are provided free to public school children whose parents are both working. For them, it is worth it. Now- why does that matter? It's their state of mind. After ALL OF THE SACRIFICE, they are not going to drop the ball in the final seconds of the game. If someone can help them at that moment-get their child into college- it's worth a couple thousand dollars.

Homeschool parents probably have other children they are schooling- and time is a premium. While it is true that we adults are motivated to figure this process out- what tests are what- what to study- where to find answers- what about at age 17? It's a service. The parents are buying a service- delegating THIS out to someone else so they can keep focused on educating their other children.

PS The fact that it is a Christian business will allow them to advertise in the major homeschool publications. And ALL major homeschool publications/organizations are Christian. (at this time)

PSS I took a CLEP to see how it works- to see how I could use them in my homeschool program. I hadn't intended on earning a degree in the process... but once I understood the process, I couldn't pass it up. I help (for free) our homeschool co-op parents who have high school children. I talk to them about CLEP and AP exams, availability of distance learning options and duel enrollment options locally. Of course, my son will not be needing the high school guidance counselor, but CollegePlus meets a need.