History of Degree "Hacking"

[collegehacked]

I'm working on a homemade documentary about (for lack of a better term) "degree hacking" and using non-traditional credit to earn large portions of a degree. 

Does anyone know how this all got started or know any of the forefathers/mothers of what we do? 

I got my degree from TESU in 2012, but this has been going on a lot longer than that, and I think it'd be super cool to start creating a history of it.

[LongRoad]

It goes back to at least a book published by Bear decades ago. And how do you define non-traditional credit? If I understand the family story correctly, my grandfather finished his colled degree with some correspondence courses. My great-grandfather read the law - and passed the bar with a very high score.

Today's non-traditional was yesterday's norm.

[collegehacked]

It goes back to at least a book published by Bear decades ago. And how do you define non-traditional credit? If I understand the family story correctly, my grandfather finished his colled degree with some correspondence courses. My great-grandfather read the law - and passed the bar with a very high score.

Today's non-traditional was yesterday's norm.

That's a really good point. It may not be so unusual as it feels especially since CLEP/DSST go back to the late 60's. What's that book? I've never heard of it.

[Tedium]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bear

"Bear's Guide..." He did a lot of work with distance education and exposing degree mills. I think his recommendation of TESC and alternative credits was a reaction to him exposing so many degree mills. Basically, "Here's what to avoid. Now, here's how you can achieve what you were trying to do with the diploma mill."

I would also look into Lawrie Miller's bain4weeks.com. It's all out of date now, but it was so many people's first introduction to degree hacking. I believe people still stumble in here from that website, if I'm not mistaken. Or they did in 2009, at least.

As far as I've been able to figure, degree hacking has had different phases or generations. Bear popularized it initially with, at the time, TESC. But, word could only spread as far as his book. Once things got online, the information was seen by many more people. To be honest though, it is still a relatively small and niche group. Not a lot of people even know about CLEP and that is, or at least was, advertised at the B&M schools I attended. Even a lot of school staff is unfamiliar.

Anyway, that should be a good start for you. It's all just connecting the dots from there. And others are way more knowledgeable about the history than me. If I got something wrong, you guys chime in.

[rachel83az]

BAin4Weeks is how I got started on this path. I didn't have the money at the time to do that option (unfortunately) but when I started looking more seriously, I found this place.

[Merlin]

BAin4Weeks is how I got started on this path. I didn't have the money at the time to do that option (unfortunately) but when I started looking more seriously, I found this place.

I think the BAin4Weeks site is what got me interested in degree hacking initially as well. That was in the 2009-2010 timeframe. Though I didn't really start trying to figure out how to make it work for me until 2010-2011, which is when I stumbled upon this site and started to get involved.

[Life Long Learning]

The Big 3 started in 1971

USNY (now Excelsior College) in 1971 is the first RA assessment College!  
TESC was next in 1972
COSC was 3rd in 1973

[bjcheung77]

Hmm, essentially like a few others... I started with the Bear Guides during the mid/late 90's, there were so many editions with amazing updates, then it was the BAin4weeks (he has a site for Masters too BTW), and the majority of the time I was also lurking on this board and the sister board before I became a member in 2002 of DI.  My family (and extended family) started an educational business geared towards tutor students and helping them with applying for/choosing a program suited for their goals.

[collegehacked]

All, this is very, very helpful. Thank you so much for your contributions to my research. I may send some more questions but I have a lot to dig through first!