With both the rising costs of college and the struggling to finance those costs, students are looking for creative ways to pull off getting a college degree. Living costs and books are expenses additionally that can really rack up significantly, but there are some powerful ways to save money on college costs out there.
Have you ever considered taking CLEP tests? The College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) awards college credit at more than 2,900 U.S. colleges and universities for demonstrating achievement in a subject by means of a computer-based exam. By earning a satisfactory score, you can earn the same amount of credit as a student who successfully completed the same course at that school. You’ll need to check out the various policies of the specific school however as that can vary.
CLEP exams are mostly geared to equal a semester class, but some are geared for longer session classes. Most subjects can be taking with a CLEP test such as the following:
CLEP Exam Subjects:
- History of the United States I: Early Colonization to 1877
- History of the United States II: 1865 to the Present
- Western Civilization I: Ancient Near East to 1648
- Western Civilization II: 1648 to the Present
- Business
- Financial Accounting
- Introductory Business Law
- Information Systems and Computer Applications
- Principles of Management
- Principles of Marketing
- American Literature
- College Composition and College Composition Modular
- Analyzing and Interpreting Literature
- English Composition
- English Literature
- Freshman College Composition
- Humanities
- Science and Mathematics
- Biology
- Calculus
- Chemistry
- College Algebra
- College Mathematics
- Natural Sciences
- Precalculus
- Foreign Languages
- French Language (Levels 1 and 2)
- German Language (Levels 1 and 2)
- Spanish Language (Levels 1 and 2)
- American Government
- Human Growth and Development
- Introduction to Educational Psychology
- Introductory Psychology
- Introductory Sociology
- Principles of Macroeconomics
- Principles of Microeconomics
The test itself takes about 90 minutes and most are in a multiple choice format, although some do contain other methods of questions. The cost to take a CLEP exam at this writing is $72.00. There are many resources out there for students in the form of study guides, forums, and even online practice tests to help prepare for the tests.
The CLEP test gives you the same bachelor's degree, but for less time and a significantly less amount of money, making it a powerful tool to savings. We’re talking about thousands of dollars here!
Look at this possible scenario: if you spend 5 or 6 weeks on CLEP study, and pass two exams, you could earn a semester's worth of college credits. Break down $20,000 yearly tuition in half, and you're looking at a savings of $10,000.
Do some research for yourself, try testing in your strongest one or two subjects to start with. If you don’t pass those, go back and do more studying and retest until you pass. Then move on to your third strongest subject but invest time in studying before doing so. You might be able to find some college peers who would join you in this CLEP endeavor to help each other, and shorten your time needed at school. Bottom line it reduces your overall education costs in a powerful way!
Valerie Garner - Hi, I'm Valerie a midlife lady who loves to learn new things, photography, reading, writing, and drinking coffee with friends. I've ...
