Since the beginning of our high school years we have been bombarded by colleges trying to get us to spend thousands in loans to house ourselves in their dorms, take their classes, eat their food, and pay massive fees for stuff we don’t even need. But what if there was a cheaper way to do pay for college? What if you could get your degree nearly free? For working adults or students who can’t afford to pay for student loans, there are tons of options out there for cheap and even free college credit.
Getting a college degree, no matter if it’s an associates, bachelors, masters, or beyond, you can definitely make your way through it without owing money on loans for the rest of your life. Here are some options for you should you wish to have a cheap or free education.
SAYLOR
Saylor.org offers a few college credit aligned courses that can be put toward your college degree. This great website allows you to learn everything you need to know without even signing up. The best part of it? It’s free to learn! After you’ve learned everything you think you need to know to pass a test, just pay a $25 fee to take a proctored exam and get 3 credits for college.
FEMA
FEMA stands for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and aims to inform citizens and workers of the country on proper emergency management preparation. Most of the classes have been certified through ACE to be put toward college credit. If you are attending a college such as Thomas Edison State College, you can use almost 25 of your FEMA credits as free electives. These classes cost nothing to take or pass, and most can be completed in a day or two. Even better, every class is free!
MOOC
MOOC, or Massive Open Online Courses, are like traditional classes that you take online with real professors and other students. Sign up times vary, but not every class guarantees credit for completion. In fact, there are only five courses at the moment that award college credit, and they are rather advanced classes such as bio-electricity and calculus. If this is your type of class, head online to Coursera and sign up.
STRAIGHTERLINE
Straighterline’s classes aren’t free, and it’s not free to sign up either, so why would I add this to the list then? Because Straighterline offers so many of the classes that you need for general education and business degrees, plus it’s just a fraction of the price of credits at a college campus. All you need to pay is $99 a month for a subscription, then $49 per class you take. Many people have claimed to finish one class per week, which means you would end up paying only $25 per credit! Although you have to pay up front, it sure beats paying the $200 and up prices that you would on a college campus.
CLEP AND DANTES
These aren’t actually classes you take, but rather tests you take to prove what you know. They cost about $80 to take a class, but most places have a proctoring or sitting fee, usually about $20. But what if you truly don’t know anything? There are a multitude of places online designed specifically to help you pass these tests. Try Education-Portal.com, where you watch videos that are aligned with the content from CLEP tests to help you pass.
I wish there was enough time in the day and enough days in life to tell you about all of the resources out there willing to help you get your degree for cheap. Are you skeptical? Why wouldn’t you know about all of this if it’s truly free? There is one simple answer to this question, and it is that colleges would lose money if they went around advertising that you don’t have to spend your entire life paying off college loans. If you’re still skeptical, head over to degreeforum.net and let the friendly folks explain everything to you as simple as they can. There you will find so many more resources, the best colleges to attend, true stories, advice, and moral, educational, and friendly support. There’s nothing to lose when it comes to getting back to school, and with free classes all around the web, there truly is no excuse not to.
