Official Cheapest Ways to Earn Undergraduate Credits Thread

This thread will be a detailed list of the cheapest ways to earn undergraduate credit. Don't spam the thread with expensive ways to earn credits. Include details and links.

 

Clep

CLEP Exams

$70 to CLEP for the exam and about a $15 or $20 fee for the school where you take the exam.

http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/clep/exams.html

 

Dsst

DSST/DANTES Exams

$80 to DSST for the exam and about a $15 or $20 fee to the school that gives the exam.

http://www.getcollegecredit.com/resources.html#factsheets

 

Straighterline.com

Straighterline.com

$99 per month. A course can be easily completed in one month.
http://www.straighterline.com/straighterline-for-99/

Available courses:
http://www.straighterline.com/courses/

The exams are NOT timed and NOT proctored. After completing the course, the credits will transfer to one of the partner colleges. From there, you can transfer them to any school that will take them.
http://www.straighterline.com/about/partners/

 

Clovis Community College Online

Clovis Community College Online

For a student not living in NM, a three credit course is $172.

http://www.clovis.edu/AdministrationandFinance/TuitionandFees/index.asp
http://www.clovis.edu/AdministrationandFinance/Fees/index.asp?Term=Fall


Fall 2008 Online Courses:
http://www.clovis.edu/ecampus/Courses/Fall.asp

 

San Juan College Online

San Juan College Online

Tuition for a student not living in NM is $40 per credit hour.
http://www.sjc.cc.nm.us/pages/139.asp

Course Listing for Spring 2009:
http://www.sjc.cc.nm.us/pages/163.asp

 

Fema

FEMA Independent Study Program

FREE college credits. TESC accepts these credits as free electives for no cost.

http://training.fema.gov/IS/crslist.asp

 

Lsu

LSU Distance Learning

$250 per three credit hour course.

Course List:
http://is.lsu.edu/courselist.asp?level=CO&online=0&nid=102

 

New Mexico Junior College

New Mexico Junior College

For a student not living in NM, a three credit hour online class will cost $241.
http://www.nmjc.edu/distancelearning/tuitionandfees.aspx

Spring 2009 Course Schedule:
http://www.nmjc.edu/distancelearning/coursescourseschedules/courseschedule.aspx

 

The San Juan College application fee is only $10.

 

California Residents

For California residents the states community college tuition fee is $20 per semester unit. I read the other day it is the lowest tuition rate in the USA.

 

$26 per credit hour for California residents:
http://www.cccapply.org/FAQ/costs.asp

 

This website may be out of date.
I am paying $20/unit at Coastline and Citrus
http://dl.coastline.edu/
http://www.citruscollege.edu/apps/pub.asp?Q=592&B=1

However I expect fees to rise because of the states financial crisis. My local college just cancelled its winter intersession due to funding issues.

 

Penn Foster College (individual courses). About $270 for a three hour course. Make sure you check the ACE website to ensure the course has been ACE reviewed.

Pug

 

Santa Fe Community College

For six of fewer credit hours in a semester, online tuition is $64 per credit hour at the early bird rate and $68 per hour at the regular rate. $192 or $204 for a three credit class.

Online classes begin on page 20:
http://www.sfccnm.edu/sfcc/files/CreditScheduleSPR09%20Web2.pdf

They have a bunch of online EDU classes!

 

I saved a great deal of money doing the following:

• CLEP Exams
• DSST Exams
• Portfolio Credits
• Community College first, then transfer

CLEP Exams:

Most schools recognize CLEP credit. I earned 18 hours (took 6 exams). I not only saved a lot of money, I saved TIME!

DSST Exams:

Formerly known as DANTES exams. I used to think only military personnel could take these exams, that's not the case. I test out of Speech by taking the DSST Public Speaking exam.

Portfolio Credits:

Some schools allow you to create a portfolio describing your military or civilian work experience to earn credit. I earn 16 hours through this method.

Community College first, then transfer:

I earned my first 50 credits or so at a community college taking online classes. Central Texas College is only like $50 per credit hour for Texas residents, a steal. Then, I transferred to Columbia College where I paid between $195 and $205 per credit hour, which isn't bad either.

 

www.ALEKS.com

You pay $20 per month for the service. Cool classes, you are self-paced and there is no homework, no teacher, no exams. You work on a pie system- it constantly calculates your progress and opens/closes problem types that you are ready to try. The subject is taught "open book" and you can use any aids you want.

Just keep going until you pass an assessment at 70%. There are several math and stats classes approved by ACE for credit. (college algebra, trig, pre-calc, calc, stats, business stats, stats for behavioral science, etc) In theory, you could earn 3 credits for $20 (may be cost to get a transcript from ACE) There were 7 possible courses last time I looked, visit ACE for current list.

There are codes (I won't post here) that are good for 1 and 2 months free. They are available with your own minimal searching, some restrictions apply.

Finally, you can start a second class at any time, so if you have some base knowledge, you might be able to get two classes finished in one month. If you use a code and work fast, you can earn 3-6 math credits for $0

(TESC has already accepted ALEKS math and statistics courses)

My oldest son uses this program for his math, so if you have any general questions I might be able to answer them.

 

I have heard that Texas students can attend state college tuition-free, as long as their family income is under $60,000 per year and they maintain a 2.5 GPA.

 

Free tuition for Connecticut veterans

university_of_rochester_to_offer_free tuition to veterans

 

I live in Texas... if this true, I should have been able to earn my degree for free, but that wasn't the case. Perhaps this is a new program. I do know that high school students in Texas who graduate first in their class can attend a Texas state college free.