Cheap Online AS in Criminal Justice

This for a friend of mine who wants to find a relatively cheap online AA Criminal Justice or similar degree. He is 30-ish, has one of those useless degrees from ITT in some kind of limited CAD program that he paid an arm and a leg for about 10 years ago. He wants to work at the county level in rehab, like as a parole officer. His study skills need some brushing up, but he's a pretty bright guy and is pretty motivated. Having a family does this to you............

Looking at APUS, there is the possibility of doing an undergrad cert that leads to an AA/AS, but APUS is about $15K. There has to be other alternatives.

Can someone give me some leads for him? Thanks.

 

Many community colleges offer online degree programs. Start by looking for local ones, then move to state ones. If you can't find anything in-state, then New Mexico Junior College and Clovis Community College offer online associates degrees with emphases in criminal justice. However, your friend should do a lot of research for what's required in-county and in-state. They're cheap for out-of-state students. Where I live, probation jobs are offered at the county-level and parole jobs are offered at the state level. Parole and probation jobs in my state require a bachelor's degree (one-year of graduate school in a relevant field for juvenile probation if you don't have related experience). It all depends on the job market where he lives, but it can be difficult to get into social services and community corrections without related experience. He might have to start out working as an adult or juvenile detention/corrections officer.

 

You've already expressed some disdain for the NA degree from ITT, but for cheap, online and AS degrees, Penn Foster and Ashworth are worth looking into. If nothing else you can use them as a comparison. Just remember they may lack the utility of the RA colleges sanantone listed above.

 

Check Bruce Tait's signature line.

 

Penn Foster and Ashworth good choices.

I agree. Both schools are a great bargain and will give someone a degree to meet a requirement. There's no need to take loans, fill out an FSFA, or adjust your schedule, since everything is self-paced. Above all the schools are really, really CHEAP! There are enough schools that will let you transfer DETC credits that you really are not taking a big risk with either. The admissions process can be done in one sitting, so a motivated person could start their coursework on the night they decide to enroll. If I could have a do-over I'd have done an undergraduate CJ degree with either school and gotten a master's from an RA school that accepts DETC degrees.