So no mention of community college yet. My first two years were roughly 30% of my second two years at a private university. Factoring room and board could easily widen that gap.
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If you want to save money on college tuition, why not let Navy or Air Force pay for your college?
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Not all colleges give you actual credit for AP/IB classes anymore. Others cap the number of credits you can get.
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Any way to go to law school for free at 51?
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Much of this is dependent on major/program. I found that liberal arts programs and some basic sciences are often ok with bringing in your base credits from somewhere else. Engineering and architecture programs often have a very tight prerequisite structure that limits your pace. Graduating a semester early is possible, two would be a stretch. In many of these programs, two years early would be impossible.
My oldest son got free tuition…
Plan ahead, take rigorous high school courses, including AP. Study your butt off and get straight A’s.
Score a perfect 36 on your ACT
= full tuition (including room & board) offers from 3 out 5 colleges applied to.
Apply early to the colleges you want (only 2 or 3 top personal choices), grants and scholarships are usually given “first come, first served”.
(My middle son received $15k in scholarships by doing this)
Almost-free accredited online College of the People: https://www.uopeople.edu/
(by the way, the college $ we had saved for oldest son will be used for a down payment on a house when he decides to buy one)
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Colleges usually accept 6-8 AP credits; while Universities will usually take all.
In MN, there is PSEO (Post Secondary Education Opportunity) of taking college classes while in high school (for free). Those college credits don’t always transfer (to other colleges/universities).
EDIT to clarify: “Colleges” are generally private institutions, while “Universities” are public.
I think these are all good ideas. I took AP in high school and got credits for a full quarter worth of college. I know theres ore opportunity to do that stuff nowadays.
But …
How feasible is it to do all this and actually accumulate 2 full years of college credits?? What degree? Which college? How about in engineering?
Sorry but any advice that includes scoring in the top 1% of college bound kids is not really practical advice.
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But it is good advice to try taking the ACT. Some students will do better on it and that could help improve your chances.
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Free-quent Flyer at Saverocity recently did a story on this: You can go to college for free (but you won't) - Independently Financed
The BA in four weeks strategy gives you a regionally accredited degree by taking DANTES and CLEP exams in literally four weeks (plus the amount of time to study). If you just need a degree to fulfill a requirement (i.e. advancement in an existing job) this would work. http://www.bain4weeks.com/ Also there’s the method of working at Starbucks and getting free tuition at ASU online.
Degreeinfo.com and DegreeDiscussion.com are discussion forums regarding reputable online institutions.
For graduate school, you can get a AACSB MBA for instate tuition rate ($430 a unit) online at North Dakota. Or Western New Mexico University and their master’s in interdisciplinary studies or MBA for about $12,000 all in (provided you only take 6 units a semester).
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This doesn’t make any sense. Universities are usually a collection of colleges, but there are plenty of “universities” that aren’t – the definitions aren’t very distinct.
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This may be a regional thing.
In my experience college and university are mostly used interchangeably. My university had many colleges within it.
But maybe some other places have a clear distinction between a college and a university ?
Thats not a distinction I’ve ever seen. Theres numerous private Universities.
Stanfard, Harvard, Princeton, etc.
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That’s definitely not true. Even if (and I’m not saying it is so) majority of U’s are public and majority of C’s are private, it isn’t generic enough.
Point being whether it accepts AP credits and how many it may accept depends on the school, not on whether that school calls itself “college” or “university”.
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The is not a practical piece of advice.
Only 0.136% got an act of 36.
In a high school of 1000 students only 1 student got this score approximately.
So your son is pretty smart.
Let’s now talk about the other 999 students in the highschool.
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How about 99.9% savings. Go to the EU.
I just did it for grad school in Berlin while my girlfriend got paid for her PhD. Also applies to undergrad.
My recent real world experience:
Tons of programs taught in English. No need for GMAT/GRE. Your prior field of study transcript prerequisites are the qualification. They generally dont accept changing fields of study. The MBA programs are mostly paid programs though. MSc in most science fields are virtually free . Cost me ~300 Euro per semester @ top 10 ranked Uni in Germany, but that includes city transit pass that normally runs ~200 . On top of that field research is paid for! I went to Asia and Central Asia for 8mos on their dime, just paid for food. Quality of education is good. Certainly not Ivy but WAY better than No Name U charging +30K a year.
Pros
Internation expsosure
Cost of living less than USA.
Cheaper rent
Cheaper phone
Cheaper elect and heat
Cheaper efficient and reliable public transit that goes everywhere
Cheaper more efficient healthcare
Cheaper and better beer in larger bottles
Cons
Hipsters
More expensive internet
Service typically bad especially restaurants
Sun goes down at 3:30 in winter
Going from NYC my rent when down 5x and space and quality increasing 2x. For additional comparison living expenses are 3x cheaper in Berlin than Pittsburgh which is already very reasonable rents by US standards.
Private health insurance in Germany is like by gone era of indemnity plans in US. No deductible, no copay, no prior authorization, no primary care gate keeper, choice of any MD or facility you want, no long waits for appointments! Cost me ~70/mo. I’m cheap so I opted for the plan that does not cover preventative and checkups. International coverage without US doubles the cost. Add US too and premium goes off the rails but is still cheaper and less complicated than US insurance. In fact without insurance and paying 100% out of pocket for most anything your net cost would be about equivalent in US to JUST your 20% copay and 500 deductible. Still cant understand why Americans aren’t flocking to EU for all their elective and preventative care. When you use it, MD gives you a bill. All you do is email bill to insurance co. 10 days later the money shows up in your bank account via electronic transfer. No guessing if, when or how much they will reimburse. Then you can transfer electronically to doc. Its that streamlined and low overhead.
Dont fall for perception its not the same standard of care as US. I spent many years in US healthcare business and know the differences…it just aint so, its just delivered differently and without insurance execs markup supporting their insane compensation.
For me this was a no brainer. No GRE, no real cost, cheaper living, easy application. I just stumbled into the whole thing and couldnt say no.
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The first two years of a typical college is normally just a rehash of high school material. It’s wasteful for the students – but profitable for the colleges. Dual Enrollment is the answer. Learn something once, and learn it for free.
In Georgia, they have a program called “Move On When Ready.” It allows students as young as 9th grade to take college courses. In Texas, it’s usually 11th & 12th graders, although younger students are allowed a couple of college courses too. Other states may be as generous. Be sure to check out your state.
https://admissions.columbusstate.edu/moveonwhenready/dual.php
https://studentservices.southtexascollege.edu/dualcredit/faq.html
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Some universities have a Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG) agreement with community colleges (see Transfer Admission Guarantee - Wikipedia). At one point, University of California, San Diego (UCSD) had a TAG agreement with community colleges in San Diego County, where a student would need to maintain only a 3.0 GPA (which is not terribly difficult to maintain) and get guaranteed admission at UCSD. I understand UCSD has recently terminated this program, though. However, you may find other big public universities that offer this program.
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This is a great point. All the big public universities in Florida participate in Transfer Admission Guarantee.
For example, the University of Florida in Gainesville is considered the top public school in that state. It’s quite a contest to get admitted as a freshman, but one can stroll into nearby Santa Fe Community College, relax for two years, and leisurely transfer into UF.
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