Back to School

Have you wanted to go back to school, but afraid it would take too long to complete a degree program? Colleges and universities understand your concerns and have developed an examination to award you credit for related work experience. Strayer University, a campus school with distance and online education programs, awards academic credit to students who have worked in a particular field. For example, Strayer has an online bachelor degree program in business administration. Any student who has relevant working experience in the field of business may be able to apply training and working experience towards the online degree program.

Testing out of required courses saves students time and money. A single traditional or online course may cost anywhere from US$100 to US$600. There is a standardized test used to measure the academic knowledge gained from professional work experience. The test is called CLEP.

What is CLEP? 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.

CLEP policies vary widely from school to school - for example, some colleges may limit the total amount of credit you can earn through CLEP exams, or some may grant exemption from a course, but give no credit toward a degree, etc.- so before registering for a CLEP exam, be sure to check with your school to determine which exams are accepted and how much credit they will give you.

The fee for each CLEP exam is $60.00, plus any service fees payable to the testing center. However, for eligible U.S. military service members and eligible civilian employees, CLEP exams are free of charge. There are 34 college courses in which you may take an exam for credit. The material covered in CLEP exams is equivalent to what is taught in courses that students take as requirements in the first two years of college.

Back to School

Personal Finance - a personal finance and money management site with exclusive articles, tips, quizzes, discussion boards and a free daily money saving challenge program. we teach you how to save.