Return on investment (ROI) is a fancy term for “getting what you pay for.” While this concept is well known in the business world, it’s useful to apply the concept to any large investment, including college.

Calculating the ROI for your degree means asking yourself: “Is a BA in Elementary Education from a well-known private school worth the $150,000 I’m spending on it?”

Alice didn’t ask herself that question. That expensive private school was her dream, so she enrolled fresh out of high school (borrowing more than she knew she should in loans to do so). Upon graduating, she was hired as a 4th-grade teacher at a public school, making just over $37,400 a year.

This number would have seemed like a fortune to Alice, as an 18-year-old fresh out of high school. Now that she’s been living on her own for a few years, and does all her own grocery shopping, let’s just say she understands why teachers are often unhappy with their salaries.

After taxes and the regular costs of living, Alice is lucky to have $600 of discretionary income left over each month. She would love to tuck part of that away in a savings account and use the other for going out, Christmas gifts, car repairs, and so on. But how big are those monthly student loan payments again?

Alice failed to calculate the ROI on her teaching degree before it was too late. Had she done so, she may have realized that spending $150,000 to pursue a profession that pays a $30,000 annual salary wasn’t the best use of her hard-earned dollars.

If you want to actually afford things once you graduate college, rather than throwing money into what feels like a never-ending black hole of debt, start by calculating your degree’s real-life value.

What’s ROI?

Simply stated, ROI means “return on investment,” and understanding your college degree’s return on investment is important. Why? Because it can help you understand whether enrolling in X major at Y school makes sound financial sense.

Calculating return on investment is as simple as researching how much money your desired career is likely to bring in, and deciding for yourself how much you’re willing to spend preparing for it. But, since lists are such nice, helpful things, let’s walk through the process step by step.

1. Evaluate whether a degree is even needed.

I know this will sound shocking, so take a deep breath. Not everyone needs a degree.

I know this goes against every brochure you’ve received in the mail, but it’s true. For some reason, modern society thinks “educated” and “credentialed” mean the same thing. They don’t. There are millions of jobs in the United States that don’t require any kind of higher education. Many of them pay really well, and any one of them can provide a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction if it’s a good vocational fit for you.

Alternatively, there are some professional degrees (for example, in cinematography) that may be better pursued outside of a classroom. If you want to learn how to make a movie, don’t spend your time consuming outdated material and using outdated technology. Buy a camera and start filming. Intern or volunteer on movie sets and at film festivals. Connect with people who are making movies and learn from them.

If you think a career like this (one that doesn’t require a college education) may be your path, skip the degree for now. Save thousands of dollars and invest your time and money by launching your career instead!

Skipping the classroom is a relatively low-risk way for you to explore whatever opportunity you think is most satisfying, especially if you’re young and single. And if you find out that career option isn’t actually a good fit, college will still be there.

2. Research the starting salaries of careers.

If the career path you’re interested in would benefit from a college degree, start digging into the numbers. What kind of money will this career actually earn?

Payscale.com and Salary.com are both great places to research this.

These websites give you an estimation of how much money various jobs earn. And they don’t just give you median estimates, but beginning and advanced earnings estimates too. There are plenty of resources like these on the internet, so log on and learn what you can.

Thinking of going into a profession that doesn’t churn out a lot of money? Don’t let that hold you back. That’s why you’re doing this exercise in the first place. Just use that data to inform your college spending (i.e., keep your college costs as low as possible). It’s a lot easier to get into a low-income profession that you’re passionate about if you’re not weighed down by student loan payments.

3. Compare your starting salary to your college costs.

Once you know what career you want to pursue and its approximate starting salary, it’s time to find an affordable way to get there.

Start by deciding how much money you’re willing to spend on your education. Considering how much she brought home upon graduation, Alice probably should have spent closer to $40,000 for her degree, not $150,000. Not only will a $40,000 degree require far smaller student loan payments upon graduation—good if she’s only making $30k—but she’s also much more likely to be able to afford $40,000 (paid over four years) without incurring debt in the first place.

I know you were probably hoping for an exact formula or a “magic number,” but the harsh truth is: There isn’t one. No one can tell you what your education is worth to you. And no one besides you knows what you can really afford.

The purpose of this exercise is to open your eyes to the big picture so you don’t end up like Alice, taking on mile-high student loans you will have no hope of ever paying off through your salary.

4. Find the most affordable way to earn your degree.

Fortunately, comparing the return on investment of college isn’t simply an exercise in reading labels. You have a lot more control over your college costs than you may realize.

The United States is home to over 5,000 colleges, offering very similar degrees at a wide variety of price points. It’s likely with a little research, you can find exactly the degree you want at exactly the price you’re willing to pay.

Granted, sorting through 5,000 schools by hand can be a pain (especially when many offer over 100 degree choices), so here are some basic tips.

• Public schools are almost always cheaper than private schools

• In-state tuition is almost always cheaper than out-of-state

• General degrees (such as English, communication, general management) are almost always cheaper (and more useful) than highly specialized choices

• Transfer credit is almost always cheaper than earning credit on campus

Take time to compare school prices, especially those of the smaller schools you may have overlooked. Don’t just blindly enroll in your parent’s alma mater.

Is a Degree Worth It?

Going to college is expensive. How expensive depends on a variety of factors, such as whether you’re an in-state or out-of-state student, or if you attend a public or private university. Things like switching majors, losing credits due to transferring schools, and taking extra time to complete your education can all impact how much you’ll spend on your degree. On average, most college graduates amass more than $30,000 in student loan debt.

At this point, you may be wondering if the time and money you’ll spend attending college is even worth it—because, as we mentioned earlier, there are some career paths that don’t require a degree (i.e., electrician, steelworker, executive assistant, etc.)  But the answer as to whether college degrees have a measurable ROI, is a resounding “yes.”

For example, May 2019 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) notes that as workers’ education level rises, their earnings increase and their unemployment rates decrease. It’s also worth noting that a 2019 survey by higher education website Ellucian, which polled 500 recruiting/hiring managers, found that 100% of respondents believe candidates with a college degree have more skills than non-degreed candidates.

The bottom line is this: If you plan on pursuing a career where a degree is needed, then yes, going to college is absolutely worth the expense. 

College and Planning for Debt

Sooner or later, all this pre-college financial planning begs the question: “How much debt is worth it?”

College should be an exciting opportunity that propels you into your future in a reasonable timeframe! It shouldn’t be a debt sentence. That’s why we here at Accelerated Pathways work so hard to help our students lower the cost of college and graduate 100% debt free.

So, as you’re performing this research, looking for a way to get the best ROI on your college degree, don’t be fooled into asking “How much debt is worth it?” Instead ask, “How can I graduate debt free?”

Keep your eyes open for every way to save money on your degree. Live at home. Work during college. Take transfer credit so you can pay for one class at a time. There are nearly endless ways to make college more affordable. You may need to put in a little extra effort to find them, but isn’t a debt-free future worth it?

If you want to save on college, talk to us! We make it our mission to help you graduate from the college of your choice entirely debt free.

Hi there! I’m Emily, a former Accelerated Pathways student currently working on the Marketing team here at Pearson. (Which is what my degree was in, so bonus points!) I’m 27, and I just finished my degree last year.

You might be thinking, “27 seems a little late to be finishing your degree, did you take a gap year? Or five?”

See, when I started college, I thought I knew what I wanted to do. But shortly thereafter, my life was turned upside down, derailing all my well-intentioned plans.

So yes, it took me 8 years to finish my degree. And you know what? I’m okay with that.

Sure I would have loved to finish sooner—having your degree hanging over your head for 8 years is a bit exhausting—but I wouldn’t change those 8 years if I had the chance.

Let me tell you why…

To start, I may have bitten off more than I could chew.

You see, my life was pretty busy in 2009, the year I started my college journey. I grew up on a horse farm, and at that time I was managing our horse boarding operation with anywhere from 6-9 horses. (If you’re not familiar with horses, let’s just say, they’re a lot of work.) I was also starting a small, direct-sell business with a supplement company because I was interested in nutrition. Did I mention I had just started studying for a certificate in nutritional counseling, too? All while getting ready to start Accelerated Pathways in the fall.

Confession: I’m a bit of an overachiever.

So that’s where my life stood when I enrolled in Accelerated Pathways. Life was busy, but I was doing things I enjoyed, so it wasn’t so bad.

Then things got interesting.

6 months after starting college, my family went through a crisis that completely derailed me. It was the kind of life event that made me question everything I thought I knew about myself and my family.

By that time, I had earned 9 credits, was still running our farm, and I was in the middle of building my nutrition business. But now I couldn’t work myself out of a cardboard box with all four sides down, let alone try to study for Western Civilization 2.

I was depressed, and I started having debilitating anxiety and panic attacks. I had no motivation to do school or participate in anything else that interested me, like my business. My energy was completely diverted to dealing with my family situation and trying to find some semblance of normalcy in my life (unsuccessfully most of the time).

I realized something in my life had to give, and school was one of the only things I could easily set aside.

So I took some time off. That was a really hard decision.

For the next 2-3 years, I watched my friends work through their degrees at local colleges, graduate, and get jobs. Meanwhile I felt like I was trying to run backwards through molasses while tied to a bungee cord.

At this point, I was 22 and still struggling to get any traction with my coursework. I had been starting and stopping my college work for the last couple of years. I’d get through one or two courses, then come back to a standstill for a couple months.

I was questioning what I really wanted to do with my life. What degree did I want? What career should I pursue? Who was I? (Yeah, it got pretty existential.) I thought I knew the answers to these questions, but as I took the time to pursue counseling and do some serious self-reflection, my old answers just didn’t cut it.

I changed my major from Communications to Liberal Studies, trying to find something to motivate me toward finishing. I tried working on some new small business ideas, and I took an internship at a web development company.

Basically, I spent my “gap months” exploring as many things that peaked my interest—or that I thought might peak my interest—as I could. I was trying to remember who I was and find something I wanted to do with my life, all while slowly completing college credit. Middle-of-rush-hour-traffic slowly.

Coming out of the fog.

Four years after I began college, I saw the light at the end of the tunnel, and fortunately, it wasn’t an oncoming train. I had been working with a counselor on and off for those 4 years and felt like I was conquering my depression. This meant I had more brain space and, with much introspection, was slowly getting an idea of the career path I wanted to pursue.

I started to see the connections between all those random business ideas I’d tried and internships I’d done over the last few years. I saw the connections between my interests and could finally distill from that what I actually wanted to do with my life.

Watch out, here I come.

That’s when I really started gaining traction on my degree. (5 years into the process… but who’s counting?) I started picking up speed, earning more credit in less time than I ever had before. After a couple months of intense research, I decided I wanted to change my major (again), this time to Marketing.

After what felt like an eternity, I was really getting excited about school and the possibilities life held for me.

In 2014, I decided to go to the first Accelerated Pathways National Student Conference in Texas and was blown away by the students there.

Not only did I meet other students like me who had big goals and dreams, I got to practice pitching a business idea to several of the executives at Accelerated Pathways. After the convention, I got even more involved in student community. It was an amazing experience to meet other students passionate about leadership and living out their gifts, learn in-person from our professor, and work on group projects that helped us put what we’d learned into practice.

All of these things combined to give me the boost I needed to push harder to finish my degree.

As that summer rolled around, I had close to 69 credits and started seriously looking for jobs. I knew I wanted to start my own business, but my leadership studies showed me I still had some skills to learn if I wanted to be successful in entrepreneurship. I needed real, hands-on business experience first. So I started looking specifically for entry-level jobs and internships in marketing that would fill the gaps in my knowledge.

And that’s when the folks at Pearson reached out about a job with the Accelerated Pathways program. (Happy dance!)

While the position wasn’t exactly what I was looking for, it was a starting point. It was a chance to get some experience, gain some marketable skills, and see how a company operated. And the best part? They would help me cover my expenses for the rest of my degree.

It was a no-brainer. I accepted the job and moved to Texas in the span of a week. From then it was like I was on fire. I put my nose to the textbook, if you will, and knocked out 59 credits in 18 months while working 35-40 hours a week.

No, I didn’t have a social life. But, after 8 long years, I finished.

So here we are, back where we started.

Thanks to the experience I’ve gained and the connections I built over the last 8 years, I was able to transition to the Marketing team here at Pearson after I graduated. Which means now I get to do what I love every day, with some pretty awesome people to boot.

And that’s really why I wouldn’t change how long it took me to finish my degree.

While taking 8 years to finish a degree isn’t the best path for all students, sometimes life just happens. Things outside your control will change your best laid plans. That can be frustrating and discouraging, but I’ve learned those life-disrupting events are the same ones that help you figure out who you are and make you into the person you want to be.

So if I could go back in time and avoid the pain and depression caused by my family crises, I wouldn’t. I wouldn't run from from those trying times. I wouldn’t run from the questions about myself and my future. I would embrace them.

Even if that means taking a little longer than everyone else to finish my degree.

Enjoyed this post? You may also enjoy Why I Walked Away From College… And Why I Went Back.

“It seems to me that anything that can be taught to another is relatively inconsequential and has little or no significant influence on behavior.”

Carl’s voice rang out from the Harvard stage in 1952. Before him stretched an audience filled with teachers and educators of every sort. He’d been asked to share his thoughts on “student-centered learning.”

Carl was a revolutionary psychotherapist who valued a client-centered approach to personal development. Since he practiced these client-centered techniques not just in the office, but in the classroom too, the event organizers thought Carl’s unique viewpoint would prove a valuable asset to the hundreds of teachers attending their conference.

The participants disagreed. Tempers rose as Carl continued his short speech.

“I have come to feel that the only learning which significantly influences behavior is self-discovered, self-appropriated learning.”

In 1952, this idea threatened the very foundation of the educational and work systems which held society together. At that time, school was a place of facts and figures. Jobs were a place those facts and figures were put to use. Such was the way of the world.

As long as a child did well in school, as long as a young adult pursued a solid education, as long as a person did not stray from the “proper path,” things would work out well. They would be happy, wealthy, and generally live the American Dream.

However, the sudden popularity and sharp rise of psychotherapy in the late twentieth century seemed to argue against this long-held, industrialized perspective.

The Value of Thinking

When Carl spoke at Harvard about student-centered learning, he wasn’t concerned with facts and figures. He wasn’t concerned with the specifics of what a student learned or the various study methods which could help or hinder retention.

“When I try to teach, as I do sometimes, I am appalled by the results, which seem a little more than inconsequential, because sometimes the teaching appears to succeed. When this happens I find that the results are damaging. It seems to cause the individual to distrust his own experience, and to stifle significant learning. Hence I have come to feel that the outcomes of teaching are either unimportant or hurtful.”

When it came to education, Carl wasn’t concerned with test scores. He was most concerned with a student’s ability to become a free-thinking, free-acting agent. Someone who is able to think critically and creatively, and—most importantly—who is able to trust their own conclusions. He wanted his students to become adults.

Through his practice with patients and his experience as an educator, Rogers learned first-hand the damage that could be done when a person refused to think for himself. He saw the damage done to underdeveloped students who were taught to put away their brains and listen blindly to their teachers.

He wasn’t arguing that education was wrong. He wasn’t arguing that there is no place for a teacher. He was proposing what, at the time, was a radical idea: teaching—to impart knowledge and change onto another person—is impossible.

In Carl’s opinion, learning was the goal of education. And this is a process a teacher has little control over.

Only One Person Can Control your Education

Believe it or not, Carl’s intention wasn’t to up-end the education system. He wasn’t interested in firing teachers, and—despite what those teachers thought as they fumed in their seats—he wasn’t trying to make their jobs obsolete.

His message was simple.

“Such self-discovered learning, truth that has been personally appropriated and assimilated in experience, cannot be communicated to another. As soon as an individual tries to communicate such experience directly, often with a quite natural enthusiasm, it becomes teaching, and its results are inconsequential. ”

In other words, the only person truly in control of a student’s education is the student.

Of course, learning facts is important. Exposing oneself to new ideas, history, literature, science, and all manner of education is an amazing opportunity. And we need educated, passionate individuals to dedicate their lives to learning, gathering, and bringing this information to light. We need knowledgeable facilitators to offer what they have learned to the next generation. We need teachers.

However, the learning process itself—assimilating information, testing your limits, growing as a person, thinking and reasoning, trusting oneself and one’s conclusions, being unafraid in unknown situations—all of this can only be gained by the efforts of one person. You.

So if you think your future is in the hands of your teacher, if you think the quality of your education depends on the school you’re attending, the textbook you pick up, or the people feeding you information, you are wrong.

The only person who can ensure you become truly, usefully, meaningfully educated is yourself.

Are you up for the challenge?

If you enjoyed this post, you may also enjoy High School Valedictorian Gives Shocking Speech.

Accelerated Pathways has a history of attracting dedicated students. And when I say dedicated, I mean graduate-in-2-years-or-less dedicated. That may sound a little intimidating (not to mention a lot impossible), but it’s true. Our students have the unique ability to graduate on their time schedule—and sometimes that means really darn fast.

But let me be clear. These exceptional, get ‘er done students aren’t attending classes 24/7. They’re not sleeping at their desks or neglecting their families in order to study.

They’ve simply taken advantage of alternative forms of earning college credit. They’ve traded in classrooms and lecture halls for lots of reading and a single final exam.

Enter the DSST.

DSST: A History

The DSST originated in 1974 as the U.S. Department of Defence’s way to help military personnel earn college credit. As you can imagine, serving in the military makes attending class a tad difficult, so the Department of Defence created a way for those in service to learn college material outside of the classroom, then prove their knowledge of a subject with a single test.

DSSTs (also known as Dantes exams) are competency-based exams, meaning they award college credit not based on the hours a student spent in a classroom, but by the cumulative knowledge demonstrated.

In 2004, however, these tests were made available to the general public and now serve as yet another way for self-motivated, goal-oriented college students to pick up speed as they race toward the finish line. And at approximately $130 a pop—that’s $43 per credit hour—they also reign as some of the cheapest alternative credit sources available.

Still interested in taking a DSST? Here’s everything you need to know:

Studying

Study methods for DSST vary, but not by much, and the materials aren’t hard to come by. Our Unbound coaches recommend:

• Official Dantes Study Guides

• Instantcert

• Free CLEP Prep (yes, the name is deceiving)

While these resources are probably enough to suffice, taking a competency-based exam is always something of a gamble. There’s no way to know exactly which questions will be asked on a test, or which specifics they’ll choose to cover. So if you’re going to make DSSTs a part of your self-paced college experiment, be thorough. Study hard, and be sure you can pass a couple of DSST practice tests before scheduling your exam.

Once you think you’re ready, just head to DSST’s website to purchase and schedule your exam at a testing center near you.

Testing Day

DSSTs are multiple choice, pass/fail exams—pretty much the most considerate college exams you could ask for.

Once you begin your exam, you have 2 hours to answer 80-120 questions. Unlike the SAT, DSST exams don’t punish you for an incorrect answer. Instead, your final score is tallied by counting the number of correct answers you choose and simply ignoring the incorrect answers. The pro tip for testers here is: if you draw a blank on a question, it’s better to guess than not answer. As I said, these are the most considerate college tests you could ask for.

But just because they’re nice doesn’t mean they’re easy. For example, DSST’s “Civil War and Reconstruction” test boasts a pass rate of only 46%. Testing out of a whole semesters worth of advanced content isn’t a walk in the park.

The passing score for a DSST is 400 with the highest attainable score being 500. Unless your test requires a written essay (some do), your score will by auto-calculated and you’ll get your results as soon as you complete the exam.

Transfering Your DSST Credit

So far, so good. DSSTs are a wonderfully cheap and convenient way to earn credit—especially if you already have experience with the subject.

Where DSSTs most often fail is transferability. Credit-by-exam, in general, is not as widely accepted by colleges as a student might hope.

The American Council on Education (ACE), a well-respected educational advisor, has recommended that each DSST is worth 3 college credits in a certain study area—upper or lower level, depending on the depth of the given material. That gives these tests some serious heft!

However, it’s still up to the college to decide whether or not they will honor this recommendation and award you with said credit.

This means taking a DSST is not a guarantee of earning credit at every college. So, what do you do? Just skip this amazing opportunity altogether because it’s a little risky?

No. Instead, you take the risk out of the equation. You have two options for doing this:

Option 1: Do the Research

Most colleges post their transfer credit policies online. With a little digging, you can use this to understand whether or not your college will honor the DSST you’re interested in taking. Just make sure it also aligns with your particular degree requirements. (You can learn more about transferring credit by reading “How to Transfer Colleges Without Losing Credit.”)

Or, if you don’t want to go through the painstaking research of aligning a DSST with a particular course code only to find out you made some mistake along the way…

Option 2: Let Us Do the Research

Negotiating transfer policies and building fool-proof, debt-free degree plans is what we do every day.

So if you’re interested in taking DSSTs (or any other form of alternative credit) as part of your self-directed college education, we can ensure you’re doing it right. We’ll help you take inexpensive credit that helps you reach your goals and is guaranteed to be honored by the college you want to graduate from.

And best of all, this process is free. So it’s worth chatting with one of our Admissions Advisors about what kind of help we can give you.

Conclusion: who should take a DSST?

If this blog post has scared or made you feel overwhelmed by the prospect of taking on so much responsibility when it comes to your education, DSST might not be for you.

That’s okay! Not everyone is cut out for this kind of learning—in fact, most of us aren’t. Perhaps a more structured approach to independent learning, like self-paced online courses, will be more your style.

However, if you’re a self-directed learner who doesn’t need a classroom to thrive, are eager to take on the brunt of the educational process, and are willing to go above and beyond to research colleges and transfer policies (or enlist the help of someone like Accelerated Pathways), DSSTs might be your golden ticket.

Pick a test, study hard, and in no time you’ll be on your way to graduating college in 2 years or less.

If you enjoyed this post, you may enjoy reading Why is College So Expensive? College’s Sneakiest Expenses and How to Avoid Them.

Dual credit is kind of like kale and Christmas decorations–too much of a good thing is indeed... too much. While your student obviously won’t lose what they learn in their dual credit courses, it is easy to get carried away earning college credits that won’t ultimately apply to their chosen degree.

Your student will spend valuable time to earn those dual credits (you’ll spend good money paying for them). So it’s important to do what you can to ensure your student has a plan.

First thing’s first…

How much dual credit should you take?

Let’s do a quick breakdown of college credits.

A typical bachelor’s degree requires 120 credits. This breaks down to 30 each year (freshman, sophomore, junior, senior).

Every single school in the US has different transfer policies (yeah, I know, it’s crazy). Some schools will allow you to transfer in upward of 100 college credits from another institution, but the majority of schools will only allow students to transfer in 30 credits while maintaining freshman eligibility.

So basically, if your student wants to try for freshman scholarships, 30 is the magic number. If your student is more interested in simply earning as much credit as possible, entering college as a transfer student, it’s likely they’ll be able to transfer in anything from 60-90 credits.

(Side note: Ivy League schools pretty much don’t accept transfer credit. Period, full stop. If your student is trying to get into Harvard, they’re better off studying for a perfect score on the SAT and doing extracurriculars that will help their application stand out. Dual credit isn’t going to be very useful for them.)

What type of dual credit courses should you take?

Within those 30 dual credit credits, your student will want to stick with general education courses. General education is going to include your “basic” college courses that everyone needs to take regardless of major—English, history, psychology, humanities, etc.

The safest dual credit courses to take are:

• English Composition 1 & 2

• US History 1 & 2

• Psychology

• College Algebra

• And Humanities of some sort (Ethics, Art Appreciation, Literature).

These courses are required for the vast majority of bachelor’s degrees and are almost guaranteed to transfer to any of them—regardless of major. However, even though these courses are your best shot, there’s still one step you should take before getting started, which we’ll talk about next.

How do you transfer dual credit courses?

While the list above is true for most schools, the safest way to transfer dual credit is to do your research and create a dual credit transfer plan before earning said credit. While your student doesn’t have to know exactly what school they want to graduate from, having a shortlist of potential colleges will help you research transfer policies to ensure the dual credit your student is taking will be accepted at their future college. (You don’t want them to end up making any of these 4 mistakes.)

You can do some of this research online, but to keep things safe, you’ll want to call and talk to a college advisor at each of the school options to find out transfer policies. Ask them questions like:

• How many outside credits do you allow a student to transfer to your school?

• (If your student is earning dual credit via AP or CLEP) Do you have a list of accepted AP and CLEP tests with required scores?

• If I have a dual credit plan for my student, can I send it to you to view and approve? (Or just simply start asking about colleges/classes specifically. I.e. “Do you take English Composition I from the Mt. San Antonio College?”)

Keep in mind, you can’t just talk to the advisor of the school your student is taking dual credit classes at. Schools don’t talk to each other, and typically the advisor at that school won’t actually know the transfer policies of your student’s future school.

So before getting started on a course, you need to talk to the school your student is looking to graduate from to confirm their transfer policies. (I’ve had numerous friends in the community colleges in California lose transfer credit because the community college said their credit would transfer, but the state school disagreed. Don’t let this happen to your student.)

Transferring credit from community colleges to state schools (in the same state) is typically a bit easier than transferring credits from non-related schools. However, I still recommend you call the state school or check their website to understand their published transfer policies. Sometimes even the administrators at these schools don’t know their own policies.

Pro tip: Accelerated Pathways works with hundreds of colleges in the United States and knows their transfer policies inside and out. The easiest way to do all this research is to let our advisors do it for you! They’ll create a customized dual credit plan for your student with credits that are guaranteed to line up with both your student’s high school requirements and transfer to the school of their choice. Click here to learn more.

What’s the deal with accreditation?

The details of accreditation and how it applies to your student are outside the scope of this blog post, but if you want more information, you should check our blog post on the different types of accreditation.

The quick summary is: like only transfers to like. Since the majority of non-profit colleges and universities are regionally accredited (the highest form of accreditation), you’ll want to take regionally accredited dual credit courses. Bible colleges, tech schools, and for-profit schools have a different type of accreditation and typically the credits earned from those schools won’t transfer anywhere else.

30 credits is safe, but is that the right number for YOUR student?

Something to keep in mind: if your student is transferring with 30 credits or more, they will start college as a sophomore. Competition for enrolling as a sophomore instead of a freshman is a lot lower due to high freshman dropout rates, but your student will be joining a class that is a year older than they are and has been together for an entire year already.

This is nothing your student can’t overcome, just something to keep in mind. Depending on your student, it may be a good idea for them to take a gap year instead of going straight to college. Travel, volunteer, live some life, and then transfer in at the same age and the same amount of credits as everyone else, but a lot more life experience (not to mention stuff that will look great on a resume).

Earning less than 30 credits is also a valid option. Your student can still begin as a freshman but with some extra credits and maybe graduate early instead.

There really is no wrong way to do dual credit. There are some ways that will cause transfer issues, there are some ways that are more complicated than others (pre-med, for example), but when it comes down to it, dual credit allows your student learn college-level information AND learn how to interact with professors and peers in a higher learning setting. And that’s valuable.

Dual credit is worth it

At the end of the day, transferring credit is always a bit risky, which means so is dual credit. But it’s such a huge advantage for your student to save time and money that most students find it’s worth the risk (especially if they start with a solid plan and understand college transfer policies).

If you want to make dual credit safer for your student, our Accelerated Pathways advisors are here to help you create the dual credit and college plan they need—along with the transfer guarantee you need for your peace of mind.

By sophomore year, I was done. High school was putting me to sleep. I was tired of studying subjects I didn’t care about and slaving over courses I knew I’d just retake in college. I had always been something of an early bloomer, so even at 16, I was excited to leave high school behind and start college. And fortunately for me, the flexibility of homeschooling made graduating high school early a real possibility.

So I did it.

I condensed subjects into semesters instead of years, and I got pretty good grades (even if I don’t remember a thing from Latin 2). Part of my “early graduation” plan involved exchanging as many high school courses as I could for transferrable dual credit—jumping that much further ahead.

I graduated high school at 17 years old with 12 college credits to my name.

If this is something you’ve been longing to do, dear high schooler, take heart. Graduating early is hard. But it’s a completely realistic goal, especially if you’re homeschooled. But before you kick yourself into high gear, take a beat. This isn’t the end of the story.

The day after my “graduation” (an informal family celebration featuring the best egg rolls in town), I realized I had a problem. I finished high school… but now what?

I didn’t have the money for college yet. And while I had my sights on an English degree, was I sure that was the right major for me? What exactly did I want to do after college? I had been so laser-focused on graduating early that only upon succeeding did I realize my path forward wasn’t so clear….

To avoid ending up where I did when your early graduation rolls around, ask yourself these questions:

1. Do I know what I want?

Graduating high school means more than just receiving a diploma. It means leaving your childhood behind. You know what comes after childhood? Adulthood. You know what comes with adulthood? Responsibility. And consequences.

I’m not saying this to scare you. Trust me, I think being an adult is awesome. But if you’re not careful, jumping in before you’re ready could leave you with some serious baggage to work through later in life.

Let’s take the example of college.

If you’re planning to jump into college right after high school, you’ll need to know at least 2 things first:

1. What school you want to attend

2. What you want to study

Jumping into college without knowing your major is a serious no-no for a simple reason: changing majors is a recipe for massive post-college debt. The national average of student loan debt in the U.S. is $29,800. Average. Meaning you’re not special. This could be your debt.

Do you realize the roadblocks that kind of debt could cause not just after graduation, but for the rest of your life? If not, click here to get a quick reality check.

Even if you’re not destined for college, you should still have a post-graduation plan. Maybe you’ve been working somewhere part-time and want to move to full-time hours. Maybe you’ve got a trade school in mind, or an apprenticeship you want to pursue, or a mission you’d like to embark on. You should at least have more of a plan than staying home and playing League of Legends. Unless you’re a professional League player. In which case, # respect.

If you don’t have any idea what you want to do after high school (which is totally normal and okay, by the way), consider graduating in the usual 4 years so you can use your free time for self-discovery.

Get an after-school job, join teams, take a college class that excites you, shadow someone with a job you’re interested in, pursue that creative project you’ve been putting off—do whatever it is you feel drawn to do.

That way, even if you don’t graduate early, you’ll be graduating with a purpose, which is always better than the alternative.

2. Will graduating early affect my scholarship eligibility?

Many on-campus programs offer generous scholarships for freshmen that aren’t available to transfer students. If you plan to enroll in a university immediately after graduation, then you probably have nothing to worry about here.

However, if you were planning to make a pit stop at your local community college after high school, you run the risk of losing your freshman status. In this case, it might be better to stay enrolled in high school and pursue dual credit instead. This will still allow you to get ahead in school, but without losing that all-important freshman status. (Bonus: some states even offer free dual credit to high school students. Win-win!)

Keep in mind, this isn’t a hard-and-fast rule. Eligibility requirements vary from scholarship to scholarship. And any time transfer credit enters the picture—dual credit or otherwise—it’s wise to make a credit-transfer plan. That way you can be aware of your college’s transfer policies and your future degree’s requirements before getting started, which will give that hard-earned credit the best shot at transferring well.

3. Have I talked to a counselor?

Everyone needs a little help when making big life decisions. And graduating high school early definitely qualifies as a big life decision.

Talk to your parents, teachers, mentors—any adult who you respect and who knows you well. Talk to them about your ideas, your plans, and the motivation behind those ideas and plans. Ask if they have any advice for you.

And of course, consider reaching out to the team at Accelerated Pathways. We’ve been helping students like you achieve success for over a decade. With our experience working with hundreds of colleges around the country, we can answer any college question you have to throw at us. Let one of our awesome advisors help you create a fully-customized college plan that will set you up for success, whether that means graduating early or not.

Student loans are a touchy subject. Some people call the amount of debt our students accumulate a crisis. But how else are you going to pay for college if not with a student loan? It can seem like these loans are necessary, even if they leave a bad taste in your mouth. After all, college is an investment, and it’s okay to take on a little debt in order to receive greater returns down the road… right?

It might not be that simple.

You might not have the full picture of what a student loan means for your future. So before you decide to pull the trigger and go into debt for your degree, here are 14 things you should know about taking out a student loan.

1. The average bachelor’s degree is… expensive.

There’s a reason student loans are such a big problem. The average cost of tuition for a year at a private university is $34,740, while the average out-of-state tuition for a public university is around $25,600. However, in-state students do get a significant break on tuition at public universities; they only have to pay an average of around $10,000 a year. Of course, none of these numbers take any additional costs for things like room and board into account. According to the College Board, public universities charge an additional $10,800 on average for both in-state and out-of-state students to stay on campus. Private universities charge a little over $12,000. So yeah, college is expensive.

Naturally, most of us don’t have the funds to pay for even a basic 4-year degree out of pocket, so the go-to solution for getting a college education is to take on debt. On average, students who take out student loans just for the bachelor’s degree, graduate with around $29,800 in debt.

2. Student loan interest compounds daily.

Let’s say you graduate with the average amount of debt ($29,800) and the average annual interest rate of 5.8%. Since interest on student loans compounds daily, that means the day after graduation, you would owe an additional $4.74 for a new balance of $29,804.74. The day after that, interest would be re-calculated based on your new balance and charged again. After a month, the total interest added to your loan payment would be about $150. And like a snowball rolling downhill, your debt grows daily until you eventually pay it off.

If you’re able to pay off your loan in the expected 10 years, you’ll pay at least an additional $9,600 in interest. However...

3. It usually takes 21 years on average to pay off student loans.

Even though most repayment plans are supposed to only take 10 years, almost nobody is able to repay their loans in that time. Most recent graduates are only able to make minimum payments, which—by the way—always pay off interest first. And since interest piles on so aggressively, unless you’re able to pay more than the minimum required amount, you likely won’t touch the principal balance of the loan until a few years after you graduate. This ultimately means you won’t be able to pay off your student loans until you’re getting ready to send your kids off to college.

4. The longer you stay in school, the more debt you take on.

It’s extremely common for students to change majors. And that’s okay. After all, most students don’t really have a solid plan for their future when starting college. The only thing is, switching majors often leads to losing credits because some of the classes you’ve already taken are no longer applicable to your new major. This can easily force you to spend an extra year or two at college before you can graduate.

Think about it. Since colleges charge tuition annually, the longer you stay at college, the more expensive it becomes, and the deeper you fall into debt.

5. Student loans are nearly impossible to get discharged.

So what happens if you can’t pay back your debt? You can probably get out of it by declaring bankruptcy, right? Actually, no. With the exception of a few specific cases, even if you declare bankruptcy and lose everything you own, you’ll still have to pay back your loans eventually.

6. Student loan debt gives you a slow start, not a head start.

College is supposed to help you get ahead in life. But graduating with debt can easily hold you back for decades. How? Well, students who graduate with debt are set to retire at 75 (not the typical 65), 1 in 5 get married later than their peers, and 1 in 4 are hesitant to have children, all because of the extra burden that paying off their student debt puts on them.

7. There’s an insidious hidden cost to student loans.

Up to 67% of people with student loans suffer the mental and physical symptoms that come with the intense and seemingly unending stress caused by debt. These symptoms can range from losing sleep at night to chronic headaches, physical exhaustion, loss of appetite, and a perpetually elevated heart rate. Imagine an ever-present sense of impending doom hanging over your head for 21 years, and you start to understand what it’s like to live with student debt.

8. Collateral for student loans is your future income.

If you default on a mortgage or a car loan, the lender can simply repossess the item you took the loan out for. But student loans work differently. After all, it’s not like the bank can repossess your degree if you fall behind on payments. Instead, the collateral for student loans are your future earnings. This means that the lender is fully within their rights to take money directly from your paycheck, Social Security, and even your tax refund if you default on a student loan.

9. Student loans are a blind risk.

That being said, any time you take out a student loan, you’re taking a blind risk on something that has potentially serious repercussions for your future. Even though the average amount of debt owed by college students is just shy of $30,000, it’s not unusual for debt to be much higher. Most students going to a traditional university don’t know exactly how expensive their education will be in the end, and college is just getting more expensive every year. Taking into account that the average yearly income for recent grads is only around $47,000, the amount of debt you owe can easily eclipse your ability to pay it back, which can cripple progress in life for years to come.

10. Loans can damage your credit score.

If you want to buy a house or finance a car at some point, you’ll need good credit. Strapping yourself to long-term, unavoidable payments on debt (that often grows larger over time instead of becoming more manageable) is probably not a good way to increase your credit score. This is especially true as you’re just starting out in your career, when it can be far too easy to miss payments. A missed payment on your student loan can drop your credit score by at least 90 points and hold your score down for up to seven years.

11. Cosigners and parents are on the hook for a student’s debt.

If you have a private or Parent PLUS loan, your parents probably had to cosign for it. That means they’re just as responsible for paying off the debt as you are. And they’ll take the same hit to their credit score and potential earnings as you if you fail to pay back the loan.

12. Even if you don’t graduate, you still have to pay off your loans.

Fewer than 60% of college students graduate within 6 years, which means that at least 40% of students either take longer—accumulating more debt with every passing year—or don’t earn their degree at all. Unfortunately, your lender doesn’t care if you graduate or not. You’re on the hook for every penny you borrow, no matter what.

13. 74% of students who took out a loan regret it.

If 3 out of every 4 people who eat at a restaurant say they got food poisoning by eating there, would you still choose to eat there? Probably not. So when 74% of people with student loans say they wish they hadn’t gone into debt for school, what makes you think student loans are a good idea?

What other options do you have?

College is way too expensive; and it’s only getting worse. As the cost of college continues to rise, it can seem like the only way to get an education is to take out a student loan. But what if there was a way to make college more affordable? That way, you could earn your degree without even thinking about going into debt.

Well, there is. It’s called Accelerated Pathways.

Accelerated Pathways is an online college program designed to help you earn a debt-free degree. It works by cutting the most significant costs of traditional college, enabling you to pay for school one class at a time (thus avoiding massive tuition payments), and pairing you with a professional academic coach who guides you through the process of earning your degree. In other words, we take college from an overly expensive drain on your bank account, badly plugged by future-killing student loans, and turn it into something that you can actually pay for out of pocket.

Reason 14. You really don’t need to take out a loan for college.

Seriously, don’t do student loans. 94% of Accelerated Pathways students graduate debt free. You can too.

I was never good at making friends. Growing up, I was shy, self-conscious, and generally felt like my few friends made me, rather than the other way around. This was fortunately never much of a problem… until I reached my twenties.

Suddenly, I found myself living alone in a city wherein I only knew a handful of people: two ex-boyfriends and their families. (Talk about slim pickings.) To top it off, I was working a remote job, so I didn’t even have an office to walk into every day.

My situation wasn’t unlike that of the average online college student. Lonely and disconnected, how was I supposed to make friends when I didn’t have a traditional institution, like a school or a workplace, to help me?

I considered simply sitting in my apartment and sulking my days away. But after a couple months of doing just that (hey, I have my bad seasons too), I decided it probably wasn’t the most mature course of action. So, eventually, I took the plunge and—gulp—made some friends.

Intentionally seeking out friendships ended up being one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. But now, one year later, my world feels like it’s flipped upside down. Far from being stuck at home day in and day out, I’m often saying “no” to invitations because I simply don’t have room in my calendar. I’ve begun building a real life, a real community, from nothing. Slowly but surely, this formerly lonely city is feeling more like home than anywhere I’ve ever lived.

Turns out I didn’t need a workplace or college campus to help me build a community, and you don’t either. If you’re an online college student—or considering becoming one—here are 10 ways to ensure your college experience is just as socially enriching as anything you could expect from a campus.

1. Look around.

When it comes to making friends, the biggest advantage of a campus is propinquity (that’s a fancy word for “being physically near other people”). On a college campus, you run into people everywhere—in class, on the grounds, in the cafeteria, at your dorm, in the library, at events. Online students, however, tend to spend a lot of their time at home. So, to replicate this aspect of the college experience, start by finding ways to create propinquity.

Meetup.com, sports leagues, tabletop gaming stores, Facebook events, book clubs, internships, volunteer opportunities, in-person classes at a local college (audit or transfer them into your degree), classes for a hobby you like or want to like, a part-time job—there are endless ways to be around people that don’t involve a campus.

Start by thinking of something you like to do, then look online to see if other people in your area also do that thing.

2. Just pick something.

If you’re a perfectionist, like myself, you might find yourself paralyzed by the list of options I mentioned above. What if you choose the “wrong thing”? What if it’s not fun? What if you don’t like the people you meet? Will you be stuck going to a weekly meetup group even if you don’t think it’s a good fit?

This advice is for both of us—don’t wait for the perfect opportunity. There’s no magical “best place” to meet people. Whatever event or group you try, you’re not signing up to attend it regularly for the rest of your life. You’re only committing to show up one time. If you like it, you can go back! If you don’t, you can try something else next time.

3. Keep trying.

While you don’t have to go back to the first group you try, you probably should.

Jumping from group to group in search of that elusive “perfect fit” just means you’re always the newbie, no matter where you go. Like I mentioned earlier, you’ll never find a perfect group of perfect people. So unless you got a really bad vibe the first time, give this group a chance. Show up to events over and over again until your newbie status starts to wear off, and you realize that suddenly these new friends feel a lot more like old ones.

4. Take the lead.

Waiting for someone to introduce themselves is a great way to stay disconnected. Turns out, humans are pretty skittish creatures. But you know what your dad always said about skittish creatures; they’re more afraid of you than you are of them.

So take the lead. Always assume that if you want friends, you have to make them. Step up and introduce yourself. Yes, it’s super uncomfortable. Yes, it’s super scary… if that’s what’s holding you back, you might not like my next piece of advice.

5. Know it’s always scary.

Sorry, there’s just no way around it. Meeting new people wouldn’t be any less scary if you were on a campus. The only difference is on a campus, it’s harder to hide. As an online student, there’s nothing pushing you to step outside of your comfort zone. You have to choose to do it.

While you can’t make social anxiety retreat entirely, you can at least make it tolerable by lowering your own expectations of yourself. Don’t go into a brand-new group planning to meet everyone. Just meet one person. And don’t worry about being BFFs by the time you leave either. Just have a conversation.

It will be uncomfortable. It will be awkward. You may not know what to talk about at first, and you may come away feeling like a fool. But the only way to get better at something is to be willing to be bad at it first. So let yourself be bad at it. Get some practice. Eventually, it’ll become a little less scary. (Probably.)

6. Care.

While uncomfortable first conversations are often inevitable, these can be made dramatically less awkward by simply caring about the other person.

Don’t just try to “survive” the conversation. Make an effort to actually get to know the person you’re talking to. What’s their story? Where were they born? What is their family like? What are they majoring in? Where do they work? What do they enjoy doing outside of work? Who are they watching/reading/listening to? What are their life goals? What inspired them to pursue those goals? What are they good at? What are they bad at?

Any one of these questions might help you discover a natural way to connect with whoever you’re talking to, transforming your conversation into—well—a conversation, rather than simply a barrage of questions.

7. Assume they care too.

While asking questions is great, no one likes being interrogated. Be willing to talk about yourself too. This means assuming the other person is interested in listening—because, usually, they are.

So if, in your attempt to get to know them, you learn about something that clicks with you—maybe you grew up in the same town or you like the same books—be willing to share your own experience. This is how natural connections form.

And if nothing clicks? That’s okay, it might take a few conversations (even with the same person) before you really connect. Of course, some people just never click with you at all, and that’s okay too. You don’t have to be friends with everyone.

8. Don’t be picky.

I’m 25 years old, and one of my very best friends just turned 60. Just because a person doesn’t seem like a good fit for you doesn’t necessarily mean that you weren’t somehow made for each other.

While it is important to find friends who are experiencing the same stage of life as you, don’t pass up the opportunity to meet someone completely different. College is all about trying new things, meeting new people, gaining new experiences, and being exposed to new ideas. What better way to do all of that then to make a friend you never would have imagined for yourself?

9. Be hospitable.

Once you’ve met a few people you click with, take things a step further! Invite them to a movie, host a game night, or, if you’ve found other online students, meet up at Starbucks for a study group. This is a great way to get to know people better and let them know you’re interested in being more than just a casual acquaintance.

Community isn’t just about meeting up at events. It’s about living life together. So if it’s a deep connection you’re after, allow one to take root by inviting people into your life and just seeing what happens. Over time, you might find that all your hard work allowed you to cultivate something truly one-of-a-kind.

10. Be patient.

Friends aren’t made overnight. Especially if you’re starting from scratch, you’ll still have to face your fair share of lonely evenings and boring Saturdays. But that’s just part of life, regardless of how many friends you have.

Paradoxical as it sounds, one of the most valuable skills I learned in my attempt to make friends was how to enjoy being alone. Initially, I wanted to make friends because I didn’t like being alone. I wanted to avoid it as much as possible. So, I started pouring a lot of effort into reaching out, meeting new people, suffering through awkward conversation, and being the newbie at events. This lead to me feeling frustrated at my “lack of immediate results.” I wanted friends now, but that’s just not how it works.

After finally realizing that community-building would take some time—that I’d just have to keep showing up before I felt like part of a group—I started doing what I could to make solitude something I genuinely enjoyed. I started hanging out with myself the way I’d want to hang out with a friend. For me, that meant cooking myself nice dinners, going for walks, visiting new parks or restaurants, shopping, reading fascinating books, and even getting into a crazy skincare regimen that one of my long-distance friends swore by.

Learning to enjoy (and even look forward to) being alone made it so much easier for me to be patient and allow my new relationships to grow in their own time. Plus, I ended up making one of the best friends of all—myself!

Why bother?

If you were hoping this post would make friendship-building sound easy, I’m sorry to disappoint. In my experience, building a community from scratch involves a lot of lonely social outings, awkward conversations, expended energy, and just plain work and patience.

So why do it? Wouldn’t it be easier to just… go to a campus?

Maybe it would. Maybe it wouldn’t. Meeting new people is almost never fun (unless you’re a super extrovert), and while going to a campus might give you a little extra push out of your comfort zone, it’s important to remember that college eventually ends. People move. Jobs change. The friends you make now won’t necessarily be around forever. Eventually, you’ll have to make new ones, which means you’ll still have to face everything we’ve already talked about in this post.

So why not just do it now?

Yes, it’s hard. Adulthood is hard. Get over it. Better yet, step into it. Taking the advice in this post will help you do more than just build a community now; it’ll give you the skills to build one wherever life takes you.

Isn’t an entire lifetime of future friends worth a little discomfort in the present?

With authorities advising social distancing and college campuses across the country shutting down in response to COVID-19, thousands of college students are suddenly stuck at home trying to figure out what’s next.

If you’ve spent most of your college career on a campus, the transition to at-home studies can be jarring, especially if your school doesn’t typically offer online classes.

But studying in a new location isn't the hardest part. Honestly, it's the last thing on many people's minds. Fear of how this illness may continue to impact our families, communities, and world leaves us feeling helpless and trapped.

In this crisis, it might help to remember that you aren't actually trapped. You're not being “forced” to remain indoors. You’re choosing to exercise the power you have to help keep yourself and your community healthy and safe.

Social distancing is a power move, and it doesn't have to spell the end of activities like graduating college—activities that will remain important to your future after this crisis has passed.

If your college is just figuring out the transition to online studies, or if it’s completely shut down for now, you have other options to keep you on track for graduation. By taking flexible college coursework online from institutions that already have the online systems in place, you can avoid falling behind in your college studies. Then, once schools are cleared to resume regular campus studies, you can transfer these courses into your degree.

If you'd like to use this time of voluntary isolation to keep up with (or even get ahead on) your college studies, here are a few guidelines to choosing the perfect online class:

Confirm your college's transfer policy

Most institutions accept between 15 and 90 outside credits, but your school will still have very specific rules about what courses can apply to your particular degree. It’s important to figure out what these requirements are so you can take online classes that meet those standards.

To find out which credits your college will accept, search your college’s website for their transfer policy. Schools typically have this information thoroughly explained in their online resources.

If you want to keep working on your degree while you’re staying safe and germ-free, here’s a quick guide to transferring credits to your college.

Make sure the course you take is actually required for your degree

After you confirm that your school accepts outside credits but before you sign up for an online class, you’ll want to check on a few things to pinpoint whether your course fits your specific degree:

1. Course Types

Your degree is made up of three types of courses: general education, area of study, and free electives. Depending on your degree, your school will have specific requirements for what courses are accepted in each category.

General education courses cover fundamental subjects like English, math, natural sciences, humanities, and social sciences. Area of study courses cover the specialized topics in your degree and are the most highly-regulated portion of your studies. Schools are typically pretty strict about which courses count for the area of study, so it’s probably not the best course type to try substituting without help. Finally, free electives give you the chance to try a variety of courses that don’t have to relate to your major. While your institution will likely have rules guiding what free electives you can take, this is often a great place to insert outside transfer credits.

2. Degree Requirements

Engineering majors will have significantly different degree requirements than English majors, so make sure you check up on your specific degree guidelines before committing to an online class. Your institution will typically list the number of credits you need for each course type on its website and give an overview of specific subjects required for your major.

3. Course Codes

Course codes are your key to comparing the course you want to take to your college’s degree requirements. These codes clue you into two very important pieces of information about a course: its type (the abbreviations ENG, MAT, BUS may stand for “English,” “Math,” and “Business,” respectively) and its level (100, 200, 300, or 400*). Each college has their own unique system for applying course codes, but they’re still your best shot at finding a course that will be accepted by your school.

First, you want the course abbreviation or prefix to match. If your degree requires a BUS (business) course for example, don’t take a MAT (math) course. It likely won’t transfer.

Second, you’ll want to match the course numbers as closely as possible too. Here, you’ll mostly pay attention to the first digit, as this is what clues you into what level of course your degree requires. If the first digit is 1 or 2, it’s a lower-level course. If it’s 3 or 4, it’s an upper-level course. You’ll want to make sure the substitute course you’re signing up for is the correct level or else it’s unlikely to transfer.

Finally, find an online option whose name and description aligns closely with the course required by your institution. The closer the match, the more likely it will be an acceptable substitute.

If you want to learn more, here’s a detailed guide to translating course codes.

*Some colleges number their courses using more than three digits, though the rule we talked about still applies—the first digit represents that course’s level, so it’s the most important one to match up.

Make sure the course you take is accredited

Accreditation is the stamp of approval given to a course by a governing educational organization. It tells you how well the course meets education standards. Colleges and universities vary on their level of accreditation (as well as the level they require for transfer courses), but typically you’ll want to look for regional accreditation. This is the highest level of accreditation, so it provides the most security when transferring courses.

Make sure the course you take is flexible

The beauty of online classes is their potential for flexibility. If there’s ever a time to be stressing about homework deadlines or showing up for an online meeting, it’s not in the midst of a pandemic. So find courses that make your life easier.

Plenty of online credit sources are self-paced or only require one final exam at the end to make the process simple and streamlined. Here are a few good options:

• DSST exams were originally created for busy military personnel and are now open to the public. As the name implies, this credit-earning option is examination based, works well for strong test-takers, and has exams covering most general education topics.

• CLEP exams, produced by CollegeBoard, the creator of the SAT, are similar to the DSST’s credit-by-examination format. After studying suggested resources, a student takes a single pass/fail exam to demonstrate proficiency in the topic and earn college credit, typically for general education or elective courses.

• UExcel exams from Excelsior College are another credit-by-exam option that offer both lower-level and upper-level courses and provide many study materials to help students do well as they prepare.

• ALEKS courses provide college-level mathematics credits in an online format. Students demonstrate proficiency by taking multiple tests throughout the learning process, building on the mathematical skills until they gain passing proficiency. The intelligent programming maps out a perfectly customized path for each student as it measures their skills and growth needs.

• Study.com offers over 200 accredited college-level courses with their College Accelerator membership. With this plan, students are allowed to complete up to 2 final exams per month!

• Sophia courses are 60-day, self-paced courses that cover introductory college material. With a one time fee rather than a membership, they can also be very cost effective.

Make sure the class you take is approved

If you’ve already started your degree, your college most likely has an approval process for you to follow if you want to take outside material. To make sure your hard work doesn’t go to waste, you’ll need to contact your school to get your chosen online class approved before you start it. Give your college registrar’s office a call (hopefully they’re working remote right now) and ask how to get outside courses approved for your degree. Have information about the class you’ve selected ready, particularly the source of the credit, course name, course code, and course description.

Talk to an advisor

If the process I’ve just laid out feels overwhelming, I get it. Fortunately, we can help! Here at Accelerated Pathways, we’re dedicated to helping students find a better way to do college. If you're interested in finding the most affordable, flexible online credit that's guaranteed to transfer into your college, just talk to us. Our advisors have been helping students do this for over a decade. Click here to find out if we can help you.

You have enough going on without the stress of doing your own research. Your chat with an advisor is free, and we can even connect you with course discounts designed to help students displaced by COVID-19.

The entire world is calling on each of us to do our part to keep our friends and family safe, even if that part is as “small” as staying home for a while. Whether you choose to spend that time studying or resting and enjoying your loved ones, remember that you’re doing one very important and impactful thing: keeping calm in the midst of a crisis. That's how we're going to beat this.