College is expensive. Too expensive. Student loan problem, debt crisis, blah, blah, blah. I’m sure you’re tired of hearing random strangers on the internet rattle on without end about the overwhelming cost of college.

To be honest, I’m a little tired of writing about it too. So today, I’m switching gears.

Here are 68 nuggets of financial wisdom you can put to use immediately. Each will help you think twice and spend your dollars more wisely when it comes time to walk the hallowed halls.

Save money in college by: being smart about college.

1. Don’t go.

Not every career requires a 4-year degree. Is your dream job one of them?

2. If you do go, go in-state.

Staying put could save you nearly $12,000, annually.

3. Better yet, go online.

No infrastructure, less staff to pay, no sports to fund, etc.

4. At least don’t go in California.

Too many students, not enough seats. It’s causing some problems.

5. Pick a public university over a private one.

$26,000 (per year). Saved.

6. Pick a lesser-known school.

Reputations are expensive. Do you really want to pay for one?

7. Take more than 4 years to graduate.

Take online courses while you work a full-time job. Transfer them in later.

8. Take less than 4 years to graduate.

Taking 5 or 6 years on campus to graduate could mean over $40,000 extra.

9. Don’t get more school than you need.

Graduate programs are expensive. Don’t go unless you actually need it.

10. Take affordable transfer credit.

CLEP tests, DSSTs, and affordable online courses will help you save money and speed up your degree.

11. But don’t lose your transfer credit.

Every credit you re-take is a credit you re-pay for.

12. Don’t fail classes.

Number 11 applies to re-taking failed classes too.

13. Don’t switch majors.

Switching majors can lead to lost credit. Remember # 11?

14. Take a gap year… to avoid switching majors.

No one will judge you for taking a little extra time to ensure you’re making a wise decision.

15. Don’t pick an expensive major either.

Art supplies, musical instruments, special facility fees, lab equipment… it all adds up.

16. Take advantage of grants, if you can.

Free money! 🙌

17. Take advantage of scholarships, if you can.

Free money! 👏

18. DO NOT GET A STUDENT LOAN.

NOT free money. 😱😠😭

Student loans are a great way to pay thousands of extra dollars for every year the loan isn’t paid off. (Hello, interest rates!)

19. At least don’t take out more loans than you need…

The less you can borrow, the less debt you incur. The less debt, the better.

20. If you do community college, make sure it has a feeder program.

Community college can save you a ton of money unless your university won’t accept that community college transfer credit. Which it probably won’t.

21. Or just use Accelerated Pathways.

The best way to earn affordable credit with a 100% guarantee it’ll transfer to your school.

Save money in college by: being smart about money management.

22. Make a budget.

This is adulting 101.

23. Stick to your budget.

This is adulting 102.

24. Pay your bills on time.

Late fees are the gut-punches of wasted money.

25. Take Dave Ramsey’s money course.

Why not learn from the best (and earn some college credit at the same time)?

And by: being smart about how you spend time.

26. Get a job.

Any job.

27. Like at Starbucks.

They’ve got great tuition assistance.

28. Or UPS.

Medical and tuition assistance for part-time evening work? Sold.

29. Or anywhere else that has tuition assistance.

These 33 companies will help you pay for college.

30. Invent Facebook.

It worked for Zuckerburg!

31. Get a side hustle.

For everyone who thinks they’re Zuckerburg.

32. Enlist in the military.

For those nobler than Zuckerburg.

33. Or maybe just intern somewhere.

For everyone else. (We can’t all be Zuckerburgs.)

Save money in college by: being smart about how you eat.

34. Opt out of meal plans.

College meal plan: $4,400.

Cooking at home: $1,760.*

35. Don’t eat out.

Eating out: $12.75 per meal.

Cooking at home: $2.50 per meal.**

36. Definitely don’t drink out.

One glass of wine at your local bar is approximately the same cost of that same bottle of wine at the grocery store.

37. Maybe just don’t drink.

Water, soda, and juice are all far cheaper and just as tasty.

38. That includes coffee.

Starbucks coffee: $2.10. (Grande sized, featuring their signature “burnt ashes” flavor.)

39. Okay fine, just make your coffee at home.

Average at-home brew: $0.60. (And 150% tastier.)

40. And while you’re at it, make yourself some food.

Let me redirect you to points 34 and 35.

41. Or shamelessly mooch off your more generous friends and family.

Some people love to cook, some people love to eat. These types of people should be friends.

42. If you can’t mooch, at least meal plan and use a shopping list.

There’s a special place in hell for food wasters.

43. While you’re at it, use coupons and cashback apps.

iBotta, RetailMeNot, Groupon, Living Social, Ebates… find coupons, find deals, and earn money for regularly purchased items.

44. Freeze food before it goes bad.

Meat, bread, taco shells—anything you can’t eat fast enough should go in the freezer. You know how I feel about food wasting.

Save money in college by: being smart about how you play.

45. Don’t have fun.

Movie tickets, mini golf, bowling, these things cost money you don’t have to spend.

46. If you do have fun, make it reusable.

Movies tickets are used once. Board games are used endlessly.

47. Better yet, make it free (thanks to your local library!)

Bonus points if you borrow books.

48. Get outside.

State parks, apartment pools, window shopping downtown. There are a lot of free ways to have fun.

49. Or just borrow your friend’s Switch!

49.5. Make friends with less frugal people.

And by: being smart about how you live.

50. Get roommates.

Splitting bills 2, 3, or 5 ways makes a big difference.

51. Or live with your parents.

Free rent! 🙌

52. Share a phone plan.

Family plans exist for a reason.

53. Workout at home.

You’ll never use that gym membership anyway.

54. Don’t travel.

Staying put may sound boring, but it has its perks.

55. If you do travel, fly Southwest!

Planning ahead can lead to ridiculously cheap flights. And your bags fly free!

56. Don’t own a car.

Switching to biking can save you 15% or more on car insurance. And gas. And maintenance. And it’s probably more than 15%.

57. Don’t get contacts.

Glasses save you hundreds per year.

58. Don’t get a pet.

Pet food, vet bills, extra rent…

59. Don’t get internet.

The library and Starbucks are two perfectly acceptable places to do homework.

60. Don’t get a printer.

Trust me. This is good life advice in general.

61. Don’t get anything new.

Thrift stores. Goodwill. Done.

62. Use Facebook Marketplace to buy perfectly good stuff that extravagant average Americans literally don't have room for any more.

It's nice to feed on the dying flesh of the bourgeois.

63. Win Wheel of Fortune.

Your grandmother will be so proud!

64. Date someone rich.

And have them pay for dinner!

65. Shop at Aldi’s.

Just don’t tell your rich S.O.

66. Lose some weight.

Smaller bodies require less food!

67. Lose so much weight that your aunt takes pity on your and lets you live with her so she can “fatten you up.”

Thanks, Aunty!

Save money in college by: being smart.

68. Don’t be stupid.

Don’t pay for anything you don’t need. The traditional “college experience” is a luxury, not a necessity. You can earn your degree without drowning in debt, but you’ll have to make some sacrifices along the way.

Obviously, you know your specific financial situation better than I (or anyone else offering generic advice) ever could. So listen to your gut and don’t spend money you don’t have.

*This number was calculated by taking the average cost of single males and females ages 19-50, using the USDA’s "low-cost" food plan for 8 months—roughly the amount of time a student will spend on campus each year. (# 34)

**This number was calculated by taking the same USDA average grocery budget and dividing it by 90 meals per month (3 meals per day). Fun fact: after an intense month of receipt tracking and cooking at home, this is almost exactly what each of my home-cooked meals ended up costing me. I halved my food bill that month. 😎(# 35)

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This is a wise question, potential music major. It’s also a complicated one.

With rising tuition costs to consider, a constantly changing job market, and the harsh reality that making money out of music has never been easy, you’re now faced with a decision that seems rife with consequences, and disappointingly bereft of easy answers.

If you’re looking for those elusive easy answers here, I’m afraid you won’t find them. What you will find is help in thinking through the question thoroughly. What kind of education do you want? What jobs are you considering? What does a music degree offer you? Are any songs actually written in the Locrian mode?

By the end of this post, you may not have an easy answer, but you’ll hopefully be on your way to an informed one.

First, consider whether you even want a music degree.

I realize I’m stating the obvious here, but you’d be surprised how many students sign up for music programs in college without realizing the dedication required to succeed in such intense programs.

Music degrees aren’t an easy way to avoid college-level math; they’re the next step in a lifelong love affair with music. Most music degrees require you to pass a performance audition just to get in, which means you’ll need much more familiarity with an instrument than that handful of piano lessons from Ms. Moffit. You need to love music first and foremost and be prepared to dedicate much of yourself and your future to the life of a musician.

Additionally, the workload for most music degrees is both intense and intensely focused. You’ll be involved in plenty of concerts, projects, and recitals beyond usual school hours, and if you’re hoping for a broad and varied education, you might leave disappointed. There’s a lot of music history, performance, and theory to pack into a four-year degree; only so many credits can be spared for off-topic interests. And that might apply to musical interests as well...

Not all music is treated equally among the stately halls of higher education. American universities are an old, Western institution, and as such, they tend to favor old, Western things. A classical education in music can certainly make you a better musician, no matter where you take it, but it’s important to keep in mind that you’re going to have to learn and play certain music in certain ways. If you want to learn the history of Western classical harmony and theory (and who doesn’t, right?), you’re certainly in luck! But if you’re looking to find ample support for your funk, pop, or even jazz ambitions, be prepared to do some digging. While colleges are slowly increasing their depth and variety, it can still be difficult to find a program perfectly suited to your more modern tastes.

What about jobs?

While education for education’s sake is a laudable ideal, the unfortunate reality is that college takes a lot of time and money. If you don’t have much of those to spare, you need to have an actual use for your degree in mind.

What would you like to do with the degree? Teach? Perform? Compose? This is especially important for a student of music because music isn’t as flexible as something like marketing or communications. Your education is very specific, which makes your choice of related careers that much smaller.

Traditional music degrees are best suited for composing, performing, and teaching, particularly in the classical music and higher education worlds. If you are interested in a particular degree, contact the university and ask to see what their graduates actually ended up doing. Are you interested in those jobs? If so, this degree thing may work out after all!

However, if your ambitions are to teach privately, shred your way through the underground rock scene, or compose independently for video games or television, you may find a degree entirely unnecessary, or even counterproductive. The years and thousands of dollars you would spend learning what the school wants to teach you could go towards buying your own equipment, making relevant connections, and learning more about the style of music that really matters to you.

Consider what a music degree will do for you...

First and foremost, music degrees offer formal training in a way you can’t always find on your own, especially when it comes to Western classical theory. You’ll have access to professors, equipment, other musicians, and information in a structured manner that, if you find the right school, will shape and improve the way you think about music. These degrees often have you working on a weekly basis with an instructor, and that kind of in-person investment in your education can be invaluable.

There’s also a plethora of networking opportunities unique to the world of academic music. This is especially important if you want to teach at a college, play in a symphony, or compose professionally. The worlds of classical music and higher ed are closely interconnected, and the people you meet through college will often be the ones providing you jobs and opportunities years down the line.

Finally, some jobs just require music degrees. Particularly educational positions, so it’s definitely worth considering whether that’s the case for your own career ambitions.

...and what it won’t.

However, a music degree won’t offer you the secondary skills necessary to be a good professional musician. There are a number of critical tools that just haven’t found their way into most traditional music education. For example, being able to record and produce your own music is invaluable, even if just to create demos to send potential employers or clients. Creating your own website, managing your presence on social media, and putting your content out on platforms like YouTube, Bandcamp, and Twitch are also rapidly becoming crucial in the lives of independent composers and performers. Even if you earn a fancy degree, you’ll likely be left to learn these things on your own.

Speaking of taking ownership, a music degree—like any other degree—won’t guarantee you a job. It might help you find a job, or even get you that first interview, but securing the job is up to you; not your professors, not your university. Your education is only as valuable as you make it.

Which brings us to our final point: a music degree won’t make you a good musician. It won’t make you love music, and in some cases, it could do just the opposite. A good music degree will offer you incredible amounts of potential, but it’s up to you to actually make something of that potential. You want to master an instrument? Practice. You want to have your music played by the school choir? Make connections. Ensure your passion, dedication, and vision come first, then actively use your degree as a way to fulfill them. Otherwise, you risk leaving school with only a handful of new chords to show for your tens of thousands of dollars in student debt.

I still want a music degree! What now?

Wow! I am impressed and pleased with your continued enthusiasm! Well, there are still a thousand little decisions that come next: what type of music degree would best fit your goals? Which university offers the best program? What sorts of transfer credit could you bring in? And most importantly, how are you going to pay for all of this?

That’s where Accelerated Pathways comes in. Our academic advisors are trained to help you answer questions just like these. They’ll take the time to get to know you and your specific situation—not only your educational dreams but your goals beyond college. Then they’ll help you determine the best route for reaching those goals, and may even be able to help you save some money along the way.

So go ahead and set up a free consultation and see where it leads! At the very least it will help you to define your vision, communicate it to someone else, and get some honest feedback.

Like any artistic endeavor, music isn’t a surefire way to secure a comfortable job with status and money to spare. You’re often going to be working twice as hard for half as much, all for your heartfelt love of the chromatic scale. The life of a musician isn’t an easy one. But it is a uniquely rewarding one.

Whether you go for the degree, chase your punk rock dreams, or head off to law school and dabble in violin on the side, I wish you the very best.

Now go practice some scales! You’ve been procrastinating long enough.

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You know that feeling you get when you’re about to do something that terrifies you?

Your heart is in your throat. You hope nobody tries to shake your hand because your palms are sweating. You can’t decide if you’re hot or cold. And why can you hear your heartbeat? Is it really that loud? Can everyone else hear it too?

That was me, waiting for my first coaching call.

You see, when you’re an Accelerated Pathways student, your coach is the go-to person for guidance, advice, support, and accountability as you work your way through college. And back in my day, taking your first coaching call was about as close to “orientation day” as Accelerated Pathways students got.

I was about to start college as a senior in high school, and that terrified me.

I didn’t want to be here. College was never a part of my plan. I didn’t want to be sitting at my desk, staring at my phone, terrified it would ring any second, knowing the moment I picked it up, my life would change.

So far, my life had been a series of familiar routines. It had been comfortable. Safe. Change wasn’t something I had much practice with, and I wasn’t very good at it. Yet here I was, about to enter a new stage of life.

I didn’t know exactly how my life was about to change or how much I would need to grow as a result. I just knew that I had no idea how to navigate what was coming.

That unknown terrified me more than anything else.

Surprise! College wasn’t as bad as I feared.

When the phone finally rang, I wanted nothing more than to throw it across the room.

You know why I didn’t? Mostly because I love my mom.

Cheesy, I know—but for as long as I can remember, she wanted her sons to go to college. It was part of the reason she chose to homeschool us. Even if I didn’t want to be here, even if it wasn’t part of my plan, college was important to my mother. I couldn’t let her down.

So I answered the call.

That first call lead to another and then another, and before I knew it I was taking my first college classes. Admittedly, I wasn’t the most coachable of students—I have this insatiable drive to do things my own way. But with my coach’s guidance, slowly, college didn’t seem quite as scary as it did just before that first call.

I learned what it was like to study for a college-level exam, to enroll in a class, and to earn my first credits. I learned how to write academic papers and cite sources I found somewhere other than Wikipedia. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t know how to do any of this before I started college. But my coach did.

Whenever I came up against something new and outside my comfort zone, my coach helped me learn the best way to handle it. And the more I learned to do, the more capable I felt, the less scary college became.

I tried, I quit, I (almost) failed.

That being said, the reality of the self-paced, self-directed, self-motivated college experience that is Accelerated Pathways was much more challenging for me than I had expected.

Despite being a great student in high school, I was struggling in college. I was barely passing most tests. I was having trouble thinking and sleeping. Worst of all, the anxiety I felt before taking that first coaching call never really went away.

I didn’t know at the time that I had an undiagnosed autoimmune disease which was the primary source of these challenges. Severe anxiety, brain fog, and insomnia were just some of my symptoms; none of which I had any real control over. Despite this, as my academic progress slowed to a crawl, and my symptoms became more severe, I blamed myself for these challenges. I didn’t know any better.

I assumed if I was this distressed by a college program as flexible as Accelerated Pathways, I simply wasn’t cut out for college.

So after fighting through two years of school, having earned three quarters of my degree and with a half-hearted promise to come back, I told my coach I was “taking a break.”

It surprised me at the time. Even though I never really wanted to be a college student, the fact that I quit felt wrong. I felt like I had let my coach down, let myself down. I felt like a failure. And that feeling haunted me as I did my best to move forward in life.

Over the next year, I spent my time living, traveling, making mistakes and learning to deal with the consequences. Finding ways to grow, becoming stronger, and discovering who I am became my top priorities. I intentionally put myself in uncomfortable situations that forced me to expand my comfort zone. I developed philosophies and rules and structures for my life. I found that the more I focused on developing myself, the easier it was for me to make progress in life.

And even though my autoimmune disease was still undiagnosed, I was learning to live fully, despite the symptoms.

Life definitely wasn’t perfect, but it was as close to perfect as it had ever been. I was happy. Life was relatively great. Despite the promise I made to my coach, I seriously considered not returning to finish my degree.

But could I break my word? Could I let my coach down?

I had come to firmly believe the only time we actually fail in life is when we choose to. Was I okay with choosing failure in this part of my life?

Even after so much time had passed, the fact that I had chosen to quit still bothered me. The fact that I had considered breaking my word to my coach bothered me even more. And as time went by, the uneasy feeling persisted. I realized my life was great only as long as I avoided thinking about what I had left unfinished and the promise I was breaking.

I decided that I wasn’t okay with that.

So, after a year and a half of significant growth, I found myself once again waiting for a phone call. Only this time I was too eager to get started (and too determined to finish) to be distracted by fear.

I chose to finish what I started despite the challenges.

I wish I could say I didn’t struggle with school from here on out. Yet even though I didn’t struggle as much or in the same ways as before, I faced a barrage of new challenges.

During my time off, the school I was set to graduate from had changed their graduation requirements, which meant that I would need to take some extra classes to finish. Somehow, taking such a long break had cost me 30 credits and had set me back a whole academic year.

On top of that, I desperately wanted to change my major from English to marketing. My interests had shifted during my time away from school, and I wanted to earn a degree that reflected those interests. I had already lost a whole year’s worth of credits anyway, what more harm could changing my degree do?

Plenty. I quickly learned that changing my degree would have been more expensive and taken even more time to complete than just making up the lost credits I was already dealing with.

Unless I wanted to fall further behind, I was stuck pursuing a major I didn’t want anymore. Of course I was frustrated, but sometime during my year off, I had learned to see frustration as opportunity.

These new challenges became the fuel that drove me to create a better situation for myself. I needed to overcome them in order to create the life I wanted. After all, I knew I wouldn’t be satisfied until I had completed my studies. So that’s what I was going to do.

How did I end up finally graduating from college? Here’s the answer.

With the encouragement and guidance of my Accelerated Pathways coach, I surged forward in my classes, earning between 24 and 36 credits every semester.

While college took a more prominent role in my life, the life lessons I had learned during my time off helped me maintain my health, balance school with my personal life, and build multiple businesses while I was at it. And because of the flexibility of Accelerated Pathways, I didn’t even have to sacrifice my new-found interest in marketing. I was able to replace all of my lost credits with business- and marketing-oriented classes. Those 30 missing credits became an opportunity to create my very own marketing degree.

When before I would have broken under the pressure of balancing college and life, now I had grown enough to thrive. When a traditional college would have limited my academic opportunities, Accelerated Pathways gave me the tools to get what I wanted out of my studies.

It wasn’t long before the kid who never planned on college ended up graduating with top marks, a bachelor’s degree, and plans to go back for a few more.

Looking back at that first coaching call, I can’t help but laugh at how terrified I was.

I could have ignored that call out of fear—the choice was there for me to make. At any point I could have chosen to quit and never come back. So why didn’t I?

Because people who loved and believed in me held me accountable. Even though I was terrified at the start, even though I wanted something else, I persevered because I knew that I couldn’t let my team down.

My team gave me the motivation to persevere through college; and Accelerated Pathways gave me the ability to learn and to grow in the way that best fit me.

With my health, I don’t know if I would have lasted a full year at a traditional college. I’m positive that I wouldn’t have gone back after a break. Even if I had, I wouldn’t have had the flexibility I needed to pursue my evolving academic interests. I wouldn’t have fit into a traditional college program.

Accelerated Pathways was a program that fit me, not a program I had to fit into.

But if you were to ask me what the true power behind Accelerated Pathways is, I’d say it’s the coaches.

I am grateful to my coach every day for his investment in me. He was a key member of my team and my guide through the unknowns of college. We never met in person, and he didn’t know this until our very last call, but from the start of my journey to the end, I stepped into the unknown, pushed against my fears, and grew because of—and for—him. I would never have done that for myself.

If I hadn’t been a part of this program, if I hadn’t had a coach who believed in me, if I hadn’t taken that first call, I wouldn’t have grown into the person I am today. I would still be afraid. I would still be horrible with change. I’m sure I would have grown; but I’m positive I wouldn’t have grown in such a meaningful way.

Going to college was never a part of my plan. But if I’m being honest, that was a stupid plan.

 

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I’m sure you’ve heard how important STEM is. You’ve also probably heard that people with STEM careers typically do pretty well financially. But what you might not have heard is what STEM actually is.

Getting a definition for STEM is easy enough: it stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. So take a biology class in college, and technically you're taking a class that’s a part of STEM. However, STEM is much more than just a useful way of grouping subjects in a catchy acronym.

At its core, STEM is a teaching philosophy that integrates all four disciplines together into a single, cross-disciplinary program which offers instruction in real-world (as opposed to purely academic) applications and teaching methods.

This is important to understand because getting a math degree doesn’t necessarily mean you completed a STEM program, even if math is a STEM subject. Without the integration of all four disciplines and the use of real-world teaching methods, you don’t get the educational benefits that make STEM degrees so valuable and careers in STEM fields so desirable.

Do you think you might be interested in a career in STEM? Accelerated Pathways can help you out! Our team can talk to you about your goals and help you build a customized college plan designed to help you reach those goals (and save money along the way). Click here to learn more.

STEM is pretty different. And, like, really difficult.

Don’t worry if you’re still a little confused about all this. STEM is a complicated idea to wrap your head around. It might be easier to fully understand how STEM subjects become a STEM program if you knew what a college-level STEM program actually looks like for a student.

STEM is extra heavy on science and math.

Remember, the disciplines that STEM focuses on are Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. While technology and engineering might sound like fun (I mean, who wouldn’t want to build robots in class?) for a large portion of potential students, science and math are very much not fun. Unfortunately, being able to quickly master these two subjects is an integral part of doing well in STEM.

Science and math are particularly important in STEM because technology and engineering are dependant on them. If an Architectural Engineering student needed to design a 10-story building, they would first need to understand the underlying mathematical and scientific principles that make a building like this possible. STEM careers share this heavy reliance on either math or science—often both. This is why students who don’t perform well in math or science so often quit STEM to follow an easier academic program. Or they just fail out.

However, this doesn’t mean that STEM is beyond reach if you’ve struggled with these subjects in the past. It just means that STEM will likely be more difficult for you than others. Alternatively, you might find that understanding these two subjects is actually easier for you than it has been in the past, given the practical way these subjects are taught in a STEM program.

For the rest of you super smart left brain types who excel at math and science, don’t get too excited just yet. Math and science are only the tip of the iceberg.

STEM is a new way of learning.

As a philosophy, STEM is meant to create a program that integrates all four disciplines in a way that forces the student to use cross-disciplinary knowledge to solve problems. Which essentially means that the traditional learning style incoming freshman are used to—typically some form of memorization and recitation of information—is pretty much out the window.

You’ll rarely be given the explicit solution to a problem. Instead, you’ll often be required to use what you already know to figure out the right answer for yourself. This requires a significant amount of creativity and flexible thinking, as well as technical knowledge and mastery of each individual discipline.

This approach to education is often why those of us who are extremely analytical, but not especially creative, tend to struggle with STEM. Successful students quickly learn how to think for themselves and abandon their expectations of being told what to think.

Of course, STEM teachers won’t assume that incoming freshmen in a basic technology class already have mastery of advanced, graduate-level mathematics. Students in STEM are guided in their learning to build up mastery of the four disciplines over time, just like non-STEM students. However, when the time comes for them to apply what they’ve learned, whether a student does well or not depends heavily on how well they’re able to solve the problem, not how much they’ve memorized.

STEM gives less freedom to choose classes for fun.

Because STEM students require a solid foundational understanding of a broad array of subjects in order to succeed, they typically have less control over what courses they take (and in what order they take them) than students in other programs. After all, while other students are only required to gain a mastery of a single discipline, STEM students are required to gain mastery of four.

As a result, STEM students might not be able to take many extra classes outside of their STEM requirements. So if you’re a STEM student with a passion for photography, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to take many photography classes during your time in college. This lack of freedom can force students to take a series of classes that they might struggle in back-to-back, or even at the same time.

And since STEM programs don’t work unless a student makes steady progress in all four disciplines simultaneously, stacking difficult classes on top of each other like this can easily lead to falling behind and failing out.

This might not seem like an issue to an especially driven student. Most people go into STEM with an idea of the difficulties that come with the program and are willing to take on the challenge. However, with this restrictive schedule and high-stress environment, finding time to explore your passions or simply take a break becomes extremely important for STEM students. Otherwise they could quickly burn out.

STEM programs are a ton of work.

Even STEM students who are already gifted in all four disciplines are often challenged by the sheer amount of homework and studying required by each class. These programs are famous for having super heavy workloads, which makes sense as the subjects covered in STEM programs are extremely complex. Being able to adequately understand them requires hours of extra work outside of class.

But it’s not all busy work. STEM students have to be careful that their eyes never glaze over while completing a project, because making mistakes can be costly. STEM students are expected to deliver the highest quality of work—regardless of how much homework they have. Which, again, makes sense if you consider the jobs these students will be doing after they graduate.

If a software developer makes a single error in a piece of code, they can break an important program and cause a company to lose thousands of dollars. Even a tiny miscalculation in a rocket launch can cost lives. So many STEM careers require perfect execution in high-stress environments—it makes sense that a STEM education will require the same thing.

STEM forces students to approach education in an active and exploratory way.

Despite all the hard work, STEM can be lots of fun too. Remember, at the core of these programs are real-world applications and study methods, which means you won’t simply be learning about robots in a classroom setting. You’re actually going to build robots in order to learn about them.

A good example of this is California Institute of Technology (one of the best STEM colleges in the nation) which teaches Biological Science by combining classroom instruction with student participation in their research programs. Their students have an active role in producing whatever cutting edge technologies or ground-breaking discoveries the university is currently working on—actively doing real work in the discipline that they’re in the process of mastering.

This type of education, learning by doing, will be a large part of your day in a STEM program.

What can I do with a STEM education after graduation?

Technology advances by leaps and bounds seemingly every day. Yet everything from new software to new metal alloys for spacecraft to the discovery of new sources of renewable energy or the cure for a previously incurable disease all need to be produced by someone. And as technology continues to advance, the already high demand for STEM professionals continues to climb.

Going through a STEM program is pretty intense. It requires a lot of dedication, perseverance, and sacrifice to make it all the way through. However, this style of education builds the skills and mindsets that employers find incredibly valuable. And since the demand for STEM professionals is so high, employers in STEM fields are willing to offer some of the most generous starting salaries that recent graduates can get.

The most in-demand STEM careers right now:

Computing is one of the fastest growing STEM fields. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, roughly 71% of STEM careers are in computing. Not sure what “computing” is, exactly? Just think along the lines of Software Developers, Statisticians, or Computer Systems Analysts. If they work with computers or programs, they probably have a career in computing.

This high demand for computing professionals makes sense if you consider how much of our lives have become reliant on some form of digital technology. It’s how we communicate and keep in touch. It’s how we entertain ourselves. It starts the engines in our cars; in medical practices, it keeps us alive; it drives massive segments of our economy; and for better or worse, advances in digital technology will continue to control the future direction of our society. As our daily lives become more reliant on software and digital devices, jobs in computing will become increasingly more important.

Engineering and Physical Science is the next largest category of in-demand STEM careers. These are careers like Orthodontists, Petroleum Engineers, Biochemists, Nurse Anesthetists, Civil Engineers, and Cartographers. Yes, cartographers—map makers—are still a thing and they earn a median salary of $63,990. (Cool, I know.) These types of careers have much less to do with computers and more to do with rolling up your sleeves and getting elbow deep in real work, with real results that you can see right now.

Life Sciences and Mathematics are much smaller fields than the previous two, but they make up the third most significant chunk of STEM careers. These two fields involve the more theoretical STEM careers that account for only a small amount of the demand for STEM professionals. These are careers like being a Clinical Research Associate or an Economist that—while still in demand—might be harder to find a position in.

However, these are by no means your only options when it comes to STEM careers. It doesn’t matter whether you prefer working with computers, building robots, drawing blueprints for skyscrapers, or developing groundbreaking medicine. If you can make it through a STEM program in college, there’s a STEM career for you.

Should You Pursue a STEM Education?

If you’re expecting to find a great career straight out of college, going through a STEM is one of the best ways to do that. It would be difficult to get a better education (other than maybe getting a couple years of on-the-job experience). However, not everyone is cut out for a college-level STEM program. Want to know if STEM is for you? Ask yourself a few questions:

Are you serious about your education? STEM requires an insane amount of commitment and hard work. There isn’t much room in these programs for students who just want to have their “last four years of freedom” before getting a real job.

Are you actually interested in STEM? So much of being successful in a STEM program comes down to a student’s ability to stay focused on, curious about, and actively interested in a subject. It’s extremely unlikely that you’ll do well if you’re falling asleep in class because you’re bored.

Are you willing to take on the challenge? I don’t think I pulled many punches in this article. STEM is hard. Likely the most difficult challenge you’ve ever considered taking on. Even the most gifted and driven students struggle with it. The students who succeed are the ones apply themselves every day and approach that challenge head on.

If you think STEM would be a good fit for you after everything you’ve read, then you might be exactly the type of person who should pursue a STEM education.

Want to know if a STEM degree is the right choice for your goals? Accelerated Pathways can help you build a customized college plan designed to help you get a degree for a career in STEM (and save money along the way). Click here to learn more.

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When I was asked to research and write a post about 529 plans, I had one question: “A what now?”

Seriously. I had never heard of these before, and I’m about to start my third year of college. I would be unsurprised if you haven’t heard of them, either. A 529 plan is something that you usually learn about from a financial advisor. But if you’re like me (and most people for that matter), you don’t have one of those.

So let’s see if we can fill in some of those gaps in our knowledge.

What is a 529?

Qualified Tuition Programs, as they are formally known, are authorized by section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code… hence the pithy nickname. In short, they’re tax-free programs designed to help students (or their parents) save up for college.

In practice, a 529 works much like an ordinary savings or investment account. You deposit money in regular installments into the account to be used for college expenses months or years down the road. The plan is controlled by whoever sets it up and withdrawn by the named beneficiary of the account. And, yes, if you’re 18 or older, these can both be you.

The programs are managed and distributed by U.S. state governments, and they come in two basic flavors: prepaid tuition plans and savings plans.

The Prepaid Tuition Plan

There are currently 18 states offering some form of prepaid tuition, though only 11 were accepting new applications as of 2018. These plans allow you to pre-pay (shocked gasp) for future college tuition and fees. This type of plan works best when it is set up years in advance of attending college, so it’s aimed toward parents looking to save while their children are young. While a prepaid plan will gain a small amount of interest, that isn’t the main goal here. Instead, prepaid tuition allows you to lock down the price of tuition at a certain school. This can be a massive benefit, considering how quickly tuition rates have been rising. (For reference, College Board reports that from 2008 to 2018, the average tuition price for a public 4-year college increased by around $270 per year. That’s an increase of 3.1%, compared to only a 0.8% increase in median family income over the same period. Yikes!)

It is worth pointing out that this security comes at the cost of flexibility. Most prepaid tuition plans require you to live in the same state that offers them, and many will only be accepted at certain schools. Others may have grade requirements or restrictions on the age of beneficiaries, and all have specific enrollment periods. And, as the name implies, prepaid tuition plans only pay for tuition and college fees, not for books or other supplies needed for school.

The Savings Plan

This type of 529 plan is more common; all 50 states (and DC) offer at least one. A 529 savings plan is a mutual fund which collects returns on investments until withdrawn. These are typically a bit more flexible than the prepaid plans. Very few have residency requirements, and a 529 savings plan can be used on more than just tuition. Any qualified school expense can be paid for with a 529 without the disbursement being taxed.

It should be noted, however, that a 529 savings plan is still an investment account, and therefore still carries some risks. When you open one, you are entrusting your money to the state which then invests it on your behalf. Unfortunately, there have been a couple of cases of mismanagement or fraud within states’ 529 programs. And, as with any other investment, returns will be subject to market fluctuations. You’re not guaranteed a specific amount of growth.

Why Bother with a 529?

“But I already have a savings account, and I can use it for whatever I want. Why bother with a 529?”

Why yes, dear reader, I can read your mind. Or rather, I can imagine you have the same questions I did. (Same thing, right?) More to the point, though, 529’s do have a few advantages over a regular savings account or mutual fund, even though they tend to have similar rates of return on investment.

The Tax Advantage

The biggest advantage of a 529 over more traditional investments is that 529s are tax-free. With an ordinary investment account, you’re taxed both on the money you put in (as part of your regular income taxes) and any returns you make on the investment. With a 529, while the money you put in is not tax-deductible (as it might be if you donated to a charity), the return on investment is. So as long as the funds are used for qualified school-related expenses, it won’t count toward your own taxable income. Additionally, many states offer their own tax breaks to incentivize the use of a 529 and encourage saving for college.

Competitive Market

Although there may be some tax advantages to enrolling in a plan with your own state, you don’t have to. Most 529 savings plans are open to residents of any state. And here’s the kicker: you can have plans in up to 44 different states at the same time! Now, most folks won’t need nearly that many, but if you had the means to invest in that many, you totally could if you wanted to.

This means that state plans have to compete for your business, which is good news for you. It incentivizes states to offer a variety of plans that will work in your best interests. If you (or your parents) have a financial advisor, they should be able to help you sort through the different plans available to you. For the rest of us, there are a couple of websites like this one where you can compare different plans against each other to find the one that best fits your means and needs.

What If You Don’t Use the Money?

One of the common concerns about 529s is what happens if the original beneficiary of a plan doesn’t end up needing all (or possibly any) of the money saved when they get to college, or if they decide not to go to college at all. What if you start a savings plan, but then you earn a full-ride scholarship to your dream school? In either case, the 529 comes with a couple of options to deal with this.

The first is to simply name a different beneficiary (or merge accounts, if they already have a savings plan in the same state). This can be done without fees or penalty charges. Alternatively, you could simply withdraw the money. If you are withdrawing because you got that full-ride to Yale (go you!), then you will only owe back-taxes on the returns from the account. If you have simply decided that college isn’t for you, you can still withdraw the money, but a 10% fee will be deducted from the amount withdrawn on top of those back-taxes.

“Qualified Expenses”

Okay, so by now I’ve referred to this idea a couple of times: a 529 savings plan works on any “qualified school expense.” But what does that even mean?

Unfortunately, not everything you technically need for school counts as a qualified expense. If I could buy a car using my financial aid, you could bet your overpriced college textbooks I wouldn’t be spending my time on the convoluted city bus routes between my home and campus. But alas, the U.S. Department of Education says Pell doesn’t work like that, even if you go to a commuter school. (Sigh.) So what does count, then?

What Counts?

Actually, the Pell is a decent place to start. If you’re familiar with what you can do with a Pell Grant, you’ve got a good idea of what can be bought with a 529, too. Well, the savings plan, anyway. As mentioned previously, a prepaid plan only applies to tuition and school fees. With a savings plan, though, tuition and college fees will be covered, as well as books and supplies needed for the class (yes, even your rainbow gel pens and pony-licious backpack). If your class requires a computer and internet access, that can be covered as well, so long as it is primarily for school. If you’re enrolled at least half-time (as determined by the school in question), a 529 savings plan can also pay for room and board up to the amount accounted for in the college’s “cost of attendance” estimate. If you are a student with special needs, such as a wheelchair, special desk, or if your condition requires special transportation considerations, those are covered as well. Just be sure to keep your receipts. If you’re audited, you’ll need to be able to prove that the money was used on school expenses.

What Doesn’t Count?

Unless you have a special need, as stated above, transportation costs don’t count. So no, I wouldn’t be able to get my car with a 529, nor could I pay for gas with it. Health insurance also won’t count, even if the policy is offered by your college. Application and testing fees, as well as expenses for extracurricular activities, won’t fly either. And you can’t use a 529 to pay off existing student loans.

Now, technically, this isn’t to say you can’t withdraw your money and then use it for these things. But remember that any withdrawal that can’t be counted as a qualified educational expense comes with a 10% fee, and you will also owe back-taxes on the amount withdrawn. So I wouldn’t recommend it.

What's the Catch?

I realize this is quite the rosy picture I’ve painted for you, and you’re right to ask questions. As with any major financial decision, there are always reasons people will tell you not to get a 529 plan.

Reducing Financial Aid Options

“The government will give you less money. ” This seems to be the most common cautionary statement I’ve seen regarding 529s. (If you don’t believe me, open up a tab real quick and google “529 financial aid.” I’ll be here when you get back.)

This statement tends to be overblown, though. The average reduction in financial aid is only around 6%. For reference, if a full-time student who was completely dependent on financial aid had that much deducted from their Pell Grant last semester, they only would have lost about $160. That’s less than the price of many college textbooks. They would have lost a slight bit more from any Stafford Loans they had, but those have to be paid back with interest anyway. Even so, it is important to keep in mind that financial aid is distributed based on perceived need. So if you have assets to use, the government would rather give their money to someone who doesn’t.

Other Considerations

Other factors to consider when deciding if a 529 is for you are much the same as with any other savings or investment. Growth is based on interest rates and investment income, so it needs time to accrue. It isn’t a magical money machine; you need to have money to put into it. And, much like with any savings fund, there’s a risk that in times of financial crisis, the state may not have the funds it owes you when you need them.

How Can I Get Started?

If you’re interested in getting started with a 529 plan, consider talking with a financial advisor. They will be your best bet. A financial advisor will be able to help you work out if a 529 plan is right for you and, if so, which ones work best for your particular situation.

Unfortunately, most people don’t have a dedicated financial advisor. Fortunately, there’s still help for us.

SavingforCollege.com has a great resource page for comparison-shopping for your 529. The page also has additional information about the plans and can help you find a professional to advise you if you need it.

As for when to start, generally the sooner you open a 529, the better it works. This is especially true in the case of the prepaid plans, which are designed around locking in a price against future inflation.

Like any investment or savings account, a 529 plan benefits from time. The longer you have it and the more money you can contribute over that period, the more you will have available by the time you use it. However, even if you’re already in high school (or in college like me), you may still benefit from the tax advantages of putting the rest of your college savings into a 529. After researching for this article, I’m seriously considering getting one for myself, as I plan to go back for a higher degree later on down the road.

Already have a 529 savings plan, and just looking for ways to make the most of it? Accelerated Pathways can help. Our academic advisors are dedicated to helping you graduate college 100% debt free. That means they’ll work with you to find the most affordable and effective path toward your bachelor’s degree. Make your 529 savings plan go further with Accelerated Pathways advising and our incredibly affordable online courses. Check it out now!

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As a child, I sang. I danced. I hid under my covers with a flashlight and a good book. From designing herb gardens and crocheting misshapen blankets to scrapbooking and dreaming up experimental recipes to inflict on my family—if it was dreamy and artistic, I did it.

When it came time to pick a college major, I surveyed my most-beloved high school subjects—classical music, history, grammar, literature, Spanish—and landed on... accounting.

Yep. Making heads spin since 2011, that’s me! I picked a Bachelor of Science in Accounting, a typical 4-year, 120-hour degree in a subject I had previously had zero experience in.

Shock (or outright terror) became the most common reaction when I told friends and family about my degree choice.

If you believe the cultural stereotype, I was an unlikely accountant for sure. Accountants are the stern, semi-monastic gurus of great financial mysteries beyond the pale of the happily-unaware. I was just a starry-eyed dreamer longing to organize a world I had never explored.

That’s how I discovered the stereotype was dead wrong.

Signs You Have an Accounting Brain

I chose accounting for two reasons:

1. I didn’t hate math, and

2. I wanted a firm grasp on a concrete business skill to round out my artistic tendencies.

After focusing on the humanities in high school, I wanted to gain more practical expertise as I entered adulthood. Accounting seemed like a prime career option with great earnings potential and lots of job location flexibility. But honestly, I had no idea I would actually be good at it, much less enjoy it. As I began my studies, I found out why accounting fit strangely well into my creative personality.

Here are some signs accounting might be a more likely match than you think:

Numbers don’t make your brain hurt.

Accounting isn’t hard-core math. It’s basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Possibly some light, entry-level algebra, but that’s it. You don’t have to understand calculus. You just need the mental ability to associate abstract information (numbers printed on a page) with real-world quantities (money and other valuables).

Organizing gives your heart joy.

For a whimsical bookworm, I was surprisingly skilled at accounting… but why? Design. Abstraction. Labeling. The adventurous pieces of my childhood were all indicators that I would be really, really good at categorizing things.

Turns out accounting is organizing on steroids. Less math, more Marie Kondo. (Except you can’t throw out the numbers that don’t bring you joy. Don’t do that. That’s called fraud.)

You’re a little bit of a perfectionist.

Disorder nags at the back of my mind like that cringe-worthy sound my car bumper makes when I drive over the curb for the millionth time. There is nothing like the satisfaction of neat columns of numbers balancing out on the crisp ledger lines of an Excel workbook.

If you can’t rest until everything is exactly where it needs to be, welcome to the spreadsheet family. Your perfectionist tendencies are welcome here.

However, if counting, obsessing, and lining up things in even rows makes you a little crazy, run now. Accounting will kill you slowly.

As I approached the end of my degree, it was clear that—unlikely candidate as I seemed— accounting was a great fit for my weird little brain. It worked for me. But I still wasn’t quite sure exactly how I wanted to work for it.

What Can You Do With An Accounting Degree?

I suspect that you might think of an accounting degree the way I did. I saw a very specific career path laid out for my chosen degree, and I wasn’t sure how it would apply to much else. I was surprised when I found out just how open my options were

Accounting education follows a basic hierarchy, but each level leads to a similar place: a computer full of numbers crying out for your love and attention. How big the numbers are and what you’re allowed to do to them depends on your certification level.

Here’s a quick run-down of the typical levels of accounting work:

Bookkeeper

Bookkeeping involves basic accounting, but you don’t necessarily need a degree to do it. A bookkeeper tracks spending, pays bills, and keeps up with a business’s financial paperwork like invoices and reports.

Accountant

Just up the ladder from bookkeeping is accounting. An accountant typically holds a bachelor’s or a master’s degree. While not recognized as certified by the IRS, accountants can generate financial statements, prepare tax documents, and conduct audits of a company’s ledgers.

CPA

An accountant is not the same as a CPA. CPA stands for Certified Public Accountant, and this certification requires an exam plus an extra 30 hours of college credit. As the gold standard of accounting prowess, CPAs are authorized to perform general accounting work as well as prepare tax returns and, most importantly, legally represent other taxpayers to the IRS.

Accountants often devote themselves to a particular area of finance that interests them, such as internal accountability and improvement (managerial accounting or cost accounting), external reporting (financial accounting or tax accounting), or financial review for legal purposes (auditing or forensic accounting).

But as I hinted at before, traditional accounting fields are definitely not your only option with this degree. Despite my original plans of a home accounting office, I have actually never worked in an accounting position.

I write articles and talk to people about their health insurance for a living. I’ve also administered online learning platforms, developed courses, and taught music—all since earning my degree. I plan to do other things over the course of my life too, maybe even own a business.

My degree doesn’t just belong behind a desk or inside a spreadsheet. I learned about the inner workings of business, economics, marketing, communication, finance, and taxation. My diploma awarded me with a Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration with a focus in accounting. (Although a person can get a bachelor's or master's in accounting without the business administration part.) I’m a businesswoman with an edge.

My accounting degree gave me so much more than just an understanding of contra accounts or how to balance a ledger. It gave me critical insight into business and a broad base of knowledge that I can bring to any job I pursue. It balanced my artistic intuition with concrete intellectualism, allowing me to act as a human bridge between the worlds of language and numbers.

Accounting isn’t for everyone, true. But as I learned, it isn’t limited to a few nerdy, introverted geniuses. It was also perfect for a bubbly, artistic girl who needed boxes large enough to organize her imagination.

You never know. Accounting might take you by surprise too.

Did you enjoy this post? You might also enjoy Why Your Bachelor’s Degree Won’t Get You a Job.

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In high school, I was just like you. I spent hours surfing college websites, organizing my high school transcript, and checking every little box. I wanted to go to college and be a success. Not just college—I wanted to go to grad school and really do something with my life.

At the time, I planned to follow the medical path, pursuing a career as a naturopathic doctor. I’m not sure what motivated this dream beyond a passing interest in humans, biology, and health. But somehow, the plan had formed in my mind, and that meant I had to work out every kink and detail until my dream became a reality.

But I was paranoid that, as a homeschooler, my chances of getting into college would be slim. And, worse, my chances of getting into grad school would be nonexistent.

What about you? Are your big dreams causing anxiety about whether the world of traditional scholarship will take you seriously? Before you waste your time in high school attempting to perfectly arrange the next 8 years of your academic life, let me offer you a little advice.

You might be getting ahead of yourself.

Spoiler alert: I didn’t end up becoming a doctor.

“But Abigail,” you say, “it was your dream!”

Yeah. Sure. If you look back at my story, you’ll notice in my flurry of research, studies, and college course comparison, I forgot to account for one tiny detail.

I was 15 years old.

Ten years later, I look back on little high school Abigail and her big dreams, and I chuckle. I was so obsessed with the idea of going to grad school and becoming a doctor that I didn’t realize I was nearly failing Chemistry. I didn’t think about how I was spending all my free time writing novels or that my favorite hobby was reading fantasy books. I also, for some reason, didn’t find it suspicious that my path toward a doctorate started with enrolling in college for an English degree.

I didn’t notice how poorly suited I was to a future in medicine because I was 15 years old. I was doing what 15-year-olds do: dreaming, experimenting, learning, living. When I finally realized I was actually a writer, I only did so by looking back on my high school years to discover I had already been one the whole time.

Trust me, most 15-year-olds don’t know themselves well enough to discern where they’ll be when they’re 25. Give yourself some time.

The best way to prepare for the future is to do well now.

Does that mean you shouldn’t dream big? You shouldn’t start down a path that will take 10+ years to reach the end?

Not at all. Dream as big as you like and make as many plans as your heart desires. And even feel free to start working toward them! Just don’t marry them.

You probably feel more pressure than ever to ensure you’re on the “right” path right now. That’s why I’m here to remind you that high school isn’t the time to engrave your life plan into stone. It’s your time to experiment. To learn who you are and what you like. To learn what you’re interested in, what you’re good at, what you’re naturally drawn to.

If you really feel convinced that grad school is in your future, that’s awesome. Start preparing by completing high school and college to the best of your ability. Try as many new experiences as possible and discover what you’re truly passionate about. That will be your best chance.

Feel free to follow whatever path you’re most interested in, but if you focus on completing what’s in front of you to the absolute best of your ability, I guarantee the rest will fall into place.

What about grad school? Won’t homeschooling ruin my chances?

I just want to put this out there: homeschooling will not bar you from grad school.

Whew! You can breathe a sigh of relief. Your homeschool years haven’t been a curse, keeping you from a more traditional college education. In fact, they’ve probably been a blessing. Having so much freedom to pursue your education more or less on your own has likely taught you the most important skills for grad school: curiosity and self-motivation.

Grad school is even more hands-off than college. Many of these degrees are research-focused, requiring students to have the ability to pursue their studies on their own. Sure, you’ll have guidance, but you won’t have a teacher (or mom) explaining assignments or helping you through lesson plans. That’s up to you.

And, let’s face it, grad schools don’t really care how you checked the high school box anyway. So take your homeschooling adventure as an opportunity to practice studying independently and taking ownership of your education—that’s the best grad school preparation you can get.

Want some more practical advice?

If you’ve finished this post and are still chomping at the bit to learn more about grad school and what it might take for you to get into the college of your choice, check out our free ebook Homeschool to Grad School.

It was written by my friend Shawn: homeschooler, Accerated Pathways graduate, and master of business administration.

In this book, Shawn talks you through how he walked this exact path, following his dream and graduating from the school of his choice.

You can download the book here for free.

Enjoy!

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Transfer students tend to lose 40% of their credit when making the switch to university. But it’s not because of subpar coursework and certainly not because their new university is a big bully. It’s usually because the student didn’t take the right credit in the first place.

Yes… getting a degree is more complicated than simply passing college-level coursework. It involves passing the right college-level coursework. And since colleges don’t universally agree on what the “right” coursework is, transferring between a community college and university can be challenging, to say the least.

But it’s not impossible. And I’m here to show you how to do it (even though I personally think you’d be better off trading in community college for Accelerated Pathways—which I intend to shamelessly plug at the end of this post).

Pulling off a successful stint at community college starts where every other college decision should start: knowing what you want.

Start with the end in mind.

All too often, students seeking a cheaper alternative to college enroll in an eye-catching associate degree program before considering what bachelor’s degree they want. This isn’t a great idea. While community colleges are less expensive than university, community college advisors aren’t equipped to tell you what will transfer and what won’t. Their only job is to deliver what you ask for. That means if you ask for the wrong thing (i.e. an associate degree that doesn’t actually line up properly with your future goals) you’re in for some serious disappointment a couple of years later.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, college degrees are structured very specifically. Earning a B.A. in English requires you to take different courses than you would to earn a B.A. in Business Management. Makes sense, right? But what’s more—earning a B.A. in English from Stanford University will also require different courses than earning a B.A. in English from NYU.

That’s right. It’s not just degrees that differ in course requirements, each college does too.

So before contacting your local community college, first decide what degree you want and where you want to graduate from. This—admittedly—is a monster of a task in and of itself. (If you want some help with it, I recommend our free ebook What Should I Major In?)

Then you’ll need to know what’s required to earn that specific degree from that specific school. What kinds of courses do you need? What subject? What specificity? What level? Check the college’s website for this information. If you’ve never done this research before, it may feel like drinking from a fire hose. Our a crash course on college course codes may help.

Once you understand what degree you want, where you want to earn it from, and your degree’s specific college credit requirements, only then can you can begin researching which of those credits you can transfer from a community college.

Understand college transfer policies.

Most colleges only allow students to transfer in a certain amount of outside credit, so do a quick search on their website to find out how much outside credit your university allows. This will tell you the maximum amount of credit you should be looking to earn from your community college. Taking anything beyond this maximum will be a waste of your time and money.

The next thing to consider is whether your chosen university and community college actually work well together. Because of those pesky disagreements over course-requirements, earning a 2-year associate degree does not automatically mean you’re halfway done with your bachelor’s. This is one of the most common mistakes community college graduates make. You can only transfer a full associate degree into a bachelor’s degree program if that university and community college have a very good, pre-existing transfer agreement.

That’s why it’s important to understand what kind of transfer agreement your chosen community college has with your chosen university. These policies tend to come in 4 varieties with varying levels of transferability: no relationship, general articulation agreement, general education articulation, and degree-to-degree. The better the transfer agreement, the safer your community college credit is. Let’s take a quick look to understand what each of these means.

Looking for a no hassle way to get college credit that's guaranteed to transfer? Accelerated Pathways offers courses that are guaranteed to transfer into the college of your choice. We can even help you find schools that will take your existing credit when you enroll in our programs. Learn more by signing up for a complimentary student advising session.

1. No Relationship

Most likely, the two colleges you’re evaluating will have no transfer relationship whatsoever. This doesn’t mean you can’t transfer your community college credits to your university, but it does mean the process will be tougher.

When two colleges have no pre-existing transfer agreement, each of the courses you attempt to transfer will have to be evaluated individually. The university in question will have to dig into the courses you took—their course codes, names, descriptions, syllabi, etc.—to determine whether they meet the requirements for bachelor’s degree completion. Some courses will match, others won’t.

Colleges that are unlikely to have transfer agreements:

• Community colleges and private schools

• Colleges in different states

• Schools that are very far apart

2. General Articulation Agreement

In the case of general articulation agreements, the university has already done the course content evaluations we talked about in the previous section and they already know which of the community college’s courses lineup with their own standards and which don’t. But that’s as far as their relationship goes.

This can be thought of as a “course-to-course” agreement: the university in question only accepts courses into their bachelor’s degree program individually, but they at least know beforehand which are eligible and which aren’t.

3. General Education Articulation

A general education agreement is the next level up from course-to-course. This kind of agreement means your university has enough of a relationship with the community college to accept all of your general education credits without question.

No checking course information, no figuring out if the courses line up. With this kind of agreement, as long as the credit you’ve taken at your community college falls into the “general education” category, it’s guaranteed to transfer to your university. Total win.

4. Degree to Degree

A degree-to-degree agreement is the absolute best community college transfer situation, and it’s typically what everyone expects when enrolling in community college. This kind of agreement means the full associate degree you earn at your community college is guaranteed to transfer into your university’s bachelor’s degree.

Yes, this kind of agreement does exist. It’s great when it happens. But it’s very, very rare. Usually, if a degree-to-degree agreement exists, it will be between a community college and a state school, with the community college acting as a “feeder school” for the university in question.

When researching the transfer agreements between your community college and your university, pay attention to which kind of agreement these schools have. The better the relationship, the more guarantee your credit will transfer.

Plan it out, then talk to an advisor.

Once you know what bachelor’s degree you want, what school you want to get it from, which community college is the best choice for your chosen university, and what kind of transfer agreement the two schools have, it’s time to put your plan together.

This is the part that, unfortunately, I can’t coach you through. Every university and degree requirement is so different that you’ll probably be spending a significant amount of time researching, thinking, and trouble-shooting as you try to understand which community college courses are “safe” and which aren’t.

Fortunately, while I can’t coach you through this step, you’re not completely alone. Once you’ve done your absolute best to build your credit-transfer plan, you can take this plan to your chosen university’s college advisor to ensure your plan will actually work.

Note that I said your university’s advisor, not your community college’s advisor. A community college advisor cannot help you with this step. As I mentioned earlier, their job isn’t to help you transfer credit between colleges, it’s to enroll you in an associate degree program, so asking them for credit-transfer advice will be fruitless and frustrating. Instead, talk to an advisor at the university you want to graduate from. Have them review your plan and tell you whether or not these courses will transfer.

There’s one more thing to keep in mind during this step: while talking to an advisor will certainly give you the best bet at a well-made plan, things change. College policies change and the community college course you enroll in this semester may no longer be accepted at your university in 2 years. Your university advisor will be able to greenlight your plan based on the current state of the college’s transfer policy, but if it changes… that’s just really unfortunate for you.

While such changes aren’t necessarily likely—especially if you’re sticking with earning more general courses—just know it can happen. And if it does, it’s not your advisor’s fault. It’s just the way these things work.

Can I skip the research?

Now you may have an idea why I said transferring from community college to university is possible, but not easy. This kind of research takes a long time, is confusing as heck, and in the end you’re still just guessing.

Unfortunately, skipping out on this research phase isn’t advised—unless you want to risk being one of the 40% we mentioned earlier. But I have good news for you: there is one way you can get out of it. Let us help. (Time for the plug!)

At Pearson, we help students use transfer credit to mimic the cost-savings of a community college. But we take it one step further. 94% of Accelerated Pathways graduates earn their degrees 100% debt free.

We’re credit transfer experts, equipped with over a decade of experience transferring credit to and from hundreds of colleges. My point? We can guarantee with confidence that the affordable, online courses you take through us will, in fact, transfer to the college of your choice (or your money back… plus some). All without you lifting a finger.

After taking time to discuss your goals and plans, and how your college degree can help you achieve them, our Accelerated Pathways advisors will help you craft your own fully-customized degree, selecting the most affordable school(s) and courses to meet your goals. With our help, you’ll end up graduating with a debt-free degree that’s not only perfectly tailored to your budget, but also your lifestyle. Learn more about Accelerated Pathways by clicking here.

Whether you let us help or decide to go it alone, you’re already off on the right foot. The best (and only) way to ensure a smooth transfer from community college to university is by knowing what you want and planning ahead. So keep reading up, learning all you can, doing your research, so you can get the clearest picture of where you want to go. That will give you the best shot at getting there as efficiently as possible.

You’ve got this!

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Last year, a west-coast student who applied to Cornell was pleased to be deemed “likely to admit.” But that same student was rejected by her California state campus.

Why? She was good enough for the Ivy League, but not good enough for UC Santa Barbara?

Why is 4.06 the average GPA to make the cut at the University of California? Why are the acceptance rates for dozens of completely average colleges across the golden state plummeting, with less than half of applicants finding a spot?

I have one word for you: impaction.

What is Impaction?

Impaction is what happens when your state effectively runs out of money. It’s what happens when the cost of living rises like Pacific waves and government budgets are stretched to bursting. It’s what happens when you’re in such desperate need of income that you consider placing a tax on texting.

 

Impaction is what happens when there are 400,000 students graduating from high school every year, but your colleges are already full, so you have nowhere to put them. Too many butts, not enough seats.

You can’t build facilities. You can’t add new buildings. You can’t hire new teachers. You can’t do anything to meet the new demand placed on you for higher education. You just don’t have the money.

This immense shortage of higher education has suddenly made California colleges the most exclusive club on the west coast. Every year, hundreds of thousands of completely average students are pitted against each other in a vicious fight for admission to completely average schools.

You know what schools are typically fought over in this manner? Harvard and Yale. But California students aren’t fighting because the schools they want to attend carry the magical career-guaranteeing reputation of Harvard and Yale (though some do). It’s because there’s nowhere else to go.

And, unfortunately for those students of entirely-average intellect, it’s pretty much the A-plusers who are winning that fight. Turns out, when your school receive hundreds of thousands of applications every year, Ivy League reputation or not, you receive the right to be choosy about who you let in. And why wouldn’t you choose the best?

Impaction has created a serious hurdle for students trying to get into college. Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there. It’s hindering students’ ability to get out.

Imagine what happens when almost every student in a maxed-out school needs to take English 101 to fulfill a general education requirement. Course registration becomes a race almost as dirty as the application process. If you don’t click faster than the next guy, you’ll end up sitting out until next semester. Or the next one. Or the next one.

This slowed graduation is only exacerbating the situation at impacted Californian schools. The state of California itself concluded this graduation delay, if not reversed immediately, may have major negative consequences on their future economy… which is kind of what got them into this mess in the first place.

Can Anything Be Done?

Unfortunately, while “just build new campuses” sounds like a great solution, money doesn’t just grow on palm trees. And besides, the time it would take to plan, construct, and staff these schools still wouldn’t help the students being excluded by their local campuses right now.

So, the state has attempted to find another reaction to the impaction protraction:

Filtering students based on geography.

As we mentioned earlier, California enrollment offices are filled to the brim with applications from Ivy League geniuses and perfect SAT scores, including thousands from out of state. They have the option to be picky.

But the state colleges as a whole have decided to tip the scales, giving preferential treatment to local applicants. So, UC Los Angeles is going to prefer a Los Angeles candidate over one from Sacramento and a Sacramento applicant over a Texan.

Unfortunately, due to the immense application numbers, students are still held to the highest of standards, needing top-of-the-line brain cells to gain admittance (especially at UCLA, which has always been a competitive school). But simply being from the local area will at least give Californian applicants an edge.

Filtering students based on student status.

Many schools have an understandable bias toward freshmen. After all, more freshman = more courses bought = more revenue for the school. They’re literally the most valuable kind of student a college can find. This is no different in California.

If you keep up with Accelerated Pathways, you know we have a special love for transferring credit, especially credit earned online. It can be one of the best ways to save money on your degree. But, we have to admit, that’s probably not the best option for hopeful California applicants. Earning transfer credit might lower your place in the pecking order. And there’s nothing worse in California than being lower in the pecking order. (Except maybe LA rush hour traffic.)

As always, there are some exceptions to the rule. For instance, dual credit isn’t penalized the same way transfer credit is, since dual credit is an indication that the student is a cut above the rest of their peers, thus, a better student for a school to nab. Another exception would be students transferring specifically from California community colleges. But that’s a topic which deserves a blog post all its own.

Filtering by degree.

It’s worth noting the quirks of the impaction problem—specifically, that different programs are affected differently. For instance, while one school may have an average acceptance rate of 28% and SAT expectation of 1250, their Engineering program might be more popular—and, thus, tougher to get into. Acceptance into Engineering might be closer to 10% with a 1400 SAT.

So, in order to take advantage of the space available, colleges have introduced certain measures which—intentional or not—may encourage students to pursue some of the less popular programs. That’s what we’ll talk about next.

Delivering the California Promise.

The California Promise was the “bold measure” California put into action back in 2016 in an attempt to decrease time to graduation. This promise guarantees students early registration as well as enhanced academic advising in return for a commitment to take 15 credits per semester (approximately 5 courses) and maintain a good GPA.

Any student is eligible as long as they’re residents and have a degree plan enabling them to graduate in exactly 4 years. (Or 2 years, for transfers.) However, there are some strict stipulations for qualifying like no changing majors and absolutely no failing classes. The Promise leaves no time for retaking credits. Also, the student must be pursuing one of the less impacted majors. For instance, San Jose State University bars Nursing students (one of the most impacted degree programs) from taking advantage of the Promise.

While it’s not a magical fairyland, this program has definitely been a relief to thousands of students at a good 20 or so California State University campuses.

Unfortunately, it’s still not enough. New high school students graduate every year, joining the ranks of last year’s high school graduates, and last-last year’s high school graduates, all waiting for their shot at college. Even with the Promise, April Grommo, director of Enrollment Management Services at CSU, says “unless something changes in state funding... impaction is here to stay.”

When there’s no money, there’s no money. And there’s no money in California’s education system.

Advice for California Students

So, what if you’re one of those unlucky students, biting your nails over your academic future? What can you do?

Honestly, not a lot. But we know sitting on your hands doesn’t feel very good (and makes them all tingly). So our research department did come up with a few suggestions to hopefully bring back that famous California sunshine back into your future.

1. Be intellectually honest with yourself.

To get into one of the top California schools, you have to be an A+ student. Period. If you’re a B student, that doesn’t mean you can’t get into a California school, but it will be harder. A lot harder. Sorry.

So, be honest with yourself. Do you have what it takes to make it into a local school? If not, maybe consider one of these other options.

2. Identify whether you even need a 4-year credential.

We talk about this enough in other blogs, so I won’t rehash the argument here. But the gist is this: if you don’t need a college credential to do what you want to do, save yourself the time, money, and intense headache of the California system. Don’t go.

I know college is important, but it’s not necessary for every career path—don’t assume it’s necessary for yours until you do the research.

3. Know exactly which credential you need.

If you do the research and decide you do need a degree, we suggest you understand precisely which degree you need and what courses you need to take in order to earn it.

Remember what we said about clicking faster than the next guy? You can only do that if you know what classes you’re looking for. And you can only know what classes you’re looking for if you have your entire degree plan already mapped out.

Having this degree plan is also the only way to take advantage of the California Promise if that’s something you’re interested in. But with the restriction on changing majors, you’ll be stuck with what you start. So start well.

4. Apply Everywhere.

In California, you don’t have the luxury of applying to one school. When a college like CSU Long Beach (i.e. an extraordinarily average institution) sports acceptance rates like 28%, you know you’re in for a challenge.

Apply to every school you’re remotely interested in attending because when the acceptance letters are mailed out, you won’t have your pick of schools. You’ll be lucky to get accepted at all.

Though, keep in mind, if one of the colleges you’re considering applying to is a community college, that comes with a whole other bundle of specific rules and distinct limitations most students don’t have. It’s not as simple as starting then expecting your credits to transfer to university.

5. Consider graduating from an inexpensive online school in another state.

It’s not “giving up” to be realistic about the odds being not so much in your favor. As a California student, choosing an out-of-state school may be one of the few guarantees afforded to you.

Of course, the caveat of attending college out of state is always the costs associated with doing so. They’re high. Unless you find a cheaper way to go about it. Accelerated Pathways is that way.

It’s our job to help students graduate college debt free. And while many of our students have been able to do that from their local colleges, a great many more have done so via inexpensive online colleges and loads of affordable transfer credit. We’ve helped many California students do exactly this.

While the situation in California is indeed more grim than hopeful, I didn’t write this post to bring you down. I did it to help you understand what you’re up against, so you can choose the best option for you.

Because you do have options.

Which will you pick? That’s up to you, your goals, and what you want out of your time in college. So be realistic and choose wisely. (And call us if you need any help.)

Special thanks to Jared Brandau, head of research at Accelerated Pathways, for making this blog post possible! This gifted college super-genius graciously took time out of his busy schedule to thoroughly educate me on the scope of the impaction problem so that I could, in turn, educate you, dear reader.

As I mentioned in this article, Jared’s excellent team of advisors has already worked with hundreds of struggling California students, helping them find their best paths for reaching their college goals. They would love the chance to help you too. Just click here to talk to an advisor about your situation.

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