I was able to earn a Bachelor’s in Science in General Business from Excelsior University and a Bachelor’s of Arts in History from Thomas Edison State College without going into the classroom. Both of these colleges are regionally accredited and are NOT in anyway a diploma mill.

Both of these colleges offer a no residency requirement for their degree. They also allow maximum use of CLEP, DSST and Excelsior Exams. Through using these exams the learner can test on many subjects from English (with a writing essay), Social Science, Business, Management, Science and Math.

I was very fortunate when I was in the U.S. Navy to have a great navy college office on the base I was stationed at. The navy college office administers CLEP, Excelsior Exams and DSST exams at their facility. These exams are free for active duty military, for civilians they are approximately $125.

After much self study, approximately 180 credits from various exams and no real path. I applied for a business degree at Excelsior. At the time Excelsior charged about $1000 for an assessment. I only needed to take the Production and Operations Management exam to meet the requirements for a BS in Business. I purchased the study aids, studied and passed the exam. I then received my first degree.

After reviewing all of my exams and credits, I wanted to pursue my dreams of teaching history when I left the military. I then applied to Thomas Edison for a BA in History. Thomas Edison’s policy is that I needed another 30 credits beyond my current Bachelor’s degree in order to get a second one. So off to the book store and testing center I went. I quickly received 30 credits in various topics in order to receive my second bachelor’s degree.

I know there are many skeptics out there that might say distance learning, or testing is not as ‘good’ as a degree from a brick and mortar school. If you were interviewing future employees for a job and one was 22 years with a BA from University of Brick and Mortar with no experience (mom and dad most likely paid for college) and the other person received an accredited on-line degree while working another job and raising a family. Who would you hire?

As for me, my undergraduate degrees got me enrolled the University of Oklahoma distance learning program. I received my Masters in Liberal Studies in Leadership from OU. I am now finishing up my PhD in Education from Northcentral University.

Everything was done distance learning. I have never stepped into a college classroom.

www.tesc.edu
www.ncu.edu
www.excelsior.edu