Excelsior is affordable if you make it so. Many of us took a lot of exams before enrolling so we can keep the enrollment fee (around 900$) limited to only one year. You will receive advising for that fee, but no credits or courses. If you can test out of most of your courses you will save unbelievable amounts of money. By just testing only I have accumulated 86 credits (in 7 months) and spent less than 3000 doing it (including the Excelsior fee). There is not another school where you can do it that economically that I am aware of. I believe I will finish my entire degree for less than $5000 by the time I am done, and that is because I have several expensive (ie. Excelsior) exams coming up that are essential to my major. It is very economical but you have to be self-directed and take initiative - there is no hand-holding involved. But then again, that is why many of us appreciate this board so much. You alone can determine if you have what it takes, but we will be supportive to you when you do. Good luck!

I've heard Charter Oak is cheap, at least as far as courses go. Not sure about the yearly enrollment fee. Might want to look into them as well.

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Excelsior, BS Finance, pursuing degree

Studying:

Completed:
CLEP: Hum. (67), Hist. of U.S. I (74), Hist. of U.S. II (71), Intro. Psych. (69), Intro. Soc. (72), Soc. Sci. and Hist. (74), Western Civ I (72), Western Civ II (70), Am. Lit. (60), Intro. to Educ. Psych. (62), P. of Management (74), P. of Market. (74), Intro. Bus. Law (67), P. of Accounting (60), AmGov (68)
DSST: Ethics in Am. (76), P. of Super.(67), HRM (65), Intro to Bus. (70), MIS (65), P. of Fin (62), M&B (65), P. of Stat. (68)
ECE: OB (B)
TECEP:: IntFin, SecAna

Total Credits: 114

I have a friend here who looked at EC's nursing program and although she liked it, she found she couldn't do what so many at this site did by testing out of the majority of their degree. Their Nursing Program requires you to take labs and courses through EC, i.e. you can't test out of them. That said, it doesn't look as though this will be any cheaper a route for you.

Both my sister and niece have their RN, and they both did it being married, with kids, and didn't acquire too much debt in the process. You might want to look into Government/State grants; there is a serious shortage of RNs so there is a lot of help available to those wishing to enter this field.

Hope this helps and good luck!

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Associates Degree, Aviation Maintenance Technology, Community College of the Air Force
Bachelors of Science, Liberal Studies Degree, Excelsior
MBA Human Resource Management, California Coast University