$10,000 Excelsior College Degree

[bldclot2]

Read an article on this to today.

10K Degree - excelsior.edu

This is the article:

Excelsior College Launches Groundbreaking $10,000 Bachelor

[rebel100]

I think it can be done cheaper.....but I like the marketing. There are some CC's in Massachusetts where 10K might not cover a year.

[dcan]

Brilliant marketing. Notice this fine print:

The cost does not include practice exams ($18-$75)

Also

This degree option allows you to:

Finish your degree in up to five years.
Prepare for each exam during a six-month window.
Work with an individual academic advisor to determine the best path toward degree completion.
Take credit-bearing exams at a convenient Pearson VUE Testing Center when you are ready.

They are directly marketing a test-out plan. How does their advisor "determine the best path toward degree completion"?

Specific Feedback Forum!!

I suspect one of you is secretly working for EC... hilarious

[rebel100]

You know I explain the process to people and they seem interested....but I have yet to have anyone follow through. Testing out is legitimate, but folks have trouble wrapping their heads around it. Perhaps this will make it a more approachable route for some. A $10,000 BS/BA is a great deal.

There is always fine print...my favorite lesson....tuition cost is just a starting point!

[bldclot2]

I suspect one of you is secretly working for EC... hilarious[/QUOTE]

lol... with 10K you can finish about 2 or 3 degree's in one year and still have money to party. Looks like EC is gone fishing and someone will bite. Regardless it beats this girls 100k BA........

Another Debt Crisis Is Brewing, This One in Student Loans - NYTimes.com

[burbuja0512]

I love this thread. Yes 10k seems like a lot of money to all of us savvy degree planners at IC, but for most people, it's a drop in the bucket. I love the idea that an undergrad doesn't have to cost so much that you'll never see an ROI unless you get very lucky. Way to go EC!!!

@rebel - I have also told people about the testing options and have not seen anyone other than DH and DS actually move forward with this. I hate to say it, but not everyone is as motivated and driven as some of us on the site. I don't care to share details of my degree with most people, but we know that our style of degree is only for the incredibly goal-oriented. It's SO hard to stay on task without a teacher and a group of students to check in with. Yes we avoided quite a few homework assignments, but I truly believe that a traditional undergrad is easier from a motivation perspective.

[burbuja0512]

lol... with 10K you can finish about 2 or 3 degree's in one year and still have money to party. Looks like EC is gone fishing and someone will bite. Regardless it beats this girls 100k BA........

Another Debt Crisis Is Brewing, This One in Student Loans - NYTimes.com

This article is interesting and similar to one I saw a while back about a 200k sociology degree. I really think that the amount of student loans provided should be directly related to the earning potential of the graduate. 100k for religious and women's studies? I hate to say it, and I DO feel sorry for this girl, but not that much.... When I was 17, I seriously considered studying nutrition, but then I did some research on the types of jobs and salaries available for nutritionists and quickly dropped the idea. This was back in the early 90's before anyone had access to the internet and I managed to figure out that I didn't want to make 10 bucks an hour to work in a hospital cafeteria. I can't believe that this person didn't know that she couldn't easily get a job with such a worthless degree.

Give the big loans to the programs that net the big salaries. 100k to a surgeon - no problem, engineer? why not.. pharmacy? they'll pay it back no problem! Religious studies??? NO WAY!!! Yikes.. what a waste of time and money. No wonder she can't get a job.


Edit to add: I didn't mean to sound this harsh in my reply... just re-read it lol and I didn't mean to come off as too judgmental on this poor girl with her expensive degree. I blame the lender and the borrower. However, schools are way too costly and people just shouldn't pay big bucks for the lower-salary degrees.

[NAP]

Interesting; thanks for sharing this.

I hope this will have benefits in two ways. The first is making more people aware of and use the credit-by-exam options for completing college degrees. The second is an expansion of EC exam programs with more subjects, so many EC majors (including business and health sciences) can be completed through exams.

[dcan]

Because the government guarantees loan repayment the lender has no economic incentive to exercise some basic due diligence. Therefore they shovel money out the door, which increases the money available for tuition, driving tuition costs through the roof, requiring more loans, etc ad nauseum.

If the lenders had to shoulder even half the burden there would be a sudden change. If you want a business loan you have to show a well-thought-out business plan with ROI. Imagine if students who walked into a bank had to present a five page plan showing the research they've done on a degree path, what the expected earnings are in that field, and how the degree will help them reach that earning potential and therefore enable them to pay back the loan at X% in Y time.

We'd have better fiscal management, lower tuition, and smarter and more dedicated students.

[bldclot2]

I don't feel sorry for her, because It's so easy to research and figure out that something isn't matching up. She knew all the loans didn't match up to the degree and the real price of the degree I'm sure isn't 100k.

Plus the saga continues........

More on Cortney Munna's Student Loan Tale - NYTimes.com