Pricing of CLEP?

[goingforward]

Charter oaks website says the clep cost is $127 but the CLEP website says its $80. What's going on here? Also, ho does this work if I will be going with TESC? so I just go and sit for the CLEP when they have a test date and tell them my college/student ID when I get to the testing location? Then they send the results to TESC? I am just trying to figure out which one is more affordable TESC or COSC.

Thanks!

[Jonathan Whatley]

CLEP currently costs

• $80 to the College Board, and
• a test center/proctoring fee to the center at which you test, set and collected by the center. Testing at U.S. military test centers is generally free for military personnel (and the military will often cover the College Board fee).

Schools that accept CLEPs, including the Big Three, will accept CLEPs administered at any authorized center. Separately, COSC happens to operates a test center in New Britain, CT and TESC operates one in Trenton, NJ. The $127 cost you're seeing is $80 to the College Board plus Charter Oak's $47 test center fee if you test at Charter Oak in New Britain. But you probably won't! You can find contact information for the test centers nearest to you at the College Board's site.

You might want to ask the test center you use about their ID requirements in advance. (I've been in line at a test center behind a client trying to argue with the center about ID.)

If you're currently an enrolled student, or have an active application in process, at a school (like COSC or TESC), you can choose that school from a menu in the testing program and the College Board will send your score to the school free of charge. Whether you send this score report or not – in either case – the College Board will retain your score for 20 years. For a single fee, currently $20, the College Board will send one transcript including all of your CLEP scores (unless you request only a subset) to an institution. In this sense, the College Board 'banks' scores for you.

[rebel100]

When shopping these locally I find the costs vary wildly from school to school. There is a local private Christian College that administers the DSST at cost, they charge no added fee's. The CC near me charges $80 for the CLEP plus a $35 fee, A county over the fee drops to just $17....so it can pay to shop around.

[Daithi]

For comparison, the local testing center near me charges a $30 fee per test. They are also open on Saturdays only once a month, which is kind of annoying.

[cookderosa]

Sometimes, it's worth it to drive a bit, and of course you should price shop. I had the testing center where I first started testing cut me a deal after I became a regular. If I took 2 tests, she only charged me 1 fee. If someone else was working, no such deal. I found a test center right before I graduated that was FREE but a bit of a drive. I did end up going out there twice, but gas wasn't $4 a gallon then lol.

[Lindagerr]

In NJ I found test centers charges ranged from $15-$40 I used the $40 one only when I was in a hurry for they had the shortest wait time to take the test. I also tried some of the others for different reasons, I found I liked the peace and quiet and atmosphere better at some centers. So Shop around . CLEP or DSST will send your results to any one college you pick. I don't know about others but TESC will hold on to the results for 6 months even if they have never heard of you(That is what I was told anyway) that would mean send results then apply just within the 6 month window then you would have another six month window before you would need to enroll.

[Tedium]

For the two DSSTs I'm taking next, I'm planning to drive ~160 miles to another testing center. They administer them at cost, but that doesn't sway me as much as the fact that they are the closest testing center that gives computerized DSSTs. I ride a motorcycle, so gas isn't as much of an issue, but the cold is. I had originally planned to take the Social Psychology ECE first, because the center was closer, but then I realized winter is coming soon. I don't mind being out in the cold, but 2.5-3 hours in the cold at highway speeds is a bit much for me.

So, tangent aside, if paper vs. computer is an issue for you, consider that as well. I couldn't wait several weeks for my results. I would go insane. Sometimes it might be worth it to pay a bit more or to drive a bit further to get what you're looking for.

[cookderosa]

In NJ I found test centers charges ranged from $15-$40 I used the $40 one only when I was in a hurry for they had the shortest wait time to take the test. I also tried some of the others for different reasons, I found I liked the peace and quiet and atmosphere better at some centers. So Shop around . CLEP or DSST will send your results to any one college you pick. I don't know about others but TESC will hold on to the results for 6 months even if they have never heard of you(That is what I was told anyway) that would mean send results then apply just within the 6 month window then you would have another six month window before you would need to enroll.

Oh and Linda brings up an EXCELLENT point. I'd forgotten about the first testing center I went to for DSST. OMG it was a mess. It was a huge room with about 25 people at computers and many more at tables. Apparently chatting was allowed, because it was noisy and distracting- people getting up and down, coming and going, the school's phone rang a dozen times, etc. Terrible. The CLEP center I used regularly had only 2 work stations, so it was always quiet. If the quiet one was double the price, I would have paid it.