Bachelor's Degree Costs

[joybug29]

Hello Everyone!
If it's not too personal of a question, could I ask how much you are anticipating that you will spend on your bachelor's degree (including tuition, fees, textbooks, tests, proctoring fees, IC subscriptions, etc.)? I am putting together notes for a college discussion panel for my former homeschool group and would like to see if your costs were anywhere near mine. I would like to know how much your degree cost, which college you got it from, and what your degree was in. Thanks for your help!
~Joybug29

[amilitab4k9]

I had done 1.5 years of college previously and several AP courses, so I only did 72 credits the non-traditional way (cbe, online, distance learning). It came out to an average of $81.60 per credit which includes my TESC enrollment fee. Depending on the method, the cost varies. With Straighterline I averaged $18.30 a credit and the university courses I took averaged about $170/credit. CLEP was $29.49 a credit and DSST came out to a little more. Yes, I had a spreadsheet tracking all my costs and got an Accounting degree.

[soliloquy]

DLI: Foreign Language (15 credits) - Cost: $0.00 Military Funded

CC1: Gen. Ed. (8 credits) - Cost: $0.00 Military Funded

CC2: Gen. Ed. (25 credits) - Cost: $0.00 Pell Grant

CLEP: Gen. Ed. (36 credits) - Cost: $900.00

JST: Gen. Ed. (1 credit) - Cost: $0.00 Military Funded

COSC Credential Assessment: Concentration (41 credits) - Cost: $433.00

COSC: Tuition (12 credits) - Cost: $4068.00

COSC: Semester Fee - Cost: $480.00 (two semesters)

COSC: Graduation Fee - $205.00

DSST: Gen. Ed. (3 credits) - Cost: $100.00

Books: Approx 1750.00

Total: $7,686.00

Charter Oak State College

BS General Studies/Concentration in Paralegal Studies

[koenigtv]

I started off with 51 B&M credits from 20 years ago and then completed 23 courses (69 credits) by using a combination of CLEP, SL, Aleks and Penn Foster. My costs are pretty typical of most users here although my CLEP costs were slightly higher because I live overseas.

7 Straighterline courses x $50 = $350

1 Straighterline subscription, 4 months x $100 = $400

14 CLEP/DSST exams x $135 = $1890

1 ALEKS course, 1 month x $20 = $20

2 Penn Foster courses x $237 = $474

1 Instantcert subscription, 4 months x $20 = $80

2 ACE transcripts x $15 = $30

Books = $200 (I used ebooks for all except 2 classes and found at least 4 books free online)

TESC tuition = $3154 (TESC tuition can be reduced by meeting residency requirements & taking TECEPS)


TOTAL Approximate cost: $6600 TESC BSBA

For any new people reading this and considering the Big Three and evaluating their options regarding costs, speed of degree completion etc., it's important to consider that the costs above are spread out over 1 year. Some people may consider these costs low or high depending on their own financial situation, but please consider that if costs are keeping you from moving forward, 1 CLEP test and a 1 month subscription for Instantcert is approximately $100. Knowing these costs and being able to budget for them in your degree plan, with no penalty for starting and stopping when life gets in the way, is the best way to save money, pay for college, accelerate your degree, stay motivated and reduce financial stress.

[cookderosa]

Price is determined by how you fill your credits first (tuition) and then allllllll the fees. Watch out for fees. Fees on top of tuition include (very expensive) textbooks, technology fees, graduation fees, etc.

If you consider a basic typical university runs about $250 per credit (120 credits = bachelor degree) you're looking at $30,000 tuition only.
If you split that and did 60 credits at the community college first, now you're at 60 credits x $100/credit + 60 credits x $250 per credit = $21,000 tuition only.
If you attended TESC and just paid tuition at full price, and completed your degree with them, you're going to pay almost $500 per credit! ($60,000) Obviously no one HERE does that.

Price shop your credits, because TESC accepts transfer, so there are instances where you can get the price per credit wayyyyyy down. A CLEP exam that yields 6 credits only costs $80 (maybe $100 in your town) so you're sitting at $17 per credit. THAT's how you save money.

If you can pass one of the foreign language CLEP exams, now you're looking at $8 per credit.

If you're considering spending more than $10,000 on a bachelor's degree, in my opinion, you should look at your degree plan and see if you're getting the most value for your dollar. I think there are still ways to keep it under $8000 if you're really resourceful.

EDIT: keep a record of your costs and budget. If you can shave even $1 off of a per credit cost, you've saved $120! Make a budget, have others here help you plan and stick to it. Buy used books, and you can get in and out of college with a degree and debt free.