OnlineDegree vs SDC vs Shmoop vs Other Options?

[rvm]

COSC is generally the better choice among the big 3 for an associates.

I think CSU global is relatively alternative credit friendly. There are other alternative credit friendly Universities but you would really have to figure out ahead of time what college/program and what courses from what sources would be accepted. Alternatively, you could finish her bachelor's at COSC and she wouldn't run into that problem.

Currently, onlinedegree isn't available to persons under 18.

SDC has discounts that can apply if you pay for a full year.

Other cheap options would be CLEPs(free through modernstates).

I'm sure our resident home schooling expert will be of a lot more assistance to you if she sees your thread.

Thanks for your reply @MNomadic!  I'll have a closer look at COSC's 2-year degree.  If my daughter can't get into a bigger-name school, then we will consider COSC or TESU for her 4-year degree.  There are a lot of family politics involved in this because my husband and his father are elite University snobs.  My father-in-law was a finance prof at well-known University and he thinks if you can't graduate from UNC, Uni of Chicago or an Ivy League school, you're just wasting your time and money.  We're constantly butting heads on this.  My husband shares much of this snobbery but he's a little more open if the Uni is ranked in the top 200.  I've got a kid who is moderately to severely dyslexic and will be lucky to get through a 2-year degree not to mention a 4-year degree.  

Thanks for the other info as well.  :-)  CSU and ASU have taken high spots on her radar and since they're top-rated universities, they would be permissible in the views of my hubby & his father.

CLEPs would be the most affordable and our local Community College will accept 39 CLEP credits for a associate degree.  Timed CLEPs and driving to a facility will be our largest hurdles since our local college is not a CLEP-approved facility.

---

Onlinedegree is restricted to 18 years old and above.AA or AS degrees don't often "transfer", so if the credits don't transfer,it may be the same with or without the AS or AA.You can easily try Shmoop for a month,since it's inexpensive.Charter Oak accepts 16 year old students (No HS diploma) if they have enough college credits.

Thanks for your reply, nosey561.  Too bad venues like OnlineDegree haven't lowered their age restrictions to meet the needs of teens taking college courses.

If your daughter gets a BS or BA from Charter Oak or somewhere else,you may not have to "transfer" credits,since almost all colleges recognize the degree and she can proceed to graduate programs (Masters degree).

I'm fighting my hubby & father-in-law over this because of their biases concerning elite universities and the worth of uni's not ranked in the top 200.  I have a kid with moderate to severe dyslexia that has caused her to repeat a grade in elementary school.  Getting a 2-year degree will be a challenge.  Getting a 4-year degree will almost be a miracle.

One idea is to find out what works for your daughter, and plan accordingly.If Shmoop works,you have  limited options (COSC,Excelsior).If CLEP works, you can transfer these credits to many traditional colleges.It's very possible that only a few methods work for your daughter,so be flexible and let that determine her plans.

That's the best advice I've heard in a long time.  That's our issue - we really don't know what works best for her other than she seems to do well with no-fluff videos.

[rvm]

Cleps and Dssts might be your best bet. You can use your own study material and study at your own pace with no deadlines, re read things as much as you want. You could also do UEXCELS and TECEPs I'd you wish. Plus, CLEP even has disability accommodations at the testing center.

Many big state University accept clep. I know Arizona state does. Even one of best Universities in the country University of Michigan grants some CLEP.

Maybe consider AP exams aa if you can. Those are even more widely accepted, but harder to do as a homeschooler and the exams are more difficult than clep.

 Thank you Natshar.  CLEPs are definitely on our radar.  DSSTs & AP exams might be too difficult at this stage - moderate-severe dyslexia though they're something to keep on our radar.  TECEPs and UEXCELS are definitely worth looking in to.  We need to choose CBEs that allow extra time since she needs that extra time due to her dyslexia.  I'm not sure which ones permit this but it is something I need to investigate soon.

[rvm]

North Carolina eh?  You're in the same back yard as Jennifer, our resident chef!  Here's her page for North Carolina, Dual Enrollment, and the NC Promise program. Using this as a guide, you can probably get a very affordable Associates and Bachelors. https://homeschoolingforcollegecredit.co...nrollment/

Further to this, I highly recommend your daughter to start with getting CLEP/ACE/NCCRS credits - the FREE ones first to get her into the "online learning" door.  And then work on the courses from different providers.  Sophia/SL/Study.com are my fave recommendations.

Thank you BJ!  I joined Jennifer's NC homeschool FB group a few weeks back. Good reminders to ask there, too, as well as read through her website again as I'm sure there are things I've missed.  

I'm reading about NC Promise.  Here's a link for anyone that might live in NC who needs this info: https://www.northcarolina.edu/wepromise

Wonderful advice to start with some free, easy credits, too.  I was thinking maybe the 2 free courses offered by Sophia?  What do you think are some of the easiest ones?  She needs options that aren't too lengthy and don't have complex wording like the DSSTs have?  Is there a list of easiest to most most difficult for some of the free and low-cost courses?  I know there's one on the free-clep-prep site but they seem to only discuss CLEPs & DSSTs.  

Thank you!

---

[MNomadic]

North Carolina eh?  You're in the same back yard as Jennifer, our resident chef!  Here's her page for North Carolina, Dual Enrollment, and the NC Promise program. Using this as a guide, you can probably get a very affordable Associates and Bachelors. https://homeschoolingforcollegecredit.co...nrollment/

Further to this, I highly recommend your daughter to start with getting CLEP/ACE/NCCRS credits - the FREE ones first to get her into the "online learning" door.  And then work on the courses from different providers.  Sophia/SL/Study.com are my fave recommendations.

Thank you BJ!  I joined Jennifer's NC homeschool FB group a few weeks back. Good reminders to ask there, too, as well as read through her website again as I'm sure there are things I've missed.  

I'm reading about NC Promise.  Here's a link for anyone that might live in NC who needs this info: https://www.northcarolina.edu/wepromise

Wonderful advice to start with some free, easy credits, too.  I was thinking maybe the 2 free courses offered by Sophia?  What do you think are some of the easiest ones?  She needs options that aren't too lengthy and don't have complex wording like the DSSTs have?  Is there a list of easiest to most most difficult for some of the free and low-cost courses?  I know there's one on the free-clep-prep site but they seem to only discuss CLEPs & DSSTs.  

Thank you!

---

Yes the free Sophia courses are the perfect starting point! They are very quick, easy and straight forward so they're the perfect introduction to online alternative credits. Additionally, there is a $50 Student Success course that you can take for free after getting a $50 promo coupon! Have your daughter take the developing effective teams and essentials of managing conflict courses for free and then after receiving the $50 promotion code, immediately buy the student success course. All 3 of these can be done in under a day each(maybe all 3 in one day if you're fast   ). So at the end, you'll have 3 free credits and have an idea about whether the Sophia platform will work for you.


https://www.sophia.org/online-courses/student-success

Unfortunately, it would be too difficult to rank the difficulty of all the various classes on all the various online platforms since they're constantly adding new courses, changing the course materials, and retiring old courses. This guide would be a good starting point, though:


https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...YOUR-input

[bjcheung77]

Yes, I also recommend doing the Sophia courses first - all 3 of them. Work the Ethics course and then the CLEP options before the CLEP vouchers run out from ModernStates.org - I would also recommend doing the TEEX Cybersecurity courses if she can.
See link for the free/cheap options: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Fr..._of_Credit

Also, in regards to exclusively homeschooling your daughter, I would reconsider, is she having issues with the 9th grade level courses? Most schools have programs for students, such as a career prep or trades program, she may be interested in those. I would use homeschooling to supplement or accelerate/compact her educational goals.

The main thing is getting her past high school, the extra AA or BA during high school is the icing on the cake...It's great that you're discussing things with your hubby and coming to a conclusion that the local CC/Uni's and Big 3 may be options.

[natshar]

Cleps and Dssts might be your best bet. You can use your own study material and study at your own pace with no deadlines, re read things as much as you want. You could also do UEXCELS and TECEPs I'd you wish. Plus, CLEP even has disability accommodations at the testing center.

Many big state University accept clep. I know Arizona state does. Even one of best Universities in the country University of Michigan grants some CLEP.

Maybe consider AP exams aa if you can. Those are even more widely accepted, but harder to do as a homeschooler and the exams are more difficult than clep.

 Thank you Natshar.  CLEPs are definitely on our radar.  DSSTs & AP exams might be too difficult at this stage - moderate-severe dyslexia though they're something to keep on our radar.  TECEPs and UEXCELS are definitely worth looking in to.  We need to choose CBEs that allow extra time since she needs that extra time due to her dyslexia.  I'm not sure which ones permit this but it is something I need to investigate soon.

From the Clep website:

"Accommodations for Students with Disabilities
If you have a learning or physical disability that would prevent you from taking a CLEP exam under standard conditions, you may request accommodations at your preferred test center. Contact your preferred test center well in advance of the test date to make the necessary arrangements and to find out its deadline for submission of documentation for approval of accommodations. Accommodations that can be arranged directly with test centers include:

• ZoomText (screen magnification)
  
  
• Modifiable screen colors
  
  
• Use of a reader, an amanuensis, or a sign language interpreter
  
  
• Extended time
  
  
• Untimed rest breaks
  

If the above accommodations do not meet your needs, contact CLEP Services for information about other nonstandard options at clep@info.collegeboard.org or at 800-257-9558 before you register through My Account."

[graduatesoon]

Study.com has the premium program    for $60 so you can take your time watch the videos and take the quizzes and when you are ready take the final for an extra $70. If this helps your study style you can try it at your own pace without final pressure.

[rvm]

Robin!!!  Hey lady!!  So, let's work this together.  I just sit around and wait for people who are homeschooling IN North Carolina AND want to use alternative credit AND Career and College Promise.  

Thanks to BJ for that link to my DE page, but I have a couple you might like better.  Specifically, I can suggest you use the alternative credits accepted by Fayetteville State University because they are the ONLY college in NC that will take Straighterline as a matter of course (others *might* but it hasn't been public that anyone would know it - but I have a list a mile long of who won't in NC) anyway, she can do her dual enrollment CCP courses as she likes, but simultaneously working the gen eds from Fayetteville.  
Here's the rub-  Fayetteville will take a full associates in transfer, but you won't be able to get her associates locally using Straighterline - so my advice is not to try. You'll spend so much energy making square pegs fit into round holes and it doesn't have to be that hard.  
She can finish at Fayetteville online or on campus.  This will help you, but you can also email me. cookderosa@gmail.com  
Are you on Facebook?  I need to get you in my Homeschooling for College Credit in North Carolina group - very good people in there.

https://homeschoolingforcollegecredit.co...es-in-nc-2  (not Fayetteville, but this gives you the cheapest 3 degrees in the state)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/NCHS4CC/

Fayetteville STILL takes courses that were previously approved under the Alternative Credit Project -they have a nice list https://www.uncfsu.edu/academics/college...it-courses

Hi Jen!  Thank you for your Awesome offer to work with us on this!  I'm a member of your NC Homeschool FB page.  Seems like in the last week or so, someone in the FB group mentioned FSU but I didn't have time to investigate.  After I read the links you provided, I will email you.  I sent you a PM with email address so you can add me to your address book, if you want.

Thank you soooo much!!! 

[rvm]

CLEP is also available for free through Modern States -  https://modernstates.org

Allvia, thank you for the reminder that freshman year CLEPs may be free via Modern States.

[TwinMom]

Study.com has the premium program    for $60 so you can take your time watch the videos and take the quizzes and when you are ready take the final for an extra $70. If this helps your study style you can try it at your own pace without final pressure.

Currently, with the Premium Plan  you would have to switch to the College Accelerator plan for $199 (2 exams included) to get college credit finals.  The $70 is for additional exams after the first 2 of the month.  A total of 5 exams are allowed for the 30 days of College Accelerator.