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+--- Thread: The Duggars and CollegePlus (/Thread-The-Duggars-and-CollegePlus)
The Duggars and CollegePlus - sanantone - 04-28-2013
I found out from another forum that the Duggars are using CollegePlus. I searched their name plus CollegePlus and found out they are endorsing the company. I wonder if they have to pay for CollegePlus' services or if CollegePlus is paying them. I HATE CollegePlus, College Network, and other companies like them. For people who pride themselves in frugality, I can't believe that they would pay a company $3,000 to teach them how to test out of courses.
Duggar-Endorsed College Option | CollegePlus!
The Duggars and CollegePlus - Westerner - 04-28-2013
Hey, now! Please don't bash CP without understanding that it has been and continues to be a great help to people.
The Duggars and CollegePlus - sanantone - 04-28-2013
I know you're a satisfied customer of CollegePlus, but I found out about CLEP/DSST and the Big 3 by doing a little research. I had never heard of CollegePlus until a early this year or late last year and I'm glad I didn't find out about them earlier. I obviously didn't need to pay someone $3,000 to tell me that CLEP and TESC exist. I really don't mean to offend their customers, but I would not recommend them to anyone! This whole Duggar endorsement thing really rubs me the wrong way. I'm afraid that a bunch of people in the homeschooling community are going to unnecessarily sign up for this expensive program. If the Duggars really wanted to help people, they would direct them to free sources of information.
The Duggars and CollegePlus - Prloko - 04-28-2013
sanantone Wrote:I know you're a satisfied customer of CollegePlus, but I found out about CLEP/DSST and the Big 3 by doing a little research. I had never heard of CollegePlus until a early this year or late last year and I'm glad I didn't find out about them earlier. I obviously didn't need to pay someone $3,000 to tell me that CLEP and TESC exist. I really don't mean to offend their customers, but I would not recommend them to anyone! This whole Duggar endorsement thing really rubs me the wrong way. I'm afraid that a bunch of people in the homeschooling community are going to unnecessarily sign up for this expensive program. If the Duggars really wanted to help people, they would direct them to free sources of information.
The thing I hate about CP is that they say they coach the student, but so many are on here seeking free advice. Why isn't CP providing this info? I wouldn't be surprised if CP is a former member who monetized what we provide for free. And the worst part is that is done under the guise of "Christian" education. I think the Christian thing to do is to point people to this site where they can get that info free rather than for 3k.
The Duggars and CollegePlus - IrishJohn - 04-28-2013
sanantone Wrote:I know you're a satisfied customer of CollegePlus, but I found out about CLEP/DSST and the Big 3 by doing a little research. I had never heard of CollegePlus until a early this year or late last year and I'm glad I didn't find out about them earlier. I obviously didn't need to pay someone $3,000 to tell me that CLEP and TESC exist. I really don't mean to offend their customers, but I would not recommend them to anyone! This whole Duggar endorsement thing really rubs me the wrong way. I'm afraid that a bunch of people in the homeschooling community are going to unnecessarily sign up for this expensive program. If the Duggars really wanted to help people, they would direct them to free sources of information.
I don't know much about CP and their services, but I look at it this way: if I had known about this back in 2007 or earlier I would have gladly paid the $3,000 and considered it a bargain. I didn't discover TESC and this forum until late 2009. Back in 2007 I was trying to finish my degree through Grantham. It would have been really helpful to know about all of this much sooner.
The Duggars and CollegePlus - cookderosa - 04-28-2013
College Plus is Brad Voeller. He was homeschooled as a kid, and wrote Accelerated Distance Learning. It's a great (outdated) book that literally BROUGHT ME HERE! (I mention him in chapter 1 of my book!) Brad was using the big 3 and test-out as a homeschooler when very few people were doing so. Many people were homeschooling, and many people were using CLEP but he made the connection and explained how to streamline it into a legit degree. He used lots of PLA and also the "accelerated" part and "distance learning" parts were emphasized. If you remember BAin4weeks, he was of that time.
Where my experience as a homeschooler/parent differed from his, is that he really "only" supported degree via test out. I think that concept, while popular here and useful to many, is not realistic for the majority of the homeschool community. I read a post on another forum this morning from a mom who was using CLEP for her daughter so her daughter could open up spaces for more classes in college later. (?) So, the point, is that instead of doing an updated revision, he opened a consulting company = College Plus. He added the twist of creating it as a Christian company, and bam, he had a niche market. I'm not hating on Brad or CP. What he "does" for pay, all of us do here for free. I don't fault him for earning a living, and at the end of the day, people sometimes would rather pay for something than do the research themselves. People know these companies exist, I was even asked about them in that interview I did, so people are aware. I do, however, think that anyone capable of homeschooling a child is EQUALLY capable of arranging their curriculum to coordinate with a few exams.
The Duggars and CollegePlus - sanantone - 04-28-2013
Prloko Wrote:The thing I hate about CP is that they say they coach the student, but so many are on here seeking free advice. Why isn't CP providing this info? I wouldn't be surprised if CP is a former member who monetized what we provide for free. And the worst part is that is done under the guise of "Christian" education. I think the Christian thing to do is to point people to this site where they can get that info free rather than for 3k.
That is what bothers me the most. We have a few members of this forum asking for advice who are CP customers. For $3,000, CP should be able to give you all info on all of the Big 3. CP has the right to make money if there is a gullible market out there, but I think it's unethical and un-Christian to do so off of information that is out there for free. You can even direct someone to a book and it would be much cheaper.
$3,000 is a fall, spring, and summer semester at some community colleges. I was able to knockout 30-something credits in less than a year for under $3,000 taking online classes at a CC. It just makes it double icky when someone tries to use religion to get rich. It reminds me of the prosperity pastors who are riding around in private jets and Rolls Royce's telling their members that the more they give to God (their bank accounts), the more God will increase their personal wealth. These churches usually spend little to no money to help struggling members of their congregation or the surrounding community. Most of the money goes to making the church look fancy and to buy million dollar mansions. God's money is supposed to be used to do God's work. Sorry. I went off on a tangent. :p
The Duggars and CollegePlus - sanantone - 04-28-2013
IrishJohn Wrote:I don't know much about CP and their services, but I look at it this way: if I had known about this back in 2007 or earlier I would have gladly paid the $3,000 and considered it a bargain. I didn't discover TESC and this forum until late 2009. Back in 2007 I was trying to finish my degree through Grantham. It would have been really helpful to know about all of this much sooner.
But you thankfully discovered TESC before you discovered CollegePlus, but I don't know how long they've been in business. I discovered the Big 3 by searching for schools with no residency requirements, but I would have been happier to finish up the last year of my degree at University of Houston - Victoria for about $4,000 (which I was going to do) than to blow $3,000 on CP.
The Duggars and CollegePlus - IrishJohn - 04-28-2013
sanantone Wrote:But you thankfully discovered TESC before you discovered CollegePlus, but I don't know how long they've been in business. I discovered the Big 3 by searching for schools with no residency requirements, but I would have been happier to finish up the last year of my degree at University of Houston - Victoria for about $4,000 (which I was going to do) than to blow $3,000 on CP.
And yet if I had of discovered CP in 2007 I would have been fine with paying $3,000 if I still didn't find out about TESC and this forum until a couple of years later. The money is nothing compared to the lost time. Part of this is probably a generational thing. There was no internet when I was a teen and later on in my 20s online schools were looked down upon severely as being nothing more than diploma mills. Some of that was for good reason but the legit programs like TESC never filtered through to the general public of my age group at least.
The Duggars and CollegePlus - sanantone - 04-28-2013
If I would have discovered CP before I had discovered TESC, the first thing I would do is look up the school they were recommending because I had never heard of TESC. Looking at TESC's website, one should quickly discover that CP is an unnecessary middle man. I can tell that College Network annoys Excelsior. That's another evil company.
