The Duggars and CollegePlus

[sanantone]

Well, as someone just out of highschool and doing this, I'd much rather do this then going the traditional route for several reasons.

-I obtain my degree faster and cheaper, allowing me to get ahead of most of my peers, career wise and financially.
-I've the option, and many people like me, choose to take advantage of this option, which is with doing college like this, it's extremely flexible which allows for obtaining a job and real life experience. Maybe not just working as a waiter or flipping burgers somewhere, but getting an internship which will the help. IMO, the degree will nicely compliment the experience (and visa versa). And, yes, you can get internships and jobs whatnot going the traditional route, but it's much more easy and possible when college is flexible.
-I don't feel like wasting the first 2 years of college doing the same thing I've been doing for the last 4.
-I don't feel like getting all the other junk that comes with college. It's a 5 year party (which actually the name of a book a prof wrote), and if that's what people are after, there's much cheaper alternatives if that's how you want to waste your time.
-I appreciate the skills I've gained that doing college this way has provided me. There are no terms, no due dates for a CLEP, no assignments, no lectures, no timeline. Same thing for the degree it self. Here's a pile of work, do it. To do it, you've got to have a lot things you don't need when you're being spoon fed it in college.
-It sets you apart. When 1 out 2 college grads can't get a job, what's going to set you apart? When you can say, "Well hey, I'm 2-3 years younger then most other grads, and I did something different. I researched, I dedicated myself, and didn't waste my time drinking and partying. I sought the best use of my time, my money, and my resources and accomplished what I set out for AND I'll do the same for you." That's going to say something, and set you apart from the average college grad. Why? Cause it's more then just words, it took actions, work, to do it.

Sure there are things I may be missing out, some cons perhaps. But nothing that you can hold a candle to IMHO. Everyone has there own opinion, but for me personally, I don't have any regrets about this.

There's no drinking and partying at community colleges. Since I rarely drink and I'm an introvert, I would have not partaken in those activities. Besides, the local state universities where I live are commuter schools. Even with all of my work experience, I'm still being beat out in this job market by people with even more experience, so I don't see how being younger with less experience would help me. But what possibly could have helped me was going to a school with name recognition in the region and internships set up by the university. Over a year after getting my bachelor's degree and becoming registered as a licensed chemical dependency counselor intern, I still can't get an internship to become fully licensed.

My family was poor and I held jobs that paid a little above minimum wage when I was younger. Paying $100 or whatever it used to cost for one test would have meant that we wouldn't have money for food that week. There was no way I could have afforded to completely test out of a degree and pay the enrollment fees plus the tuition for whatever capstones at the Big 3. I did use leftover financial aid to pay for my TESC enrollment fee, but I also had a lot of transfer credits, so I didn't need as many tests. If I had started from scratch, I would have needed to attend a college for at least two years to get enough financial aid to afford the tests and pay for the enrollment. How much do the cheapest degrees at the Big 3 cost? $4,000-$6000? And there wasn't FEMA and ALEKS back then. By the time I would have saved that up, I could have completed two years at a CC for free.