Adult Learner - looking for a solid route for a degree

[dfrecore]

Your local CC will probably not accept study.com, SL, or other ACE-approved courses. My local CC will take CLEP and DSST, but nothing else.

Everyone else here is right, you need to find out from your college what courses they will accept. Usually, if they accept CLEP or DSST, they will have something on the website that tells which courses they'll accept, what areas they will apply to, how many credits you will get, etc.

For instance, my local CC will accept the American Government CLEP for credit, but it will not completely fulfill the "Government & Institutions Requirement"; you also have to take the US History II CLEP or course to complete that requirement. They will not accept the College Composition CLEP, you have to take the course. There are more DSST exams they won't take; importantly, they will not accept any of the exams that are ACE-recommended as UL credit! Says "not applicable for Associates Degree".

So you really just have to go to their website, search for CLEP and DSST (or DANTES), and see what they will accept, and how that will fit into a degree plan there. Then figure out what you want to take, and start studying for them. Also, find out the maximum number of credits the school will take (there's usually a maximum listed somewhere).