Cheapest Way to Get a U.S. Degree? International Credits & Alternative Options

[DragonDF]

Hey everyone, 

I know there are a lot of info in the Wiki and here but I think my main doubt is a bit different. 

I’ve been researching ways to get a U.S. bachelor’s degree without spending a ridiculous amount of money (exchange USD x BRL = 1:6), and I wanted to see if anyone here has experience with this. It’s crazy how expensive tuition can be, especially when you’re paying per credit. But I noticed that some universities, like TESU, allow students to transfer up to 90 credits, which means you could do most of your coursework elsewhere and only pay for the final part of your degree in the U.S.
Basically, this is the main reason for this forum. 

From what I’ve seen, there are two main ways to do this. 

The first is taking alternative credits (in the USA and paying in Dollars) through programs like Saylor Academy, Sophia, CLEP, and Study.com. Some of these are incredibly cheap, and Saylor even offers free courses where you only pay for the final exam. Sophia is subscription-based, so if you work fast, you can knock out a bunch of courses in just a couple of months. CLEP exams are also a great way to get credits quickly without taking an entire class. The downside is that Study.com, while convenient, gets expensive over time, and CLEP exams, though cheaper than university courses, still add up if you’re taking many of them.

The second option is earning credits in a cheaper country and then transferring them through an international transcript evaluation service. Services like WES, ECE, and others can assess your foreign credits and convert them into the U.S. system. The evaluation process usually costs between $150 and $250, depending on how fast you need it done and which service you use. The advantage is that education costs in many countries are way lower than in the U.S., so if you can take equivalent courses abroad, you might save thousands of dollars. 

The downside is that international evaluations take time—sometimes weeks or even months. Plus, not all universities accept every credit, so you might end up with fewer transferable credits than expected. 

That said, if the process works smoothly, it could be a massive cost-saver compared to paying full U.S. tuition prices.

I’m curious—has anyone here actually done this? 

Is it better to just grind through Sophia, Saylor, and CLEP to get cheap credits fast, or is it worth the effort to transfer international credits? 

Any recommendations for the best evaluation services or universities that accept a lot of transfer credits from foreign countries? 

Would love to hear your thoughts!