<p>(Wasn't sure what forum to use; this one does involve home study and college credit, so, yeah.)</p>
<p>Instead of going to a traditional college and graduating 100k in debt, or going to comm. college and taking out loans, I thought about</p>
<ol>
<li>Not going to college immediately</li>
<li>Full time job (wherever I can get one with just a HS diploma, convenient store, whatever)</li>
<li>Study at night on my own</li>
<li>Take CLEP exams on my own (at a local comm. college)</li>
</ol>
<p>And once I have thousands of dollars saved up, maybe a car, and all this college credit, I'll then go to college to get a Bachelor's Degree, without taking out loans (which I'm afraid to do).</p>
<p>What field interests you? For some professions where just “a” degree is needed what you propose would be just fine. For others (pre-med –> med school, architecture, engineering, etc) it won’t work.</p>
<p>Debt isn’t bad if it’s a reasonable amount invested in your future that can quickly be paid off by a reasonably expected salary. It is bad when you’re looking at upper 5 figures or more for a lower paying field or a field where jobs are tough to get.</p>
<p>I understand your fear of debt, but this would be hard to do on your own. Are community colleges really expensive where you live? Could you get a job and do community college instead of get a job and do CLEP? Are you sure your BS school will take clep credits? Most people who work in convenience stores don’t have the ability to save thousands of dollars and buy a car very quickly.</p>
<p>And I think you would get more responses in the parents forum; this is a low-traffic forum and mostly concerned with K - 12 homeschooling.</p>
<p>EyesInTheAbyss, I can see exactly where you are going. You sound like you aren’t very sure of your future at this point (so I don’t think we are talking law school or medical school). To those who are questioning why this person would not want to attend the local community college, I have just one thing to say – “impacted classes”! I live in SoCal and believe me, CLEP (and/or DSST) is the way to go if you are interested in building some college credit on your own time while working. Out here, there are public and private colleges/universities that accept CLEP (with certain limits in either the total number of transferable credits or the specific exams). It can never hurt to study, learn a college course, take an exam and pass to prove you know it and then save that credit until you are ready to use it. CLEP and DSST credits are maintained for at least 20 years, so I would think you will decide what to do by then!</p>
<p>I am a test center administrator and see plenty of young ones come through the door to test and they are very successful at passing! Several are working towards a degree with online universities. You just want to make sure it is legit and has regional accreditation.</p>
<p>You sound like a very responsible young person. Congrats to you and your family!</p>
<p>You should know that most private colleges offer good financial aid packages, such that the total cost is below attending a public university or community college. If your grades and test scores are good, apply to colleges and see what they can do for you. If your parents can’t afford to help you out you will get much higher awards. My oldest son got non-need based scholarship offers from $10,000 - $20,000 per year. We are able to pay the difference, but even so he was offered a campus job this year. He works summers and breaks as a grocery bagger and has about $10,000 in the bank (he is FRUGAL, doesn’t own a car and is responsible for books and all incidentals).
Look for colleges where your test scores are above the middle 50% range, and colleges that are far from home and are trying make the leap from regional to national recognition.
It sounds like you are a motivated learner. If you know what you want for your future, explore all your options. It never hurts to get all the information before making decisions. Best of luck to you!</p>