<p>DS just finished his freshman year of college but has to re-take calculus this summer <ahem>. Not a problem, right? Plan A was to go to the local CC. Went through all the red-tape to get the course approved for transfer credit. DS gets home this week and goes to take a placement test. I begged him to review his trig since he hadn't studied it for two years. You can guess where this is going. . . . Move on to Plan B. We happen to live 10 minutes from State Flagship; no placement test required but it costs three times as much to take a class there as at the CC + the timing of the class would interfere with a summer job DS is hoping to lock down soon. Plan C? Went back to the transfer credit evaluation people at his school and they said they knew of two online classes that had transferred in as the class DS needs. First was an in-state CC there (OOS for us); second was Shorter University. Turns out both of these options would be even more expensive than taking the class at State Flagship. So, dear parents--</ahem></p>
<p>Do you know of an online college calculus class that won't eat up so much of my lunch money?</p>
<p>My child just started one this week. The biggest hurdle is to make sure the current school accepts the class. Not sure where you are geographically but we searched Ohio and Michigan (also note we only looked at CC’s in order to keep the cost low). Those that offered it online in Michigan are Delta College, Muskegon Community College, Wastenaw CC, Henry Ford CC, and Wayne County CC. I’ve lost part of my list from Ohio, but I remember Lorian County CC and Lakeland CC. Start by looking at your current school and seeing which community colleges they accept this class from. The answer may be in a neighboring state but even then it was cheaper than taking it online through a 4 year Univ.</p>
<p>Oh I am <em>all</em> about getting the ducks lined up transfer-credit-wise before signing up for anything. (I’m sure my contact in the Registrar’s office is sick to death of me.) FWIW, DS’s school is in Ohio; we are in Virginia. I <em>did</em> check in with another VA CC which would be relatively inexpensive but DS would have to travel there to take another placement test. Owens Community College is one in Ohio they have taken calculus credit from, but OOS costs are still really high. I’m exploring BYU online classes–several kids we know locally have taken make-up classes through them and as far as I can tell it’s cheaper than the other online places I’ve looked <em>and</em> State Flagship.</p>
<p>My kids took Algebra II online and it was a HUGE mistake. Caused problems down the road that took tutoring to iron out. You won’t save a penny if he dosen’t learn what he really needs to for subsequent courses. YMMV… Good luck!</p>
<p>You know–I really get that. It is important that he learn the material, but DS is a business student. This is the one required math class for him. I can see how he might have to use integrals/derivatives, but I’m not sure he needs to understand why they are what they are. I have a very strong math background and can help him through the class. If this were the foundation for future math/science/. . . for him, I might have more reservations about an online class. OTOH, I have some minor reservations about CC classes too.</p>
<p>My kid is taking second semester calculus online this summer through UC Berkeley Extension. Expensive, but it looks good. They have two versions: one for math/physics people and one for econ/business/life sciences people.</p>
<p>My son (Engineering Student) just finished freshman year and is taking Calculus III online this summer. We found this from the University of Illinois:</p>
<p>My son worked with his advisor, dean of the Math Department, and dean of Engineering at his School to get it pre-approved before signing up. His school had several requirements for taking any summer class the biggest being it must be from a school with an accredited engineering program. He wanted to take a standard (not online) class but it was too difficult to find one that met all of the critieria. We live in the Chicago area and I was suprised to find that only 5 schools in the area have engineering (IIT, Northwestern, UIC, UofC, NIU).</p>
<p>It’s an excellent course. My son took it many years ago in high-school. He will need to either already know or learn Mathematica to take the course. The courseware has far more material than the course uses. It’s aimed more at engineering students and is a bit less of a theory-course though it does cover a moderate amount of it.</p>