No. 259 - LowestCostColleges.com

I read a blog post today that directed me to this video. I watched it because I have read many articles by Gary North and respect his opinion. In the video he posits that one can obtain a bachelor's degree from an accredited university for less than $15,000. Total. Not each year for four years.

This topic interests me because I believe we are in a higher education bubble, and when it bursts it is going to be ugly.

I learned about his website called LowestCostColleges.com. A link to the video is there and so is a manual he wrote titled America's Lowest Cost Colleges: How You Can Earn an Accredited Degree for Pennies on the Dollar. They are both free. He is not selling anything, although the website does have a cheap infomercial look to it.

I like what he writes in the preface of the manual:

Let’s get one thing clear before we begin. This manual is not about getting a good education. It is about getting an accredited degree, cheap.

If you want a good education – a great education – you can get it without spending anything except time and enough gasoline money to drive to the local public library and back. If you cannot afford the money, ride a bike.

He summarizes in the video seven ways to reduce the cost of college by up to 90%:

#1 Night School - This first one does not make a lot of sense to me. Although community college would be less expensive, Gary says that the biggest cost of college for most is being out of the job market. So if you take night classes you can still have a full-time job. That alone doesn't reduce the cost of the classes. But it would mean that you're making money to afford it without going into debt, which is also a plus.

#2 Dual Credit - You can attend college courses while in high school that qualify for joint high school and college credit.

#3 Quiz Out - You are able to take tests - called CLEP exams - which Gary says would allow you to quiz out of your first two years of college.

#4 Daytime Community College - This one also would be related to #1 in that the money saved is likely by attending a community college instead of a high-priced university. He says that you may actually get access to better teachers at the community college level, especially during your freshman and sophomore years.

#5 Distance Learning - He says there are 4,000 accredited universities in the U.S. and 1,000 of them offer distance learning, which use the internet or postal service instead of a campus. He says you have to look carefully but he knows of one state university that charges $69,000 for a degree on campus, and offers the same degree via distance learning for $12,000.

#6 Life Experience Courses - He says that you can convert stuff that you've learned through life experiences into college credits at dozens of universities.

#7 In State Residency - This is one that most folks know about, but don't always take full advantage of. Gary explains that a person could establish state residency six to twelve months in advance of enrolling, get a job to pay for lodging and food, and study for CLEP exams after work to quiz out of two years of courses in one year "if you hustle." Then you apply to the university and enter as a junior.