According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics, people with a bachelor’s degree earn over 60 percent more on average than those with only a high school diploma. Over a lifetime, the gap in earning potential between a high school diploma and a B.A. (or higher) is more than $1,000,000.00 – yes, ONE MILLION DOLLARS.

Despite this huge gap in earnings only 21% of all adults over the age of 25 have college degrees. In a national newspaper survey asking what the readers biggest regrets were most Americans said that they regretted not going on with their education.

For some reason we have bought the concept that we need to spend four years full time to earn a fully accredited college degree in the US. This simply is not true. That fact that it is not true is one of the best kept secrets in US education today. If you can spend two hours a day reading, studying and testing, you can have a college degree one year from today, without giving up your current job.

More and more we are hearing about degrees through distance learning, people getting an online college degree and having these degrees fully accepted by graduate schools and licensing offices throughout the US and the world.

As I look back at my college education I see that I learned much more in the years that followed than I did sitting in a classroom. A classroom is not always the best place to learn. If you already know material you do not have to go to school to learn it again. You can show that you know the material and get full credit for it.

My Masters degree was non-traditional. It was a 47 credit, two year program at The Institute of Transpersonal Studies in Palo Alto California. I never, however, stepped into the school. I never even saw the school. I worked at home one-to-one with a fantastic professor using email, phone and fax. I did not even need a computer to do the work. I attended two in person conferences for six days each at two retreats. It was a very challenging program and I worked hard but it was always on my own schedule which made it a very enjoyable experience. I learned far more than I did in my college days because of the flexibility and the fact that I did not have to travel to class.

Many people that I work with know as much as people with a college degree. They have learned how to speak and write well, often on the job. They have special skills that they picked up at work or through volunteering or in their hobbies. They deserve a college degree, but they do not know how to convert what they know into a college degree. Learning done outside a classroom is no less valuable than learning done inside a classroom.

If there is a little voice inside of you that tells you that you deserve a college degree for what you already know; if you believe you know more than the new employee who is straight out of college; if you are willing to commit 2 hours a day then you are one year away from your college degree. And your degree does not say that is an online college degree or a degree achieved through test taking or prior learning.

There are dozens of books about getting college degrees and college credits from home. Some are very good and some are not. This program was developed when I was helping a friend get her degree in a year and she wanted to do it on her own. The books were all too confusing. The websites were not clear. There was no easy to follow guide. So I created it and I am putting it up on the internet for all to read, free. This program is not designed to be all things for all people. It is designed for the adult learner over the age of 21 who has college level skills and wants a degree quickly and affordably. It is not about finding different programs that are available via distance learning or a list of online college degree programs. Well then, what is it about?

First this program is not about buying a degree or going to a degree mill and getting a degree that is possibly not legal to use and certainly not worth anything. The only degrees that I suggest are REGIONALLY ACCREDITED. They are as universally accepted as any accreditation can be and they and are the gold standard of accreditation in the U.S. Don’t think about any other accreditation for now and never think about going to a degree mill.

There are many ways to earn a degree without going to class. Distance Learning has come of age and anyone can complete a fully accredited degree entirely from a distance without ever walking into a classroom. The most widely used technique is by taking classes online or via correspondence. You can work at the same time as the rest of your class (synchronously) or you can work completely independently (asynchronously) depending on the school you attend. There are numerous books on this subject and that is not what this PROGRAM is about, although the schools that are mentioned can provide you with courses or links to courses that they accept. If you are interested in distance learning there is an excellent book by Peterson’s entitled: Peterson’s Guide to Distance Learning. It can be ordered at amazon.com.

This program is about getting credit for what you ALREADY know using techniques such as TESTING out, courses and workshops that you have already completed, military experience and prior learning assessment portfolios. The advantage to using this method is that it is much faster, cheaper and more flexible than taking courses, even if you take the courses online. You can earn a Regionally Accredited (the GOLD standard of accreditation in the US) Bachelor’s degree in a year or less, but committing yourself to 2 hours a day to this project. Yes, you need to be of reasonable intelligence, have a High School diploma or equivalent, and read and write English at the level expected of someone who has graduated High School with an academic diploma.

We are going to look at the four ways to get credit for what you already know.

• Prior Learning Assessment (also known as Assessment of Prior Learning) Portfolio
• Credit by Exam (Testing Out)
• Military Service
• ACE – The American Council of Education approved courses, workshops and seminars.
• Recognized Proficiency Exams

This program organizes and clarifies the material that is already on the Internet. It is made up of links to the many different sites that are full of more information. I could have re-written all the information but this system has been proven to provide my readers and clients with the most up to date information available.

Transferring Credits from other colleges.