CLEP Testing and Home School
One of the great qualities that you find in most homeschool families is frugality. There is just a natural tendency to try to achieve your goals with the least amount of expense. Many home school families are finding that college educations are beginning to be out of reach for the frugal minded.
The costs of a college education are skyrocketing. The average cost for tuition, room and board for an in state school is almost $22,000 per year. The average cost for an out of state school will run you about $39,000 per year. It is getting less and less affordable for the average person to get a college education without incurring an insurmountable amount of debt. It is not unusual for a student to leave college with $50,000 in debt that they will have to start paying soon after graduation. This could amount to a $500 – $700 a month debt payment just for college. The average amount of college debt for graduating seniors is now $35,200. There is a way to cut some of the costs of this education. It’s called the CLEP testing program
The homeschool family can plan ahead for college through the use of CLEP testing. What is CLEP testing? CLEP stands for College-Level Examination Program. This is a program that allows you to receive college credit for courses without going to college. If you pass any of the 33 exams offered, you can receive college credit at over 2300 colleges and universities. The costs of the tests are $80 as compared with the average college class costing $700.
You can take tests for history and social science and literature, science and mathematics, business, and foreign languages. You just might be able to test out of biology 101 or chemistry 101 or a myriad of other courses. You could possibly save a year or two of college costs for a fraction of the price. If you know what college you will be finishing your schooling at, you can use the CLEP website to find out what credits they will accept. With the CLEP testing program homeschool kids can often test out of the basic courses that are preparatory for their intended major.
The next question is how does one go about learning this material? This isn’t normally your basic homeschool class work. The CLEP web site has an overview of the material you are required to know on each test. And the information is quite extensive. From there it is just a matter of finding resources to learn the material. One great source for some of this material is at the University of the People. They have many of these courses at a reasonable fee. Another is Education Portal. They also have many courses free online. You can also do an online search for the class you want to test out of to find free online classes for that particular subject.
Many home school families are now taking advantage of CLEP testing to defray the cost of a college education for their homeschool kids. Do a little research. This may be a great option for you as well.