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Elena
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| Posted: June 28 2010 at 3:19pm | IP Logged
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I just came back from a very interesting homeschool conference where I heard a number of talks from the people at College Plus.
Basically it is a coaching and planning program that helps students navigate and take the CLEP and Dantes Tests etc. to earn college credit. They bank these credits and when the student is ready s/he can apply to Thomas Edison State College, an accredited college in New Jersey, and finish out their Bachelor's degree. Students enrolled in the program earn their degrees in less time and at around $12,000 to $15,000 for the ENTIRE DEGREE. That frees them up to enter the working world faster or apply to grad school and use their time to concentrate on the majors that interest them.
At the convention we found out that my son's former soccer coach has his kids in the program and they have benefited. I also met a young woman who got her English Degree through College Plus and Thomas Edison in this way.
So I'm very excited about this for my remaining 5 children and even for my oldest son should he decide later to pursue a college degree and I wanted to share this information.
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Elena
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Elena
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| Posted: June 29 2010 at 1:08pm | IP Logged
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OK, maybe I didn't explain this right.
It means by using this program and CLEP testing and the Thomas Edison accredited college, I can get all of my kids their under grad degrees at the cost it would it be to send one to state college.
Doesn't anyone else find that interesting? intriguing? worth a look? 
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: June 29 2010 at 1:11pm | IP Logged
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It does sound interesting Elena. But msot of my kids are rather on the young side yet 
Summer can be so busy.. I'm sure more of the high school moms will respond as time allows.. but it can take days sometimes.
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dakotamidnight
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Actually you can do this without any special program - I've known several people who self-taught by getting older editions of the commonly used college textbooks, and then took the tests for credit.
Another good program to look into is dual-enrollment - most community colleges allow high school students to dual enroll at lower cost.
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Elena
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You're right. You CAN do it without a program and my second son did take a CLEP test last year on his own. So, I was a little skeptical about this as well. But there are advantages!
1. They assign a coach to the student who helps them plan out their course of study and a time table. That may or may not be important. For my son, who took eight months to study for one CLEP test and then missed it by a few points, having a coach besides me might be just the edge he needs.
2. College Plus provides proof that the student is a full-time student. That becomes an issue when a kid turns 18 and isn't enrolled in a regular classroom setting but is doing self-study.
3. I don't know about other states, but in Ohio, you have to be in a regular school or what they call an "08" (named after the regulation) school to be able to dual enroll.
4. I checked our closest community college and they want $76.51 per credit our A CLEP test is only $80 dollars and up to 3 credits. So it's still a better deal.
5. College Plus is more flexible - not tied to a regular classroom schedule to give more options for work or other activities.
6. College Plus has a working arrangement with Thomas Edison to allow students under the age of 21 to enroll in their degree program.
7. CLEP and DANTES tests are accepted at many other colleges and universities too. We won't lose anything by banking credits with these tests.
I'm not seeing a downside to this, at least for my family.
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MarilynW
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| Posted: June 29 2010 at 4:21pm | IP Logged
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Elena - you might find this interesting:
Tonight (Tuesday) Andrew Pudewa joins Woody Robertson of CollegePlus! for a FREE webinar. They will speak on "Freedomship Education," Tuesday, June 29, 2010 8:00 PM - 9:00 PM CDT To register, please go to http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/webinar
Another CLEP program which is free and which I think has a yahoo group is Clep Prep
I do not know what I think of the whole collegeplus/clep prep. My head sees it as very useful and money saving and an effective way of getting an undergraduate degree. But something about the whole accelerated thing makes me uncomfortable. It is not relevant for us right now as my oldest dd is interested in a liberal arts program. And I find the cost quite high.
I have to say though - many aspects of it are attractive...
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Elena
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Thanks Marilyn.
I am a member of that Clep Prep and use the lesson plans. They're very well done! We didn't follow them the first time which may be another reason my son didn't pass CLEP American History the first time.
Woody spoke at the CHEO convention I attended last weekend! Thanks for posting the information. I will definitely log in to listen.
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teachingmyown
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So, Elena, (I am being lazy here and asking you instead of reading through their site!  ) is this in place of using your own curriculum or on top of it? Would my daughter complete a world history course, such as MODG, and use CollegePlus to get her college credit, or would she just use CollegePlus to get ready for the Clep test and that would be it?
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Elena
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You could use your own high school curriculum. College Plus provides study guides and suggests other materials like the REA books to make sure you are ready to take the CLEP test in that subject. Why study world history in high school and then again in college when you can take it once and get college credit for it too!
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Faithr
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Elena,
My 18 yo son is enrolled in CP for just some of reasons you mentioned. His plan is to audition for a music conservatory this coming winter. In the meantime he'll be studying for clep tests. We definitely needed a coach around here to help with the studying portion and keep him on track. One reason why we liked going this route rather than the community college route, is that most of cc students around here are kind of the dregs of academia. I mean older students are usually pretty motivated, but most of the other 18 yo's are merely going to school because their parents don't know what to do with them! They seem to spend their weekends drinking and fornicating and then talking about it loudly and vulgarly. They bring the quality of classroom life down considerably. My son felt like an alien! The teachers are so burned out by having to deal with such low achieving kids that they really aren't all that interested in teaching. Not everyone is like this of course but really to cope at cc you have to deliberately live in a bubble. My son would rather study at home and earn college credit, faster than the cc can provide, so that he transfer credits to the school he wants to go to where everyone has a work ethic and loves music as much as he does!
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Elena
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Thanks so much for posting this Faith! If you don't mind, from time to time, I might ask for your input as we pursue this process.
My mom left me a little money when she passed and I think my husband and I have determined that with College Plus we will be able to give all of our kids a college education - and I think mom would be very pleased to know that is what we did with her gift!
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Angie Mc
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Elena, thanks for starting this topic! I added it to the debt-free college degree topic.
Love,
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Angela F
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Thanks for this thread and the debt-free one, too! I have a couple questions....we've been looking at CollegePlus, but I'm wondering about the Protestant slant; here's their statement of faith. Since the students are at home, normally I wouldn't worry too much. But our oldest that I was thinking of enrolling also feels she has a vocation to religious life. How much of a faith push is there? Faith? and anyone else with an enrolled child?
Thanks! and God bless!
Angela
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Elena
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I read their statement of faith and think there are quite a few Protestants that might quibble with parts of it!
But the main purpose of College Plus is to get the student through the CLEP tests that are administered by the College Board which is secular. These are the same people that develop and give the SAT test. So as the purpose is to mainly document knowlege I'm not expecting there to be any discussion of religion unless it's in world history or the humanities, and then it will be more fact based than faith based.
Incidentally we did pay the money and my son's start date with CP is on 09/23. So far I have liked the feedback from his advisors very much and we are set up for the start date.
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stefoodie
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not directly related to College Plus info, but Angela, since you brought up the faith question, you might find the Liberal Studies Program interesting.
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Angela F
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Stef - Thank you for this! I meant to ask about this in my post and forgot!
In the beginning of Collegeplus, it seems the students do some Life Purpose work? This was my concern for my oldest daughter - how do you discuss a vocation to the religious life with a Protestant? Not sure how they'd handle us! I do love the idea of CLEP help and saving $$. Prayers for discernment needed! Anyone out there experienced the beginning stages of Collegeplus?
God bless,
Angela
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Faithr
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Hi Angela, I replied to your message from my e-mail but I don't think that goes through to the group???
Anyway, I am currently looking through the Life Purpose Planning book which my son is supposed to work through this coming week. While it does have sundry quotes from various Protestant figures, they also include quotes from the Epistle of James on works and faith! And they quote from St. Francis of Assisi and Thomas a Kempis. Sooo I think they are trying to be ecumenical. I really don't see anything offensive or hard sell, but the book does have a general evangelical way of phrasing things as opposed to a Catholic way, iykwim.
If you are really worried about it, or want some assurance from someone at Collegeplus, call them up and ask for Cindy Kelly. She is a long time Catholic homeschooling mom who works for CollegePlus now. Both her sons are in their program.
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Elena
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That's good to know Faithr. Thanks!
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Angela F
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Ditto what Elena said!
God bless, Angela
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Elena
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I wanted to post an update.
My son Sam took the CLEP for College Mathematics today. He passed. He now has 6 college credits and it only cost me $102, plus the study materials.
We're all very pleased!
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Topic: College Plus
