4 ms·

Many western states got together to provide a cheaper alternative to state schools. Western Governors University is about 6k a year and is online and accredite

Many western states got together to provide a cheaper alternative to state schools. Western Governors University is about 6k a year and is online and accredited. Its also used for teachers to get their advanced degrees while working full-time jobs. You can also go as fast or slow as you can/want. You could, in theory, do it in 3 years, so 18k TOTAL, that's pretty affordable. No idea if there is an option for eastern states. They have IT/Nursing/Teaching/Business degrees upto Masters degrees. https://www.wgu.edu/ https://www.wgu.edu/

AnimalMuppet 8y ago
WGU's great (so far as I know)... for the majors they offer. There's a bunch that they don't, though. No pure science, no humanities. They're even missing a bunch of kinds of engineering. I like the idea, though. I wish they offered more.
colonelpopcorn 8y ago
Alumni of WGU here. I did mine in about 1 1/2 years of work for < $16k. If anyone is looking to tick the "college educated" box I would highly recommend it as the fastest path to doing that.
dnissley 8y ago
I'm currently in their CS program that just opened up in June. I've been a software engineer for about a decade and so have picked up a pretty decent CS background just through osmosis. Here's the response I gave to a young person who wanted to know if they should go to a community college or WGU: Honestly if I didn't already know like 3/4 the stuff for almost every class I've taken so far I would probably hate this program because the materials and curriculum within each class aren't great. There are lots of errors and sloppiness all around, even on many of the exams. I can imagine trying to learn this all from scratch would be a crapshoot and take a really long time and be really frustrating. That said, if you're motivated it could be worth the time savings just to get out there and start working. You'll learn far more on the job than you would in the classroom anyway, and for me at least I definitely didn't appreciate the more abstract knowledge I came into contact with before I started working. But after a few years I had an actual application for it, and started to re-examine it in my own time. And it was a lot more interesting and actually held my attention at that point.
- IronWolve 8y ago
  When I talked to them, the CS/IT programs had test outs, but they seem to be Microsoft oriented so the tests are most likely the microsoft tests. But this was a few years ago, so no idea how they just started offering their CS in June. You would have to confirm them. I had a co-worker who was attending while working a full time job, thats how I found out about it.
sytelus 8y ago
Can you really get degree in nursing onlin? That sounds scary.

AnimalMuppet 8y ago

WGU's great (so far as I know)... for the majors they offer. There's a bunch that they don't, though. No pure science, no humanities. They're even missing a bunch of kinds of engineering. I like the idea, though. I wish they offered more.

colonelpopcorn 8y ago

Alumni of WGU here. I did mine in about 1 1/2 years of work for < $16k. If anyone is looking to tick the "college educated" box I would highly recommend it as the fastest path to doing that.

dnissley 8y ago

I'm currently in their CS program that just opened up in June. I've been a software engineer for about a decade and so have picked up a pretty decent CS background just through osmosis. Here's the response I gave to a young person who wanted to know if they should go to a community college or WGU: Honestly if I didn't already know like 3/4 the stuff for almost every class I've taken so far I would probably hate this program because the materials and curriculum within each class aren't great. There are lots of errors and sloppiness all around, even on many of the exams. I can imagine trying to learn this all from scratch would be a crapshoot and take a really long time and be really frustrating. That said, if you're motivated it could be worth the time savings just to get out there and start working. You'll learn far more on the job than you would in the classroom anyway, and for me at least I definitely didn't appreciate the more abstract knowledge I came into contact with before I started working. But after a few years I had an actual application for it, and started to re-examine it in my own time. And it was a lot more interesting and actually held my attention at that point.

IronWolve 8y ago
When I talked to them, the CS/IT programs had test outs, but they seem to be Microsoft oriented so the tests are most likely the microsoft tests. But this was a few years ago, so no idea how they just started offering their CS in June. You would have to confirm them. I had a co-worker who was attending while working a full time job, thats how I found out about it.

sytelus 8y ago

Can you really get degree in nursing onlin? That sounds scary.