Technical writing

[larry7crys]

After searching for a college that offered this DSST, I finally took it today. Not a hard exam, but overall doable. Can't believe I had to pay $90 for it though. First time paying for these exams (CLEPS and DSSTs) since joining the Navy. How do regular people pay for these exams i.e. I've seen a lady take 4 CLEPs and 2 DSSTs exams today! Geez, that would alot of money for someone frugual like me!

[snazzlefrag]

Originally Posted by larry7crys

How do regular people pay for these exams i.e. I've seen a lady take 4 CLEPs and 2 DSSTs exams today! Geez, that would alot of money for someone frugual like me!

It's all relative though Larry,

Not counting the test center's own fees, that woman paid $70 per DSST and $65 per CLEP. Assuming she only took exams worth three credits and that she passed all six exams that she took, she will have earned 18 college credits today at a total cost of $400 (plus testing fees). Most colleges charge in the range of $100 to $400 (or higher) per credit. If, for the sake of example, we take the low end of $100/credit, a student at a conventional school would have to spend $1800 to earn the same number of credits as this woman. Cost notwithstanding, it's not normally practical to take more than four or five courses simultaneously over the length of a 16-week semester at a conventional college. This woman earned more than an entire semester worth of credits in ONE DAY.

Just to be clear....

$1800 for 18 credits earned over a four month semester (often spread out over two semesters due to practical limitations on the number of courses one can take simultaneously)

OR

$400 for 18 credits earned in one day (plus the number of days or weeks spent studying).

It may SEEM expensive to spend $400 in one day. But, in terms of value for money, it makes perfect sense.

The truth is that most full-time college students will themselves spend many hundreds of dollars in ONE DAY each semester (on registration day), and then spend the rest of the semester earning what they have already paid for.

I think the woman got a great deal. If she did the same thing once a month for four months (ie, over the equivalent of a standard 16-week semester), she would have earned 72 credits in one semester, at a cost of $1600. That's still $200 less than even some of the cheapest conventional schools would have charged their students to earn (over an entire semester) the exact same number of credits that the woman earned JUST TODAY!.

It's about perspective,
Snazzlefrag

[PatsGirl1]

Plus for some of us (me!), we can’t bear to sit in a classroom. Give me a book, IC, whatever, I can learn it quicker and grasp it, but I can’t stand traditional learning and sitting in a classroom. It’s easier to me, cheaper (which Snazzle covered nicely ), and I don’t have to deal with the person in the back of their classroom talking on their cell phone, or doing their nails (I’ve had both happen).
Plus, I’m only 26, but I’m married, own a home, working on my career, moving practically cross country later next year, having a baby next Summer, etc. I don’t feel like I have a lot in common with the 18-21 year olds I used to take classes with, and the teaching styles used by many physical classes just don’t work for me. I want to be done quickly, and start working on my Master’s. I don’t need the socialization or interaction in a physical class- I need the degree.