Expert: Todd Johnson - 10/24/2007

Question
Dear Mr. Johnson,
I would like to complete/obtain a BA in English or writing.  I am an older adult
and graduated three decades ago from a tech school. Although accredited, I
doubt I'd be able to transfer many credits from it, perhaps none.  I have a
good deal of "life experiences" and have run multiple businesses.  But I'm
having trouble locating a good online/distance learning fit and would like to
somehow get some credit for my 50+ years of life.  I'm confident I could
ace several CLEP tests as well, since I've been studying English and history
and writing a good deal for 25 years or more since...
What would you recommend?  Is there someone in your field that I could
compensate to find the best fit available?  I've done a tremendous amount of
searching on the web to little avail.
Any advice would be appreciated.  Many thanks for your generous time.

Answer
James,

Thanks for writing. I don't know how much help I can be as my focus is on younger students without the life experience you have. I have several suggestions as possibilities. You mention online and distance education and while that may fit I wouldn't limit yourself to that unless you are not near any other options. The best known online program is probably The University of Phoenix which has been around for some time. However, as I understand it they tend to focus in fairly particular areas that may not be what you are looking for.

You might want to consider local community colleges as sometimes they are more amenable to granting credit for life experiences. Once you have the credit then you could hopefully transfer to a 4 year college to complete your degree. Even if they don't want to give you credit for general life experiences, I would guess that your would do quite well on the CLEP exams and get the credit that way.

I am not aware of anyone doing college consulting that has much experience with older students returning to college.

I don't know if that is helpful but I think going to CLEP way may be your best bet to establish your knowledge for a general BA program like you are looking for.

Good luck.