Save On Going Back To College With A Degree Completion Program

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, an amazing 38 million Americans have earned some college credits, but never finished a degree. To deal with that problem, online and campus-based schools are creating new options to help people finish college. A growing list of completion degrees, accelerated programs and more flexible credit transfer policies are all enabling students - many of them adults with jobs and families - to complete the journey to graduation.

Transferring Credits To Finish College Faster
Being smart about how to transfer college credits can help you save a great deal of time and money. First, make a solid choice on the major you want to finish your degree in. Then consider these key questions:

• Can I Transfer Credits I Earned A Long Time Ago To A New Degree Program?
• Which Online Colleges & Universities Accept The Most Credit Transfers?
• Q&A: Will Transferring Colleges Lead To Me Losing My Old Class Credits?

The rules on transferring old credits vary from one school to another. It's worth spending some time to learn what all your options are - and being ready to make a strong case at your new school for getting all the credits you deserve.

Make Your Case
Although most colleges and universities publish a basic policy on how many transfer credits they'll accept, the final award each student gets can vary quite a bit. As you get ready to enter a new school, it's in your interest to make the strongest possible case about the value - and the transferability - of your previous learning experiences. Some very well-known colleges accept up to 90 transfer credits toward a 120 credit degree bachelor degree, which could save you many thousands of dollars and allow you to get on to your next career far more quickly.

Bachelor degree programs tend to offer the most flexibility on college credit transfer, but there are options to use old credits or even get credit for job experience at the associate's or master's levels too. Here's a full roundup of our articles on transferring credits successfully.

Keys To Degree Completion
So called "completion" programs come in all shapes and sizes. Some schools promote completion degrees heavily, while others offer great tools to finish a degree but never use the term "completion degree" at all. Here's a list of top online completion degree programs.

In addition to favorable transfer policies, schools offer accelerated programs, flat fee structures, blended and online classes to make it faster and more affordable to finish college. Some of the keys to getting an accelerated degree. A large percentage of the students going back to colleges today are working mothers. If you're one of them, read this review of how moms can go back to school successfully.

Quite often, the degree programs that give students the most options to get through quickly are in career categories like business administration, criminal justice or nursing (the RN to BSN is, in fact, one of the most popular online degree completion programs). There are "general studies" degrees offered by some schools on an accelerated basis, but you need to decide if such a degree will give you real career benefits.