As learners look for ways to make education more affordable, there is an obvious chance that learners and their parents seem unacquainted with, the College Level Examination Program, or CLEP assessments. These assessments allow learners to be able to test out of up to 33 college level programs. That can convert to up to 45 units. Many of these programs such as chemistry, calculus, geometry, history and humanities, are required by almost all colleges and universities and some trade schools. These are programs that college-bound learners should already be taking in high school. Students who are doing well in these topics in secondary school should be able to successfully pass these programs, with little or no training, if they just study hard while in high school, but training and practice assessments are available.
The price of a unit of study at Northern State University is $133 per unit for citizens, so a three-unit class would cost about $400, not keeping track of the guides and various other fees. The CLEP examination costs $80. The big advantages come when you take enough CLEP examinations to equal a term or more of college tuition. For each term of classes you could miss at NSU, you would save their approximately $12,363, if you live at home, or the more likely $18,821 if you live on campus. Because NSU is one of the more cost-friendly colleges, you would save even more if you choose more expensive universities. As they say on the College Level Examination Program website, “you do the math.”
Within a 200-mile distance of Aberdeen, the site identifies 32 organizations that agree to CLEP examinations. Regionally, they include NSU and Presentation College. South Dakota State University, University of Sioux Falls, Dakota State University and Augustana also agree to these assessments. Even Lake Area Tech allows them. If you are looking outside the state, more than 2,900 universities and colleges accept these examinations. Another real benefit comes in time. Every term, the college student can “CLEP out of” is a term they could be making profits and getting real-life experience. Real education happens when you interact with what you have learned in the class room with actual life problems.