Every college has a “rack rate.” It’s the sticker price of tuition, the published rate that few students actually pay but that everyone should understand. The rack rate is what your student will pay once they graduate from high school and enroll as a college student. If your teen graduates this academic year (2026) rack rate tuition is right around the corner. Here are 2 ways to make the most of these last few months.
Continue reading “Rack Rate is Coming. Do These 3 Things Before Graduation”
If you’ve ever wondered whether Advanced Placement (AP) is worth the extra work, you’re not alone. Parents often assume that taking an AP course means earning college credit, but that’s not how it works. The truth is that AP courses are only worth high school credit, it’s the AP exams that are worth “potential” college credit.
Continue reading “Is AP Really Worth College Credit?”
At some point in your teen’s math sequence, they will probably cross over into math topics that are also part of a typical “college math” sequence. This transition begins just after Algebra 1, and if parents are aware of this shift, it can result in significant amounts of potential college credit!
Continue reading “Perfect Match: Math CLEP & High School Math”
A well-crafted course title on your transcript conveys the subject without sounding overly complicated or confusing. And what about dual enrollment?
Continue reading “Creating Professional Course Titles: Tips for Your Transcript”
For the last decade, Homeschooling for College Credit has helped parents use CLEP in their homeschool program. As a perfect “final exam” a CLEP exam is worth potential college credit that can save your family thousands of dollars and replace several college classes. This post includes the full list.
Continue reading “Complete List of All CLEP Exams”
Apply now! The University of Alabama Early College Dual Enrollment offers the lowest cost dual enrollment in the country for out-of-state homeschoolers. At just $33/credit, homeschoolers from any state can participate. During Free App Week you can save $40 and apply for free!
Continue reading “Free Early College App This Week at The University of Alabama”
Only 1% of students will get scholarships big enough to cover the entire cost of their education, so what should you do? By the time you learn your teen’s scholarships fall short, it’s too late to do anything but borrow.
Continue reading “Planning to Use Scholarships to Pay For College?”
In 2025, you can’t CLEP out of an “entire” associate’s degree, but using this plan, you can CLEP out of most of your Associate of Science in Business Administration degree. I wrote this full degree plan to optimize using CLEP in your homeschool and paired that with tuition waiver vouchers from Modern States, bringing the grand total cost of this degree down to $1,544.
Continue reading “Can I CLEP Out of an Associate’s Degree?”
Since CLEP credit is recorded on your college transcript as pass/fail, what does that mean for your teen’s GPA? Does it help? Does it hurt? Let’s look at two possible outcomes.
Continue reading “CLEP and Your GPA”
When families talk about paying for college, the conversation often turns to borrowing. Many parents believe, “We’ll just take the loans and figure it out later.” Loans are easy to get and everyone seems to use them. But what if I told you that this mindset, seeing loans as the default plan, sets up more students for financial ruin than anything else?
Continue reading “A Student Loan is Not a Plan”
This month’s scholarship and contest opportunities are available for students from kindergarten through college. It’s never too early to start saving money for higher education expenses. And, the great thing about contests is that often the money is not tied to college, so it could be used to defray the costs of college credit in high school!
Continue reading “October 2025 Scholarships”
If your teen has ever dreamed of starting the next big tech company, there’s an incredible free resource available that can help them explore that path: Startup School by Y Combinator. I enrolled to see if it was “homeschool-friendly” (it is), and it’s packed with incredible information. I even drafted a plan below to make this worth high school credit.
Continue reading “Y Combinator’s Startup School: A Free Opportunity for Teens in Tech Startups”
If you’ve started using the University of Alabama’s Dual Enrollment program, we want to hear from you! Love it so far? Hate it so far? Hard? Easy? Clear? Confusing? At only $33 per credit, this is the lowest cost out-of-state dual enrollment program in the country, but cost isn’t everything. Let’s hear your feedback! Comment below or fill out this quick survey.
Dorms and meal plans at many colleges now cost between $10,000 and $15,000 per year. For many families, that number feels impossible. While some justify high price tags for education, it’s harder to justify the cost of cinderblock housing with thirty strangers. Should you?
Continue reading “The “College Experience” That Costs More Than Tuition”
At $250, University of Holy Cross Dual Enrollment is among the best price options in the USA. UHC is a Catholic institution rooted in the traditions of the Marianites of Holy Cross. Homeschool students in 11th or 12th grade from any state can enroll as distance learning students. A special feature of UHC is that they maintain a 10:1 student:faculty ratio, which is incredible. Dual enrollment students also have acecss to free tutoring. This post highlights all the Homeschooling for College Credit points you need to know.
Continue reading “Look Inside: University of Holy Cross Dual Enrollment”
In this savings hack, I’ve broken down how you can earn a Bachelor of Science in Legal Studies from the University of Maryland Global Campus in 2 1/2 years after high school for only $300. This degree plan is CLEP-forward for high school students AND will also work for adults who want to use CLEP to gain a huge head start!
Continue reading “SAVINGS HACK: $300 Degree From UMGC”
Important Caution About Third-Party Transcript Services
Continue reading “Why Was My Homeschool Transcript Rejected?”
I LOVE a guarantee! Guaranteed credit transfer, guaranteed partnerships, guaranteed articulation agreements, and best of all…. guaranteed MERIT AID! These are scholarships that are automatically awarded to any student who meets clear GPA and test score cut-offs. If your student qualifies, these colleges should be on your list.
Continue reading “How Can I Find Guaranteed Merit Aid?”
I received a Facebook message from a HS4CC parent in Texas who asked “How can [company name] sell degrees for so cheap? They advertise that if I pay them, they can get my son the $39,195 degree for $10,765. Is that too good to be true?” Great question, here is exactly what’s happening and how you can do it yourself.
Continue reading “Fact Check: Can I Really Get a $40k Degree for $11k?”
Many parents of high achievers feel confident about the college journey. If your teen has top grades, test scores, and accomplishments, it is easy to think that scholarships are guaranteed and loans will never come into the picture. After all, if colleges love smart kids, why should you worry?
Continue reading “High Achievers: Show Me the Money”
Get a new Creative College Funding strategy every day for 10 days in this fun, free mini-newsletter! The best time to start thinking about college funding was yesterday. The next best time is today! Issue 1 is below.
Continue reading “Fun Free Mini-Newsletter”
Your teen can take affordable self-paced classes *right now* during high school that will count towards a bachelor’s degree at Colorado State University Global. Of course CSU won’t help you know which ones you need, but I will. Here they are:
Continue reading “Hot off the Press: Degree Plan for CSU Global $45,000 Degree for $10,275”
A concern I often hear from homeschooling parents is this: “My teen can’t possibly work their way through college because wages are just too low.” On the surface, that feels true. When you picture a student earning minimum wage at a random job, the basic math does not add up. But the strategy isn’t to use basic math; it’s to use creativity.
Continue reading “Working During College”
Coming in at $180, Pierpont Community and Technical College’s Dual Enrollment is among the best price options in the USA, and they open their program to homeschool students from any state with any GPA! This post highlights all the Homeschooling for College Credit points you need to know.
Continue reading “Look Inside: Pierpont Dual Enrollment”
Ever wonder how many people pass or fail specific CLEP exams? Me too!
Continue reading “CLEP Pass Rates (2024)”