If you’ve ever heard people talking about “degree plans” and didn’t understand what that meant, this post is for you. A degree plan is simply a list of very carefully selected courses that line up to a specific degree. This is usually done using very low-cost credit with the intention of enrolling later and having a good portion of the degree finished before starting. In this example, I wanted to use our new Scholarship from Google to maximize a degree that incorporates as much credit from Google as possible. I’m excited to show you what I landed on!
Degree Planning Wisdom
I have intentionally NOT published a lot of degree plans in Homeschooling for College Credit, despite this being an area of expertise for me professionally and personally. There are pros AND CONS for degree planning, but the cons often get lost in the excitement, and when parents are very motivated, priorities can become cloudy.
So, if you’re going to take my degree-planning advice, you also should heed my degree-planning wisdom.
- Your student will only get 1 bachelor’s degree: is this the right one? Getting a bachelor’s degree closes off access to additional undergraduate degrees, financial aid, skills, and other things that might ordinarily come during an undergraduate degree. A second bachelor’s degree will require an enormous undertaking, new credit, a LOT more money, and will not be permitted at many universities. If this bachelor’s degree won’t work for your student’s future goals, then it won’t work. Don’t pursue it. That goes for any bachelor’s degree that isn’t going to work.
- Checking the box is ok unless it’s not. Many occupations don’t require specific skills or a specific degree. In fact, very few occupations require a specific degree in a specific major, but if your student DOES need a specific degree, you should never let them just check the box. (See point 1) If your student is looking for a degree to check a box, this one will work.If you don’t know for certain that this degree will work, then I know for certain that it’s not the right degree for your teen.
- Degree plans, like this one, require the student to follow the plan exactly as written. As soon as you start substituting exams or classes, it will cause problems and make the plan null and void.
- Colleges and universities are never-ever-never going to help you with this degree plan. It is not in a college’s best interest for your student to outsource credits; a college wants you to pay tuition with them. When you outsource credit this way, you’re within the rules of the college’s policies, but you are always in a DIY situation.
- This plan works today. It may not work tomorrow. Most people underestimate how often colleges change their policies, so as an “unenrolled” student, the college will not honor this degree for your student 3 years from now. You must be willing to dig in, roll up your sleeves, track changes, and figure this out as you go. A college or university will not provide advising services to you or your student until they enroll, and at that time, the degree requirements will be “locked,” and you can relax a bit. Until then, everything is subject to change.
Degree Planning Extremes
When I write the headline that your student can complete 75% of this degree for under $1,000 it’s completely true. It’s also very extreme. Average people can’t complete 75% of a degree for under $1,000 and certainly not while still in high school. BUT, this plan is accurate, and it does work on paper. Will it work for your student? Hard to say. Degree plans are often extreme because they are built by crunching numbers and plugging in credits based on an optimal situation. I built this based on what is possible, not what is realistic. If you want 75% of a degree for $1,000 you have to be extreme. When the reality of life, schedules, and students’ motivation or abilities come into play, extreme degree plans may not hold up. If I were to “rate” the difficulty level of executing this degree plan as written in high school, I would rate it as “10 out of 10” in terms of challenging. Not necessarily because of the content, but because it’s built for a hypothetical student completing a plan written by someone without regard to the student.
All degree plans are written this way.
So, as a reminder: I have intentionally NOT published a lot of degree plans in Homeschooling for College Credit, despite this being an area of expertise for me professionally and personally. There are pros AND CONS for degree planning, but the cons often get lost in the excitement, and when parents are very motivated, priorities can become cloudy.
So, after all of these “cons,” why write a degree plan at all?
I’m glad you asked.
Degree plans show you what is possible, and they are a thought experiment of sorts. Reading a plan like this one is like eating a gourmet meal at a restaurant and then going home to duplicate it. It’s hard to duplicate without some understanding of the process, BUT, it is absolutely 100% possible to do a milder version of degree planning at each and every institution your teen is considering for after high school!!
Everything written by me or the Homeschooling for College Credit leadership will always give you best practices you can trust. The reality is that “resourceful high school planning” usually falls somewhere between earning a few college credits and a full degree. We generally see parents achieve the most success when their student earns 30-60 credits. So publishing this plan, which includes 94 credits, is an example of how a big map is drawn; nothing more. If your teen earns even ONE college credit in high school, he’s ahead!
