Homeschooling for College Credit at Charter Oak State College (CT)
Rack Rate Tuition: $24,480 ($408 per credit x 60 credits)
Resourcefully Planned: $1,669 (57 credits in homeschool, 3 cr. rack rate)
Degree: Associate of Science
What is a resourcefully planned degree? In short, a cost map shows you how Homeschooling for College Credit in high school can be transferred into a specific college to save money. We’ll use alternative college credit sources that are accepted by this college to devise a strategic plan for your student. The cost map is a general outline that gets you headed in the right direction.
What a Resourcefully Planned Cost Map is NOT: It’s not a guarantee. This is an informed DIY plan using the college’s advertised transfer and credit acceptance policies.
Why DIY? As the parent of a high school student, you won’t have access to academic advisors or the registrar of a college, in addition, colleges don’t specialize in helping you avoid taking their classes! But, college transfer protocol and transfer policies are often available to the public, allowing teens to start earning college credit NOW that can be used LATER.
Where is Dual Enrollment? Since some families have free tuition through dual enrollment, while other families may not, dual enrollment has been completely left out of the plan. If you have dual enrollment available to you, you may want to use it.
Other costs: Colleges will have other costs beyond the scope of our basic tuition calculation. Application fee, graduation fee, technology fee, etc. are all fees that you should plan for when your teen eventually enrolls. To keep the playing field even, the rack rate listed above doesn’t include fees either – the numbers shown are straight tuition.
Rack Rate Tuition: $24,480 ($408 per credit x 60 credits)
Resourcefully Planned: $1,669 (57 credits in homeschool, 3 credits rack rate)
How to avoid student loan debt
- Reduce the number of credits your teen must complete by doing as many of them as possible in high school. You’ll pay cash for these as you go.
- Apply for Federal work-study, grants, and use savings/cash to cover the balance of tuition once they’re an enrolled student.
- For every $100 of tuition you have outstanding, apply for 1 scholarship. (example: $2,000 tuition = apply for 20 scholarships)
For the STRONG Test-taker
Charter Oak State College (11/2018)
| Requirement | Homeschooling for College Credit | Approximate Cost taken during homeschool | Cost if taken through Charter Oak State College |
| Written Communication | CLEP College Composition (6 credits) | $0* | $2,448 |
| Oral Communication | DSST Principles of Public Speaking (3 credits) | $100 | $1,224 |
| Information Literacy | *Cornerstone | NA | NA |
| Ethics | DSST Computer Ethics (3 credits) | $100 | $1,224 |
| US History | CLEP US History 1 (3 credits) | $0* | $1,224 |
| Non-US History | OnlineDegreeCom History Turning Points (3 credits) | $9 | $1,224 |
| Global Understanding | Straighterline Anthropology (3 credits) | $100 | $1,224 |
| Literature & Fine Arts | CLEP American Literature (3 credits) | $0* | $1,224 |
| Social Behavioral Sci. | CLEP Sociology (3 credits) | $0* | $1,224 |
| Mathematics | CLEP College Algebra (3 credits) | $0* | $1,224 |
| Natural Science | OnlineDegreeCom Enviro. Science (3 credits) | $9 | $1,224 |
| Natural Science w/Lab | Straighterline Biology with Lab (4 credits) | $100 | $1,632 |
| Elective | TEEX Cybersecurity (6 credits) | $0 | $2,448 |
| Elective | Sophia (2 credits) | $0 | $816 |
| Elective | CLEP, AP, or other ACE evaluated credits (0-9 cr.) | $0 | $0 – $4,080 |
| COSC Cornerstone | NA in high school (3 credits) | $1,224 | $1,224 |
| Electives | Saylor Academy & Onlinedegreecom, CLEP, AP
(0-30 credits) |
$0-270 | $0 – $4,080 |
| $1,669 | $24,480 |
Homeschooling for College Credit 
Do CLEP scores show up in a transcript of a completed Associates degree? A potential transfer school requires higher CLEP scores than the Big 3, but if CLEPs are bundled into an Associates degree from a Big 3 and then transferred to a B&M school would the lower CLEP scores show up or matter? The B&M’s website states that students who enter with an AA, AS, or AFA “from a regionally accredited school will have met all general education requirements…”. Yet, in another place it says, “The following CLEP Subject tests will be accepted in place of specific ONU courses, assuming scaled scores listed below are attained.”
So if we transferred in CLEPs separatedly, they would need to be higher than 50…but I’m wondering if bundled in a degree are treated differently. Maybe this is too school specific to answer, but I wondered if there is a general, universal rule of thumb that applies?
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Karyn, that’s an excellent question, and I understand exactly what you’re asking. It is unusual, though not impossible, that a 4 year university accepts an AA/AS in full as meeting gen eds. Typically, it’s more common when it is within the state (in this case, an Ohio community college –> ONU) however, if they do allow ANY AA/AS/AFA as meeting the requirements in full, then the higher CLEP scores shouldn’t matter because ONU is essentially saying that they’re not going to unpack the contents of the AA/AS/AFA degree.
You are 100% thinking about this correctly- if you sent them loose, they’d be evaluated with higher scores needed, bundled, maybe not. JUST TO BE SURE, I would send an email to the REGISTRAR (not admissions, not advising) to confirm. I’d specifically ask “do I understand ONU’s policy correctly that my AA degree from any other regionally accredited college will be accepted in full, even when the degree has alternative credit?” And I’d use the wording alternative credit instead of CLEP because their answer will give you more information! Charter Oak, as an example, accepts a lot of other kinds of credit besides CLEP, some free credit even, so let’s see if ONU can give you a specific black and white answer.
If yes, you are golden. 😉 Let me know what they say.
EDIT to add: CLEP scores are not part of a college transcript, only credits – however, on your official College Board Score Report Transcript your scores are listed, but depending on how they answer, you may not need to send that to OSU – you’ll only send it to one of the big 3.
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