College from Home

For decades now, my parents have thought outside the box regarding my education. I’m a homeschool graduate and incredibly thankful that my dad and mom stood against the cultural norm of public school and followed the Lord to give me the most godly, biblically-sound education they knew how.

What saddens me these days, however, is that thousands of Christian homeschooling parents are sending their kids off to college campuses for five or six years to fit into a university system that is morally corrupt and economically disastrous for the next generation of God’s people. In fact, current statistics show that around 70% of Christian freshman will walk away from God after they graduate. Although we might wonder how many of these people were truly believers to begin with, the reality remains that these people may be forever lost to hearing any spiritual truth the rest of their lives.

On top of this, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, families pay anywhere from $41,000 to $107,000 on their degrees, leaving students, on average, $21,000 in debt. And that’s not all—other statistics suggest that 80% of people that major in a field end up doing something entirely different from what they majored in.

Some have looked at these trends and concluded that college is completely a waste of time and money and that it just simply puts their kids at too much risk. I agree with that assessment. I’ve spent time on college campuses, and I know that the perversion taking place openly in the classroom is bad enough, let alone the depravity that students engage in secretly. Christians just don’t need to be in that ungodly atmosphere unless it’s absolutely necessary to complete the degree God has called them to.

I’m excited that there’s another option for higher education than the local college or university. Here’s my story.

I’ve been interested in writing and communications for years and soon after I finished a Bible school program, I worked as an editorial assistant for a small Christian publishing company. Because I enjoyed the work so much, I thought that I’d stay on there for years. Then it hit me—God was calling me to something different. I wanted to be a writer and the Lord made it clear that completing an English degree would do wonders for my writing skills and creativity.

I didn’t have the time or the money to do college like millions of teenagers do every year. I was already 25 and living on my own, and taking out thousands of dollars in college loans was simply out of the question. I didn’t want to be saddled with debt for decades after my education ended, so I started looking around for an alternative.

Now, I didn’t have to look far before I heard about a process called “credit by exam” that would enable me to take tests that counted for college credit. Credit by exam allowed me to study college level courses at my own pace and then take a CLEP or DANTES exam that would give me between 3 and 12 credits if I passed it. Instead of sitting through hours of humanistic instruction from atheistic professors, I studied from the comfort of my own home and, on average, completed semester-long courses in a few days or weeks. For instance, I passed the Spanish CLEP test that counts for 12 credits, completing 10% of my entire degree in one exam.

These days, a lot of people are using CLEP exams to get college credit for knowledge gained outside the classroom. However, many families are electing for someone to guide them through their children’s degree process. I used a Christian coaching service called CollegePlus! that assigned a coach to me and mapped out my entire template so I knew from the outset every exam and course I would need to take to complete my degree and how to study for them. In fact, my entire English degree cost under $10,000!

Additionally, I completed my studies and coursework in less than a year. That’s 120 credits, an entire bachelor’s degree, in 49 weeks since I didn’t transfer in a single credit when I started studying. All this in fewer than 12 months, a process that takes the traditional college student five to six years to complete. In fact, I believe in CollegePlus! so much that I went to work for them full time after I graduated.

Best of all, these degrees are fully regionally accredited (the highest form of accreditation in America). Grads who have used this process are confidently entering the workforce or are going on to grad schools at the school of their choice. Even more radically, many homeschoolers are using these proven accelerated distance learning methods and are even combining high school and college together earning their entire bachelor’s degree by age 18!

Completing a distance learning degree just makes sense. As one university professor said recently, the college system is broken. He’s not the only one to see this—other professors actually encourage their children to avoid the college campus where they teach in favor of distance learning. Even they see that it’s logical for homeschoolers to finish their degree in high school, intern or work for a few years while living at home, and then go on to a master’s degree, if their chosen career field requires graduate school training. Incidentally, more employers than ever want their prospective employees to have a master’s degree because so many applicants these days have already completed their bachelor’s level training.

Now more than ever parents need to be concerned about their children’s education instead of leaving it in the hands of unbelieving college professors. Thankfully, because of the technology that has been developed in recent decades, kids don’t need to be exposed to the moral depravity festering on the typical college campus. They can complete their degrees from home, under their parents’ nurturing authority. These days, no one needs to settle for completing higher education the world’s way.

Shawn is public relations manager at CollegePlus! To learn more about the growing trend of students who are combining high school and college, visit Distance Learning to get a free e-book and audio download on distance learning. Also, when requesting information use promo code NGJ08 for a special discount.

Editor’s Note: Shawn is the middle son of Mel Cohen, our General Manager.