Wife's Options for Finishing College?

Question

My wife went to college for 3.5 years, and ended up failing out pretty much due to apathy her last two semesters.

Now that she's seen how tough it is to get a decent job anywhere without a degree she's realized the errors of her ways and wants to get a degree of some kind (even assoc. if available) but we don't know what our options are.

We've since moved away from her college so going back to it to finish the degree is pretty much out of the question. What other options do we have if she wants a degree of some kind?

Answer 1

Her best option for a fast, appropriately accredited bachelor's degree is to see if any college near her offers an accelerated bachelor's degree program for adults. Sometimes these are listed as "adult degree completion programs". These are part-time programs, and are designed for adults who've had some college, but left it for whatever reason, and now want to come back. They'll accept what credits they can from her past studies, and then the rest of her classes with them will be accelerated - they'll meet longer hours each day, for shorter semesters, and there is no summer break. The goal is to get her to her BA in as little as 18 months/2 years.

I don't know what programs like this are near you, but in my area, they tend to be offered by the small, private universities: Bentley College, Mercy College, etc. In fact, I'll link you to a couple just so you can see what sort of thing I'm talking about.

These are completely reputable. The colleges are appropriately accredited. The only issue is that she'll only be able to major in certain things - not everything is offered. But the advantage is that she'll get out as quickly as possible.

She can also simply go to her local university, state or private, and complete her degree via their continuing ed program. The advantage here is that it may be less expensive than the above option (if she goes to a public uni instead of private), and there should be a wider variety of majors on offer. But it will take a bit longer than the above option. So long as it isn't a super-competitive university, and so long as it's via continuing ed, she should be okay in terms of admissions if she explains what happened those last two semesters, and why now she's different. Why now will she succeed, when before she failed? She needs to bring this out in the application.

As your wife is an adult, and doing this for career opportunities, I'd rather her stay away from online programs, and away from any for-profit universities like U of Phoenix. Many employers have a strong disliking for such programs. If she *must* go online, please have her look only at schools that have a great reputation for their brick-and-mortar campuses, schools such as U Maryland, or Penn State.

Answer 2

There are now a large number of good and accredited colleges/universities that will allow a student to continue their education off campus via the Internet.

My son, currently in the Marine Corps. will graduate this next spring with a BA in Business Administration. He attended a regular university for 1 1/2 Yrs. prior to joining the military. Most, but not all his university credits were transferable and he lost very little.

My sister-in-law is an assistant professor of sociology at a local college. In addition to teaching regular classes in a classroom, she does on-line teaching as well, allowing students all over the country to obtain sociology credits.

My suggestion would be to first check with her former school and learn if they have on-line programs for off campus students. That way she would stand to loose less of her already completed credits. If that is not available to her, begin checking with colleges and universities in other areas. She may have to re-take certain classes that she didn't adequate grades to transfer but the end result is worth it.

One word of caution though, there are many non accredited schools out there that are willing to take tuition money but offer non recognized degrees. A little time spent on the Internet researching and then on the telephone should provide decent reassurance.

Good luck to you both.

Answer 3

She should apply for a college near where you live using her earlier credits to 'transfer' ... that will limit her choices of major, but she needs to 'add them up' and take a look at the different majors offered to see what she wants to do and how many credits she can transfer. Once she has a 'plan' (in writing) she can go to the school to apply and talk to a counselor there about things like 'financial aid' and possibly some 'child care' if you have a kid.

Answer 4

well you could transfer her credits from the previous college to a different one so she doesn't have to start over she could even finish the degree she was working on. One of the best options would be to go and talk to a guidance counselors at a local college.

Answer 5

She should be able to apply at another college and get in especially if it's been some time since she's been in classes. Most schools are quite interested in helping out returning students, especially if they now show they really want to finish.