Is there online college to just get your GE done?

Question

I see a lot of online colleges, but they're all usually specifically for certain degrees. What if I just want to get some GE out of the way for another college?

Answer 1

If you are already enrolled in a college, get permission to do work as a "visiting student" before you do this or your classes may not transfer.

If you're planning ahead and just want to do some general education classes to transfer later, make sure that the school you pick is regionally accredited. If it's a state college, even better. This will maximize transferability.

Among people interested in distance learning, two colleges are relatively inexpensive and get maximum transferability:
Louisiana State http://www.is.lsu.edu/
Brigham Young http://ce.byu.edu/is/site/

You can take some classes via community college but most 4-years limit the transferability of community college credits to lower level with a max 60 hours. The same limits don't apply to courses at regionally accredited 4-year colleges.

If you're really brave ☺ Harvard and UC-Berkeley have some outstanding courses taught online. Very few colleges will refuse to transfer in courses from these.
Harvard Extension - http://www.extension.harvard.edu/2007-08/DistanceEd/courses/
UC-Berkeley Extension - http://www.unex.berkeley.edu/online/
make sure you take the "for-credit" option and expect that these are far from easy.

All of that said, most colleges will allow you to enroll as a non-degree seeking student for the purpose of taking a few classes. If there's a school you'd like to take classes from but don't want their degree, you are usually allowed to do that. There is little to no financial aid for non-degree seeking students though.

Don't forget to surf over to the web pages of your local state u and search for their online offerings. Almost everyone is teaching online these days. This is probably the least expensive option. And, if there's a college you're particularly fond of - see if they offer classes you want to take.

The heavily advertised "as seen on TV" colleges aren't your only option - they're actually minor players in online college these days. You can take your classes at the best colleges in the world now and not have to visit them.

You could even study history or literature at Oxford U. http://onlinecourses.conted.ox.ac.uk/

Answer 2

I see nearly all traditional schools offer online programs of some sort. Most of the coursework offerings are with general core classes.

Answer 3

Many classes will be online....check any "community college" near you!