Editing Several Sources Of Cheap Credit (section)

=Subscription Model=
== [[Sophia.org]] ==
''Cost as of Oct 2020: $79 per month; no limit to courses taken within that time period. Does not use traditional proctoring methods; no cost for proctoring.''

Sophia is currently the fastest and cheapest way to fulfill most of your General Education requirements for [[The Big Three|the big 3]], especially [[Thomas Edison State University|TESU]]. With the addition of Business Law and Principles of Finance, you can also make good progress towards a Business Administration degree at TESU besides fulfilling GE requirements. If you take every course at Sophia, you should have somewhere between 70 and 86 credits towards your degree. The exact number of allowed credits will depend upon the degree and college/university. Most courses consist of readings followed by quizzes and larger tests (challenges and milestones respectively). There may be videos in some courses. Some courses also have essays or video assignments (known as touchstones). 

You get 3 tries to pass the challenge quizzes and if you fail a milestone, you get one extra attempt which you would need to ask Sophia staff for permission.

Your final grade is based on all of these and not just a single final exam.

== [[InstantCert.com]] ==
''Cost as of Oct 2020: $20/mo. or $108 for 6 months + $15 [[Online Proctoring|proctor fee]]; 1 course included per month.  Additional courses $20 each.''

InstantCert offers 10 (as of 11/2021) ACE-approved courses for a low cost. These include American Government (which fills in the remaining General Education slot that Sophia does not cover), Spanish I, and several business courses. The courses generally consist of study questions which you can repeat unlimited amount of times.  The graded exams and midterm are non-proctored exams which can be retaken once.  The final exam is proctored that can be retaken once as well and worth 30% of your grade.

== [[Study.com]] ==
''Cost as of Oct 2020: $199/mo. Uses [[Online Proctoring|RPNow]] proctoring at no additional cost.''

Study.com (or SDC) has a large number of ACE or NCCRS approved exams. This includes many UL credits that cannot be found elsewhere or that cost much more to take elsewhere. See the [[Study.com|SDC]] page for tips and tricks on how to make the most out of your membership. It is currently possible to complete most of several degrees using only [[Sophia.org|Sophia]] and SDC courses, making this an invaluable source of credits.

You get 3 tries for each quiz question.  Often if you miss a question, the answer will be given or they will show the exact spot in the video which the answer is.  It's '''very important''' to average 95%+ on the quiz questions so that you don't need a high score on the final to pass.  If you fail the final, you get 2 more attempts which you have to pay $70 each.  They will not reset the course if you fail after that. 

== [[Davar Academy]] ==
''Cost as of Oct 2020: $99 for two business courses or $70 to $80 per course fee. Plus [[Online Proctoring|proctor fee]] per course regardless of purchase option. A no-cost local proctor option is available.''

Davar Academy has [[National College Credit Recommendation Service|NCCRS]] approved exams. You get credit for passing a proctored final exam, similar to [[College Level Examination Program|CLEP]], [[Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support|DSST]], or even a [[Thomas Edison Credit by Exam Program|TECEP]]. The course provides review materials to prepare for the exam. They have course equivalency tables on their website for TESU and Excelsior. 

== [[Straighterline]] ==
''Cost as of Oct 2020: Typically $49-$69 per course, plus $99/month membership fee. Coupons are often available. ''

Another option is taking courses at StraighterLine, if it's more suited for you. It's a quick set of work, midterm, and then a [[Online Proctoring|proctored]] final exam, generally 75-80% work/20-25% exam. People like this as they can "pass" the course with high grades for coursework, and mediocre final. If you're taking Straighterline courses, take as much as you can in a monthly membership. Basically work hard on "coursework/exams" and on the final, having peace of mind knowing you passed.

== Google (via Coursera) ==
''Cost as of January 2021: $49/mo. with a 7-day free trial. Under the "Coursera for Campus Student" plan, you may be eligible to get this entirely for free if you have a qualifying university email address.''

Most courses at Coursera do not offer any college credit. However, there is one notable exception: the [https://www.coursera.org/professional-certificates/google-it-support Google IT Support Professional certificate]. Although it says that it will take 3-6 months to complete, it is possible to complete this certificate in one month. One student even reportedly completed the course during the 7-day trial, making it completely free. This ACE-recommended course is worth 3-12 credits depending on the school. For example, [[Thomas Edison State University|TESU]] brings this in as the 3-credit CMP-202 Foundations of Info Technology class, [[Pierpont C&TC|Pierpont]] gives all 12 credits, and WGU brings it in as 4 units. It will not transfer to [[Charter Oak State College|COSC]]. It is unknown if it will transfer to [[Excelsior College|Excelsior]].