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(1) get it done. I finished mine in my later 30’s and then went on to get a MBA. Helped turn a potential weakness into a strength. You would never get funny looks or comments again. Also, if you ever wanted or had to switch jobs why put yourself at a disadvantage? I was also a non-traditional learner. My wife is the opposite, she needed the structure of a classroom when she did her undergrad out of high school. I don’t have the patience.
(2) you are a PERFECT candidate for Excelsior College, which is the route I used. CLEP, DSST, ECE exams - I did the full degree entirely by exam in little more than a year. Which was then perfectly acceptable to Indiana University - Bloomington for MBA entry (they are a Top 20 biz school). Excelsior is a “credit accumulator” school. They will accept nearly anything which maximizes your work already done. And they are regionally accredited, same as any other NY college.
(3) If you go the exam route nowadays you will have to take at least one or two courses (they closed the loophole I used and now require the capstone as a course) but you could probably still finish in a year or so for around $5-8K as a guess. I graduated in 2005 and the full degree including books cost me around $6K for 120 credit hours. I considered UOP until I stumbled upon Excelsior. You will not get tuition reimbursement for this but it’s far cheaper than other options. For the exams you can buy used books, and there are lots of online sources.
(4) Online vs B&M matters FAR less than done or not done. Excelsior is based in NY so people wouldn’t question it anyway unlike say UOP which is a known online school. It would just appear to be a small private school, one of many in NY.
(5) Once done your undergrad you can also apply to a local public university MBA, which would get reimbursed if your company provides it then. At that point, even if you start and don’t finish it would erase any stigma for an “online” degree.
(6) The degree path I took was towards a General Business degree. I would recommend the same for you, as it allows the most “filler” credits, and your managerial and business skills mean you can take many exams with little study. The harder ones are accounting and economics. I averaged a “final exam” every week or two for a year while working full time in a demanding career so you know it can’t be THAT hard. I would run out at lunch to crank out exams and some on the weekend. Nowadays all the exams are computer-based. Oh, and I ended up with a 4.0 GPA. Not bragging, but I was also able to “game” it a bit to maximize credit for the easiest exams and for a couple of hard ones took an exam that only gave pass/fail scores.
Hit me up via PM if you want to know more about the approach I used. I have no affiliation with Excelsior, just am a satisfied alumnus. For a mid-career NY-based person in management no option provides more degree utility than Excelsior.
Most helpful response! Thanks so much, I'll definitely hit you up!
I found this thread interesting. Good question, OP.
I am 60 now, retired, and never got a degree. I had a decent career of 37 years with the same employer that I never wanted and ended up in a fairly high management position that paid six figures. By that time, most of my coworkers had no idea that I'd only gone to secretarial school. My successor has a J.D. I had 20-something credits from my attempts at going to college at night in my 20s, but I'd become discouraged because I could not pass algebra even after remedial courses, and then I met my future ex-husband and just gave up.
Years later, in my 40s, post-divorce, I considered returning to school and getting a degree and even visited schools and looked into their programs, but it just never worked out.
For the most part, I don't have regrets because in the years that I would have been studying and going to school nights, I was raising my daughter as a divorced Mom without child support or reliable visitation schedules with her dad. It would have taken time away from her during her childhood and teenage years, and you can't get that time back.
On the other side, I do harbor some what-ifs because not getting the degree meant that I was tied to the job I had. It was a public-sector position not easily translatable to something equivalent in the private sector, although the combination of my work experience AND a related degree would have widened the opportunities on the outside. Had I obtained a degree, there is a possibility that I might have increased my earnings either elsewhere or outside of my department at the agency where I worked.
In post-retirement, I have done some work as an independent contractor and have worked at two part-time jobs in a related industry, neither of which I applied for. I was approached and offered employment because I am known for what I did and who and what I know.
But still...it might have been nice to have that sense of accomplishment of having completed the work to obtain a college degree. I rarely think of it now, though.
The OP has to decide for herself what sacrifices she is willing to make now and/or which ones she is willing to live with later.
In another example, my younger sister was a teenage mom and decided to start working on her degree when her daughter was in high school. She took one or two classes at a time at the community college while working and then transferred her credits to the NJ Institute of Technology, where she got a degree in software engineering in her 40s, followed by a Master's a few years later. She has no regrets whatsoever, but with a later start to her career, she will not be able to retire until she is 65 or so.
If some recurring health issue knocks you out of your current profession, then of course there is. Coming from my line of work in trucking, the fed's are beginning to crack down on health issues in relation to the medical cards we're required to have. Healthy enough to do other things and/or get tossed into the clink, but no longer healthy enough to drive.
Unless one is prepped for a major and long term downgrade in quality of life after having the rug pulled out from under them, then education or cert in a different subject is necessary to staying sane I'd guess.
Will you be able to make back the cost of the degree in additional earnings resulting from the degree before retirement? Will you be able to make additional income beyond paying back the degree? Financially, that is my primary consideration when it comes to pursuing a later-age degree.
But, it is not the only consideration.
If you're in a job you are truly miserable in and getting the degree would allow you to do something you love or at least like a whole lot better, it may still be worth it even if the financial consideration is a *little* out of whack.
Or, if you just love learning the content in consideration and don't care if you ever use it financially but it enriches your life enough to be worth the expense, then it might be worth it.
In my case, financially it is not worth it and there is no degree I care enough to get for its own sake, although there might be individual courses here and there that would fit that bill.
I found this thread interesting. Good question, OP.
I am 60 now, retired, and never got a degree. I had a decent career of 37 years with the same employer that I never wanted and ended up in a fairly high management position that paid six figures. By that time, most of my coworkers had no idea that I'd only gone to secretarial school. My successor has a J.D. I had 20-something credits from my attempts at going to college at night in my 20s, but I'd become discouraged because I could not pass algebra even after remedial courses, and then I met my future ex-husband and just gave up.
Years later, in my 40s, post-divorce, I considered returning to school and getting a degree and even visited schools and looked into their programs, but it just never worked out.
For the most part, I don't have regrets because in the years that I would have been studying and going to school nights, I was raising my daughter as a divorced Mom without child support or reliable visitation schedules with her dad. It would have taken time away from her during her childhood and teenage years, and you can't get that time back.
On the other side, I do harbor some what-ifs because not getting the degree meant that I was tied to the job I had. It was a public-sector position not easily translatable to something equivalent in the private sector, although the combination of my work experience AND a related degree would have widened the opportunities on the outside. Had I obtained a degree, there is a possibility that I might have increased my earnings either elsewhere or outside of my department at the agency where I worked.
In post-retirement, I have done some work as an independent contractor and have worked at two part-time jobs in a related industry, neither of which I applied for. I was approached and offered employment because I am known for what I did and who and what I know.
But still...it might have been nice to have that sense of accomplishment of having completed the work to obtain a college degree. I rarely think of it now, though.
The OP has to decide for herself what sacrifices she is willing to make now and/or which ones she is willing to live with later.
In another example, my younger sister was a teenage mom and decided to start working on her degree when her daughter was in high school. She took one or two classes at a time at the community college while working and then transferred her credits to the NJ Institute of Technology, where she got a degree in software engineering in her 40s, followed by a Master's a few years later. She has no regrets whatsoever, but with a later start to her career, she will not be able to retire until she is 65 or so.
You make good points, but you are now 60.
For someone 20-30 years younger, the market now expects a degree. She may be able to avoid it entirely due to experience, but I’ve lived through the “explanations” when job hunting and talking with colleagues. It is so much easier not having to.
And your point about being tied to an employer is very valid.
I provided a method that - if a person can apply already gained knowledge, is disciplined and is comfortable doing exams on a computer - WILL work.
Think about it this way...how experienced is the average 18-21 year old? Their “leadership” experience might be as a shift leader at a fast food restaurant. If that. That is who is going for a business undergrad at an unranked college. And in between classes partying and chasing other students.
Compare and contrast against the knowledge and skills gained by someone who has spent 10-15+ years in the workforce. I only needed light study for many of my classes - principles of supervision, etc. Some I could have taken cold and passed. Most of the exams are also multiple choice. I passed a CLEP on literature without actually reading any of the books/plays, just memorizing the basics.
I invested a just over a year’s worth of spare time, before having kids (but did get married and had a honeymoon during that period). There has been no better ROI for me...in terms of a sense of accomplishment and self-confidence.
The method I used is not to gain an education. It is to gain a degree. But if you already have the education (just informally obtained) then this is the quickest way as you don’t have to take all the classes.
The method I used is not to gain an education. It is to gain a degree. But if you already have the education (just informally obtained) then this is the quickest way as you don’t have to take all the classes.
This is a great point, and I plan on using your method. Already doing my research. I'll come back and update in a few weeks/months as I progress!
Well if you work at Starbucks they will help you get through it
They like their barristers to have a pol sci masters
It will ensure you are pulling down that $9.34 an hour
Excelsior is private, for profit and SUNY Empire State College is public and accredited as a SUNY school. I also believe Empire has the more flexible learning experience, as I mentioned in an earlier post, as well as honoring CLEP testing and transfer credits. A bachelor's degree at Empire can be had for as few as 31 new credits with the remainder accepted from transfer opportunities.
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