5 Ways to Make Your College Degree More Affordable
You already know that you need a degree to get to where you want to go career-wise.
But it’s not as if you have your parents helping you pay for your college. You’re a grown adult; you have to do this on your own. You CAN do this on your own.
Yet, understandably, you’re worried about taking on more debt while simultaneously balancing the demands of work and family responsibilities with school. After all, you already have enough expenses. There’s your rent or mortgage, transportation, food, your kids’ education or childcare, just to name a few.
Maybe you have some money saved or you plan to take out a few student loans. Regardless, you want to be smart about how much you are spending and that you’re spending wisely. You want the most bang for your buck. And the less debt, the better.
Here are a few ideas that can help.
1. Take an Exam for College Credit
If you acquired any college-level knowledge through job experience, hobbies, volunteer activities and independent study, you may be able to leverage that knowledge for college credit. CLEP, DSST and TECEP exams, Thomas Edison State University’s own credit-by-exam program, allows you to earn credit by taking exams instead of courses. These exams are similar to the final exams in college courses; some offer multiple-choice questions and others consist of short-answer, essay or other extended-response types of questions. They are graded on a Credit/No Credit basis. When you pass, you receive college credit. In fact, several general education requirements can be fulfilled by passing a TECEP exam. Most TECEP exams carry three credits. However, always check with your advisor to make sure that the exam you are taking will fulfill the requirements of your degree program.
Credit-by-Exam Program Costs as of June 2025*
- Lower-Level TECEP Exams (1000-2000): $52 per credit attempted
- Upper-Level TECEP Exams (3000-4000): $77 per credit attempted
- CLEP Exam: $95, plus your test center or remote proctoring administration fee
- DSST Exam: $100, administering institutions may charge a test administration fee
2. Investigate Your Alternative Credit Options
Alternative credit-earning methods can range anywhere in cost from free to a couple hundred dollars. Even more, these options are not beholden to any deadlines, so you can complete them on your schedule. For example, Open Educational Resources (OER) enable you to earn college credit by taking free open courses available from Saylor Academy, OERu and OER Commons, and then passing an assessment for credit. Some open courses, like Saylor Direct Credit, include ACE- or NCCRS-approved assessments that TESU will accept as transfer credit. Others may require an additional assessment such as a TECEP or a CLEP exam to earn credit.
Meanwhile, asynchronous online courses are a bit more structured and offer a set number of lessons, unit quizzes and final exams. Programs like Study.com, StraighterLine and Sophia.org have been evaluated and recommended for credit by ACE and require either a membership fee or per-course fee to enroll. Once you complete and pass the course, follow the program’s requirements to get your efforts transferred as college credit. As always, talk with your advisor to ensure that the credits you are planning to pursue will fit your degree program requirements.
Alternative Credit Program Costs as of June 2025*
- OERu: Free + assessment costs
- OER Commons: Free + assessment costs
- Saylor Academy: Free + ACE transcript costs
- StraighterLine: $99 monthly membership fee + $69-$99 per course + ACE transcript costs
- Study.com: Starts at $99 per month
- Sophia.org: Starts at $99 per month
3. Send All Your Transfer Credit
TESU accepts a wide variety of transfer credits. In fact, every course, training program or license/certification that you may have taken in the past might get you that much closer to your degree. Your advisor can help you figure out where those credits may fit into your degree program. So it’s beneficial to you if you send any and all transcripts, including:
- Up to 90 credits from a regionally accredited community college
- Up to 105 credits or 114 credits with Edison Accelerate
- Up to 90 credits for a bachelor’s degree and 45 credits for an associate degree for courses and examinations from a single source approved through the National College Credit Recommendation Service (National CCRS) and the American Council on Education (ACE) College Credit Recommendation Service
- Military service schools and training as recommended by the American Council on Education
- Licenses, certifications and programs of study approved by Thomas Edison State University’s Office of Professional Learning Review
Transcript Costs as of June 2025*
- First ACE Transcript: $20
- Each Additional ACE Transcript: $15
- College/University Transcript: $15 on average, costs vary due to school fees, delivery fees and quantity
- Electronic Joint Service Transcript (JST): Free
- Community College of the Air Force Transcript: Free
- Professional Learning Review (PLR) at TESU: Free, although there may be associated costs for a notarized credential or a transcript from the reviewed organization
4. Apply for Financial Aid
If you are pursuing your first associate or bachelor’s degree, there may be financial aid money for you. There is no age limit, and almost everyone is eligible for some type of federal student aid, though grants are typically need based. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) awards nearly $120 billion worth of aid each year, and funds can be used for tuition, housing, transportation, childcare, books, fees and computer expenses. Depending on how early you file your FAFSA, can impact how much funding you receive. In fact, students who file the FAFSA in the first three months of availability have historically received more than double the grant funding than those who filed late.
Meanwhile, check with your state to find out if there are any grants available to residents in the form of state financial aid through your state education agency. If you are attending a college in state, this may boost your eligibility. Also, many states have programs that allow residents to attend institutions out of state at the in-state cost through college tuition discount programs. You can find out if your state has any available tuition exchanges through the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators website.
FAFSA Costs as of June 2025
- FAFSA: Free to file at fafsa.gov. Watch out for any companies that charge a fee to complete the FAFSA for you.
5. Apply for Scholarships
Scholarships are a great way to offset some of your college costs, if you know where to look.
All currently enrolled TESU students and applicants can apply for the University's summer scholarship award cycle, which runs from July 1 — July 31, 2025. The winter award cycle runs from Dec. 1, 2025 — Dec. 31, 2025.
The U.S. Department of Labor offers a free scholarship search tool on its website with more than 7,500 scholarships. Meanwhile, the federal government and several nonprofit organizations offer money and resources for military families looking for college scholarships on their website.
And if you are part of any religious, community, professional or civic organizations, they might have additional scholarships available. While these programs tend to offer amounts on the smaller side, they usually have less competition. If you find out you are eligible, it’s still worth it to apply because $1,000 here and $500 there can really add up!
Scholarship Costs as of June 2025
- It’s free to apply for a scholarship. Be wary of any services that charge a fee to conduct a scholarship search.
However...
It is important to mention that most four-year institutions require that you earn at least 30 or more of your last credits at the institution from which you are pursuing a degree. However, TESU's credit hour residency requirement is only 15 credits through the University's online, Guided Study or e-Pack courses before you complete your associate or bachelor’s degree.
For those who bring a significant number of credits from prior college experiences, Edison Accelerate provides a streamlined, cost-effective pathway to graduation. Edison Accelerate allows students with substantial prior credits to reduce their Credit Hour Residency Requirement to just 6 required course credits (SOS-1100: Critical Information Literacy and Capstone). Instead of enrolling in additional credit hours, you pay this one-time fee, saving both time and money while leveraging all your past transfer credit.
*All tuition and fees listed here were approved on June 7, 2024, by the Board of Trustees of Thomas Edison State University and are effective for the August 2024 term. Tuition and fees are subject to change.