Something I get a lot when I’m doing consultations is the question of college hacking is ethical.
Like, college is supposed to be 4-years long right? And it’s supposed to cost $50k-100k, right?
It’s, like if we don’t suffer enough, we’re worried that we’re doing something wrong.
And, honestly, 60 years ago, you might have been on to something.
Back in 1960, only 7.7% of Americans had a bachelors degree.
And that meant something. It didn’t mean you had spent a bunch of money. It meant you were gifted; you wanted to learn; or you wanted to work in highly educated fields like law, medicine, or theology. And it was impressive if you finished the degrees because they weren’t being dumbed down with grade inflation (which is rampant today) and weren’t being mass marketed to everyone.
You didn’t have to go to college to be able to get a good job. Hardly any jobs back then required a bachelors degree.
So if you graduated college, it was a sign that you really knew something and cared about learning.
These days, institutions, student loans, and businesses have changed the definition of college.
If you’ve watched my history videos, you know what happened. Essentially, colleges got greedy and businesses got lazy, and now we live in an economy where many careers need a bachelors degree to survive (even for jobs that don’t have anything to do with what you learn in college).
Now, that’s what I call unethical.
But is college hacking unethical?
Not by a long shot.
The whole premise of college hacking is based on two facts:
Colleges allow x amount of transfer credits (usually 60-90)
Colleges accept a, b, and c sources of transfer credit (such as CLEP, Sophia, etc.) to fill the x transfer credits
You’re not cheating the college. Not by a long shot. They are trying to attract students like you.
You see, my dissertation (final paper of a doctorate if you don’t know) studied whether students who took CLEP exams were more likely to graduate or not.
And guess what!
They were. (Especially if they tested out of English or history or math courses.)
If you were a college, wouldn’t you want to attract students who are actually going to finish the degree? Who wants to be a college with a graduation rate at 20%? That’s a very bad look and a little embarrassing.
Plus, if you as a student are going to pay for one year of school after you transfer in your 90 credits, don’t you think a college would rather you pay them for those final 30 credits than have you pay that money to some other college?
No, colleges have defined the playing field. And accrediting bodies have given their approval.
Now it’s up to you to take advantage of the situation and graduate quickly and inexpensively so you can build a career your love!
You’re not being unethical. You’re trying to make your way through an unethical system that tries to keep you from success.
While you’re getting ready to work in the system to get your degree, check out this week’s video on a guy who passed 11 CLEP exams in 7 days! Truly insane. The end of the video includes some tips for how to do it yourself.
That’s all for now, folks!
Thanks for reading and happy hacking,
Clifford Stumme