Content earning a degree online

Bears' Guide to Earning Degrees by Distance Learning contains 432 large (8 1/2 x 11) pages. The book is divided into four major sections, with a total of 28 chapters plus two indexes, as follows:

Important Issues in Nontraditional Education

1. Introduction: What nontraditional education is all about
2. What are colleges and universities and how do they work?
3. Degrees, degree requirements, and transcripts
4. Is a degree worth the effort?
5. Using titles
6. How to evaluate a school
7. School licensing laws
8. Accreditation
9. Accredited vs. unaccredited schools
10. Scholarships and other financial aid
11. Applying to schools


Alternative Methods of Earning Credit 12. Equivalency examinations
13. Correspondence courses
14. Credit for life experience learning
15. Credit by learning contract
16. Credit for foreign academic experience
17. The Credit Bank service


The Schools

18. Accredited schools with degrees entirely by distance learning
19. Accredited schools with short residency programs
20. Accredited schools with nontraditional residential programs
21. Other schools with nonresident programs
22. Other schools with short residency programs
23. Other schools with nontraditional residential programs
24. High school diplomas
25. Law schools
26. Medical schools
27. Degree mills Miscellany and Reference
28. Honorary doctorates
29. Bending the rules
30. Advice for people in prison
31. Miscellaneous schools
Appendix A: Glossary of important terms Appendix B: Bibliography Appendix C: About the personal counseling services Appendix D: Religious school (why they are not listed and how to find out about them) Appendix E: Research Doctorates Subject index School index

Important Issues in Nontraditional Education
1. Introduction: What nontraditional education is all about. How it differs from traditional education. The many advantages (and a few disadvantages) of pursuing a nontraditional degree.

2.What are colleges and universities and how do they work? The 6 kinds of degree-granting schools. Key terms defined ("semester units," "GPA," "Learning Contract," and so forth).

3.What exactly is a college degree? The difference between a degree and a diploma. The six kinds of degrees awarded in the United States, and the history of each.

4. Is an alternative degree worth the effort? The six main reasons for pursuing a degree. The financial value of a degree (for instance, a person with a Master's will earn, on the average, over $500,000 more than a person with a Bachelor's in his or her lifetime.)

5. Using titles. Legal, ethical and traditional considerations to bear in mind in the use of earned and purchased degrees and titles. People who are in the business of selling European titles (Baron, Count, Ambassador, Knight, etc.).

6. How to evaluate a school. The four main techniques used by the authors to check out new colleges and universities. The eight questions that no legitimate school should refuse to answer. Names, addresses and phone numbers for every state's higher education agency.

7. School licensing laws. State-by-state breakdown of relevant laws. Why questionable schools move from state to state. How school evaluation works across the U.S.A. and around the world.

8. Accreditation. Exactly what it is. How important (or unimportant) is it? Its role in nontraditional education. Names and addresses of all 80+ recognized accrediting agencies, plus dozens of unrecognized ones, real and phony.

9. Accredited vs. unaccredited schools. Is it ever a good idea to attend an unaccredited school? What results can you expect? What factors should you weigh in deciding what sort of school to attend?

10. Scholarships and other financial aid. Some nontraditional and unorthodox ways to pay for college. Are scholarship-finding services useful?

11. How to apply to a school. How many schools to apply to. How to speed up the admissions process.


Alternative Methods of Earning Credit

12. Equivalency examinations. Degrees entirely by exam. A Bachelor's degree from scratch for 14 hours of exams. How the examination system works. Lists of equivalency exams available, and who administers them.

13. Correspondence courses. Fully-accredited degrees entirely by correspondence. Names and addresses of all 175 major universities worldwide that offer correspondence study.

14. Credit for life experience learning. How credit is awarded for job, military, hobby, travel, religious, and other experiential learning. A long list of credit-worthy activities.

15. Credit by learning contract. A formal legal agreement governing a degree program by independent study. Examples of several successful learning contracts.

16. Credit for foreign academic experience. Names and addresses of agencies that specialize in evaluating foreign credits.

17. The credit bank service. A worldwide service for consolidating all learning experiences, in school and out, into a single universally-accepted transcript.


The Schools 18. Accredited schools offering totally nonresident Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctorate degrees. Detailed information on more than 300 universities offering Bachelor's, Master's, and/or Doctorates 100% through nonresident study. Each listing includes the name, address, telephone, accreditation status, programs offered, tuition, name of a key person, fields of study available, and, when relevant, the authors' comments and evaluation.

19. Accredited schools with very short residency. Close to 200 additional schools whose degrees are designed for students who work full time. These Bachelor's, Master's and Doctorates in many fields of study require only a few days or a few weeks on campus.

20. Accredited schools with nontraditional residential programs. Hundreds more colleges and universities whose degrees can be earned through evening study, weekend study, at summer sessions, and other nontraditional means, for people living near the campus or willing to travel.

21. Other schools with totally nonresident degree programs. Over 100 currently-operating unaccredited schools, ranging from the good to the incredibly sleazy but barely legal. Some are exciting, innovative alternatives; others are a complete waste of money. We sort them out, and describe them all.

22. Other schools with programs requiring a short residency. Dozens more options, again ranging from the good to the borderline, some with their required residency in exotic tropical settings.

23. Other schools with nontraditional residential programs. Unaccredited colleges and universities, many of them state-approved or state-licensed, offering nontraditional approaches to earning degrees that qualify the holders to become licensed therapists, marriage counselors, etc.

24. High school diplomas. Some unusual national correspondence high schools. Other approaches to earning (or bypassing) the high school diploma (home schooling, etc.). Some basic information on the Associate's degree.

25. Law schools. It is still possible to earn a law degree the way Abraham Lincoln did, through independent home study. Descriptions of the half a dozen remaining correspondence law schools. Becoming a lawyer by studying privately with an attorney or a judge. Bar exam pass rates for all the relevant schools. Paralegal programs, and more.

26. Medical and other health-related schools. Recognized medical schools in the Caribbean, Europe, and Mexico, teaching in English, welcoming students from the U.S. and Canada (and success rates for their graduates).
Miscellany and Reference
27. Degree mills. Over twenty pages, identifying and briefly describing every fake and phony school in the world: those currently operating (and there are quite a few), and those that the authorities have closed down. More than 400 fraudulent sellers of degrees of all kinds, plus case histories of some of the people who used these degrees, and what happened to them.

28. Honorary doctorates. What they are, their history, and some very helpful tips on how to get one, if you're not a celebrity or very wealthy.

29. Bending the rules. What schools say is often very different from what they do. A helpful essay on how to make use of this interesting situation.

30. Advice for people in prison. A valuable report, written by a man who earned his accredited Bachelor's, Master's and Doctorate from behind bars. Helpful tips for all institutionalized people, and those who care for them.

31. Miscellaneous schools. We've been at this for over 20 years. During that time, scores and scores nontraditional schools and programs have come and gone. As a reference tool (and for those who like stories), here is a listing of all those programs, and what we know of what became of them.


Appendix A: Glossary of important terms.
Appendix B: Bibliography. Books and computer services to consider.
Appendix C: About the personal counseling services available.
Appendix D: Religious schools: how to find out about them.
Appendix E: British and Australian research doctorates, an interesting distance option
Subject index: A fast way to find schools offering degrees, by subject matter.
School index: The master index to more than 1,500 institutions in the book