Are there any US accredited, for-credit online courses that don't have a *minimum* time limit?

July 14, 2010 7:41 AM

Are there any US accredited, for-credit online courses that don't have a *minimum* time limit?

I need to get some credits out of the way, and I'd like to do it quickly. I've looked at the independent study and distance learning course offerings for many universities, and even the classes that are self-paced rather than semester-based seem to have a minimum time limit in which a student may complete the course. For example, a student may only submit three assignments per week; or, a student may not complete the entire course in fewer than six weeks.

I'm looking for courses without minimum time limits like these. If that doesn't exist, I'm interested in a much lower minimum time limit, like two or three weeks. Have you ever come across anything like this?

* The program needs to offer individual courses that students from other colleges are allowed to take, rather than requiring you to register for their full degree program.

* I'm looking for something self-paced, rather than semester based.

*I need general-ed credits, so the course subjects don't matter much.

*Mini tangent: If you know of any programs which offer very inexpensive courses, with min. time limits or not, I'm interested in that too. "Very inexpensive" = $150/credit or lower, for my purposes.

posted by anonymous to Education (7 answers total)

WGU (Western Governor's University may do exactly what you want. They are accredited and work at your own pace for sure.
posted by desl at 7:54 AM on July 14, 2010 [1 favorite]

I'm not going to say "no" to your question as there may be something out there in the broad spectrum of online coursework, however, what I have seen in the way of accredited coursework from the non-profit academic world is that there is a time limit becuase the class is still taught like a class. Though you are remote, you still collaborate with fellow students, write and turn in assignments that are in-turn graded by a real, human teacher, and discuss the week's reading assignments as a group, just like you would in a flesh-and-blood classroom. Anything that I know of that would be individualized and self-paced is going to be delivered from a for-profit model and may end up being both questionable in quality and expensive.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 8:01 AM on July 14, 2010

Excelsior College meets exactly this need. They have lots of inexpensive gen ed exams you can take. They are not courses, per se, but the credits transfer and you can schedule the exams for whenever you like.
posted by tetralix at 8:01 AM on July 14, 2010

Have you considered CLEP testing? Way, way cheaper.
posted by gracedissolved at 8:14 AM on July 14, 2010

The University of Texas Continuing Education Center has online courses and I don't believe there's a minimum time period for completion, at least not center-wide. (Individual courses may have a limit, depending on who is teaching them.) UT has been doing asynchronous correspondence courses for something like 105 years, and has offered them online for the last five or so. It's a good program.

The FAQ is here.
posted by devinemissk at 8:18 AM on July 14, 2010

BYU Independent Study. $148 per credit hour, no minimum time that I know of. There is a two-week delay from final exam completion to grade posting, and last I knew you could only do one test at a time.
posted by SMPA at 8:18 AM on July 14, 2010

I second Clep and Dante exams. If you are doing this for transfer credit I would check with your registrar or admissions department first.
posted by Mastercheddaar at 12:29 PM on July 14, 2010