College, and the pursuit of college degrees, has changed immensely in the last couple of decades. Just a few short years ago, on virtually every U.S. higher education campus a college freshman was generally 18 years old, a senior 21 and courses were all taught live and in groups in campus classrooms.
Now the learning options, as well as the student demographics have changed considerably. Many baby boomers, and even seniors are returning to campus to retrain for a career change, to return to work after their children have left the nest, to complete an interrupted degree, or just to get out of the house and work those dormant cerebral muscles.
To accommodate these folks, especially those who still work a full time day job, colleges and universities started offering night and weekend courses, CLEP testing, and course challenges. For someone who hadn’t completed their formal higher education training but had lots of real life work experience in her or his desired field of learning, this was a boon. Now he could test his way into credits for courses with which he’d gained familiarity just by working in the field. With the advent of online courses, an...