I grew up in the Dallas 'burbs. I got accepted into UT Austin, and that summer after high school, I took two freshman courses at my local community college just to get a leg up. I also eeked out a couple of AP course credits from high school. Once I finally got to UT, I CLEP'ed out of a couple more things and took one of my required courses at Austin Community College. So I think my undergrad transcript was ultimately hacked together with five sources of college credit—two community colleges, two credit-by-exam programs, and one university. It all happened via word-of-mouth. I would hear that you could get credit for this or that, or that you could transfer in credits from this community college for that class, and voilà—hacked undergrad. But I grew up in the Dallas 'burbs; I had a well-resourced high school, two engaged parents, and a bunch of college-bound peers. I had a highly-functioning word-of-mouth system that I didn't even have to seek out. But what happens to people who don't? What's their word-of-mouth?
Hacking a Credential
How many different sources of college credit are on your final undergrad transcript?
Written by Lisa Baird
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What is a provocation or insight that might inspire others during this challenge?
Even traditional baccalaureate/residential students want to hack together a degree. My insight is sometimes it's not that the system only fails the "New Normal Student"... it's just that they have the fewest pistols on their belt to respond to the offense.Written by
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