College Students Success Stories
Closed out of a class you need to graduate? Or maybe you changed majors and need an introductory course for your degree? You’re not alone. Many of our students came to us while already in college, or through one of our partner schools, to save time, save money and get what they needed to get their degrees. They found easy credit transfers, low costs, and self-paced schedules that were exactly what they needed. Read their stories below.
Student Profile: Ben Gribaudo
What kinds of students are motivated to make the most of online education? And how does StraighterLine fit into their educational plans?We found some answers to those questions when we interviewed Ben Gribaudo, a student who used StraighterLine courses to complete his degree at Thomas Edison State College in New Jersey. Here’s how Ben explains what he did . . .StraighterLine: How did you find StraighterLine? Why were you looking?
Ben Gribaudo: DegreeForum was the site that helped me realize how StraighterLine could fill in holes in my degree plan. Specifically, my degree had a business communications and two accounting requirements that couldn’t be met through CLEP/DSST tests and which, for cost and time reasons, I didn’t want to take directly from Thomas Edison.
StraighterLine: Was it difficult to get Thomas Edison to accept credits for those courses? How did you do that?
Ben Gribaudo: The credit transfer process was painless. Using a form on StraighterLine’s web site, I requested that my transcript be sent to Thomas Edison (one of StraighterLine’s Partner Colleges). A short while later Thomas Edison added the completed courses to my transcript with them.
StraighterLine: Do you have any comments on the format of the courses that you took at StraighterLine?
Ben Gribaudo: Prospective students may want to be aware that SL uses multiple styles in delivering its content. For example, Physics I includes hours of video lectures while the accounting courses I took included accessory audio and PowerPoint slides, but no video.
StraighterLine: Would you recommend StraighterLine to other students?
Ben Gribaudo: Yes. All in all, SL’s course offerings worked well for me, saving me time and money and helping me to complete my degree quickly.
StraighterLine: About how much money were you able to save by using StraighterLine?
Ben Gribaudo: The courses I took probably cost me less than $40 per credit hour, compared to Thomas Edison’s tuition of just over $200 per hour. Doing the math, StraighterLine saved me over $1,500!