How to Test Out of College Classes—and Save Thousands

by | Sep 26, 2026 | Education, Wealthy

Last week, I suggested you knock out High School Part 2 at a local community college.

Turns out, sometimes you can skip the class altogether.

After I sent that email, Katie D. responded:

“I wanted to share with you that one of the ways we have gotten a lot of college credit are CLEP (College-Level Examination Program) credits. They save money and you can actually get them free through modernstates.org  Essentially, they provide a course that your student can use to study for the exam (we do this after taking an actual course of our preference) and then they give them a voucher for a free test. You can go to a testing center or test remotely at your home if you have a P.C. It has saved us quite a bit of money over the years so I wanted to share.”

She’s right. In fact, I have written about Modern States before: https://dwanethomas.com/test-out-of-college-classes/

CLEP exams allow you to earn college credit by passing an exam rather than taking the course.

There are exams for subjects like:

  • College Algebra
  • American Government
  • History
  • Psychology
  • Literature
  • Foreign languages

If your college accepts the exam, you could potentially earn three, six, or even more credit hours for the cost of an exam.

And high school students can start doing this before they graduate.

A motivated student could conceivably arrive at college with a semester—or even a year or more—already completed.

For everything you can’t test out of, investigate your local community college.

If you are headed to college, consider asking:

“What degree do I want, and what’s the least expensive legitimate way to get there?”

Work backward from that question.

Find the university and degree program. Look at exactly what it requires. Determine which credits can be earned through CLEP, dual enrollment, AP, or community college. Then save the expensive university courses for the things you actually need to take there.

There are certainly reasons to spend four years on a university campus. Scholarships certainly change the equation.

But don’t assume that because a university charges $1,500 for a freshman history course, you need to pay $1,500 for a freshman history course. There are ways to beat the system.

Save the money you don’t spend on freshman English. You will be able to use it after graduation.

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