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Is it Possible to Earn a Bachelor’s Degree by Age 18?

Overview: Is It Possible to Earn a Bachelor’s Degree by Age 18? Amazing as it sounds, it is possible. And lots of people are doing it. This post will explain how.

How did Thomas Jefferson graduate from the college of William and Mary after completing all of his studies in two years and at the age of 18??? Why is the average age at which students graduate from college rising dramatically?

Is it possible today to help your child graduate with their bachelor’s degree by age 18?

Is It Possible to Earn a Bachelor's Degree by Age 18?

When I had a chance to attend a seminar titled “A Bachelor’s Degree by Age 18”, I was skeptical but decided to hear what the presenter had to say. This seminar, taught by Woody Robertson, was filled with information I had never before heard.

Woody talked about the trend for students to graduate later and later in life, the reason schools became grade segregated, and how it’s possible for your child to be enrolled in high school and college at the same time.

Students Graduating Later and Later

In America, educating methods have changed drastically over time. In the 1600s through the early 1800s, the regular method of educating children was either the homeschool or mentor model of education.

Affluent families would hire a teacher to live with their family and educate their children. Parents with fewer financial means would educate their children themselves.

This was the standard way of educating children for the first couple of hundred years that people lived on this continent. We have many brilliant thinkers who emerged during this time, including all of our founding fathers.

No one would ever think to accuse these men of having received a substandard education.

For much of the 1800s, we educated children in one-room schoolhouses. This change came about because many people were moving out to the frontier and there were book shortages out west.

Parents banded together to educate their children, allowing them to hire one teacher to teach several children. This enabled students to share what few books they could gather.

This method was also very successful. As most education experts would agree, it is extremely helpful for older students to help teach younger students.

This allows them to cement the knowledge in their own minds as they relay the information to other students.

How and Why Grade Segregation Came About

The early 1900s to the present saw the birth of the age-segregated classroom in our country. This initially came about for a number of reasons.

First, World War I was looming and America saw Germany as a threat. Teachers wanted to be sure they didn’t skip any information while teaching their students to ensure that our students would come out more highly educated than would the German students.

The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling Boys

Another factor which was less benevolent, was introduced by several financiers. Before this time, students graduated from grammar school and went directly to college.

Men such as Carnegie, Morgan, Ford, and Rockefeller introduced the idea of sending students to four years of high school before college. This new requirement meant that many new facilities would need to be built to house the students who were being educated for an additional four years.

A third factor which contributed to starting grade segregation was that the industrial revolution was beginning around this time. Some of those same financiers needed schools to produce thousands of workers for their factories.

These men surmised that if the length of education were increased by an additional four years, many students might become tired of learning and would decline the option of going on to college.

They wanted workers who had “just enough” education to be content working on the assembly lines.

There is a lot more information available concerning the current model of education and how it all came about. I would suggest you read one of these books to get even more background if you are interested:

→ Related Content: Homeschool High School Record Keeping

Dual Credit/Enrollment Options

So, how do we help our kids to complete high school and college within four years? We basically have them complete both at the same time. There are three different ways to make this happen:

1 – Community College Option

You can have your child enroll in a community college and have them complete classes which will count toward their high school and their college education. This has the advantage of being inexpensive; however, it’s important to remember that they will be interacting with older students in college so you need to make sure your child is mature enough to handle that type of atmosphere.

2 – Online Courses

This is a way to help your student get a traditional education. Your child may still be exposed to classroom materials you don’t agree with using this method, however, they won’t actually be physically present with older students.

They would still be interacting with these students but since it would be through methods such as email, it would be easier for you to monitor and help them work through.

3 – Credit by Exam

This is the method that Woody recommended in his seminar. This method allows you to teach your student as you normally would and then have them take a test which will give them college credit in the future.

There are three different types of tests that can be taken: DSST Exams, AP Exams, and CLEP exams. CLEP is what Woody recommended in the seminar.

According to Woody, there are five different General Ed CLEPS that everyone should take:

  • College Composition
  • Humanities
  • Social Science and History
  • Natural Sciences
  • College Mathematics
  • Nuts and Bolts of Dual Enrollment

How do you know what high school requirements to record on their transcript when your student is using the credit by exam method?

Basically, if they take a three-credit exam, that is worth 1/2 of a high school credit. If they take a six-credit exam, that is worth one full high school credit.

What about declaring a college major?

What if your student doesn’t have a clear idea of what they want to do when they graduate? Woody suggests keeping their undergraduate degree as broad as possible.

Have your child get a BA in either Communications or Business and then they can get more specialized if they decide to do some graduate work.

Woody also suggests pursuing internships to help your student try to test different areas of their interest. Also, he recommends basing their major on your student’s interests and passions versus identifying a specific job they think they might want to have.

Modular Approach to Study

If you decide to go this route with your student, you may want to use a modular approach to study, focusing on one subject at a time and studying similar subjects in succession.

You can read more about the benefits of this approach in these books by John Taylor Gatto:

Here’s a suggested daily schedule:

  • Study English and Math for the first two hours of each day.
  • Spend the next 4-5 hours studying one specific subject. This is the subject you are studying with the goal of taking an exam for which to earn college credit.

After your student finishes studying for their specific subject, have them take a practice test. Have them take it immediately after finishing the subject.

When they do well on the practice test, have them take the actual test. You will want to have your student start taking these tests by their junior year at the very latest.

One other practical item you will want to consider is whether the college your child wants to attend accepts CLEP or other exam credits. If the school your student wants to attend only accepts 10 hours of credit, it doesn’t do any good to have them take 20 hours worth of exams.

The other thing to consider is that once your student has CLEP credits they have already proven that they are able to handle college-level classes and they will no longer be required to take either the ACT or the SAT. They will be considered as a transfer student instead of an incoming freshman.

Two fully accredited schools which accept lots of CLEP hours are Thomas Edison State College and Excelsior State College.

One important note is that not all students will benefit from this accelerated type of learning. If you have a child who is a go-getter and who thrives in the academic environment, then this is a great option for you to consider.

But many kids will benefit from having a few extra years in a regular homeschool environment to mature and to figure out what they would like to pursue in life. And some even profit from having a 5th year of high school which is often called their Super Senior year.

There is a ton of information here and I hope that by reading this post you’re able to at least get a sense that it is possible for your child to complete at least some of their high school and college classes at the same time.

If you’re intrigued and would like to find out more, there are plenty of organizations that would love to help you get started. Google “dual enrollment” and have fun with your research!

 Question: Have you or anyone you know taken any CLEP tests? Do you have any tips to share with others? Please comment below.

Is It Possible to Earn a Bachelor's Degree by Age 18?

12 thoughts on “Is it Possible to Earn a Bachelor’s Degree by Age 18?”

  1. My sons took CLEPs in high school. They CLEPed out of all their English classes and all their history classes for college. One son even CLEPed out of Biology.They did not take a single English or History class in college. They graduated in four years with double majors. One son spent a ‘off campus study’ for one semester. We did not tell the college about the CLEPs till their second semester on campus because we wanted them to enter as Freshmen, so they could qualify for freshmen scholarships.
    CLEPs really worked for our family

    1. Michelle Caskey

      Thanks for sharing that with us, Lynn. I didn’t know it was possible to tell colleges about CLEP after their first semester. Great tip!

  2. That would be the only concern, the kids having all the college units and cant qualify for the best scholarships.

    1. Michelle Caskey

      True. Sounds like Lynn found a way to get around that issue. Being able to get freshman scholarships and having CLEP credits would be the best of both worlds. Of course, if your child doesn’t test well and you don’t want them to have to take the ACT or SAT, then going in as a transfer student would solve that problem.

  3. We are one of those families who greatly benefited from Woody Robertson’s seminar. That was almost 10 years ago when my oldest was in 6th grade. Fast forward to 2012 – My first and second graduated with their BA by 18, my third will graduate in Dec. and is 19! There are a lot of what-if’s, but each one can be worked through in your student’s favor. We gave our students the gift of education without debt. What a lifetime gift!

  4. There’s a lot of historical information in this post, which is fine and interesting in and of itself. But no where does it address why parents should try to do this or whether it’s best for the child from a psychological development perspective.

    No where does it talk about the pros and cons, give parents better information on WHY they should consider doing this or not do it. Just because rich people did it back in the 1700s (You use Jefferson as an example) doesn’t automatically mean it’s applicable for today’s world and workforce. We also have must better understanding of child development now than they did 300 years ago. Sure, there were some great thinkers of that time period, but there were MANY, MANY MORE people who weren’t educated and were illiterate instead.

    1. Each parent will need to decide whether this is a good approach for their children or not. They’re all different and have unique needs and gifts. I just wanted people to know that it was an option so that they could look into it further if they’re interested.

  5. Diana Townsend

    The average community college student is unmotivated and you wouldn’t want your child around them anyway…? This is so offensive and elitist and yet, here it is being promoted as truth. I am disappointed that thinks being published and no one blinks an eye at how insensitive or stereotypical that quote is. I wouldn’t want my child around anyone who looks down on people because of where the went to college.

    1. I see your point. This is a post I wrote awhile ago and that sentence didn’t sound the way I intended. I have rewritten it.

      By the way, I want to make it clear that I certainly don’t have any issues with kids attending community college and I don’t believe the speaker, Woody, did either. In fact, I’m planning to have my own sons attend community college. The whole point of this post is how some people choose to have their high school aged kids complete high school and college at the same time. So, there are some issues which need to be considered if parents are going to put younger kids into a classroom where they’ll be surrounded by older kids/young adults and where the materials they are taught aren’t going to be presented from a Christian worldview.

  6. I wish I have known about this approach 20 years ago. It would have saved me tens of thousands of dollars and thousands of hours.

    I have five boys and one daughter. My daughter can easily finish her college degree by the time she is 18. I am hoping to use the suggestions you have here to light a fire under my boys.

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