<prompt> Human: I know this question is only tangentially related to rpersonalfinance, but Ive come to appreciate the level of advice this community gives.I am an experienced IT Project Manager that has managed to advance my career through a mixture of determination, networking, and luck. Once in a company, I tend to prove my worth fast, but I have found it difficult to get interviews in the past. I feel the main reason is due to the lack of a college degree on my resume.My career has now advanced to a point where I am competing with not only Bachelors degrees, but most relevant job posts are listing an MBA as a preferred qualification. I was laid-off due to the offshoring of my last role, and after a 6 month job search, Im finally in the late stages of interviewing for a position I think Ill be happy with for the next 5 years. However, Im worrying that Ill be in an even more difficult situation after that time, with any career advancement opportunities being lost to others who have an MBA.Ive seen commercials for Degree Programs that state they can give you credits for your life experiences. Ive always been well-spoken with a strong inclination towards Math, and having researched many things on my own out of curiosity of how things work. Ive earned multiple IT and Project Management certifications A, Network, Server, CCENT, PMP, though the IT certifications were earned about 10 years ago. Ive also taken a few odd classes at the local college over the past 10 years Intro to IT, Japanese 1101. I would also be willing to earn other certifications if it meant being able to skip a class, allowing me to reach my end goal sooner. In an ideal world, Id like to simply test my way through college, though I am fairly confident that is not currently possible.I know this is information that could probably be answered by an academics advisor, but every school Ive seen requires you to be enrolled to discuss with an academics advisor. Also, most online schools are for-profit, which means they view it as detrimental to their bottom line for you to take less classes. Does anyone know of a resource that can assist with breaking down which certifications experiences can be used for credits, and the corresponding degree school to help me determine which accredited school degree program would be most expedient? Or even which accredited schools are more lenient on giving credits for life experiences?TLDR: Self-taught adult wants to know fastest way to earn an accredited Bachelors Degree.Assistant: Cheapest, completely out of your pocket and sticking only to non-profit schools is starting at community college. Be sure to also get in contact with your 4 year university of choice to ensure you are only taking classes that will transfer and count towards the final degree.There are also exams you can take in lieu of some courses, kind of like AP exams, but for college students. Cant remember the name though. Those can knock out a few general education classes.Keep an eye out for scholarships. Being a non-traditional student might open up some scholarships for you. Not any faster, but definitely cheaper.Life experience for credit will vary by school. There is no aggregate resource; you have to look at what individual schools consider to be credit and probably talk with an admissions counselor not the academic advisor.Look at brick-and-mortar schools, then see if they have any degrees that can be done online. I believe Georgia Tech has a Masters in Computer Science that can be done entirely online. More campuses are offering specific classes and entire degrees online. That may be a better route than searching only for online-only schools.Human: Thanks kayoss_.I should have specified the primary constraint is time. I dont mind costs going up to shorten the time frame, which is why Im not considering community college at the moment. Choosing the local community college would add about an hour of travel time to my day which could instead be spent taking an additional class.I dont have a lot of faith in the admissions counselors, at least with the for-profit schools. One of the jobs I had before I got into IT was an admissions advisor at a popular for-profit online university. It was a sales department. You followed a script and were instructed to do a reverse-psychology sale And dont get me started on the irony of convincing people they need to earn their degree while not having one myself.That is a good point regarding the brick-and-mortar schools. If any of my state schools offer all-online programs, their resident rate discounts can help keep the costs down.  <response>: You should still look at the community college. They tend to have a lot of online offerings particularly for the general education requirements. 