When scholarships, grants, loans, and alternative funding still aren't making the cost of tuition manageable, there are ways you can lower the tuition bill. This section offers options to consider.

Community or Junior Colleges
Community colleges are a great way to complete two years of education for less than one-third the price of four-year colleges. Many four-year colleges offer automatic admission and scholarships to community college students who transfer to their schools. (Refer to our Community College section for additional information.)

Advanced Placement (AP) Courses
Many high schools offer college-level classes to prepare students to take the AP exams.

If your high school offers advanced placement classes, consider taking them:

• If you get a high score in the AP exams, you might be able to get course credits at your college or waive a class.
• This may allow you to graduate early or free you to take additional courses in your major.

Check with your school to find out if your scores will count toward college credits in your intended major. (One school may accept one score while another may require a higher score.)

Talk with your high school guidance counselor for more information.

College-Level Examination Program^® (CLEP)
Some colleges may let you take the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) exams to receive college credit. Currently, 2,900 colleges give credit or advanced standing to students who pass CLEP exams. There is usually a fee to take the test, but the results could save thousands of dollars in tuition.

There is usually a $70 fee to take any of the tests (free to military service members), but the results could save thousands of dollars in tuition.

There are two types of CLEP exams. One covers general subjects such as math, English, humanities, natural science, social science and history. The other is a subject exam that covers a particular course, such as a foreign language course. Currently, there are 34 subject exams.

For example, if you take French in high school and tests at the equivalent of one year of college French classes, you may receive credit for a year of French.

In-State Tuition
In the past, if students wanted to get in-state tuition at a public university outside of their home state, all they had to do was live in the state for a year and then claim residency.

Most states have made it harder for out-of-state students to claim residency just to get a discount on their education.

States now make a distinction between being a resident for taxation purposes and for tuition purposes. Many states allow the public university system to set the rules governing who can pay in-state tuition.

In general, most states require that a student meet the following criteria to claim residency for in-state tuition:

• Duration: Most states require that a student live in the state for at least 12 months before claiming residency.
• Intention: Most states require that the student show the intention of remaining in the state after graduating from college.
• Independence: Most states require that the student be financially independent from out-of-state parents before claiming residency.

Exceptions to residency requirements may include:

• Student is from a military family.
• Student’s family recently moved.
• Student lives near the state border.

Reciprocity Agreement
You may be able to get in-state tuition without being a resident. Some state university systems have agreements with neighboring state systems to grant in-state tuition.

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