DreamDegree™ Helps Students Earn Free College Credit for Admission to Four Year Schools

SAN DIEGO – Sept. 20, 2015 – DreamDegree™ has launched its First-Year-Free™ program — the first online program that enables students to take 10 college general education courses and earn as many as 30 college credits for free. According to DreamDegree™ founder, Michael K. Clifford, the difference between First-Year-Free™ and many other online programs is a free Personal Coach for each student and an innovative structure that invites colleges to compete to register DreamDegree™ students.

"DreamDegree's™ innovative education model has free Personal Coaches who field competing offers from accredited four-year schools to register our students and transfer their First-Year-Free™ credits. It saves the student 25 percent on the total cost of a higher education," Clifford said. "Until now, no school could offer free online courses with the potential to transfer credits to an accredited four-year school on such a large scale. The innovation that makes DreamDegree™ possible is simple: 'Schools compete. Students win.'"

First-Year-Free™ courses have credit recommendation by the American Council on Education's College Credit Recommendation Service (ACE CREDIT®). More than 2,000 higher education institutions that consider ACE credit recommendations for transfer to degree programs are part of ACE CREDIT's College and University Network. The decision to accept specific credit recommendations is up to each institution. Once DreamDegree™ personal coaches help students gain admission and transfer credits to a school in ACE CREDIT's College and University Network, then the school pays DreamDegree™ for its student placement services.

"DreamDegree's full year of general education courses is intended to help lower the cost of a college education," said Thomas Cavanagh, Associate Vice President of Distributed Learning at the University of Central Florida. "I am eager to watch the new releases of the Adaptive Mobile software as it aims to continuously improve the student experience."

DreamDegree™ plans to launch a mobile platform in January 2016 that uses adaptive based learning as well as smaller, mobile friendly learning pods. Its courses and materials are currently accessible via desk top or lap top computer at www.dreamdegree.org making it possible for a student to enroll and study without having to relocate to a traditional campus. The eight-week courses are guided by a Personal Professor but self-paced, so students can choose to accelerate their learning by finishing early or making use of the entire eight weeks.

Students qualify for First-Year-Free™ by having a high school diploma or GED and may not be concurrently enrolled in another university or college. DreamDegree™ students must enroll in a school in the ACE CREDIT College and University Network. If they decide on a school that is not a member of the network, then DreamDegree™ charges students a fee of $33.33 per credit for their First-Year-Free™ transcript, which offsets costs for Personal Coach, eBook, Personal Professor, tools, and technology in courses taken.

About DreamDegree™
DreamDegreeTM helps people live better lives by enabling them to engage in higher-level learning and complete a bachelor's degree affordably. DreamDegree™ education platform courses are delivered by AlignDegree Services, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of SignificantTechnology, LLC, which has offered courses with ACE's Credit recommendations since 2011. For more information, please visit www.dreamdegree.org.