Steve Foerster earned 27 college credits for about $500, completing the equivalent of one year of higher education that would have cost more than $5,000 in a distance-learning program at a four-year university. Foerster completed up to six credits at a time by taking proctored tests similar to the final exams that traditional students take after three months of classes.

Excelsior College, a New York-based online institution, and educational content and assessment company Pearson launched a program this week aimed at increasing the number of students who have access to this more affordable "credit-by-examination" model.

The non-traditional avenue to a degree could prove increasingly popular as enrollments skyrocket, college classrooms fill up, and campuses embrace enrollment caps that leave many applicants on lengthy waiting lists.

It also could have enormous implications for colleges and universities, turning the traditional model of higher education--one in which campus officials are in charge of a student's education--on its head.

The program, called UExcel, will be made available at 2,800 locations in 152 countries, said Randy Trask, a vice president of marketing development for Pearson, and each test will be accredited through Excelsior, which has administered credited tests since opening in 1971. All UExcel exams have been reviewed and approved by the American Council on Education's College Credit Recommendation Service. 

UExcel tests will be taken at centers run by Pearson, which administers about 6 million exams annually, Trask said.

"I'm aware that there are traditionally minded people who believe there can only be one way" to earn college credit, said Foerster, 36, an adjunct professor of information technology at LCO Ojibwe Community College in Hayward, Wis.

"This was material that might have been challenging for a traditional-aged student but was relatively simple for an intellectually curious adult," Foerster said, adding that he was "entirely prepared" for graduate studies that year after reviewing and passing exams that granted college credits. 

Students enrolled in the UExcel program will be granted credit hours if they get an A, B, or C on a proctored test, said Patrick Jones, Excelsior's dean of assessments. The exam grade will be registered on the student's official transcript, and those credit hours will be deemed acceptable to thousands of colleges and universities listed as cooperating institutions on the ACE web site.

"To them, it'll look like any other class," said Trask, who added that the UExcel "sweet spot" will be freshman courses that could be a waste of time for adults who could test out of the introductory-level courses and begin regular lectures, homework assignments, and quizzes in intermediate classes.

Students must present a picture ID before taking an exam for credit at a Pearson center, and photographs of each student are taken and reviewed before a UExcel transcript is completed.