Frugal Educational Alternatives

Posted by: DL on Thursday, October 21st, 2010

Watching this movie trailer produced by a friend of our family, I couldn't help but reflect back to a recent conversation with another young man I know well.  Our discussion had been centered upon my friend’s opinion on how to best prepare for his future vocation.  The traditional college route was not an integral part of our discourse for many reasons, one of which being that it was not the best use for available funds.

My young friend, already established in a career, was in the process of taking some online courses designed to keep him abreast of the ever changing technology in his field.  He went on to say that he thought that obtaining certifications and apprenticeship opportunities could be invaluable.  He also felt that continuing education was necessary for many to stay current with the never-ending changes in their occupations.  This young man had the benefit of working with his father, as well as some on-the-job training, and was now fine-tuning some areas in his field of expertise.  He had found online courses to be the most frugal option.

As Youngest Son, who has an avid interest in writing, was coming to the age where future preparation for a vocation was on the horizon, this conversation was most interesting.  Seeking ways to prepare Youngest Son for the future without debt and with hands-on experience, Husband and I were considering our options.  Knowing that writers often need some kind of related employment to put food on the table, we were trying to be creative and resourceful.

I thought back to the trailer referred to in the beginning of this article, and how the director of this upcoming film short had learned his craft without attending a professional institution. This friend had not only received some training from his father and a great deal of skill from personal experience, but he had also regularly attended the San Antonio Christian Filmmakers Academy.  The cost of the Academy at first seemed challenging to my frugal mind, but as I thought about it, I began to see what a cost savings this would be over a more expensive and potentially defiling experience such as a traditional film school.

The Christian Filmmakers academy has instructors with a worldview that is of the utmost importance to our family, including Kirk Cameron of Growing Pains fame, who is now a firmly committed Christian actor.  I soon realized that an investment of this type was actually frugal.  Learning how to write scripts and present ideas through different mediums could be most helpful in our quest for Youngest Son’s future vocation.  With this track running in my brain, some other frugal educational alternatives came to mind:

How about you?  Do you have any frugal alternative educational recommendations?

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Topics: frugal thinking

3 Responses to “Frugal Educational Alternatives”

Lynn Says:
October 21st, 2010 at 7:32 am

My husband has begun an alternative to traditional college — homeschooling college. The website: http://www.Biblicalconcourse.com .

sillygeese Says:
October 23rd, 2010 at 7:38 am

check out Clark Howard’s website on self publishing

DL Says:
October 23rd, 2010 at 9:09 am

Lynn and Sillygeese:

Thanks so much for these interesting sites to check out!

 

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