Years ago when I still intended to go to college, I had to find an unconventional route because I had no money or scholarships, etc. I found out that there are three regionally accredited, distance education colleges in the U.S. that have unusually low or no credit residency requirements (usually expressed as a number of credit hours or percentage of total credit hours that must be completed at the institution conferring the degree). This is extremely useful because you can either throw together disparate credits from other accredited institutions or mostly take a bunch of credit exams at a much lower cost per credit hour and at a much quicker (or not) pace than in traditional education. The institutions are: Charter Oak State College, Excelsior College, and Thomas Edison State College.

I thought this would be pretty relevant since the average LW user is fairly young and almost half are non-U.S. citizens (I know at the very least that Charter Oak State College will admit non-U.S. citizens with some additional requirements; that means you can get a U.S. degree without a travel visa). It's also not always clear whether or not getting a degree is worth it and financial cost could tip the balance. My estimate back in 2013 for a B.S. in Psychology was ~US$12,000 without financial aid and including exam fees.