We are writing to inquire if you know of any online programs that allows a person to obtain a bachelor’s degree with little to no math.
Our son is currently at a community college and he has taken all the classes he can (history, science, English) toward his associate’s degree. The only classes he has left to complete are math. At a young age, he was diagnosed as having a learning disability in math.
At the community college, after taking the math placement course and scoring low, he was put into a preparatory class that he had to pass just to be able to move on to an introductory algebra class. It took him three attempts to get through it. After passing that, he moved on to the basic algebra class and he has since failed to pass it twice.
We are looking high and low to see if we can find a program that would allow him to earn a bachelor’s degree with no further math requirement. Our son is a very bright and well-read individual who excels in research, writing, history and literature.
If you have any insight into a program such as what we have outlined above, we would greatly appreciate your feedback. Thank you in advance for any help you may be able to offer. We look forward to your reply.
Before anyone shops for a new school, know this: the math requirement will follow him. General-education math, in some form, exists at nearly every accredited college, online or not — so transferring to escape it usually means re-arguing the same case somewhere new, minus the standing he has built where he is. The stronger move is finishing the associate degree at his current college through a formal substitution petition with disability services, and transferring with the degree complete.
The second decision is the major, and it does more work than the school choice. Degrees in writing, history, communications, and similar fields typically carry one quantitative course in total, often satisfiable with logic or applied-reasoning alternatives. Business, nursing, and anything technical cannot drop the numbers. Pick a major that’s light on math first, then pick among accredited schools offering it. Taking it in that order keeps the remaining work manageable.
There’s a real path here, and it runs through the disability services office rather than program shopping. With a documented diagnosis, colleges can approve a course substitution — replacing the required math with something like statistics, logic, or quantitative reasoning in context — through a formal petition. Schools decide these case by case (substitution gets approved more often than an outright waiver, and some majors genuinely can’t drop math), but the process exists at most accredited colleges, online ones included. The sequence: register with disability services, provide the documentation, then petition formally with his advisor’s support.
Two more things that help. Ask how the school teaches its required math for students with accommodations — extended time, alternative formats, and paired tutoring change outcomes more than people expect. And when comparing online programs later, ask each school’s disability services how they handle math substitutions before applying. Their answer to that one question tells you how supported he’d be at everything else too.
Hi PJMartin,
I am assuming from your posting that your son has earned ALL his other requirements for an associates degree except his math requirement. Is that so? Is he required to complete 1 course or 3 semester credits in math for his associates at your community college? Can you tell me the name of the community college and the total number of credits he has earned and what degree he was working toward?
All the above will help us look at possibilities for your son to complete an online bachelors with no math requirement. There are a couple of approaches that might work if you can give us some more details. In the meantime we are researching some options. This will take a few days but if you can give us some more details we can post back next week with some possibilities.
All the Best
Vicky Phillips
GetEducated.com
Hi PJ,
As a follow up .. Have you formally petitioned the dean at your son’s current college to waive the math course requirement and replace it with another similar requirement such as another science course?
I ask because it sounds like your son has in good faith tried to meet this requirement. If there is a documented learning disability that is blocking his completion then there is a solid reason to petition for an exception in his case. If you have documentation of the math disability then access law and ethics make your case for a petition to have your son exempted from that math requirement is very strong. I have both seen this type of petition of work and been on academic committees that have approved this type of exception for degree programs. Degree plans are nor absolute. It is entirely possible to petition for exceptions based on sound logic.
Give us more feedback and we will try and provide as many options for you to consider as possible.
Vicky Phillips
Founder – Get Educated
[b]vicky wrote:[/b]
[quote]Hi PJMartin,
I am assuming from your posting that your son has earned ALL his other requirements for an associates degree except his math requirement. Is that so? Is he required to complete 1 course or 3 semester credits in math for his associates at your community college? Can you tell me the name of the community college and the total number of credits he has earned and what degree he was working toward?
All the above will help us look at possibilities for your son to complete an online bachelors with no math requirement. There are a couple of approaches that might work if you can give us some more details. In the meantime we are researching some options. This will take a few days but if you can give us some more details we can post back next week with some possibilities.
All the Best
Vicky Phillips
GetEducated.com[/quote]