A young man I'll call Michael Parker was one of those people who figured out a bit late that the better-paying jobs mostly go to people with college degrees. He had a chance to attend a local college on a partial scholarship plus education loans, but it meant working nights and weekends to pay his rent, food, gas, and car insurance. Michael, who always liked to find shortcuts, thought maybe there was another way, one that paid off faster and with less effort. Because he had been learning about computers from the time he got to play with one at age ten and became fascinated with finding out how they worked, he decided to see if he could "create" his own accelerated bachelor's degree in computer science.