Jay Cross

Jay Cross is the creator of The Do-It-Yourself Degree, an alternative education framework that helps independent learners earn accredited college degrees in a fraction of the time (and at a fraction of the cost) of a traditional four-year program. His approach centers on credit-by-examination: testing out of courses using programs like CLEP, DSST, and Straighterline, which allow motivated students to demonstrate college-level knowledge without sitting in a classroom or paying per-credit tuition.

Jay's work speaks directly to one of The College Investor's core missions: helping people think more strategically about higher education before taking on debt they may spend years trying to repay. In an era when student loan balances in the U.S. have surpassed $1.7 trillion, the question of how to get a degree has never been more financially consequential. Jay helps readers understand that there are legitimate, accredited pathways to a diploma that do not require a traditional four-year commitment.