Dive Brief:

• A new online degree at for-profit Capella University lets students pass a series of assessments to show they know material well enough to earn a degree — regardless of how or where they learned the information.
• All of the study materials are optional and there are no deadlines.
• Federal rules normally say that to qualify for aid, online courses must run for a full term and follow a set curriculum, but the U.S. Department of Education waived the rules for Capella.

Dive Insight:

One student says she was able to complete a course in just four weeks. She tells a reporter: “Am I learning a ton of new information? Not really. If you’ve been in the business world long enough, some of these things come naturally.”