[AnimalMuppet]

While you're trying to do this, look into CLEP tests. They do what you're looking for, but in many topics, not just CS. Want to test out of your humanities requirements? CLEP tests let you do so (at least for many universities).

[Jtsummers]

In the US, get an associates degree (which you can speed up by CLEP tests) and you can also knock out a lot of other mandatory but non-major courses for a lot of state colleges, at least. I've had a few friends who did this, getting math or physics associates. Then they were able to primarily take CS courses for their CS degrees with maybe a few other mandatory electives that weren't previously covered (language requirements they couldn't test out of as typical monolingual Americans like me, mostly). This can shorten the time needed for the CS program to a comfortable 3 years, and if you can convince the department to let you skip some of the intro courses (based on professional experience) you might drop it further. Total, then, would be about 1-2 years for the associates (depending on how much you can test out of) and 2-3 years for the bachelors.

Also talk to professors about independent study courses, you may be able to knock out extra course requirements in summer terms where they don't normally offer courses, keeping the calendar (but not semester) time lower.

[rateofchange]

That seems like an interesting idea. I am also trying to see about not having to waste any time on non-major subjects. This is a horrible thing. I understand and agree with the idea of general education. That should happen in high school. Burning a year (or more) of someone's time in university doing unrelated coursework is a travesty.

It's both about the cost --which isn't trivial-- and the time. Most of our degrees have at least a year of stuff no employer has any interest in paying for. Education being the racket it is, there is no way to challenge it. This quickly points you in the direction of non-US universities, where this nonsense does not exist.