3 alternatives to grad school for a fraction of the price

Just tuition and fees for a year pursuing an MBA at the MIT Sloan School of Management, the most expensive MBA program in the US, costs over $68,000.

It's safe to say that even if you aren't paying tens of thousands of dollars, grad school is expensive.

But you don't have to pay so much to further your education. There are programs and classes outside traditional classrooms that allow you to keep learning for less time and much less money.

Jeffrey J. Selingo, a higher education adviser, highlights the transformation in how how recent college graduates supplement their education before starting a career in his upcoming book, "There is Life After College."

"Rather than plug into the formal learning structure of traditional higher education, new graduates are increasingly turning to a new set of providers that offer education in short spurts, online or in face-to-face classes, for a fraction of the cost of graduate school," Selingo writes.

Obvious exceptions to the alternative grad school path are professionals such as lawyers or doctors, but for someone who wants to further their education without a firm idea of how or where, a traditional graduate degree might not be worth the years of debt.

Here are three alternatives to traditional graduate schools: