I think you should write to PMI customer service to get a clarification on your degree status. I believe they will allow you to showcase only 4500 hours.
You should read this article. I think, it will answer some of your Q - 25 Frequently Asked Question on PMI PMP Audit Process (http://www.pmbypm.com/pmi-pmp-audit-process/)
Let me describe the complete PMP procedure.
PMP Requirements
There are 2 requirements to appear for PMP certification -
- Project Management Experience
- 35 hours of Project Management Education
Regarding Project Management Experience
You need 4500 hrs of experience if you have done 4 years of degree (bachelors degree or equivalent). Other wise if you have a diploma of equivalent then you need 7500 hrs of experience.
The PM experience should be in a leading & directing role. So, PM role is must before doing PMP. However, PM role is not equivalent to PM designation/title. PM role means that you should have managed full or part of a project. Your role in the project could be of vendor management, team management, client management etc. The projects could be related to any industry. They could be big or small, technical or non-technical etc.
You can read more about the details of 4500 hours of experience here - (http://www.pmbypm.com/go/4500-hours-explanation-cornelius-ficthner/)
Regarding 35 contact hours
You can get them through a PMP training. A training can be done in 3 different modes:
1. Self-learning online training
2. Instructor-led online training
3. Regular classroom training
Out of these self-learning courses are least expensive while classroom courses are most expensive. You can get an self-learning course for less than $50.
The price and availability of the classroom courses varies with the region. The classroom courses are generally available only in the big cities. You can check on Internet is there is a PMP training provider in your region. More important is to check if the trainer is good or not. If the trainer’s feedback is not good, it is better to go for an instructor-led online training.
I have done a comparison of popular online training courses - both self-learning courses and instructor-led courses. Out of all the options, self-learning courses are the cheapest.
If you are looking for a self-learning option, you should read comparison of popular self-learning online PMP training courses (Best Self-Learning PMP Online Training Course (http://www.pmbypm.com/best-self-learning-pmp-online-training-course/)). It will help you in determining which is the best one for you.
On the other hand, if you are looking for an instructor led option, then You can read comparison of popular instructor-led online PMP training courses (Best Instructor-Led Online PMP Training Course (http://www.pmbypm.com/best-instructor-led-online-pmp-training-course/))
You can also refer to the complete guide to PMP certification (How to get PMP Certification (http://www.pmbypm.com/go/complete-guide-pmp-cornelius-fichtner/))
All the best.