Advice appreciated

[TINASAM]

Background -- I'm 51 and have a couple chronic pain/fatigue conditions where brain fog is so bad at times I forget what shoelaces are and call them those things you tie your shoes with. Right now I'm determined to slough through classes to get to some sort of purpose. I'm also highly introverted and a little ADD.

Currently -- I'm enrolled in Pierpont for a credit dump to get that BOG AAS. I don't need help there.
I'm also enrolled in a well respected college here locally (albeit I'm doing virtual because - yanno- introverted) for their Mediation training that will get me registered with the state as a mediator.

I'd like to get a bachelors and perhaps a masters, but one step at a time. I'm looking at UMPI because I like that I could potentially fast track the classes needed and get it done quick and cheap. 
My priorities are:
Valid, respected degree
Cheap
Fast

I'm really interested in things that tie in well with mediation and conflict management.

I'm open to any and all advice. I'd love something where the Pierpont AAS could be a stepping stone and knock out a lot of credits toward that Bachelor. I'd love something where I could transfer in a lot of ACE credit and the 24 RA credits I have. I'm open to thoughts.

I can list the RA courses in about an hour when I'm back home and have the list. You can see my ACE credits so far in the signature but I'm diligently working to knock out more of them before the month is out.

Thank you for reading, this forum and the members have brought me so much closer to knocking off a major regret and a bucket list item.

[rachel83az]

If you want a UMPI degree, basically take anything at Sophia that doesn't overlap with the RA courses you've got and you're golden. Exceptions are English Composition I and II. That'll arguably be the fastest and cheapest way to get your degree. Definitely valid. And it's at least as respected as any other RA degree offering.

[TINASAM]

My RA Courses:

University of Indiana @ Bloomington: 1 credit hour in Self Instruction in Art EDUCM135

Berry College:
SPA102 - Intro Spanish 2
SOC200 - Intro Sociology
POL211 - Am. Govt
PSY251 - General Psychology
BIO111 - Principles of Biology 1 (this doesn't list a lab but I believe it had one)
ENG101 Eng Comp 1
ENG102 - Eng Comp 2
SOC310 Complex Organizations
BCC099 - Library Skills

[rachel83az]

By the way, since you mentioned you have ADD, you might be interested in Speechify: https://speechify.com/ It's an app and a browser plugin that will read webpages or PDFs aloud to you. I've used it to listen to PDFs for one of the ASU classes I was taking and I sometimes use it to read things for other classes, too. It's great if you have trouble focusing on lengthy expanses of text. It's not completely free, at $140/year for the full version, but it's well worth the money, IMO.

[ss20ts]

Pretty sure you and I have discussed UMPI and I sent you a list of what courses to take on Sophia.

[TINASAM]

By the way, since you mentioned you have ADD, you might be interested in Speechify: https://speechify.com/ It's an app and a browser plugin that will read webpages or PDFs aloud to you. I've used it to listen to PDFs for one of the ASU classes I was taking and I sometimes use it to read things for other classes, too. It's great if you have trouble focusing on lengthy expanses of text.  It's not completely free, at $140/year for the full version, but it's well worth the money, IMO.

That would be wonderful! I also have some vision loss and I've profound hearing loss but I can turn the volume up on earphones and it would help tremendously on retaining the information because I have to reread a sentence a few times to "get" it.
Thank you so much for this!

[dfrecore]

I think that a competency-based degree is not a great option for someone with medical issues. If you hit a bad spot medically, and you're out of commission for a while, I'd think you'd want to be able to take time off without it impacting school. A degree at COSC would allow that, and for not a ton of money (I think if you could do it for around $3000).

Since you already have more than 24cr of RA, you could use non-duplicative Sophia courses to meet your remaining GE requirements, and get as many cheap credits as possible. Then use Study.com to get your remaining courses, especially the UL's (it looks like you already have 1).

Choose 2 concentrations (Business & Psych are the easiest to get through Study.com), and you just enroll when you're ready and do the cornerstone and capstone in a single term.

[TINASAM]

I think that a competency-based degree is not a great option for someone with medical issues. If you hit a bad spot medically, and you're out of commission for a while, I'd think you'd want to be able to take time off without it impacting school. A degree at COSC would allow that, and for not a ton of money (I think if you could do it for around $3000).

Since you already have more than 24cr of RA, you could use non-duplicative Sophia courses to meet your remaining GE requirements, and get as many cheap credits as possible. Then use Study.com to get your remaining courses, especially the UL's (it looks like you already have 1).

Choose 2 concentrations (Business & Psych are the easiest to get through Study.com), and you just enroll when you're ready and do the cornerstone and capstone in a single term.

what degree would this be for at COSC, as this seems good. Just get everything prepped, enroll, and bang out the corner and cap in the one term and be done.
Thank you for your reply, this was an extremely helpful post.

[dfrecore]

I think that a competency-based degree is not a great option for someone with medical issues.  If you hit a bad spot medically, and you're out of commission for a while, I'd think you'd want to be able to take time off without it impacting school.  A degree at COSC would allow that, and for not a ton of money (I think if you could do it for around $3000).

Since you already have more than 24cr of RA, you could use non-duplicative Sophia courses to meet your remaining GE requirements, and get as many cheap credits as possible.  Then use Study.com to get your remaining courses, especially the UL's (it looks like you already have 1).

Choose 2 concentrations (Business & Psych are the easiest to get through Study.com), and you just enroll when you're ready and do the cornerstone and capstone in a single term.

what degree would this be for at COSC, as this seems good. Just get everything prepped, enroll, and bang out the corner and cap in the one term and be done.
Thank you for your reply, this was an extremely helpful post.

This is the BSLS (Bachelor of Science in Liberal Studies), with a concentration in Individualized Studies in Xyz/Xyz (choose 2-3 concentrations). https://www.charteroak.edu/catalog/curre...tudies.php

[TINASAM]

Thank you DFRECORE!