Alternative for those with limited time

[jsd]

It's extremely difficult to complete a bachelor's degree at WGU in one term without transfer credits. If you do use transfer credits, you have to include the cost of those transfer credits in your total cost. University of the People now accepts transfer credits. While I don't recommend it, if someone doesn't have problem with a nationally accredited school, then University of the People will usually be the cheapest option.

Just to be clear, I think it's worth it to pay a little more for a regionally accredited degree. If someone doesn't like the constraints of a pay-by-time program, then TESU will be the cheapest option.

Yeah, I wasn't think of the alt credit you'd be paying for, i definitely wasn't comparing apples to apples.

even transferring in the max amount, it's going to be hard to complete in 6 months. a full 120 is unreasonable, especially for a computer science degree. I know occasionally you'll see an insane business degree accelerate through, but that's a different world.

[thepoetvd776]

Hello folks, I have been researching the fmsifferent online colleges featured here such as TESU and WGU. However I wanted to know if there was another program which was more ideal for those who had limited time. Both of these colleges it seems is ideal for those who can knock out clases back to back rapidly and really take advantage of the 6 month payment.

Currently I have other obligations that limited my time, so I was looking for a program or college that would just let me work on 1 class at a time and not push me to have to try to cram as much as I can in 6 months in order to get my money's worth. Of course everything would have to be online only. I currently live in NJ and I'm trying to get a BA in computer science if thsf affects the recommendations.

I don't mind paying extra for this per class I just want it to be cheaper than 6 months of wgu

So, if I understand what you're asking:

1. You want to find a CS degree program that is better for people who don't have time to complete their courses in 6 months.
   
2. You don't mind paying extra per class as long as its cheaper than 6 months of WGU.
   

For #1 you can accumulate alt. ed. credits online and then transfer them to TESU to complete a degree. Doing it this way you can take as long as you like, there is no pressure to get anything done in 6 months or what not. You will still have to take two courses directly from TESU and you'll need to find a data structures class at a local community college or at some other online college since it's not available via alt. ed. sources.

#2 is contradictory. You don't mind paying extra as long as its cheaper than WGU? Well first off, WGU is the cheapest college option out there, you won't find another option to complete a degree for cheaper than WGU (which is about $3,500 for the CS degree if you can complete it in 6 months). If you have a lot of courses to complete you can generally transfer in up to 90 credits (30 courses) towards WGU, to help you get done in 6 months if needs be, but you'll be paying around $100 per 3-credit course (up to $3,000 for 30 courses - but you can take as long as you like to complete them).

At TESU, you'll be paying at least $2,196 for the two required TESU courses, plus another $2,534 for residency waiver and graduation fees. On top of that, you'll need to pay for any classes you take online from other sources, which generally run about $100 per 3-credit course, plus the cost of the data structures course at a regular college. So depending on how many courses you need to take, those extra courses will run up to $3,700 more (not including data structures which will probably be at least $400 on its own). So you're looking at up to ~$9,000 but you can take as long as you like to finish the courses.

In any case, if you don't mind paying more, you can get a degree from TESU and take as long as you like. Alternatively, you can work on a bunch of transfer credits and then send them to WGU and only need the last 10 courses at WGU to complete in the last 6 months. That will be quite a bit cheaper.

I think that maybe that 2nd option you mention would work, transferring in the credits to WSU and then trying to finish in one 6 month term. I just have basically 1 class down, and thats intro to psychology. These other classes that I can transfer in, I'm guessing that I can take as long as I want with them before trying to cram everything I can into those 6 months with WGU at the end. Any suggestions of where I can do this?

---

Just to make clear what others have said: TESU is not structured like you're describing or like WGU (all-you-can-eat for a 6 month term). It's pretty much exactly what you're asking for - there are no fees per term.

I was under the impression it was also a course buffet like WGU. Hmm.. this changes things drastically then. I know its going to be more expensive than WGU, but if it allows me to space things out and work on things when I actually have some free time, then I think it makes sense to me.

Now i have to try and see how many credits I can transfer in and from where to get them the cheapest to justify the price increase of TESU compared to WGU.

[dfrecore]

I was under the impression it was also a course buffet like WGU. Hmm.. this changes things drastically then. I know its going to be more expensive than WGU, but if it allows me to space things out and work on things when I actually have some free time, then I think it makes sense to me.

Now i have to try and see how many credits I can transfer in and from where to get them the cheapest to justify the price increase of TESU compared to WGU.

You don't have to justify the price to yourself.  If you can't finish WGU in 1 term, then you're going to be very close to price on 2 terms, and if you have to go 3 terms, then you're over the price of TESU.

You need to find the right program FOR YOU.  There is no one-size-fits-all.

[Merlin]

In any case, if you don't mind paying more, you can get a degree from TESU and take as long as you like. Alternatively, you can work on a bunch of transfer credits and then send them to WGU and only need the last 10 courses at WGU to complete in the last 6 months. That will be quite a bit cheaper.

I think that maybe that 2nd option you mention would work, transferring in the credits to WSU and then trying to finish in one 6 month term. I just have basically 1 class down, and thats intro to psychology. These other classes that I can transfer in, I'm guessing that I can take as long as I want with them before trying to cram everything I can into those 6 months with WGU at the end. Any suggestions of where I can do this?

There are plenty of options. You should first see what courses you have and how/if they apply towards the BS CS at WGU. You can then determine the courses you still need and figure out what you need to take to meet the requirements. You knock out your GE courses pretty much anywhere (Study.com and Straighterline are most popular/flexible, OnlineDegree.com is nearly free), its the core courses that are harder to find and you should take those at WGU anyway.

[davewill]

TESU is great for that scenario. I took almost two calendar years to finish essentially the second half of my degree. @dfrecore did much the same thing. A lot of people on the board like to talk about being able to rush through, but it works quite well if you're the 1 or 2 course at a time kind of person, too.

---

It is becoming harder to complete a TESU in 9-12 months. Because you need 100 credits before registering for the capstone, and the 3 months the capstone takes. It would basically involve earning 100 credits in around six months time graduate to in a year or less. The reason I said six months is because you would need time in order to sign up for and take the 3-month capstone and graduate on time. This is doable but not easy, especially if you have no prior credits and don't have time to dedicate to schooling.

When I first found out about the big3/degreefourm it was 2013 and a different time. There was no capstone or cornerstone and many CLEP/DSST were UL and some were easier. (Here's to Your Health comes to mind) People got degrees from scratch in 4-6 months. There are old posts talking about this.

With current policies, a year (from start to conferral) from scratch would be pretty much the minimum one could get from any the of the big 3 and I suspect it would only get harder in the future.

Most people don't try to do much else at the same time as the Capstone, anyway, so I'm not sure it has really changed very much. Plus even with 100 cr done, you could still schedule plenty of courses to do at the same time as the capstone if you really wanted to.

[Imbanewbie]

I agree TESU; it is better option and it is regional accreditation