Any disadvantage to transferring credits right away?

[ItsNeverTheLionsYear]

I'm a second-degree student wrapping up my Sophia courses now. My first degree's evaluation hasn't been completed yet, and I haven't started on any of the SDC or community college courses I plan on taking.

Is there any disadvantage to getting the Sophia credits transferred as soon as possible? Will it impact my ability to transfer UL courses from SDC in the future? I wouldn't want to accidentally trap myself into having to take a course directly from TESU due some transfer limit I'm not aware of.

Couldn't find anything in the wiki or the rest of the forum on this, but I may have been looking in the wrong places.

[rachel83az]

It's generally advised to transfer credits as often as is reasonable. There's always a chance that TESU will stop accepting specific credits or will change what they're accepted for. As long as it's already transferred in, you're golden. If you haven't yet transferred them in, you're in trouble.

You must have at least 30 RA credits per degree. (The remainder may be ACE/NCCRS credits.)
The RA credits may consist of 16 TESU credits + 15 CC credits. Or 6 TESU credits + 24 CC credits. Or 6 TESU credits + 24 TECEP credits. And so on.
There is a 90-credit transfer limit for CC credits.

Once you've hit these credit limits, you can still continue to transfer in credits from the same source, but they won't count towards your degree. They'll show on your transcript, however, which may be useful to some students.

[dfrecore]

With TESU, there are no fees for being enrolled - so there's no downside to sending transcripts often financially speaking. And as rachel83az said, it pays to have your credits evaluated and "locked in."

The only downside is that TESU limits you to 2 evaluations if you're not enrolled - so your best bet is to become enrolled as quickly as possible. To do this, you just need to register for (but not take if you don't want) the APS-100: Medical Terminology TECEP exam. This will get you enrolled, lock in your catalog for a year, and unlock unlimited transcript evals.

If you give info on what your first degree was, and what your 2nd is, we can help you avoid unnecessary courses - for instance, you won't have any GE's to take, nor will you have to take the capstone, or Free Electives. You will only have the major/AoS, and 24cr of those must be NEW (as in taken after your first bachelor's degree was conferred).

The transfer limits won't apply to you in the same was as a 1st bachelor's degree seeker will, since you won't need 120 credits. The 30cr RA requirement will apply to you though - so you'll need to have taken (or will take) at least 27cr of RA (the capstone will be your final 3cr of RA).

[ItsNeverTheLionsYear]

@dfrecore - thank you for the explanation! My first degree was in political science, but there are some math courses from a minor that will transfer. I made a post with my degree plan here: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...university

It was my understanding that for second degree students, if the first degree was RA (mine was, or at least as close as you can get for a foreign school) then the 30-credit RA requirement is met from the start. Is that not the case?

It does sound like I should transfer the Sophia courses in as soon as I get feedback, and that they won't block future, necessary courses from transferring in.

[dfrecore]

@dfrecore - thank you for the explanation! My first degree was in political science, but there are some math courses from a minor that will transfer. I made a post with my degree plan here: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...university

It was my understanding that for second degree students, if the first degree was RA (mine was, or at least as close as you can get for a foreign school) then the 30-credit RA requirement is met from the start. Is that not the case?

It does sound like I should transfer the Sophia courses in as soon as I get feedback, and that they won't block future, necessary courses from transferring in.

I read a bit of this older post just now.

One of the things that's a mistake is "Earn at least 24 credits that didn't count towards my previous BA" - the reality is, you need 24cr that you earned after your last degree was conferred.  Slight difference, but it will apply here and to other future readers.

My real question is, why are you going to TESU if you want more graded credits in the major?  Are you planning on doing all of those courses at TESU?  Or are these the ones that you're doing at your CC, and then finishing up with alt-credit and the capstone at TESU?  Because TESU is WAY too expensive to do courses at unless you do the 16cr single term there.

Yes, the first degree is considered RA, so you shouldn't have any trouble.

Sophia won't "block" anything, I'm not really sure what you mean there.

[bjcheung77]

@ItsNeverTheLionsYear, You can apply and send in your transcripts. If you haven't enrolled, you only get two academic evaluations. You can complete the required BACS AOS courses entirely through alternative credit if you decide to pay the residency waiver fee and complete the capstone at TESU. Another option is to complete 16 credits to waive the residency waiver. Do you have a specific budget you're looking at for this second degree?

[ItsNeverTheLionsYear]

One of the things that's a mistake is "Earn at least 24 credits that didn't count towards my previous BA" - the reality is, you need 24cr that you earned after your last degree was conferred.  Slight difference, but it will apply here and to other future readers.

Good catch! In my case I should well clear that bar, but you're right for catching that distinction.

My real question is, why are you going to TESU if you want more graded credits in the major?  Are you planning on doing all of those courses at TESU?  Or are these the ones that you're doing at your CC, and then finishing up with alt-credit and the capstone at TESU?  Because TESU is WAY too expensive to do courses at unless you do the 16cr single term there.

I'm doing the latter - I'm doing graded courses at CCs, getting alt-credit for the rest, and doing the capstone at TESU + paying the residency waiver. Wouldn't dare take classes directly through them. The rationale for getting a second BA at all is employability reasons while I pursue the masters, which would likely take 3-4 years.

Yes, the first degree is considered RA, so you shouldn't have any trouble.

Sophia won't "block" anything, I'm not really sure what you mean there.

Relief on the RA credits! I got this idea in my head that I might not be able to transfer in more credits than strictly needed to meet the degree requirements (i.e. transferring in more than 18 elective credits), and that if I did, TESU might not accept the future UL credits from SDC that I'd need to graduate. It sounds like that is not the case.

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@ItsNeverTheLionsYear, You can apply and send in your transcripts.  If you haven't enrolled, you only get two academic evaluations.  You can complete the required BACS AOS courses entirely through alternative credit if you decide to pay the residency waiver fee and complete the capstone at TESU.  Another option is to complete 16 credits to waive the residency waiver.  Do you have a specific budget you're looking at for this second degree?

I've applied and sent my first transcript in - it's a foreign transcript so I'm just waiting on the evaluation service. I'm taking community college courses already (although I did cut down on the number of them I'm taking on this community's advice), and I've budgeted everything out such that I'll be paying just under $10k total for the degree, community college courses included. 

My original, community-college-only plan with more CC courses was to spend just under $7k, so the new plan is a bump up of $3k. I think that's reasonable to get a whole degree out of it. I'm taking the capstone + residency waiver option.