BIG 3 fast cheap bachelors

[Sanderco28]

Hello friends.

I'm trying to figure out what would be the most inexpensive and the fastest Bachelors degree and from which big 3! And Using which fema, clep, dsst, straighter line, aleks, penn foster etc. it doesn't matter the degree just trying to make myself more fiscal cliff/ recession/ furlough proof.

[Jonathan Whatley]

Welcome!
Do you have any college credit you can bring in?
What sort of college subjects are you most interested in, or do you think you'd be strongest in? Are there any college subjects you might rather avoid?

[Yanji]

If you're doing this for job purposes, rather than a "tick the box" promotion or lifelong learning, the field you get your degree in likely will matter. So I advise you to carefully consider every factor, not just cost and speed. (which are certainly important, but not everything)

[cookderosa]

Hello friends.

I'm trying to figure out what would be the most inexpensive and the fastest Bachelors degree and from which big 3! And Using which fema, clep, dsst, straighter line, aleks, penn foster etc. it doesn't matter the degree just trying to make myself more fiscal cliff/ recession/ furlough proof.

No matter which degree you choose from any of the big 3, you can test out of your gen eds (each school has a few nuances to worry about- save that for latter). That is roughly 60 credits, and will consist of no fewer than 10 and no more than 20 CLEP exams. Your reality will be somewhere in between. At today's $80 CLEP (and figure in a $20 test center fee) you're looking at $1000 - $2000 total for that half. No matter your path, that's pretty much a cut and dry estimate. How long that takes is largely individual. For me to take 15 CLEPs at roughly 2 weeks study per, would mean 5 months. I've seen people here FLY through 15 CLEPs in 2 months. YMMV

How you do the remainder can be very expensive or very cheap- very fast or very slow...depending on what choices you make.
If you take 60 credits of classes at any of the big 3, that's the most expensive option. Expect that to cost NO LESS than $10,000

So, the real skill comes in how you'll fill those credits. Almost no one wants to pay rack rate, and you won't have to. No matter which major you pick, there are options to cut down costs and time. There are exams for almost any subject, some subjects are a bit cheaper others more expensive. Some majors are nearly impossible to do because there are just not options for taking the classes anywhere (not even in house) and transferring them back. There are a few of these, and I consider them "duds" because no one is using them unless they washed out of a prior degree and are bringing in a big bundle of credits. (ie. restaurant management)

The most straight forward are in the realm of the liberal arts areas, with business following a close second. These allow maximum flexibility and exams exist in abundance.

You can check the wiki and multiple threads here that address your question (probably the #1 asked question here) and start to pull together ideas. From the get-go I can tell you that anytime you CLEP your gen eds, you are already hacking off a huge chunk of time and money. So, if you're committed to that alone, you're saving yourself two years and 10k. Make a list of the degrees from all of the big 3 that seem most interesting, relevant, and useful to your career. From there, throwing out a few specific degrees (ex. BA Psychology, BA Natural Science, etc) will get you more targeted information about the ins and out of those majors- from which you'll be able to make a good choice.

Welcome! This board will change your life if you let it

[Sanderco28]

I'm leaning toward operations management and attending tesc I went to college two years but owe my school way more than it will cost to complete my BA degree with dsst, clep etc. thank you lots for the info I'm a newbie so bare with me. Also any constellation on when exactly should I enroll or should I wait until I have completed the fema Clep's and dsst's.

[Sanderco28]

And this is entirely for a job promotion. Plus I promised the ole ball and chain I would get my degree before any kids.

[Jonathan Whatley]

Okay:

Choose one or a small set of target programs, like the TESC BSBA in General Management or in Operations Management, and look at the degree plans published by the school. TESC's are on their site under Undergraduate Degrees, Excelsior's under Programs, and Charter Oak's in their catalog [pdf].

For each target plan, figure out where your existing earned credits will fit in.

The subjects missing are the requirements you'll have to meet through exams, college courses, prior learning portfolio evaluations, and/or non-college-source courses that your target college accepts for credit (e.g. emergency management courses from FEMA, math courses from ALEKS, various courses from StraighterLine).

Since you have credits you can bring in already, please at least suss out a preliminary plan first. For instance, these two TESC degrees have only 6 semester hours of Free Elective space in total in each. That's functionally the only space in these degrees into which you could fit, for instance, new FEMA credit. But you might have that space filled already with credit from your prior college.

[Sanderco28]

Thanks for the info. But I'm starting fresh. My school won't release transcript until I pay 6000 dollars. And besides that it was for aviation maintenance. And I know those credits can't be used in place of operations mgmt courses.

[IrishJohn]

Hello friends.

I'm trying to figure out what would be the most inexpensive and the fastest Bachelors degree and from which big 3! And Using which fema, clep, dsst, straighter line, aleks, penn foster etc. it doesn't matter the degree just trying to make myself more fiscal cliff/ recession/ furlough proof.

Probably the fastest and cheapest would be the BSBA at TESC - transferring everything in. This way you would avoid having to take a "Cornerstone" or "Capstone" and most everything would be an exam, Saylor (3 courses are worth credit @ $25 each), Straighterline or Penn Foster.

Here are some degree plans: TESC Degree Plans - Degree Forum Wiki

Take a look at some of the ideas here: http://www.degreeforum.net/general-educa...tests.html

[IrishJohn]

I'm leaning toward operations management and attending tesc I went to college two years but owe my school way more than it will cost to complete my BA degree with dsst, clep etc. thank you lots for the info I'm a newbie so bare with me. Also any constellation on when exactly should I enroll or should I wait until I have completed the fema Clep's and dsst's.

A BSBA in General Management would be quicker and cheaper. Operations Management will require some courses that are not all available through cheaper means.