Best AAS Options for Alternative Credits and Lowest Residency Requirements

[zmn4000]

Hello all,

I am a supervisor at a large law enforcement agency. I am working on developing a program that the department can cover the cost of or at least subsidize, to help police officers achieve their college education. I am very aware of several affordable competency-based bachelors degrees that would ultimately be part of the plan but I am struggling finding some options for an associates degree. I also know the argument that the focus should just be the bachelors degree and forgo the associates degree, but for some people, that associates degree milestone is important in their personal motivations. Pierpont AAS BOG was my target AAS to be introduced into this program until the recent residency requirement change, and paying out-of-state tuition for 12 hours at PP doesn't financially make sense. Local community colleges don't appear to be good options for us either due to a lack of recognition of ACE credits. 

I am seeking help in finding an online, RA, associates degree program that accepts maximum ACE/Alternative credits (Sophia, SL, Study.com, Saylor, etc.), with the lowest residency requirement, that doesn't charge incredible out-of-state/out-of-district tuition/fees. 

Ultimately, our program for our police officers and civilian staff, would look something like this:

Department pays for Sophia/Study.com/ACE courses to cover most of their basics.

Department pays for Sophia/Study.com/ACE courses to cover most of their associates electives.
Department/Local Foundation pays for remaining credits required for associates degree.
Department pays for Sophia/Study.com/ACE courses to cover remaining eligible electives.
Department/Local Foundation through scholarship, pays for 2-4 semesters of an online CBE bachelors degree.
Employee graduates with degree at no cost to them.

Additionally, a similar model would be created for inmates housed at our county jail. My department houses approximately 1,300 inmates at any given time, and being able to offer cost-effective options and fast options (considering in county jail, they are typically housed there for months not years like a prison), that can be rolled into an associates degree, will help with their rehabilitation and reintroduction into society. 

This may seem like an impossible task, but I will take any advice or recommendation you experts have!

J

[ss20ts]

They may be better off just completing a BA in Criminal Justice at UMPI. There's not many colleges that offer associate degrees that accept a bunch of ACE credit.

[withrown]

If it works for your officers, staff and/or inmates, have you thought about encouraging CLEP testing since a grant currently covers it?

[Hotdogman1]

What if we go a little insane and try to get an Associates degree at UMPI? It doesn't make sense for most people, but it could in this situation.

UMPI Yourpace Associates of Arts in Liberal Studies
https://www.umpi.edu/yourpace/academic_p...l-studies/

UMPI Associate degree Residency requirement
"All two-year degree programs require 15 credits completed at UMPI." http://catalog.umpi.edu/content.php?cato...nto=search

Liberal Studies Requirements
http://catalog.umpi.edu/preview_program....turnto=260
The easiest Concentration for our purposes is Business.

General Requirements (34-35 Credits)
English 1 (3 Credits)
English 2 (3 Credits)
Liberal Arts electives (9 credits)
Math/Science electives (9 credits)
Social Science electives (9 credits)
Note: I understand how they got to 34 (Eng 100 is 4 credits), but I don't see how you get to 35. 4+3+9+9+9=34

Business Administration Concentration - 30 Credit Hours
BUS 101 - Introduction to Business 3 credits
BUS 150 - Introduction to Financial Accounting 3 credits
BUS 200 - Intermediate Business Computing 3 credits
BUS 220 - Managerial Accounting 3 credits
ECO 207 - Macro and Micro Economics 3 credits
PCJ 215 - Business Communication 3 credits
Business electives at the 200 level or above (12 Credits)


Sample course load (This is not the most efficient path or anything like that. This is just a bunch of random courses that fulfill the requirements): 
() = How it transfers into UMPI via the UMPI Transfer Database

Every course except for BUS 200 can be completed via Sophia.

General Requirements (34-35 Credits)
English Composition I (ENG 101 College Composition)
English Composition II (ENG 121 College Composition II)
9 credits of Liberal Arts electives
Spanish I (SPA 101 Elementary Spanish I)
Art History II (ART 212 Art History II)
Art History I (ART 211 Art History I)
9 credits of Math/Science electives (I did 10 credits for a lab)
Introduction to Chemistry and Introduction to Chemistry Lab (3 CHY 1XX and 1 CHY   1XX)
Introduction to Nutrition (BIO 104 Intro to Human Nutrition)
Anatomy and Physiology I (BIO 1XX Biology Elective)
9 credits of Social Science electives
Criminology (SOC 230 Criminology)
US History I (HTY 161 United States History I)
US History II (HTY 162 United States History II)

Business Administration Concentration - 30 Credit Hours
Introduction to Business (BUS 101 Introduction to Business)
Financial Accounting (BUS 150 Intro to Financial Accounting)
BUS 200 - Intermediate Business Computing (not available for transfer)
Managerial Accounting (BUS 2XX Business Elective)
Microeconomics (ECO 207 Macro & Micro Economics) (should probably take macro as well just in case)
Business Communication (PCJ 215 Business Communication)
12 credit hours of business electives at the 200 level or above:
Business Law (BUS 350 Business Law I)
Workplace Communication (BUS 210 Organizational Communication)
Organizational Behavior (BUS 2XX Business Elective)
Principle of Marketing (BUS 2XX Business Elective)

I recommend taking English 1, English 2, BUS 200, and substitute Workplace Communication and Organizational Behavior for two other LL 2XX BUS courses at UMPI. This is on the premise that it is possible to do a Yourpace session solely for an Associates degree.

Edit: a UMPI YourPace session is $1700 for a 8 week session. Eng 1,2 and BUS 200 are some of the shortest/fastest courses available at UMPI (less than a week to complete each course). It will probably take 1 session to complete these 15 credits.

Edit 2: I totally missed the General Concentration where you could pick whatever courses you want to take. It might be cool if you guys created your "own department major/minor" from the available Criminal Justice (CRJ) courses.
CRJ 100 - Introduction to Criminal Justice  
CRJ 215 - Drug Policy  
CRJ 225 - Criminal Justice Ethics  
CRJ 250 - Criminal Law  
CRJ 332 - Juvenile Justice and Delinquency  
CRJ 350 - Criminal Procedure  
CRJ 372 - Police and Policing  
CRJ 376 - Punishment and Correction  
CRJ 377 - Restorative Justice and Community-Based Corrections  
CRJ 430 - Crime Control Policies  
CRJ 496 - Field Experience in Criminal Justice/Sociology 
http://catalog.umpi.edu/content.php?catoid=7&navoid=317

[bjcheung77]

+1, I agree with you, even if you pay $1700 for a session to get those 15 credits to get the AALS, you can use that towards the 30 credits required for residency at the Bachelors level. So, if you need a second session for 15 credits, total of 30 credits, it'll cost another $1700.

Having said that, if you can finish all 30 credits in 1 sessions, you have a Bachelors for $1700 flat (plus other fees to get you the 90 credits for transfer into the program). The AALS is free on route to the Bachelors, I suggest the BLS with minors of your choice, such as CJ...

[Ares]

I would look at the A.S. in Criminal Justice for $2099 from Ashworth College.

Ashworth College allows you to transfer 75% of the courses for their Associate Degrees (45 out of 60 credits). This means only 5 courses (15 credits) or one semester would need to be taken at Ashworth and you have 12 months to complete them.

This is far easier than UMPI which requires 10 courses (30 credits) and you only get 8 weeks to finish.

Granted this is a NA schools so transfer options are more limited for the 15 Ashworth credits but Excelsior should take them and they can always get their Bachelors in Criminal Justice at Ashworth too.

[bjcheung77]

I would review the following post: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...#pid433696