Best option for FAST credits that will transfer into UPENN LPS or Harvard Extention

[none]

I'd like to earn about 60 undergraduate credits as soon as possible from an accredited university WITHOUT testing out.

I attended 2 different colleges and did poorly back in 2008 because of personal life situations. I received my GED in 2006.

I applied to University of Wisconsin Flex but was denied, they stated I should get some community college credits and reapply in the future.

I've looked into NAU, TESC, and WGU. WGU from my research will deny me.

Would UPENN LPS and Harvard Extension accept credits from NAU and TESC? I'd prefer not to attend community college because it'll slow up the process. I'd be starting with about 6 credits but would have to apply as a transfer student and would be denied because of my low gpa and hopefully be granted admission on the appeal and will miss my opportunity to start on time with my two options.

Price not important what are some recommendations? I'd like to apply for UPENN LPS for the summer term. Harvard Extension is my backup to start in the fall but either way I'd like to improve my transfer credit eligibility. Undergraduate bachelors program I'll be applying to.

[Yanji]

Penn LPS is probably one of the best mature student oriented programs out there; I know someone who did the program and they say great things about it. They accept people from CCs all the time, so courses from a 4-year state school like TESC should be just fine. Attempting to rush through 2 years of self-paced courses in 6 months and getting a good GPA at the same time (especially to overcome your previous academic experiences) seems like an extremely risky proposition to me. However, if you want to give it a try (what's the worst than can happen, anyway?) the self-paced courses offered through Colorado State - Pueblo, BYU, Idaho, LSU and Athabasca (Canadian but accredited by the same regional accreditor as Penn) seem to be popular, affordable options around here. I only have experience with self-paced courses through Athabasca, but even "easy" courses would probably take at least a week or two of hardcore effort to finish, and the harder stuff will probably fry your brain if you try to finish 1-2 a month continuously. Most of Athabasca's courses are able to be "challenged" where you get full credit complete with letter grade for completing assignments/exams, but they are closer to completing a course's material without any sort of instruction/academic resources than exam credit. They are also transcripted as "courses taken via challenge", which may be an issue.

Regarding CCs, many states have open admissions policies, so while you still would need to disclose and submit your academic history to them when you apply, they would not deny you admission unless you were on academic discipline or had unpaid financial obligations to another institution.

[Drakemoore]

I'm currently in the enrollment process at Hodges University which is based in Florida. They're a regionally accredited non profit private university. They have UPower which is a competency self-paced fully online program for 4 associates and 8 bachelors degrees currently and more to come in the future apparently.

It's $2000 per six months for out of state residents that can't apply for an in state grant which reduces it to $500 / six months. You have to take a minimum of 12 units, but you can take as many as you want within the six month period apparently.

ProctorU fees are included in the fee and most courses supposedly have ebooks.

Programs listed below:

ASSOCIATE OF SCIENCE, BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
ASSOCIATE OF SCIENCE, COMPUTER INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
ASSOCIATE OF SCIENCE, DIGITAL DESIGN AND GRAPHICS
ASSOCIATE OF SCIENCE, INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE, BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE, COMPUTER INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE, COMPUTER NETWORKING
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE, CYBER SECURITY AND FORENSICS
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE, SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE, DIGITAL DESIGN AND GRAPHICS
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE, INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE, MARKETING AND BRANDING

[cookderosa]

I'd like to earn about 60 undergraduate credits as soon as possible from an accredited university WITHOUT testing out.

I attended 2 different colleges and did poorly back in 2008 because of personal life situations. I received my GED in 2006.

I applied to University of Wisconsin Flex but was denied, they stated I should get some community college credits and reapply in the future.

I've looked into NAU, TESC, and WGU. WGU from my research will deny me.

Would UPENN LPS and Harvard Extension accept credits from NAU and TESC? I'd prefer not to attend community college because it'll slow up the process. I'd be starting with about 6 credits but would have to apply as a transfer student and would be denied because of my low gpa and hopefully be granted admission on the appeal and will miss my opportunity to start on time with my two options.

Price not important what are some recommendations? I'd like to apply for UPENN LPS for the summer term. Harvard Extension is my backup to start in the fall but either way I'd like to improve my transfer credit eligibility. Undergraduate bachelors program I'll be applying to.

Let me suggest you read a bit on the Harvard site, because their enrollment is based on your success in the first 3 Harvard courses, not your previous GPA (good or bad for that matter!). Harvard has January sessions that are accelerated, you can take one of those - sign up now- and use it in your degree (even if it isn't one of your first 3). I loved my time at Harvard Extension. Good luck!

[none]

Thanks, I'm aware of the 3 course requirement at Harvard, they also allow you to transfer the credits in at anytime before your last semester unlike UPENN LPS which requires them to be submitted before the end of your first.

To clarify my main goal is to gain as many credits as possible that will transfer into UPENN LPS or Harvard Extension. Spending unnecessary time and money at these schools isn't something I'm interested in doing.

TESC is more common but compared to NAU personalized learning program how are they looked at when it comes to transfers to decent schools?

[sanantone]

TESC and NAU are both no-name schools. All that matters 99% of the time is that your credits come from a regionally accredited school and are in the credit form. Sometimes, having grades vs. pass/fail matters. Some people had trouble with transferring WGU credits because they have no grades and were in the competency-unit form. However, WGU, even though they still use competency units, have changed them so that they match up with your typical course on the semester hour system. NAU does apply grades to credits earned in the personalized learning program, and they give you a traditional transcript for easy transfer.

My opinion is that the competency-based programs are not good for those who want to transfer credits; they are best for those who want to complete degree programs. I guess you would be fine if you're transferring an associate's from one of these programs, but NAU only offers bachelor's degrees in the competency form. Hodges is worth a look. While TESC's out-of-state tuition rate is very competitive under the Comprehensive Tuition Plan, there are cheaper schools. Fort Hays State University is one of the cheapest 4-year colleges for non-residents. I think they charge about $182 per credit hour. Colorado State University - Pueblo charges $158 per credit hour for their independent study courses.

[cookderosa]

Thanks, I'm aware of the 3 course requirement at Harvard, they also allow you to transfer the credits in at anytime before your last semester unlike UPENN LPS which requires them to be submitted before the end of your first.

To clarify my main goal is to gain as many credits as possible that will transfer into UPENN LPS or Harvard Extension. Spending unnecessary time and money at these schools isn't something I'm interested in doing.

TESC is more common but compared to NAU personalized learning program how are they looked at when it comes to transfers to decent schools?

So you should max the 12 clep option and find short session (5 or 8 week) community college distance learning. I don't have a list, but others here might be able to suggest some CCs with 5 or 8 week terms. Of those, just cross check course numbers with the lower level gen ed requirements at Harvard/UPENN.

Most people come here looking for fast or cheap. A few for something else (specific major, prestige, etc.) but in the category "fast" exam credit is pretty much where it's at. HES accepts 12 credit (3 exams - they'll award 4 cr each) HES, as a school, isn't a fast option. They run 16 week semesters. In other words, a 4 year degree there takes AT LEAST 4 years. If you come in with 1 year finished, assuming your prior credit transfers, you don't have much wiggle room. I'm not sure where you can cut time out of that degree besides the CLEP and transfer. Finding a CC that uses 8 week terms or even 12 is fast-er but your net gain is only a few months shaved off each year. I can see an argument for cheap, because HES isn't the cheapest option, but in terms of fast, your options are fewer than at another school.

Here's a suggestion
12 CLEP(3 exams) (1 month)
48 community college credits (8 week sessions at 12 cr/session = 2 semesters/1 year) *if you can find 5 week RA courses, you might improve on this*
60+ HES courses (2 years)

[rebel100]

You should consider New Mexico Junior College or Clovis CC with their 8 week classes and a max out of pocket even for out of state students....they will restrict you to a normal school calander though.

If your just trying to amass credits to transfer in I believe Harvard Extension will actually take up to 64 credits (the ALB is 128 credits, as classes are typically 4 credits each) look at the schools Yanji mentioned here "the self-paced courses offered through Colorado State - Pueblo, BYU, Idaho, LSU and Athabasca (Canadian but accredited by the same regional accreditor as Penn) seem to be popular, affordable options around here" The University of Idaho would be particularly attractive due to cost and their asynchronous style.

Jennifer gave excellent advice regarding CLEP...at HES each CLEP is awarded 4 credits not 3 or 6, so that's only three exams to get the credit. My daughter even got them to take the CLEP Biology as a core credit in science. These are pretty flexible to the 12 credit limit.

I don't know how they would view competency units from the likes of WGU, I doubt it would be an easy transition....vet that idea before you commit to it.

[Prloko]

If you don't care about the university name, I remember that Upper Iowa University and Indiana Tech had 5 week courses. I'm not sure what you can learn in 5 weeks, but they are regionally accredited and you should be able to complete a lot of classes. UIU also has Independent Study courses which you basically complete at your pace. In theory, you can do BYU independent study courses very quickly, but in reality, the proctored written exams slow things down big time.

[cookderosa]

If you don't care about the university name, I remember that Upper Iowa University and Indiana Tech had 5 week courses. I'm not sure what you can learn in 5 weeks, but they are regionally accredited and you should be able to complete a lot of classes. UIU also has Independent Study courses which you basically complete at your pace. In theory, you can do BYU independent study courses very quickly, but in reality, the proctored written exams slow things down big time.

Name is relative. I spent most of my adult life working in Iowa higher ed, Upper Iowa University is well regarded.