Business Degree Help

[letsgo123]

Your Location: NC
Your Age: 30s
What kind of degree do you want?: Business degree. My background is in Project Management, 10 years of experience. I will be getting my PMP by December. 
Current Regional Accredited Credits: None. Will start with Sophia courses. 
Budget:  $6-7k. My company can reimburse up to 5250 a year. I was hoping to not spend more than an additional $2k over that if possible. 

Commitments: I have a full time job and a family to take care of. Most of my studying will be nights/weekends. 
Dedicated time to study: 10-15 hrs a week. 
Timeline: Looking to complete my degree within 12-18 months if possible. 

I have looked through several posts and see that UMPI may be the fastest way possible if I obtain my max credits from Sophia. I saw the wiki on the degree path and it does interest me the most. Is this school considered regionally accredited? I can only receive reimbursement if it is. 
Otherwise, they have some partner schools with tuition discounts/deferrals. I've posted them below. 

Arizona State University 
Cambridge Global New England Institute of Business
Capella
Colorado State Global
Dallas Baptist
Drexel
Florida Institute of IT 
Grand Canyon University 
Lindenwood
Nova 
Rasmussen U 
Southern New Hampshire University  
University of Hartford 
Walden

Does anyone have any experience with the above schools? I'm looking for fast and cheap if possible. Ideally, a program that accepts at least 75-90 credits from Sophia/study.

[ss20ts]

Yes, UMPI is RA. It's part of the University of Maine's state university system.

Some of the schools you listed won't accept 90 credits from Sophia. Some of those schools are also pretty pricy - Drexel in particular. CSU Global is $350 per credits so 1 class is $1050. 8 weeks at UMPI is $1400 and you can complete as many classes as you can during that 8 weeks. CSU Global has 7 week terms and you take 2 classes per term for full time and 1 class part time. You won't finish in 12 months there. They are very picky about Sophia credits as well. You will also have weekly discussions with responses and papers most weeks. UMPI is 1 paper, project, or exam. No discussions. I was at CSU Global when I transferred to UMPI and graduated months earlier and for over $10K less.

[letsgo123]

Yes, UMPI is RA. It's part of the University of Maine's state university system.

Some of the schools you listed won't accept 90 credits from Sophia. Some of those schools are also pretty pricy - Drexel in particular. CSU Global is $350 per credits so 1 class is $1050. 8 weeks at UMPI is $1400 and you can complete as many classes as you can during that 8 weeks. CSU Global has 7 week terms and you take 2 classes per term for full time and 1 class part time. You won't finish in 12 months there. They are very picky about Sophia credits as well. You will also have weekly discussions with responses and papers most weeks. UMPI is 1 paper, project, or exam. No discussions. I was at CSU Global when I transferred to UMPI and graduated months earlier and for over $10K less.

If that's the case then I believe UMPI to be a no brainer at this point. I appreciate your guidance!

[ReyMysterioso]

Keep in mind Sophia credits, while accepted at UMPI for equivalent college credit toward your eventual degree are not actual regionally-accredited college credits.

I'm only pointing this out because depending upon your workplace policies, they may not be willing to reimburse you for those and you'll likely be paying for the Sophia part out of pocket. (Then again they might.) But if you're paying for sophia out of pocket, it's really affordable and that's a no-brainer as a worthwhile investment in my opinion.

I'm glad your job offers tuition reimbursement and you're jumping into this. It's a great investment in yourself you'll have for the rest of your life. Don't let anything stop you. Come back to the forum as often as you wish and badger us with questions - Lots of smart people here and we're happy to have you here to help you reach your degree goals.

If you end up not liking UMPI, you can always transfer credits you earn there somewhere else, so no reason not to try it.

[bjcheung77]

@letsgo123, does your company tuition assistance or reimbursement partner with Guild Education?  The names of the schools, at least most of them, are part of that... If so, you can get many including Penn Foster, Sophia.org and Study.com free! Here's the details from their partnerships page: https://schools.guildeducation.com/

[letsgo123]

Keep in mind Sophia credits, while accepted at UMPI for equivalent college credit toward your eventual degree are not actual regionally-accredited college credits.

I'm only pointing this out because depending upon your workplace policies, they may not be willing to reimburse you for those and you'll likely be paying for the Sophia part out of pocket. (Then again they might.) But if you're paying for sophia out of pocket, it's really affordable and that's a no-brainer as a worthwhile investment in my opinion.

I'm glad your job offers tuition reimbursement and you're jumping into this. It's a great investment in yourself you'll have for the rest of your life. Don't let anything stop you. Come back to the forum as often as you wish and badger us with questions - Lots of smart people here and we're happy to have you here to help you reach your degree goals.

If you end up not liking UMPI, you can always transfer credits you earn there somewhere else, so no reason not to try it.

Thank you for the heads up and encouragement. I believe we don't get reimbursement for Sophia but they're a corporate partnership so it's a discount. (something is better than nothing by all means!). It's been a little nerve wracking to start, but I'm incredibly grateful for the people and information on here. It's certainly made the process easier to have a clear pathway to follow.

---

@letsgo123, does your company tuition assistance or reimbursement partner with Guild Education?  The names of the schools, at least most of them, are part of that... If so, you can get many including Penn Foster, Sophia.org and Study.com free! Here's the details from their partnerships page: https://schools.guildeducation.com/

I just checked and unfortunately, they do not.

[ss20ts]

Oh one thing about UMPI. Don't forget to file your FAFSA! You may be eligible for financial aid including grants and loans. Same for other colleges.

[rachel83az]

Do you get reimbursed per calendar year or per 12 months? If it's per calendar year, one possibility would be taking https://ea.asu.edu/courses/habitable-worlds-ses-106/ immediately for your lab science instead of Study.com later. Caveat: it hasn't yet been conclusively reported to work for this requirement, but it is a lab science and it SHOULD work.

If you'd rather not risk it, there's nothing wrong with taking Biology 101L from Study.com.

[bjcheung77]

Even if you don't use Guild Education, it's just a little more expensive as you pay out of pocket for Sophia.org and Study.com, all the other courses you take at UMPI will be covered by tuition assistance. You can ladder that up to other options if you decide on a specific degree as all of these have "business" degrees.

You have over $5K in tuition assistance, you can use that for 3 terms at UMPI and be done with it. In addition to UMPI, you've got Excelsior, PUG, SNHU, TESU, UMASS Global, WGU, Walden and the others that you listed... I would do the UMPI degree for 2023 and then work on a WGU Masters in 2024 to use up year!

[ss20ts]

Even if you don't use Guild Education, it's just a little more expensive as you pay out of pocket for Sophia.org and Study.com, all the other courses you take at UMPI will be covered by tuition assistance.  You can ladder that up to other options if you decide on a specific degree as all of these have "business" degrees.  

You have over $5K in tuition assistance, you can use that for 3 terms at UMPI and be done with it.  In addition to UMPI, you've got Excelsior, PUG, SNHU, TESU, UMASS Global, WGU, Walden and the others that you listed...  I would do the UMPI degree for 2023 and then work on a WGU Masters in 2024 to use up year!

WGU just announced 2 new business master's degrees beginning in January and March!