CFP® + ChFC® + TESU Acceptance Email

[Gloddy]

I am writing this post because I haven't come across one like this and thought it might be helpful for someone in a similar situation.

Today, I am in my middle 40's and am a multiple, traditional school, dropout.

I, with the help of people on this board (I am talking to you DFRECORE), have created a spreadsheet with my degree requirements (TESU, BSBA Finance). This sheet provides me a specific road map towards earning my degree. I plan on using my existing credits + study.com + TESU and hopefully the ChFC coursework through the American College to make this happen.  I know there may be slightly less expensive or quicker ways to do this, but for me, the $199 per month for two classes (up to 6 credits) is doable and gives me hope I can do this.

I have worked in the financial services industry for more than 20 years (1997). Today, I provide comprehensive financial planning to the mass affluent.

I wanted to complete my CFP designation, but knew this requires not just the coursework and comprehensive exam, it also requires an undergraduate degree within five years of passing the comprehsive exam.  While doing my research, I discovered that the ChFC designation through The American College has similar coursework. In fact, when I completed 7 of the 9 courses, I would be eligible to sit for the CFP comprehensive exam.

I did just that.  I started my journey in September of 2016 with this forum and the American College.  I completed the first 7 courses of the ChFC coursework and then signed up for the CFP comprehensive exam.  I did take a 4 day crash course through Brett Danko (Highly Recommended), and was able to pass the comprehensive on 11/11/2017!  Of course, I cannot call myself a CFP until I complete my undergraduate degree.  I have five years from 11/11/2017 to complete the undergraduate work.  I completed the last course of the ChFC designation on 12/08/2017!  I should be able to use this designation as of February 1, 2018.

So, the next step in my journey was to apply to TESU.  I did that a few days ago ($75 cost). It is a very basic application (they don't require you to submit your prior credits ahead of time).  I received my acceptance email this morning.  Since I have never seen this on this site, I thought I would share it (attached). Maybe it will provide some insight? You can see it below.

I have attached my course requirement spreadsheet.  It is a consolidated version of what someone else on this site provided to me, free of charge and with only a thank you. I will take this opportunity to say THANK YOU once again, just in case that person is reading this.  It sounds basic, but this sheet is what helped me to visualize my course to completion. You will note, I filled in the ChFC coursework where it would fit.  The website does not currently show these courses as having been renewed, so I will have to report back in to let you know if they are in fact accepted.

As of today, assuming the American College credits count, I still need 69 credits to be done.  I used to think it would be impossible, not anymore. I now know I can do this.

My first college class through study.com is English 104: College Comp I (ENC-101 at TESU).  I took the quizzes and the comprehensive. I just need to complete and submit the three essays to finish. I hope to do it this coming weekend. My spreadsheet has links built in to where I found the information.

I know this won't help many, but if it helps 1 or more, it was worth it.
Happy Holidays!
Gloddy

[dfrecore]

So I see a problem here, and I'm not sure if you're getting the info from your spreadsheet from TESU directly, or you just put it in your spreadsheet yourself? But all of the courses you took from American College are not considered Gen Ed. They SHOULD be going to the AOS for Finance, instead of the ones you have in there. For sure anything that is ACC, BUS, or INS will NOT count as Gen Ed.

You should also make sure that the course you have in there for English 2 is what TESU will count for English 2. Usually, people don't take English 2 without taking English 1, so I'm not sure what TESU will do there.

I would do your Gen Ed's and wait to get your eval before going any further.

Also, you need to make sure that the American College credit comes in. I can't find it on ACE, and it shows as expired on TESU's website, so you need to hear back on that.

Then, once you get your eval back, you can see what they count where. At that point, if the INS courses come in but not as a FIN degree, then you may want to look at the BSPS degree instead. Because you'll have all of those nice UL courses that won't count in a BSBA.

So, do your Gen Ed's, and wait for your eval. Then come back here and post what you have, and we'll take it from there.

Good luck!!

[Gloddy]

Thank you once again for looking things over.

I have requested my transcripts from (Penn State, BCCC, LaSalle and The American College) be sent to TESU.  I received confirmation they were all sent.

So far, I have only heard from TESU that the American College transcripts have been received and are being evaluated.  I am hopeful about the 18 credits that show as expired on TESU's website.  Another colleague in a similar situation received confirmation from them that they are going to accept the coursework. The challenge is his transcripts haven't arrived yet, so he doesn't know any more than I do as to where the fit in the BSBA for Finance requirements.  I did place them on the sheet myself.  I realize now that was premature.  I can't wait to know for sure what is what.  These courses weren't terribly difficult, but very time consuming given the volume of material.  Not to mention the 18 credits will be a huge help.

As far as the English Comp Course, I took that from what you had originally put on the sheet you created for me.  I too am unsure why I have Comp II but not Comp I.

At Penn State in 1993, I took ENGL 015 Rhetoric & Comp. I received a C.
Then at BCCC in 1994 and 1995, I took COMP107 Intro: Rhetorical SKILL and received a C+.  I then took COMP110 English COMP I but received a D.
On the original spreadsheet you created for me, you gave me the Penn State Credit for ENC-102.
I just finished TESU's ENC-101 by completing study.com's ENC-104 today. I sure hope I didn't take it for nothing.  If so, lesson learned.

I am going to focus on the general education credits. I am currently enrolled in the study.com's MATH 103 which is to satisfy TESU's MAT-121 course. I am not going to enroll in anything else until I know what the evaluation looks like officially.

Thank for the note about the BSPS. I was unaware of this as an option.

Happy Holidays!

So I see a problem here, and I'm not sure if you're getting the info from your spreadsheet from TESU directly, or you just put it in your spreadsheet yourself?  But all of the courses you took from American College are not considered Gen Ed.  They SHOULD be going to the AOS for Finance, instead of the ones you have in there.  For sure anything that is ACC, BUS, or INS will NOT count as Gen Ed.

You should also make sure that the course you have in there for English 2 is what TESU will count for English 2.  Usually, people don't take English 2 without taking English 1, so I'm not sure what TESU will do there.

I would do your Gen Ed's and wait to get your eval before going any further.

Also, you need to make sure that the American College credit comes in.  I can't find it on ACE, and it shows as expired on TESU's website, so you need to hear back on that.

Then, once you get your eval back, you can see what they count where.  At that point, if the INS courses come in but not as a FIN degree, then you may want to look at the BSPS degree instead.  Because you'll have all of those nice UL courses that won't count in a BSBA.

So, do your Gen Ed's, and wait for your eval.  Then come back here and post what you have, and we'll take it from there.

Good luck!!

[dfrecore]

It certainly won't kill you to take the Oral Comm requirement (either using COM101: Public Speaking or COM120: Presentation Skills in the Workplace), the Civic Engagement requirement (using POLS102: American Government), Statistics, Any Natural Science or Computer Science course, and any Knowledge of Human Cultures course. Go ahead and do the Gen Ed Electives as well. Whether you end up with a BSBA or BSPS, you will still need your Gen Eds completed.

If you know for sure that you want a BSBA, I would also work on the Core with Accouting II, Management, a computer course, Marketing, Finance, International Business (switch to BUS120: Int'l Business, it will be easier than the one you have), Microecon, and Business Comm. If you're not sure, then you can wait.

[Gloddy]

I wanted to give everyone an update on this topic.  

As a reminder, I am pursuing a BSBA in Finance at TESU.
I have credits from:
Penn State
Bucks County Community College
LaSalle University
FINRA (Series 7 and 65)
The American College (ChFC/CFP Designations)
Study.com

I just received my academic evaluation. I have not spoken with an academic advisor yet and I still have to figure out how to transfer or prove my FINRA Licenses which will count for 5 credits in the Core area of the program (Series 65 counts as 2 Credits in Business Law and the Series 7 counts as FIN301)

As a quick side question, does anyone know how I go about getting 1 hour in Business Law or am I really just not getting the 2 hours from the Series 65?

Anyway, I am super excited to share this information with everyone.
They gave me a total of 18.66 credits for the American College coursework required to complete the ChFC/CFP designations. 10.66 Credits went to Group I (300/400 Level Courses) and 2 Credits went to Group II meaning I only need 6 more credits for the Finance Requirements! The other 4 credits went to Electives.

Here is the breakdown from my academic evaluation tool online.
Group I (300/400 Level)
They didn't state how much each course was worth, just the total of 10.66.
HS311 Fund of Insurance Planning
HS330 Fund of Estate Planning
HS328 Investments
HS300 Financial Planning Process
HS319 Apps in Financial Planning II
HS314 Apps in Financial Planning I

Credits in Group II
HS326 Planning for Retirement Needs

Electives
They gave me 2 credits for each of the following courses:
HS321 Income Taxation
HS333 Personal Financial Planning Case Analysis

Again, I only shared this information, because I haven't seen it on this board in the past.  Hopefully it will help some people out there that have completed this work as well.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Gloddy

[dfrecore]

Normally, the eval will tell you what each course came in as (TESU's course numbering system) and include number of credits. Is that not on there? Because if they've given you credit for certain courses, you need to know what those are, or you might end up duplicating them with other courses and waste a whole bunch of time and money.

Can you cut and paste that section of your eval so we can see it?

[Gloddy]

Normally, the eval will tell you what each course came in as (TESU's course numbering system) and include number of credits.  Is that not on there?  Because if they've given you credit for certain courses, you need to know what those are, or you might end up duplicating them with other courses and waste a whole bunch of time and money.

Can you cut and paste that section of your eval so we can see it?

Looking at my other courses, from the traditional schools, they list it the same way. My course slotted into where they are giving me credit.

I can't seem to add a photo here?

Cut and past looks terrible. There tool is not formatted very well. Think it is circa 1997.  I use the snip tool and pasted it to the attached word document.

Let me know your thoughts.

Gloddy

[dfrecore]

My eval looks exactly like this, because it's too big for the screen. I think you need to open up your window bigger, or scroll to the right to get more info.

[Gloddy]

My eval looks exactly like this, because it's too big for the screen.  I think you need to open up your window bigger, or scroll to the right to get more info.

I feel pretty silly.  You are correct!  I was really shocked that it didn't tell me which class it gave me. Now I realize it did!  Thanks.

I shrunk it down to a point where it was barely legible, at least for me.  I used the snip tool and attached it to a word doc.

This brings ups a few immediate questions.
1 - Is there an easier/better way to insert images?  It seems like the insert tool here asks for the URL.  I have the images on my desktop.

2 - The more important questions are, how do I get 1.34 Credits in a 300/400 Credit Class and 1 credit in the Group II classes?

3 - Can I take 2, 3 Credit, level 300/400 classes and this will settle the entire 5.34 credits I still need?

4 - Does anyone know the best TECEP Finance Classes to meet these requirements? I would specifically love classes that I could study from something like existing quizlettes to get through it.

Any guidance is always appreciated.

Gloddy

[dfrecore]

2 - The more important questions are, how do I get 1.34 Credits in a 300/400 Credit Class and 1 credit in the Group II classes?

3 - Can I take 2, 3 Credit, level 300/400 classes and this will settle the entire 5.34 credits I still need?

4 - Does anyone know the best TECEP Finance Classes to meet these requirements? I would specifically love classes that I could study from something like existing quizlettes to get through it.

Any guidance is always appreciated.

Gloddy

So the main problem I have is that I don't know what Group I and Group II are.  They aren't on the website, so there's no guidance.  You're going to have to call TESU and ask what the groupings mean.  The best and easiest answer is going to be "Group I is UL credit and Group II is LL credit," in which case, you are golden.  But if certain courses fit in certain places, you need to know that now.  I'm hoping it's the first thing though.

If it's by type of course, then you're going to have to ask what types of courses fit in each.  I would ask about these specific courses/exams:

Money & Banking - DSST/Study.com >> ECO-322
Financial Institutions & Markets - TECEP >> FIN-331
Corporate Finance - Davar >> FIN-311
Multinational Business Finance - Davar >> FIN-334

Good luck!