COSC Capstone, $930?

[sotired]

I talked to my advisor at COSC and I must sign-up for CORNERSTONE within 24 hours...

I have no idea what this thing is, but do you remember how much you paid? Is there financial aid available for it?

My balance shows $930, wow, that is so expensive for 1 course :-(

Hopefully there is aid available and it isn't a tough course

Please advise

EDIT: I meant Cornerstone, not Capstone

[rebel100]

It's not tough, if you enjoy writing. It is writing/research heavy and you MUST stay on top of your assignments. I would say it prepared me quite well for further study and post bac work. Financial aid is available...have you filled out your FAFSA? If not you need to. $930 is about right, I believe it's $230/cr plus fee's.

As much as any class I took the COSC Cornerstone was excellent preparation for everything that I encountered later.

[burbuja0512]

Hi there sotired! Even though I already responded to your PM, I'll post here just in case anyone else has the same question.

COSC does allow you split up payment. $930 is a lot of money, but may be manageable over the course of a few paychecks depending on your situation. It's one of the benefits of COSC: Maybe it's cheaper or maybe more expensive overall than TESC based on how you manage your tests, but COSC does not require all your cash at once.

I would not recommend the FAFSA unless you absolutely cannot pay the money out of pocket even once you split it up based on the payment options they'll allow. FAFSA is a hassle with forms to fill out, then they have to go through COSC and you do have to pay it back. I had to go through FAFSA for my graduate courses due to the high cost, but I really wish I could pay cash without seriously compromising my family's finances. The other strange thing I noticed about FAFSA was that they loan the amount that they think is correct, not what you need.

My understanding of the process is that they look at some factors in your credit history and then look at what undergrad students at your school will pay. They make the loan according to this number. So, if a typical COSC undergrad pays 5k during a year, that would most likely be the amount of your loan, not the $930 you actually need. I guess this isn't a problem. You can get the money and then turn around and pay them back, but still a hassle if you can avoid it.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong on this, it's just what I noticed with my graduate loan. My program doesn't cost quite as much as a typical MBA at my school because it's geared towards international students, but FAFSA seemed to base the loan on what I would be paying if I were in the traditional MBA program, so my loan was more than I needed.

The funny thing is that the $930 cost for one course is actually CHEAP by higher education standards when compared to almost any other institution other than perhaps a community college! I can't even imagine paying that much money per class. We are just so lucky we found a way to save a lot of money through CLEP/DSST.

Last thought - I totally agree with Rebel in that the Capstone will fully prepare you for graduate school. I would have been a wreck in the first few weeks of my MBA if I didn't have the online classwork experience and not to mention what I learned about APA citation in the Capstone. If I didn't know that, I wouldn't have made it through my first paper! I have said this here a bunch, but for ANYONE reading this who thinks that they may possibly some day enter grad school, do NOT test entirely out of college, even if you can. You really need to take a class or two in order to prepare you for the future. I would not want my very first day in a "real" classroom, online or otherwise, to be at a 600-level class. I think everyone is scared on their first day of grad school for good reason - it's hard! But, it would be all the harder if your only college experience is at the testing center.

[rebel100]

Burb is right about the course...but there is more to the FAFSA than she mentions.

FAFSA stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Most schools (all?) that accept Federal funds require students to go through FAFSA as the initial process to determine aid eligibility. Some of that aid requires repayment and some does not.

When you fill out the FAFSA online it takes 30 minutes to an hour. You should have last years Income Tax forms handy so that you can refer to them. Once complete they will send you an e-mail (mine came immediately) that gives you an indication of what you qualify for. The formula considers number of household members, income, etc... in making a determination. Aid such as PELL grants do not have to be repaid....ever. Aid such as loans will require repayment that is typically deferred until you finish school or stop going. Credit history has little to do with it as the most common loans are secured not based on your credit but on a guarantee by the US government that they will pay if you default (this is part of why student loans are not discharged in bankruptcy).

You qualify based on need. A Pell grant for example (based on your qualification) will pay the same rather you attend Clovis CC in New Mexico or Harvard (yes, you can get a PELL grant at Harvard). The difference is how to pay the excess at Harvard, or how to spend the remainder at Clovis....HAHA if that where the only difference! But the point is that the aid isn't really based on the college cost....except the FA office will try to get you enough to cover the whole cost....and having too much student loan debt can be a very bad thing. But if it's grant money, I would take it.

In my case I received a full PELL grant for $5600/yr. COSC was essentially free for me and that incluced 6 courses through Colorado State University. I do not have to pay that back, and in fact received a small amount back for incidentals beyond the costs associated with tuition and fee's.

There will be a few other forms and what not to fill out if you qualify and choose to take the assistance, but it's really not that bad. The process is user friendly and the F/A office will walk you through it.

filing your FAFSA in no way means you have to take what they offer. If you don't want the aid or loan....don't take it. But COSC will require filing before they give you any aid.

With that said, considering your timeline you might be well served to take the payment plan and get registered.

[burbuja0512]

Thanks for the info Rebel! I really didn't do much homework on the financial aid stuff like I should have... all I knew is that my loan amount and the college cost didn't seem to match up.

[rebel100]

They do seem to make it deliberately confusing.