CUNY - Online Degree Completion ($4,575! Transfer up to 105 credits out of 120!)

[ss20ts]

One thing many of you don't know about CUNY is that you're going to have to take a number of upper level courses which are going to have prerequisites. It is not nearly as easy or as cheap as it sounds. I know because I have experience with CUNY and SUNY. I have 2 degrees from SUNY schools and looked at moving onto CUNY. I was all set until the transfer credit evaluation was done. It was EXTREMELY disappointing. Just because you take a course from a RA does not mean they are going to accept it. They are not uber generous with credit.

[cecilgambe7]

One thing many of you don't know about CUNY is that you're going to have to take a number of upper level courses which are going to have prerequisites. It is not nearly as easy or as cheap as it sounds. I know because I have experience with CUNY and SUNY. I have 2 degrees from SUNY schools and looked at moving onto CUNY. I was all set until the transfer credit evaluation was done. It was EXTREMELY disappointing. Just because you take a course from a RA does not mean they are going to accept it. They are not uber generous with credit.

Good point.

It is interesting anyway to consider other Universities out of "big 3" that gives the chance to made the degree 100% online.

I think due to COVID, in next few month we will see how other universities and colleges starts to offer the chance to made a bigger % of them degrees online...

As a consequence more and more RA courses will be at our disposal.

Maybe 2020 is the point in history when study online is considered something serious by everyone.


It will be interesting to follow these changes closely.

[Merlin]

One thing many of you don't know about CUNY is that you're going to have to take a number of upper level courses which are going to have prerequisites. It is not nearly as easy or as cheap as it sounds. I know because I have experience with CUNY and SUNY. I have 2 degrees from SUNY schools and looked at moving onto CUNY. I was all set until the transfer credit evaluation was done. It was EXTREMELY disappointing. Just because you take a course from a RA does not mean they are going to accept it. They are not uber generous with credit.

Yeah, I've tried to indicate as much in my posts above.

The 15 residency credits being at least partially (if not wholly) upper-level courses in the degree is a given I'd think. To issue a degree they are going to require some of the most critical courses in the degree program to be earned with them to prove competency.

Transferability between colleges has been a problem forever. Some people assume that just because you have earned credit somewhere that it will be usable universally at any other college, and that is rarely the case. Incoming transfer courses must be evaluated at the syllabus-level and will need to be a 1:1 replacement of the same course at the destination college in order to fulfill the course requirements. So even if a course has the same name, that doesn't mean it will meet the requirements at the destination school if their syllabi include different content. Not understanding this makes people lose their minds over transfer credits and is probably the #1 reason people rant about colleges on academic forums.

One of the big advantages of the Big 3 and WGU is that people on this forum have years of experience working with their evaluators so we can be fairly confident in how transfer courses (at least alt. credits) will evaluate at those schools. We don't have similar knowledge at CUNY.

Based on your experience, it sounds like they may be very picky about what courses they accept to meet degree requirements. WGU is similar... transfer problems are one of the biggest negatives against them and the #1 catalyst for rant threads about them on this forum. The Big 3 are much more generous in how they evaluate and apply transfer credits.

As long as people keep this in mind when considering CUNY, it could still be a good (and relatively inexpensive) option for people looking to complete a partially finished degree.

[innen_oda]

Based on your experience, it sounds like they may be very picky about what courses they accept to meet degree requirements. WGU is similar... transfer problems are one of the biggest negatives against them and the #1 catalyst for rant threads about them on this forum. The Big 3 are much more generous in how they evaluate and apply transfer credits.

As long as people keep this in mind when considering CUNY, it could still be a good (and relatively inexpensive) option for people looking to complete a partially finished degree.

Something I've seen on these forums (and probably just in general) is that people get very set on one specific school, to the point that they don't - or even won't - consider other options. There's a lot of merit in sending your credits in to several schools, see how they evaluate them, and then going with whichever school makes the most sense for your time and your professional goals.
It might cost an extra $50 or $100 in transcripts, but it's potentially saving you $300 per credit and hours of time.

If I had a CUNY evaluation that forced me to retake one or two courses, I might accept that in exchange for a better ranked school. But if their evaluation came back as disregarding 50 of my earned credits, I might go with Excelsior or TESU.

Still a good thing that more and more schools are coming on board with degree completion and competency programmes. 5000 is a remarkably decent price for a bachelor's degree from a good US uni.

[ss20ts]

Based on your experience, it sounds like they may be very picky about what courses they accept to meet degree requirements. WGU is similar... transfer problems are one of the biggest negatives against them and the #1 catalyst for rant threads about them on this forum. The Big 3 are much more generous in how they evaluate and apply transfer credits.

As long as people keep this in mind when considering CUNY, it could still be a good (and relatively inexpensive) option for people looking to complete a partially finished degree.

Something I've seen on these forums (and probably just in general) is that people get very set on one specific school, to the point that they don't - or even won't - consider other options. There's a lot of merit in sending your credits in to several schools, see how they evaluate them, and then going with whichever school makes the most sense for your time and your professional goals.
It might cost an extra $50 or $100 in transcripts, but it's potentially saving you $300 per credit and hours of time.

If I had a CUNY evaluation that forced me to retake one or two courses, I might accept that in exchange for a better ranked school. But if their evaluation came back as disregarding 50 of my earned credits, I might go with Excelsior or TESU.

Still a good thing that more and more schools are coming on board with degree completion and competency programmes. 5000 is a remarkably decent price for a bachelor's degree from a good US uni.

This is exactly what I did. I'm tired of the work involved at CSU Global. Writing a 3-5 page paper and cited discussions with headings every week for each class got REALLY old after 6 months. I'm still only half way through their requirements and I transferred in the maximum allowable credits. I started looking elsewhere so I would finish sooner and for less money and stress. I applied and accepted to EC, looked at NAU, looked at WGU, looked at TESU, looked at COSC, looked at Purdue Global, and applied and accepted at UMPI. I'm transferring to UMPI this month. I wanted to move to a competency based program so I can go at my own pace and not have to do these goofy cited discussions and responses anymore. No more weekly papers either. EC wasn't competency based but I have over 190 credits so I was hoping I would be really close to done...no such luck.

[Merlin]

Something I've seen on these forums (and probably just in general) is that people get very set on one specific school, to the point that they don't - or even won't - consider other options. There's a lot of merit in sending your credits in to several schools, see how they evaluate them, and then going with whichever school makes the most sense for your time and your professional goals.
It might cost an extra $50 or $100 in transcripts, but it's potentially saving you $300 per credit and hours of time.

While it may not seem at way, this is exactly what we typically recommend that people do if they don't have a particular school in mind. Each college will evaluate transfer courses in their own way so you may be better off on the evaluation with one school or another. Typically we recommend that people apply to the Big 3 and WGU and go with whichever gives you the most credits, but we rarely recommend schools outside of those since they are less well known.

Personally, if someone is close to graduating and they don't mind taking traditional college courses to finish the degree, then I think CUNY could be a great choice depending on how the transfer evaluation goes. If you'd have to lose too many credits to attend there, then one of the other Big 3 or WGU may make more sense. As a degree completion school COSC can be a good choice as well, but their per credit rate is a bit too high IMO, so CUNY may be a better option.

The majority of people on this forum are starting from scratch, or close to it. So for those people, CUNY and COSC are not ideal choices since they require a lot of RA credits. For people without a ton of RA credits, TESU, EC, or WGU are typically my recommendations depending on what major they are interested in.

[nomaduser]

Ladies and gentlemen,

I think I found a solution to CUNY's 60 RA credits requirement problem.

Do you guys remember the XAMK's free diploma program that gives you 30 transferable US credits?
https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...light=xamk

They have two of these free diploma programs: Diploma in Rehabilitation, Diploma in Tourism Business

What if you can get the two free diplomas from XAMK and use them as RA credits?
XAMK is an accredited university:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South-East...d_Sciences

In the future, you should be able to use University of the People's credits. University of the People is getting proper accreditation in about a year I guess.

[Merlin]

I think I found a solution to CUNY's 60 RA credits requirement problem.

Do you guys remember the XAMK's free diploma program that gives you 30 transferable US credits?
https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...light=xamk

They have two of these free diploma programs: Diploma in Rehabilitation, Diploma in Tourism Business

What if you can get the two free diplomas from XAMK and use them as RA credits?
XAMK is an accredited university:

Even if they do come in as RA credits, chances are slim that they will evaluate well towards any degree outside of rehabilitation or tourism. Maybe you'll get some business credits from the latter, but my guess is that those credits will largely come in as free electives if they have any value at all.

Remember, you don't just need 60 credits, you need 60 credits that are actually applicable towards your degree. Likewise for COSC. Bringing in random credits really doesn't do much for you.

In the future, you should be able to use University of the People's credits. University of the People is getting proper accreditation in about a year I guess.

UoP may become an option once it gets RA status, but probably won't be a great choice. They only offer traditional length courses, which is a downside that might kill it for most people. However, the bigger issue is that they appear to be disinclined to allow people to enroll and take courses as a non-degree-seeking student like a CC or other college does. So you need to enroll and select a degree program/major like any other student. Accreditation requirements will likely require them to verify that you're not enrolled at any other college as well. This may preclude admission for people looking for a few cheap credits since students are not allowed to be enrolled as a degree-seeking student at multiple colleges simultaneously.

Of course, the above is speculation based on how things work now. If/when they attain RA status they may change their policies to become more accomodating.

[rachel83az]

It looks like if you want a cheap degree business would be the way to go. I did a VERY rough guess based on the following information:

https://www.cuny.edu/about/administratio...ays/gened/
https://www.cuny.edu/wp-content/uploads/...h-2020.pdf

This does not guarantee that anything will transfer in the way you want it but it's more to serve as a VERY rough guide as to what might be possible.

Common core:

• English Composition - Language & Composition, Literature & Composition @ TEL Learning - Mid-American. 
  
• Mathematical & Quantitative reasoning - College Algebra @ Saylor OR College algebra OR Quantitative Analysis I @ TEL Learning - Mid-American
  
• Life & Physical sciences - Introduction to Biology @ TEL Learning OR BIO101 @ TEL Learning
  

Flexible Common Core:

• World Cultures & Global Issues - Introduction to Comparative Politics @ Saylor
  
• US Experience in its Diversity - HIST 2103 US History I OR HIST 2203 US History II @ TEL Learning - Mid-American
  
• Creative Expression - COM 1103 Introduction to Communications @ TEL Learning - Mid-American
  
• Individual & Society - ECN 212 Microeconomic Princples @ ASU EA
  
• Scientific World - PHYS101 Introduction to Mechanics @ Saylor
  
• Pick one more class in flexible common core - PSYS102 Introduction to Electromagnetism @ Saylor OR Princples of Psychology @ TEL Learning - Mid-American
  

CUNY admits 10 business courses from Saylor.  If one goes for a business degree and takes the 4 listed Saylor classes above for common core, that potentially brings the total up to 42 credits from Saylor. Take a business CLEP that doesn't overlap (if available) or a Saylor elective to bring the total up to 45 alternate credits.

TEL Learning in the above list makes up 4 classes - 12 credits. ASU is one class. 

Saylor cost - 45 credits - $375
ASU cost - 3 credits - $425
TEL Learning cost  - 12 credits - $800 ($867 if they require a science lab but that doesn't appear to be the case).

Total potential cost for 57 credits: $1600.

That leaves a total of 48 RA credits available. Since UExcels are counted as alternate and not RA credit, I'm not sure that TECEPS would work as RA credits either. And I can't find exact requirements for a business degree from CUNY so I can't even begin to guess at what other courses might transfer in. But let's say that you're able to find the rest at an average cost of $150 per credit (some cheaply from Luna, some cost more elsewhere). That's $7200.

As a rough estimate, that brings the cost to $1600 + $7200 + $4575 = $13,375 if you were to start the degree from scratch tomorrow.

If TECEPs are accepted, and you can find an applicable number to transfer in, that would certainly help bring the cost of the degree down by thousands. 

If all of the above assumptions are true (in regard to costs), this does bring CUNY down to the realm of (close to) the Big 3, at least if you are getting a business degree.