Can i enroll in TESC without taking any classes there?

[James2121]

I am planning on testing out of a degree at TESC i have taken 2 cleps this month and have a plan that would allow me to completely test out. Can i enroll at TESC and continue to take my cleps/dsst/tceps without actually enrolling in any classes at TESC? Or should i just take all my tests then transfer them all at once? Would be nice to get some credits evaluated by TESC. Any help is appreciated!!!!

[Lindagerr]

You can have your exam grades sent to TESC when you take the exam, Even if TESC has not heard of you yet they will hold that info for 6 months. Before the end of the 6 months you have to request a TESC evaluation, that will tell you where your credits go and what is left this cost $75. that will hold everything for another 6 months. After that time you will need to enroll. It used to be you could complete A degree without a course but you also graduated without a GPA. The rules have changed and you need to look at their degree requirements , they just changed it; depending on what Major (or concentration you choose) you will probably need to take a Corner stone class. Not as east as it used to be,

[James2121]

Thank you Linda for the response! I really do appreciate the help! So i am going to continue to take my cleps for the next 5 months and send my results to TESC. I have already took 2 cleps this month and had my results sent so they have them. In 5 months ill apply and have all my credits evaluated and pay the $75. I will still continue to take cleps/dssts/tceps at this time and just have to pay $75 every 6 months. (Will that work?) and at the end whatever classes i have left, which after the change will be 1-3 classes i will have to take an online class for. If u could just let me know if that plan sounds good i would really appreciate it!!!

[Daithi]

Around the end of last year/beginning of this year, I decided to get a degree through TESC by testing out of as much as I could. I went through TESC's current catalog to determine what classes I would need and how CLEP/DSST/ALEKS/FEMA/StraigherLine would all fit into this degree plan. I posted my degree plan here on this site just to make sure I wasn't missing anything, and to get any other advice from the old timers here. Then I just started taking classes WITHOUT enrolling in TESC.

The yearly tuition at TESC is fairly expensive, and I wanted to make sure I would be able finish my degree within the one year that tuition covers. I REALLY didn't want to get into a situation where I paid the tuition, but came up short and wasn't able to test out within a year --- and would then have to pay for another years worth of tuition. As far as I was concerned, there wasn't any advantage to enrolling in TESC until I'd completed ALL of my testing accept their Capstone course. Then TESC threw a monkey wrench into my plans!

TESC announced that they were going to implement a major change to their degree requirements. If I wanted to use the degree plan I had designed that was based on their current catalog then I would need to apply for admission before July 1st. However, I wouldn't have to actually enroll, and pay their tuition, for another 6 months. So I still have a few more months before I actually need to enroll. Based on the rate that I've been completing courses, I will probably be just about done at the same time I need to pay tuition.

So...

The benefits of doing your own plan and not enrolling are that you can ensure yourself that you will only have to pay the yearly tuition once. Another benefit is that you aren't locked into TESC or a specific degree. I've changed my mind a few times about which college I was ultimately going to enroll in, the degree I was going to earn, and which courses I was going to take to earn the degree. So I initially started with a degree plan for TESC, thought about switching to COSC (they are cheaper), then went back to TESC (more convenient/easier). I wouldn't have this flexibility if I had enrolled in a school.

The drawback to not enrolling is that the school you are interested in can change their degree requirements on you. They can also raise their fees on you.

[James2121]

So basically i would have to pay $1700 a year just to have tesc evaluate and collect my tests? And I'm assuming u need to be enrolled at tesc to take a TCEP? $1700 seems expensive to just pay a year without actually taking any classes

[cooperalex2004]

So basically i would have to pay $1700 a year just to have tesc evaluate and collect my tests? And I'm assuming u need to be enrolled at tesc to take a TCEP? $1700 seems expensive to just pay a year without actually taking any classes

Actually, unless you qualify for in-state tuition if you aren't taking any courses you have to use the "enrolled options" plan and pay more than $3000 for the year unless you plan on taking 24 credits of TECEP exams or other credit options from TESC. That cheaper plan has some fine print:

"NOTE: Students who select the Per Credit Tuition Plan with the intention of graduating from Thomas Edison State College have academic residency requirements of 12 credits for an associate degree and 24 credits for a bachelor's degree. Residency requirements are met by earning credits via Thomas Edison State College Online (OL), Guided Study (GS) or e-Pack (EP) courses, TECEP exams (TE) or Portfolio Assessment (PA)."

To answer your other question, you do not have to be enrolled to take a TECEP exam. They are available to everyone and some other schools accept them for credit too.

[Lindagerr]

I posted my degree plan here on this site just to make sure I wasn't missing anything, and to get any other advice from the old timers here. Then I just started taking classes WITHOUT enrolling in TESC.

The drawback to not enrolling is that the school you are interested in can change their degree requirements on you. They can also raise their fees on you.

Sometimes us "Old Timers":coolgleam: get out of the loop when schools change things. This year TESC made some major changes and because I am no longer enrolled and no one I know is enrolled I have not read up on these changes. The 12 credit residency stinks but it can be covered with Capstone, one 3 credit course and one 6 credit course.

As far as I know paying the $75 again may keep your records up but you would not be grandfathered in on any new changes.

TESC usually (always as far as I know) makes any changes in the requirements on July 1st so if you enroll before next July 1st the current requirements will still work. If you keep your enrollment current for the same degree you can meet the requirements that were in effect when you started. If you are close to your degree but not finished you can extend your enrollment for up to 3 months without having to pay a full years tuition.

You are welcome to any help I can give but remember my info may be out of date. Any post that you read on this board about specific requirements should be considered on how recently they were written.

[James2121]

Thank you all for your help!!! Luckily i do qualify for in state tuition and plan on taking more then 12 credits worth of tceps so i don't have to worry about those problems. I will probably just pay the $75 fee and have all my credits evaluated and i am within 1 year of graduating, then i will pay the 1 year fee. Trying to only pay that fee once. I have. Shopping list of cleps/dsst/tceps to take before i have to worry about that! No reason to pay more then 1 year tuition when i am not taking any classes there. Thanks again!