Can you help me plan my degree path?

[dfrecore]

There is so much there, but I don't think most will count at TESU for anything, they do not have the most generous policy with granting credit if it's not ACE or something specific on their website.

The first thing you need to look at is each school, and the degrees they offer. For instance, TESU offers a degree in Homeland Security, but it's not going to be easy to take all of the required courses; EC offers a degree in CJ with a concentration in Homeland Security, and while they have less hard requirements for the degree, you will need a lot of UL courses in Homeland Security that will be more difficult to find; COSC probably has something similar (their website is down at this moment so I can't look). The problem is not that the degree doesn't exist, it's just that the courses will be expensive.

The next thing you might want to do is apply at all 3. It's $75 or $100 for each app, and see what happens. COSC is usually much better about giving credits for different things, so they would be a good bet. But it can't hurt to apply at the other 2.

As davewill recommended, you also want to look at the PLA process, and a good starting point is the free PLA course through Kaplan. Besides getting you 3cr free through ACE, it's a good way to show you what you would need to do for TESU's PLA process. Now, I'm not recommending it INSTEAD OF TESU's PLA course, I just think you might want to take it as a first step to see what would be required of you if you wanted to go the PLA route. If you decided to do it (it might be the very best thing for you to get a TON of credits, especially UL ones), then take the free Kaplan course (https://opencollege.kaplan.com/opencollege/LRC100/), actually going through all of the steps, but not actually creating a PLA. Next, research TESU's PLA process on here, there are people who have successfully managed to work through that system for credits. The price is fantastic. Search on this forum for it.

Next, you may want to look at some other schools with HLS degrees that might be cheaper than one of the Big 3. SNHU has a degree, so does APUS. Do more searching. There will be people on this forum who have info on this.

Also, there may be some alternate possibilities for you. The first is an AA in Liberal Studies/General Studies through the Big 3 followed by a BA from another school. Another option is a BA in CJ from one of the Big 3, followed by a MA in HLS. That might give you the most bang for your buck, especially if the CJ degree isn't helpful to making you stand out from the crowd.

So look at all 3 schools, at their degree options, and also think about how you could use them as a stepping stone to something else. I understand wanting to test out, but for your degree choice, that will be more difficult than a lot of the others.

Here are some options for taking your CJ/HLS courses:
CSU-Global has a bunch, all are UL, this is a testing-out option for $250/course
Propero.org has a bunch, not sure if they're UL or not (a lot won't be), $300/course, not sure how the course works
CSU-Pueblo IS has a bunch, many UL, they are independent-study courses for $495 each