Couple of Questions

[jamfam75]

Hi there. Do any of the big 3 accept federal financial aid (I qualify for the full Pell Grant around $5500) for their online degree programs?

Second question....I will be earning my Associates in General Studies from my local community college this May. I only needed a few credits, and had not learned about testing out before I started back. I am interested in a Bachelors in Social Science and was wondering if I would be able to test out of the remaining requirements?

Last question....I am most likely going to want to earn a Masters as well (not sure yet in what subject area) and wanted to know if a Bachelors in Social Science from one of the big 3 would allow me to enter a masters program?

Thanks in advance for any advice, help, etc!

[rebel100]

Hi there. Do any of the big 3 accept federal financial aid (I qualify for the full Pell Grant around $5500) for their online degree programs?

Second question....I will be earning my Associates in General Studies from my local community college this May. I only needed a few credits, and had not learned about testing out before I started back. I am interested in a Bachelors in Social Science and was wondering if I would be able to test out of the remaining requirements?

Last question....I am most likely going to want to earn a Masters as well (not sure yet in what subject area) and wanted to know if a Bachelors in Social Science from one of the big 3 would allow me to enter a masters program?

Thanks in advance for any advice, help, etc!

1. Yes, in fact I went through COSC who acted as my primary school, through a consortium agreement I was able to take classes at CSU-Pueblo to round out the 12 credits/semester I needed to be a full time student. (note...CSU-Pueblo has a ton of Upper Level Social Science credit)

EC and TESC will let you use your PELL funds too....but the money can go a lot farther at COSC.

2. All 3 of the Big 3 now have a capstone for this degree program (pretty sure) So at least 1 UL course to complete. COSC also requires a LL course called the cornerstone....even with the added course your PELL money will go further at COSC

3. There are some caveats and qualifiers...but generally YES! The big 3 are all regionally accredited and should be fine as a bases for entry into many grad programs.

[sanantone]

The Big 3 participate in federal financial aid programs, but you have to take a certain number of credits in order to receive it. Since some schools don't have a traditional semester-based system, it's easier to put it this way: 12 credits per year is considered part-time, 24 credits per year is considered full-time. Attending part-time will only get you half of the Pell Grant award. This is just a very simplified way of putting it; the award system gets a little more complicated when you break it down into terms. Schools without semesters or quarters are reviewed on rolling 6-month periods. So, you either have to take 12 credits per semester or per 6-months in order to be considered full-time. COSC has a consortium agreement that doesn't require that you take courses with them in order to get financial aid, but the credit requirements still apply to the school where you are taking your courses.

We don't know how your credits will transfer, but one can completely test out of a BA in Social Science at TESC with the exception of the capstone. That has to be taken as a course at TESC online or through guided-study. TESC has a more liberal policy on giving UL credit to tests and community college courses. TESC also requires less UL credits. COSC was my first choice for a psychology degree, but I dropped that plan once I determined it would be too expensive and too time consuming for me to get the number of required UL credits. I used leftover money from the financial aid I received for the community college I was attending to fund TESC's enrollment fee. My local community colleges are about $2,000 a year which leaves a substantial amount of leftover grant money. I couldn't have done this at the other two schools because they do not give UL credit for CC courses. TESC's enrollment fee is high, but it's countered by taking extremely low-cost, CC courses and free FEMAs for free electives (COSC accepts these directly too, but it is expensive to transfer these to Excelsior). It's hard to beat $56 per credit hour, but not everyone has a cheap community college in their district that offers online courses.
Sanantone's BA in Social Science - Degree Forum Wiki

Whether or not you can get into a masters program depends on the subject you're looking at. If you want a psychology degree, the social science degree will work as long as you take the required psychology prerequisites. You can get into an MBA program as long as you have the required prerequisites. Some masters degree programs like the one I'm in now have no prerequisites when it comes to courses or degrees. These programs tend to be in the various fields of social science, humanities, and education. Outside of IT maybe, when you get into the STEM subjects, that's when the number of prerequisites can become daunting if you don't already have a science/engineering undergraduate degree. Some won't even admit students who don't have degrees in engineering, computer science, or a physical science.

[jamfam75]

Wow thanks for the responses! Seeing as I have credits from two different 4 year schools plus a community college, would you think it would pay to go ahead and have my transcript review from TESC to see if any of my credits would be considered UL? I don't want to enroll yet, as I have more tests I want to take, and would like to only have to enroll for one year at TESC. I am trying to build a roadmap but without knowing about the UL credits, I'm having a hard time.

[rebel100]

Wow thanks for the responses! Seeing as I have credits from two different 4 year schools plus a community college, would you think it would pay to go ahead and have my transcript review from TESC to see if any of my credits would be considered UL? I don't want to enroll yet, as I have more tests I want to take, and would like to only have to enroll for one year at TESC. I am trying to build a roadmap but without knowing about the UL credits, I'm having a hard time.

I would start by listing them here along with your goals, members here can likely give you a pretty good idea of what's what. There is also a great deal of info on the degree wiki and TESC has a ton of info on their web page.

You probably don't need to apply just yet...list your stuff and go from there.

[sanantone]

I agree. List your credits here to get a general idea. This might not be an option for those on a really tight budget, but I applied to all three schools to see which ones would be best for me.

[IrishJohn]

Wow thanks for the responses! Seeing as I have credits from two different 4 year schools plus a community college, would you think it would pay to go ahead and have my transcript review from TESC to see if any of my credits would be considered UL? I don't want to enroll yet, as I have more tests I want to take, and would like to only have to enroll for one year at TESC. I am trying to build a roadmap but without knowing about the UL credits, I'm having a hard time.

Actually, what credits do you have remaining at the community college? If your going to test out as much as possible at TESC anyways, why not see if you can just finish your CC degree first with these exams?

Btw, definitely check out the information here: Degree Forum Wiki