Crestpoint University DEAC accredited vs Excelsior

[mlbacchus@gmail.com]

My son is looking at getting a bachelor's in psychology thru either Crestpoint for $8000 along with his high school degree or for 16k thru excelsior. My question: is there a disadvantage to getting a degree thru Crestpoint that is not regionally accredited as opposed to excelsior that is regionally accredited but twice as expensive? He wants to go on and get a masters in therapy and counseling. Will most graduate schools accept that degree?

[bjcheung77]

Welcome to the board, great intro post to get the ball rolling and the conversation started. Please provide us more details asked for on the addendum and template linked: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

A few things, Crestpoint is a partner of LawShelf (one of the NCCRS providers I recommend), but their degree programs aren't as worth it because you can get the Excelsior degree for much cheaper. I was wondering how you got $16K for Excelsior?

Having an undergraduate degree would be a requirement, I usually recommend RA for undergraduate, when you get to the graduate level, depending on the degree, NA can be used if you can't find a similarly priced RA institution.

[mlbacchus@gmail.com]

Thanks for the pointers. I just came to the idea of degree hacking in the last few weeks through three company Smarter by 1 degree. They've partnered with Crestpoint, Excelsior, and Edison to offer a few degrees like psychology while you're in high school. It looks like they offer a lot of the credits thru places like study.com and then have you take the last few credits from the university. They charge 450 per year for the service. So that sent me down the rabbit hole of trying to get a degree for my son much cheaper than I ever did when I went to college. And I'm realizing that a lot of people are doing this on their own but I'm trying to figure out if Smarter by 1 degree is worth it, if a degree from Crestpoint will get him into a masters program since it's not regionally accredited or if I need to do it on my own and can get it cheaper then going through smarter by 1 degree?
Your Location:
Your Age: 15
What kind of degree do you want?: psychology BS
Current Regional Accredited Credits: none
Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: none
Any certifications or military experience?: none
Budget: no particular budget, just don't want my son to have a huge debt
Commitments:
Dedicated time to study:3-4 hours per day
Timeline:3 to 4 years
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: none

[Heartstrings]

It is hard to say which graduate programs in counseling will accept a nationally accredited degree. There are some CACREP accredited programs that are online and would check out if they accept degrees that are nationally accredited. I would also check the state laws and licensing boards in your area or where he plans to work to see if they would also accept a nationally accredited degree. I know some states may only accept a regionally accredited degree.

[LevelUP]

Thanks for the pointers. I just came to the idea of degree hacking in the last few weeks through three company Smarter by 1 degree. They've partnered with Crestpoint, Excelsior, and Edison to offer a few degrees like psychology while you're in high school. It looks like they offer a lot of the credits thru places like study.com and then have you take the last few credits from the university. They charge 450 per year for the service. So that sent me down the rabbit hole of trying to get a degree for my son much cheaper than I ever did when I went to college. And I'm realizing that a lot of people are doing this on their own but I'm trying to figure out if Smarter by 1 degree is worth it, if a degree from Crestpoint will get him into a masters program since it's not regionally accredited or if I need to do it on my own and can get it cheaper then going through smarter by 1 degree?
Your Location:
Your Age: 15
What kind of degree do you want?: psychology BS
Current Regional Accredited Credits: none
Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: none
Any certifications or military experience?: none
Budget: no particular budget, just don't want my son to have a huge debt
Commitments:
Dedicated time to study:3-4 hours per day
Timeline:3 to 4 years
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: none

I would strongly advise against getting a NA degree because it limits your options for getting into a master's program, and the credits often don't transfer to other colleges if you want to pursue a degree in the future.

They've partnered with Crestpoint, Excelsior, and Edison.  

That's code for: we have an affiliate program with them, which creates a conflict of interest—they can push you into a program based on what makes them the most money, not what's actually best for you. My guess is that Crestwood University makes them the most money because they inflated the prices for all the other colleges to make it look like Crestpoint is the best choice.

Psychology Degree Options

TESU Cost: around $5000 if you do the flat-rate term
WGU Cost: $4000 per term (Need 1 to 2 terms to finish if max transfer credits)
UMPI Cost: $1700 per term (Need 1 to 2 terms to finish if max transfer credits) (Must be 20 years old to attend)
SNHU Cost: $10,000
UMGC Cost: around $12k with onlinedegree discount

For someone who is 15 years old, I usually recommend taking CLEPs through Modern States since it's free. Also, check out ASU's Universal Learner Courses. Many colleges allow at least 30 CLEP credits to transfer, along with an additional 30 or so regionally accredited (RA) transfer credits. That could give you the option of starting as a junior at an in-state college or going the online college route.

[mlbacchus@gmail.com]

Thanks for the pointers. I just came to the idea of degree hacking in the last few weeks through three company Smarter by 1 degree. They've partnered with Crestpoint, Excelsior, and Edison to offer a few degrees like psychology while you're in high school. It looks like they offer a lot of the credits thru places like study.com and then have you take the last few credits from the university. They charge 450 per year for the service. So that sent me down the rabbit hole of trying to get a degree for my son much cheaper than I ever did when I went to college. And I'm realizing that a lot of people are doing this on their own but I'm trying to figure out if Smarter by 1 degree is worth it, if a degree from Crestpoint will get him into a masters program since it's not regionally accredited or if I need to do it on my own and can get it cheaper then going through smarter by 1 degree?
Your Location:
Your Age: 15
What kind of degree do you want?: psychology BS
Current Regional Accredited Credits: none
Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: none
Any certifications or military experience?: none
Budget: no particular budget, just don't want my son to have a huge debt
Commitments:
Dedicated time to study:3-4 hours per day
Timeline:3 to 4 years
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: none

I would strongly advise against getting a NA degree because it limits your options for getting into a master's program, and the credits often don't transfer to other colleges if you want to pursue a degree in the future.

They've partnered with Crestpoint, Excelsior, and Edison.  

That's code for: we have an affiliate program with them, which creates a conflict of interest—they can push you into a program based on what makes them the most money, not what's actually best for you. My guess is that Crestwood University makes them the most money because they inflated the prices for all the other colleges to make it look like Crestpoint is the best choice.

Psychology Degree Options

TESU Cost: around $5000 if you do the flat-rate term
WGU Cost: $4000 per term (Need 1 to 2 terms to finish if max transfer credits)
UMPI Cost: $1700 per term (Need 1 to 2 terms to finish if max transfer credits) (Must be 20 years old to attend)
SNHU Cost: $10,000
UMGC Cost: around $12k with onlinedegree discount

For someone who is 15 years old, I usually recommend taking CLEPs through Modern States since it's free. Also, check out ASU's Universal Learner Courses. Many colleges allow at least 30 CLEP credits to transfer, along with an additional 30 or so regionally accredited (RA) transfer credits. That could give you the option of starting as a junior at an in-state college or going the online college route.

Since I'm homeschooling him and am going to give him his diploma when he's done, couldn't I also do his regular classes thru Sophia or Study and transfer all those to TESU when he graduates?

[bjcheung77]

+1, I agree with CLEP/ACE credits to get a max of 90+alternative credits before transferring to TESU, I would add UoPeople to the list as well since they just recently got RA. It's great you filled in the basic addendum and template, but you missed the state... No, not the state of confusion, but where you reside.

Basically, I highly recommend doing dual enrollment with ASU and other community colleges to get a GPA in addition to the GPA available at TESU. If going to UoPeople route, it's sufficient enough, unless you decide necessary to get more graded credits in case they want to get into a more competitive program...

[mlbacchus@gmail.com]

+1, I agree with CLEP/ACE credits to get a max of 90+alternative credits before transferring to TESU, I would add UoPeople to the list as well since they just recently got RA. It's great you filled in the basic addendum and template, but you missed the state... No, not the state of confusion, but where you reside.

Basically, I highly recommend doing dual enrollment with ASU and other community colleges to get a GPA in addition to the GPA available at TESU.  If going to UoPeople route, it's sufficient enough, unless you decide necessary to get more graded credits in case they want to get into a more competitive program...

Oops, we're in Wisconsin.

[bjcheung77]

Great stuff, as I mentioned earlier to take dual enrollment with the community colleges in the state, you should do this for classes that are easier and not available using alternative credit options such as CLEP, ACE (Sophia.org). This is to bump that GPA to a higher one by taking easier classes. For the harder the classes (or ones available using CLEP, ACE), you can take them using alternative credit instead to get you there cheaper, easier, faster.

[mlbacchus@gmail.com]

Thanks, that's really helpful. He wants to do dual enrollment his senior year to get his EMT/firefighter 1. That would give him 21 credits as well.