Cybersecurity BA - Military

[SwiftHax]

Your Location: Indiana, USA
Your Age: 29
What kind of degree do you want?: BA in Cybersecurity, current plan is thru TESU, but I'm open to other opinions

Current Regional Accredited Credits: 

Cochise college:

• IOS 100 Intro to Intelligence Operations Studies
  
• IOS 104 Analytical Process & Products
  
• IOS 106 Map Reading and Analysis
  
• IOS 111 Information Security for Intel Ops
  
• IOS 115 Briefing Skills
  
• IOS 117 Symbology
  
• IOS 118 IPB
  
• IOS 123 Targeting
  
• IOS 209 Automated Intelligence Systems
  
  

Ball State University:

• CHEM 111 General Chemistry 1
  
• BIO 111 Principles of Biology 1
  
• MATH 125 Quantitative Reasoning
  
• FCS 135 Financial Literacy
  
• THEA 100 Introduction to Theater
  
• GEOG 121 Geography of the Cultural Environment
  
• ENG 103 Rhetoric and Writing
  
  

Ivy Tech:

• APHY 101 Anatomy and Physiology I
  
• APHY 102 Anatomy and Physiology II
  
  

JST: 

• Basic Training: AR-2201-0399
  
• First aid and CPR
  
• Land Naviation
  
• Marksmanship
  
• Physical fitness
  
• Self-defense
  Intelligence Analyst: AR-1728-0151
  
• Communications
  
• Critical Analysis
  
• Map Reading
  SSD-1: AR-0702-0030
  
• Supervision
  
  
  
  

TOTAL 68


Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: none yet, not entirely sure where to start.


Any certifications or military experience? No certs. Military experience, yes. I've included my JST's in with the college courses. I will also have the G.I. bill/TA to use.


My current plan is to obviously start testing out of as many of the gen courses. I don't really know where to begin. 

I may have made the mistake of registering to TESU too early.. woops, but I felt like I didn't know how to find out what a lot of these courses would translate into. 

The main goal is to graduate quickly, low cost is secondary.

[jch]

The TESU BS in Cybersecurity will not satisfy your goal to graduate quickly. In order to earn that degree, you're looking at years of TESU courses. A huge portion of the TESU Cybersecurity requirements are impossible to earn elsewhere or transfer in.
If you're set on cyber, consider WGU or Purdue Global. If IT or CIS would work for you, there are a bunch more options.

[allvia]

If you're going with TESU you'd be better of with the BACS, then moving on to a master in cybersecurity elsewhere.

[bjcheung77]

@SwiftHax, Welcome to the board, that's a great first post with the template, but it's missing the addendum! To give us a bit more info and a better picture of your scenario, could you fill in the details of the addendum as well? I would then do 3 things... certs, degree, experience.  Link: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

With the current info you have provided, you should work on the trifecta of certs, degree, experience.  Complete the Coursera/TADA offerings before TADA expires, then do the BACS/BSBA CIS combo.  You need to complete 5 TECEPs for residency purposes, then complete the cornerstone, two capstones and transfer the rest of the requirements as per the WIKI.  https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...#pid398174

[SwiftHax]

@SwiftHax, Welcome to the board, that's a great first post with the template, but it's missing the addendum! To give us a bit more info and a better picture of your scenario, could you fill in the details of the addendum as well? I would then do 3 things... certs, degree, experience.  Link: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

With the current info you have provided, you should work on the trifecta of certs, degree, experience.  Complete the Coursera/TADA offerings before TADA expires, then do the BACS/BSBA CIS combo.  You need to complete 5 TECEPs for residency purposes, then complete the cornerstone, two capstones and transfer the rest of the requirements as per the WIKI.  https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...#pid398174

Budget: Budget is not much of an issue here. Maybe up to the 12k range if I have to put a number on it. I have TA and GI Bill to use as well as saved money, a job, joint income, and last resort of credit cards.
Commitments: Currently a full time employee, spouse. I am just in the planning stage, but I will be going down to part time to dedicate more time to this. Military commitments are reservist, so not hindering. Workout commitments on weekdays. 
Dedicated time to study: Once I go part time this will be my main focus and have be moving my schedule around this. I will have at least 3 full dedicated days for school. A few full weekend days, and at least I would be able to find time to squeeze in study time.
Timeline: Time to finish is priority, and checking off boxes always helps motivate me. I would ideally like 12-18 months to finish. I suppose that depends on if my credits carry much weight toward the degree.
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: Stated previously, but TA and GI

---

The TESU BS in Cybersecurity will not satisfy your goal to graduate quickly. In order to earn that degree, you're looking at years of TESU courses. A huge portion of the TESU Cybersecurity requirements are impossible to earn elsewhere or transfer in.  
If you're set on cyber, consider WGU or Purdue Global. If IT or CIS would work for you, there are a bunch more options.

I see. I will look into those options instead. I'm also reading that Liberty University is a good option and are very cost effective for military. Do you know if they are in the same boat with transferring in cyber credits?

[rachel83az]

Yeah, all schools are going to be roughly equal when it comes to transferring in cybersecurity credits. It's just that those final credits are expensive and not self-paced at TESU. At WGU or Purdue Global, they're self-paced and you can finish in as few as 6 months - depending on prior knowledge.

On the other hand, a TESU BA Comp Sci can be fully transferred in (minus the capstone). For the BACS only even the cornerstone can be transferred in. This can sometimes be faster/easier/cheaper than a WGU/Purdue Global degree. But it depends on the student.

[SwiftHax]

Yeah, all schools are going to be roughly equal when it comes to transferring in cybersecurity credits. It's just that those final credits are expensive and not self-paced at TESU. At WGU or Purdue Global, they're self-paced and you can finish in as few as 6 months - depending on prior knowledge.

On the other hand, a TESU BA Comp Sci can be fully transferred in (minus the capstone). For the BACS only even the cornerstone can be transferred in. This can sometimes be faster/easier/cheaper than a WGU/Purdue Global degree. But it depends on the student.

Purdue Global is already looking like a better choice. Since I am military and an Indiana resident as well. I'm quite set of cybersec. The school I wasn't so sure of, and even moreso now. I suppose what I had been reading about in regards to the school to choose is outdated. I cannot seem to find curriculum for the cybersec course anywhere tho.

[rachel83az]

https://www.purdueglobal.edu/degree-prog...rsecurity/

Degree plan here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/PU...egree_Plan

You already have prior credit, so you'll need to make your own spreadsheet to figure out what goes where and what you might still want to take and transfer to PUG.

[SwiftHax]

https://www.purdueglobal.edu/degree-prog...rsecurity/

Degree plan here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/PU...egree_Plan

You already have prior credit, so you'll need to make your own spreadsheet to figure out what goes where and what you might still want to take and transfer to PUG.

Wonderful, that should get me started. Thank you.

[sarahmac]

CySA+ knocks out a whole load of things for PUG and if you're VETTEC eligible you may want to look into using that to get your CySA+. Especially since you were planning on going part-time at work anyway.

VETTEC doesn't use your GI Bill, though you have to be eligible for GI Bill to use it, but they pay you BAH while you study. Some VETTEC providers it's just the prep training courses, some also include vouchers for the certification exams. Choose carefully on that, they bill the government the same amount either way.