Degree Advice for BA/BS

[Ct16]

Hey all! I stumbled upon this forum when I finished most of the Sophia credits a bit ago and it helped me get enough Gen Ed done for the Pierpont BOG AAS. Im currently waiting for it in the mail (not rushing it just saying) and am looking for guidance for the next step towards a Bachelors.
b]Your Location:[/b] California 
Your Age: 29
What kind of degree do you want?: I would like a Criminal Justice degree as is it seems the easiest to obtain with the credits I have but open to CJ, or Liberal Arts or Homeland/ National Security. Im now working towards a BA/BS.

Current Regional Accredited Credits: 

School Name Total Credits: #
Class Name, Credits, Grade

Sacramento City College(2013)
PYSC 300 General Principles 3cr  C

Consumnes River College(2014)
HIST 314 Recent US History 3cr B
NUTRI 300 Nutrition 3cr C
AMT Auto Fundamentals 4cr A
AMT 316 Automotive Brakes 3cr A
NUTRI 322 NUTRI Issues through Life 3cr B
CONST 298 Work experience in Construction 3cr B

Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits:

Sophia:
College Algebra 3cr 
Visual Communications 3cr 
Environmental Science 3cr 
Developing Effective Teams 1cr
US History I 3cr 
US History II 3cr 
Essentials of Managing Conflict 1cr
Art History I 3cr
Intro to IT 3cr
IT Career Exploration 1cr
Microeconomics 3cr
Human Biology 3cr
English Comp 1 3cr
Intro to Ethics 3cr

Provider Total Credits: #
Class Name, Credits, Grade

Any certifications or military experience? Yes, I am active duty (Navy). Below is ACE recommendations from JST.

Personal Community Health 1cr LL
Personal Conditioning 1cr LL
Health and Wellness 2LL
Patrol Procedures/Operation/Techniques or
Criminal Investigation & Evidence 3LL
First Aid 3LL
Military Science 3LL
Corrections 3LL
Human Relations 3LL
Security Operations 3LL
Maritime Law Enforcement 3LL
Able Seamen 3LL
Basic Criminal Investigation 3LL
Communications 3LL
Criminal Behavior 3LL
Criminal Evidence And Procedures 3LL
Principles Of Supervision 3LL
Introduction Emergency Management 1 UL
Introduction To Terrorism 1 UL
Leadership 3 UL
Principles Of Management 3 UL
Criminal Law 3 LL
Introduction To Law Enforcement 3LL
Law Enforcement Operations 3LL
Police Methods 3LL
Training And Development 3LL
Law Enforcement Operations 3 UL
Strategic Management 3LL

Total credits: 133 from all sources 

Budget: I can use TA for the remaining credits, or if any more can be done at study.com or similar.
Commitments: I am active duty Navy, about to be on a night shift schedule for 5-6 months. No deployments or anything like that for the next year and a half. 
Dedicated time to study: Probably around 4-5 hours per work day, I do have the option to study/ write at work most days/nights. Off days I have little to do, so can open up as much time as needed. 
Timeline: depends on the program I end up doing but I think a year and half (if they take most of the credits) 
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: Yes, I am able to get TA from the Navy.


I’m mainly looking at Excelsior or TESU as they take the max transfers but I’m also aware they won’t take everything from Sophia and JST. Also not including the required courses from those universities, I think I’m pretty close to finishing a degree. I also am aware of the TESU residency requirement (24 credits for active military I believe) Any guidance is welcome. 

Are there any courses for Upper Level credits that anyone would recommend for criminal justice? I have found a few post for liberal arts UL courses and will check those out if that’s the path I go with. 

Lastly, Thanks to all on this forum I was able to get the Pierpont BOG AAS and much appreciative of it.

[rachel83az]

For TESU, it's (almost) impossible to get a Criminal Justice degree. It's just... not possible. Or, it is technically possible, but it's not inexpensive. Almost everything would need to be taken from TESU and not from alternate sources. It's not really recommended.

What kind of active duty are you? Do you have an office job or might you get deployed or sent on training exercises with little/no notice? If you can guarantee that you'll have internet access for at least 6 months, a CJ degree from UMPI might be a good choice for you.

If you need to be able to abandon your studies with little prior notice due to training exercises, etc., there are TESU degree plans here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...ts_Roadmap

[dfrecore]

For someone who is active-duty military, it is definitely possible to do the CJ degree at TESU, if you're planning on taking courses there to meet your 24cr residency. You can take 7 CJ courses at SDC (2 are UL), Sociology of Work which is an UL SOC elective, and then take 4 CJ courses at TESU (2 of which are UL) plus the capstone (also UL). There's your 18cr of UL.

You can also opt for UMPI.

[Ct16]

For TESU, it's (almost) impossible to get a Criminal Justice degree. It's just... not possible. Or, it is technically possible, but it's not inexpensive. Almost everything would need to be taken from TESU and not from alternate sources. It's not really recommended.

What kind of active duty are you? Do you have an office job or might you get deployed or sent on training exercises with little/no notice? If you can guarantee that you'll have internet access for at least 6 months, a CJ degree from UMPI might be a good choice for you.

If you need to be able to abandon your studies with little prior notice due to training exercises, etc., there are TESU degree plans here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...ts_Roadmap

Thanks for the quick reply! I’m active duty Navy (military police working on security boats in San Diego) so I have internet access at almost all times and can bring my laptop, tablet, etc to work. Noted on TESU was just open to options, I shall now look into UMPI and see if I have any questions about that! Again thank you.

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For someone who is active-duty military, it is definitely possible to do the CJ degree at TESU, if you're planning on taking courses there to meet your 24cr residency.  You can take 7 CJ courses at SDC (2 are UL), Sociology of Work which is an UL SOC elective, and then take 4 CJ courses at TESU (2 of which are UL) plus the capstone (also UL).  There's your 18cr of UL.

You can also opt for UMPI.

Thanks for the reply! Is study.com quizzes or essay or a mix? I’ll definitely take any help and look up anything for this.

[bjcheung77]

@Ct16, Apply to all three. Excelsior/TESU for max transfer and UMPI to see if you're into competency based degree option. Excelsior/UMPI have free applications, it's just the cost of transcripts to get an overview picture of where you stand for each institution. You might want to see which one is better for you when you get the evaluations, then decide an action plan to complete the remaining credits. It really depends on how far your credits have gotten you and how many credits remain you want to complete... BTW, did you get an area of emphasis for your Pierpont BOG AAS?

[ss20ts]

@Ct16, Apply to all three.  Excelsior/TESU for max transfer and UMPI to see if you're into competency based degree option.  Excelsior/UMPI have free applications, it's just the cost of transcripts to get an overview picture of where you stand for each institution.  You might want to see which one is better for you when you get the evaluations, then decide an action plan to complete the remaining credits.  It really depends on how far your credits have gotten you and how many credits remain you want to complete... BTW, did you get an area of emphasis for your Pierpont BOG AAS?

There's a caveat when applying to EU. You'll be paying $300 for each evaluation after you apply. So it's best to wait until you're done with your credits if you want to save money.

[allvia]

For someone who is active-duty military, it is definitely possible to do the CJ degree at TESU, if you're planning on taking courses there to meet your 24cr residency.  You can take 7 CJ courses at SDC (2 are UL), Sociology of Work which is an UL SOC elective, and then take 4 CJ courses at TESU (2 of which are UL) plus the capstone (also UL).  There's your 18cr of UL.

You can also opt for UMPI.

And TESU is very affordable and residency friendly for active military (TECEPS count for RA credits and residency) - https://www.tesu.edu/military

[bjcheung77]

@OP, you're at 133 credits, they may not be all going into the degree of your choice... create a spreadsheet and find out which one you are closer to, apply to them all (or in EU's case, when you're closer to that goal). I don't think taking any courses at the moment will work, you need that action plan and an evaluation to know where you stand... so again, apply to all to see which one hits your boat after you do your spreadsheets. It doesn't have to be a Business degree or Liberal Studies, do a spreadsheet for both.

[dfrecore]

I don't think Excelsior is going to be a good option for the CJ degree, even for active-duty military; it's just going to be more expensive than TESU, and it's harder to find UL courses (you need 15cr of UL in the major, and none of those will come from SDC for instance).

I would stick with UMPI or TESU for this degree.

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I did a degree plan for you for TESU, and here's what's left to take (14 courses):
- English Comp II
- An Oral Communication course
- A Diversity course
- A Civic Engagement course
- Intro to CJ (DSST exam, SDC)
- CJ 104: Introduction to Criminology (SDC)
- CJ 305: The Juvenile Justice System (SDC-UL)
- CJ 306: Research Methods in Criminal Justice (SDC)
- Ethical Issues in CJ (TESU)
- SOC 305: Sociology of Work (SDC-UL)
- UL SOC course from TESU
- UL SOC course from TESU
- Cornerstone (TESU)
- Capstone (TESU)

With 5 courses needed from TESU, I would then take 3 TECEP exams to fulfill your residency (English Comp II, Sociology, Public Speaking or American Gov)

The price if you did it this way would be $3750 for tuition for 5 courses, $469 for 3 TECEP exams, and $298 for the graduation fee = $4,516. This does not include the cost of SDC.

[bjcheung77]

@Ct16, just wondering, how long did it take you to finish those Sophia.org courses? You have about 30+ credits from that provider alone, if you did them quickly and like the way Sophia is done, then a competency model may be better depending on your study habits... You should gauge your learning and see which platform model is better suited for you. In addition to that, are you planning to get a Masters, and which Masters?