Degree in 6 months using Uncle Sam?

[25BangBang]

I found out about this community and am really excited about earning a bachelor degree this way! I've already taken 6 CLEPs and 2 DSSTs and am starting to hone my studying and test taking skills for these exams. Best part is, it's cost my nothing since the Army has paid for the test through DANTES and the libraries on base have provided me. Well, I guess I had to pay for IC and lunch when I missed it but still well worth it! Right now I am working towards a BS in Business Administration for COSC (plan listed below) but am realizing I might not hit my deadline of March 15th. The reason it is so strict is because I am putting together my Warrant Officer packet for aviation and the board process is very competitive. I believe that getting a degree as a newly promoted Specialist, along with other developments, will make my packet the best it can possibly be (I might even have a chance!)

The problem I running into right now is it seems the Big 3 all have Capstone courses. Financing is not a big deal because Army TA covers it by time is an issue. It seems all of these are "traditional" online classes that take 10-12 weeks, not at your own pace like I was hoping for. That's why I am asking the community is there ANY degree program that has no Capstone course or an at-your-own pace one? Other programs I've been considering is Liberal Studies (even easier), Computer Information Management (I work as a IT specialist), or History (love it and comes easily to me). If a program like this doesn't exist, is there anyone to accelerate the process so I can get that piece of paper by the deadline? I am taking 1-4 test a week and would take more if there was a testing center that was open on the weekend. Also, feel free to critique my degree plan, I just pulled from the one on the Wiki and made it mostly CLEPs and DSSTs because they are free for me.

Thank you all in advance for the help!

BA Requirements
CLEP Macroeconomics
CLEP Microeconomics
ALEKS Business Statistics
CLEP Intro to Business Law
CLEP Financial Account
UExcel Managerial Accounting KCTCS
DSST Principles of Finance
CLEP Info Systems
CLEP Principles of Managment
UExcel Organization Behavior (UL)
CLEP Principles of Marketing
Stragetic Management Capstone

18 Credits Upper Electives
(12 UL credits + UExcel Organ Beh + Capstone)
DSST Business Ethics and Society
DSST Business Law II
UExcel Human Resource Management
UExcel Labor Relations

12 Credits Upper Mics
DSST Substance Abuse
DSST Here's to Your Health
DSST Ethics in America
DSST R/S USSR
Maybe swap one for DSST Money & Banking is overlap

Gen Eds
COSC Seminar
CLEP College Comp
CLEP A&I Lit
Social/Behaviroal (Micro/macro)
Ethics (DSST Business Ethics)
DSST Principles of Public Speaking
Non-US (DSST DSST Rise/fall USSR or AP Euro)
DSST Astronomy or DSST Environment & Humanity
Physical Geography w/ Lab (Cali CC, currently enrolled))

Completed
DSST Business Ethics and Society
CLEP A&I Lit
CLEP Info Systems
CLEP Principles of Management
CLEP Principles of Marketing

Fluff/Extra
CLEP Intro to Psy
CLEP Intro to Ed Psy
DSST Principals of Supervision
AP Gov
AP US History
AP Euro History
Intro to C# (Cali CC, currently enrolled)

Notes
- A minimum of 48 credits is required to complete the B.S. degree in Business Administration. At least 15 credits must be at the upper level (12 UL credits in business electives + 3 cr. exam UExcel Organizational Behavior + COSC BUS499 Capstone Course = 18 credits which satisfies the 15 credit requirement in upper level business credits)

Total
8 CLEPs (3 Completed)
8 DSSTs (1 Completed)
4 UExcels
1 ALEKS
1 Cali CC

[rebel100]

TESC has a couple of options including general business I believe. The capstone is satisfied by TECEP if memory serves. I think they are a much better choice given your circumstance. In addition to capstone COSC will also require the cornerstone taken through them.

Look up sanantone's wiki on TESC general business degree.

[rebel100]

Sanantone's BSBA General Management - Degree Forum Wiki

I think this is it.

[ajs1976]

The capstone requirement for TESC BSBA programs can be completed by the Strat Management TECEP or a Penn Foster course. Since you are in IT, you may want to look into the TESC BSBA:CIS.

No matter which school you pick, watch for the graduation deadline requirements and the dates for graduation. I think COSC has it 3 times a year and TESC 4 times a year.

If you can't make a BSBA in time, will an ASBA help at all? Take a look at the program at TESC.

[25BangBang]

The capstone requirement for TESC BSBA programs can be completed by the Strat Management TECEP or a Penn Foster course.

That's exactly what I was looking for, thank you so much! I will post my degree plan latter on for anyone latter on to reference or check. I am leaning towards BSBA: CIS because I already know a decent amount of the networking and security information. I am hesitant though because it seems the only way to satisfy the Area of Study requirements is to take CSU CBEs which aren't ACE credited and it seems TESC has a residency requirement as well. Can anyone shed some light on this?

[ajs1976]

For the CIS area of study I used programming and a System analysis classes from my associates degree. For the 4 AOS electives I used Software Engineering class from COSC, Cybersecurity DSST, MIS DSST, and the Networking TECEP. Cybersecurity was a hard exam, but MIS and Networking were easy for me. There is a thread with info about the CSU global CBEs. I think at least two people have used them. I think the one for System Analysis counts as UL, so that would give you more options for the fourth elective.

TESC has three tuition plans. The per credit plan requires residency, but if you are getting tuition assistance you may be able to get the Enrollment fee for one of the other plans and bypass the residency requirement. You can start under the per credit plan and switch later. Build your degree plan and see what TECEPs fit and then make your decision. When I built mine I found that I had 4 TECEPs included in the plan and the time and expenses ($444) for completing for additional ones to meet residency was much lower then the Enrollment fee.

[gingerbeefE]

FYI, Tuition Assistance in the Air Force covered my TECEP exams, I am pretty sure army should too.

[25BangBang]

I emailed a TESC advisory and he said the residency requirement was up to 24 units now. Looks like I won't be able to pull it off with the TA cap. No bigger, I'm shooting for a AS in Comp Tech at Excelsior and then either knock out the COSC BSBA or slowly start working towards a BA in Comp Sci (or both). Thanks for the help guys!

[rebel100]

I emailed a TESC advisory and he said the residency requirement was up to 24 units now. Looks like I won't be able to pull it off with the TA cap. No bigger, I'm shooting for a AS in Comp Tech at Excelsior and then either knock out the COSC BSBA or slowly start working towards a BA in Comp Sci (or both). Thanks for the help guys!

Yes but the residency can be fulfilled by TECEP exams. Know that TESC has some of the very worste advisors you will find, especially the ones you can access before enrollment.

[dfrecore]

There is only a residency requirement if you want to be on the per-credit tuition plan. If you want to enroll, you can do that instead, and there is no residency requirement. There are 2 different plans where you can enroll, the Enrolled Options plan or the Comprehensive plan.