Degrees available with Saylor Academy and OnlineDegree

[ss20ts]

If you're on disability, I take it that means you're in the US. Have you ever filed a FAFSA? You may be eligible for the full Pell Grant which could make college free to you. If you can quickly move through classes, you could actually take all 120 credits at UMPI for free. It wouldn't be easy and you'd definitely have to put in a great deal of time to finish quickly so you don't run out of the grant as there time and income limits on it.

[rachel83az]

I wouldn't recommend taking all 120 credits from UMPI. Best to spend at least $99 on Sophia to get the science and foreign language credits out of the way, plus whatever else can be completed in that month. Not free, but it'll be less stress and less chance of taking too long.

[StoicJ]

University of the People might be a good option. Can transfer in up to 90 credits. Inexpensive and potential to have the $200 course fees covered. The transfer eval fees will be about $500. However, UotP courses aren't a slam dunk, nor are they self-paced. It'll take you at least 1 full year AFTER transferring in 90 credits.

Nations is pretty inexpensive, but you're only going to transfer in at most 60 credits, and ACE-recommended won't count. You can do all 120 credits thru Nations, but that's going to add up over time. Self-paced, but still a lot of work.

[ss20ts]

I wouldn't recommend taking all 120 credits from UMPI. Best to spend at least $99 on Sophia to get the science and foreign language credits out of the way, plus whatever else can be completed in that month. Not free, but it'll be less stress and less chance of taking too long.

I don't normally recommend it either, but when someone doesn't have any funds available and can receive the full Pell Grant, then I would definitely recommend it. When someone is trying to get out of poverty, a degree can go a long way towards a better life.

[cvalor]

Thank you everyone for all of the detail you put into those answers! 

I have a lot of past experience working in the tech sector before the mental illness became too much to handle. I have treatment-resistant bipolar disorder with lots of periods of mania/psychosis and my only hope of ever entering back into the workforce is a good degree and finding a specific niche that will allow me to work in it.

I am not certain if Voc. Rehab will pay for out-of-state colleges, but I do know that I would get a full Pell Grant. I do know that I need to be on the "Ticket to Work" program before I can start working on school or I will put my benefits in jeopardy. Saylor/OnlineDegree/Sophia are all workarounds to start working on credit at my own pace.

I like the looks of UMPI, and they have lots of options for degrees at a cheap price. Pierpoint looks like it would take a lot of credit in from all the different options.

The Coursera option seems to be very attractive. I like the idea of earning smaller certificates on my way to a degree for a sense of "accomplishment" and perhaps using those for a degree.

I have a lot of experience working in the tech industry before having to get on to disability. 

I'm going to attempt one of the Saylor or OnlineDegree courses to get myself used to studying before looking at paying for the $99 a month for Sophia.

WGU is another one I am considering. I could earn certifications on my own and then use those for credit as well.

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University of the People might be a good option. Can transfer in up to 90 credits. Inexpensive and potential to have the $200 course fees covered. The transfer eval fees will be about $500. However, UotP courses aren't a slam dunk, nor are they self-paced. It'll take you at least 1 full year AFTER transferring in 90 credits.

Nations is pretty inexpensive, but you're only going to transfer in at most 60 credits, and ACE-recommended won't count. You can do all 120 credits thru Nations, but that's going to add up over time. Self-paced, but still a lot of work.

Is there a listing of what Saylor/OnlineDegree courses I could take that would transfer into this program?

I don't know why exactly but UoP philosophically seems very interesting to me. Time is not one of my main necessities, so I would not mind having to take a year or two worth of schooling at a later date.

I would just like to be able to use my current free time to start making progress toward something even if I can't officially enroll in a program yet.

[StoicJ]

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University of the People might be a good option. Can transfer in up to 90 credits. Inexpensive and potential to have the $200 course fees covered. The transfer eval fees will be about $500. However, UotP courses aren't a slam dunk, nor are they self-paced. It'll take you at least 1 full year AFTER transferring in 90 credits.

Nations is pretty inexpensive, but you're only going to transfer in at most 60 credits, and ACE-recommended won't count. You can do all 120 credits thru Nations, but that's going to add up over time. Self-paced, but still a lot of work.

Is there a listing of what Saylor/OnlineDegree courses I could take that would transfer into this program?

I don't know why exactly but UoP philosophically seems very interesting to me. Time is not one of my main necessities, so I would not mind having to take a year or two worth of schooling at a later date.

I would just like to be able to use my current free time to start making progress toward something even if I can't officially enroll in a program yet.

UoPeople had/has a philosophical appeal to me as well. I took some courses there. I don't have any Saylor/OD courses completed, at least not proctored. I did complete several Saylor courses just for the certificates. I forget which of my ACE-recommended they accepted. It was a bunch. 

Generally I would say that courses fell into the degree plan spots you'd think they would. Know what I mean? So if you took a principles of microecon somewhere and it was ACE-recommended, UoPeople would say it met a 3-hr social science requirement. An ACE-recommended intro to psych would satisfy the other 3-hr social science requirement.

If you don't know (or if someone reading this doesn't) you can go to The ACE National Guide (acenet.edu) , scroll down, and dive into ACE recommendations. Just a quick look and I see maybe 9-10 Saylor courses that would probably satisfy core requirements at UoPeople. I think you have to do UNIV1001 at UoPeople. Saylor doesn't look to have anything to meet the writing requirement. 

Anyway, this is just my guess because like I said I didn't transfer in any Saylor or OD.

[cvalor]

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University of the People might be a good option. Can transfer in up to 90 credits. Inexpensive and potential to have the $200 course fees covered. The transfer eval fees will be about $500. However, UotP courses aren't a slam dunk, nor are they self-paced. It'll take you at least 1 full year AFTER transferring in 90 credits.

Nations is pretty inexpensive, but you're only going to transfer in at most 60 credits, and ACE-recommended won't count. You can do all 120 credits thru Nations, but that's going to add up over time. Self-paced, but still a lot of work.

Is there a listing of what Saylor/OnlineDegree courses I could take that would transfer into this program?

I don't know why exactly but UoP philosophically seems very interesting to me. Time is not one of my main necessities, so I would not mind having to take a year or two worth of schooling at a later date.

I would just like to be able to use my current free time to start making progress toward something even if I can't officially enroll in a program yet.

UoPeople had/has a philosophical appeal to me as well. I took some courses there. I don't have any Saylor/OD courses completed, at least not proctored. I did complete several Saylor courses just for the certificates. I forget which of my ACE-recommended they accepted. It was a bunch. 

Generally I would say that courses fell into the degree plan spots you'd think they would. Know what I mean? So if you took a principles of microecon somewhere and it was ACE-recommended, UoPeople would say it met a 3-hr social science requirement. An ACE-recommended intro to psych would satisfy the other 3-hr social science requirement.

If you don't know (or if someone reading this doesn't) you can go to The ACE National Guide (acenet.edu) , scroll down, and dive into ACE recommendations. Just a quick look and I see maybe 9-10 Saylor courses that would probably satisfy core requirements at UoPeople. I think you have to do UNIV1001 at UoPeople. Saylor doesn't look to have anything to meet the writing requirement. 

Anyway, this is just my guess because like I said I didn't transfer in any Saylor or OD.

I might go ahead and email their admissions folks and wait to hear back.

[rachel83az]

I wouldn't necessarily recommend University of the People if you're trying to get a job that will work with your mental health needs. UoPeople is, unfortunately, still just Nationally Accredited. For most employers, it probably won't matter. But I hate the thought of you getting passed over for a good job because you don't have a Regionally Accredited degree. As much as the Dept. of Education wants to say that there is no distinction between NA and RA schools now, there is still a lot of discrimination from people who think that NA is "lesser than".

[dfrecore]

UMPI will be by far the cheapest, best option. No matter how you get your credits, it will be cheaper than anything else.

I'm also going to recommend Sophia; the only other really cheap option for getting a lot of credits is ModernStates/CLEP, and that's only if you're a good test-taker, and if you do the online CLEP exams, which would be totally free (the $30 testing fee is paid for up-front). The only issue there is the proctoring system, which has a lot of complaints. Otherwise you're paying for test-center fees, and then getting reimbursed later. I personally went to a testing center where you paid that fee for every exam - I took 4 exams in a single day, and paid 4 fees.

[bjcheung77]

@cvalor, take your time to review what's already been said. Suggestions are all valid, including the one I mentioned in post #10. You can take your time with the cheapies/freebies and then work towards the end goal after you've got the 90 credits. You can decide on the BLS MIS or other minors I mentioned, but if you're not planning to go towards a Masters later on, the BABA Management and Leadership or the Project Management & Info Systems might be better options.