Did this Excelsior Admissions Counselor just lie to me?

[KittenMittens]

2011, Terrell Adgers, my COSC admissions rep jumped through hoops, gave excellent advice, and was a generally swell guy...he was ultimately the reason I enrolled there. TESC was bad, EC was much worse...EC still stinks at least till your enrolled. Even paying the application fee doesn't get you much access beyond what you can find on their public website.

It also tends to be far more expensive than either COSC or TESC. $100 application fee + $1,065 enrollment fee + $490/hr, annual fee of $495, graduation fee of $495.

COSC has a $75 appication fee + $0 enrollment fee + $363/hr (out of state) + $245/semester semester fee (so not charged annually, and typically between 1-3 semesters charged) + $205 graduation fee.

TESC Enrolled Options: has a $75 application fee + $3279 yearly fee + $299 graduation fee + ~$236/credit hour (out of state)
TESC Per Credit Plan: same, but no yearly fee and no credit hour fees and a $888 test fee

It's a complete ripoff financially. 9/10 times a degree through either TESC or COSC will be superior than one from Excelsior for the price alone, and will 9/10x be easier to test out of.

[rebel100]

It also tends to be far more expensive than either COSC or TESC. $100 application fee + $1,065 enrollment fee + $490/hr, annual fee of $495, graduation fee of $495.

COSC has a $75 appication fee + $0 enrollment fee + $363/hr (out of state) + $245/semester semester fee (so not charged annually, and typically between 1-3 semesters charged) + $205 graduation fee.

TESC Enrolled Options: has a $75 application fee + $3279 yearly fee + $299 graduation fee + ~$236/credit hour (out of state)
TESC Per Credit Plan: same, but no yearly fee and no credit hour fees and a $888 test fee

It's a complete ripoff financially. 9/10 times a degree through either TESC or COSC will be superior than one from Excelsior for the price alone, and will 9/10x be easier to test out of.

Yet still a tremendous steal compared to so many options out there, and a handful of options that simply aren't available elsewhere. There structure up front is what frustrates me,

[Exfactor]

2011, Terrell Adgers, my COSC admissions rep jumped through hoops, gave excellent advice, and was a generally swell guy...he was ultimately the reason I enrolled there. TESC was bad, EC was much worse...EC still stinks at least till your enrolled. Even paying the application fee doesn't get you much access beyond what you can find on their public website.

The admissions rep I had at COSC rarely answered the emails I sent her, and when she did it was weeks later, only after I enrolled and was placed with someone else did my experience at COSC improve. Even dealing with the financial aid department at Excelsior was a more pleasant one than what I experienced at COSC. However, everyone has different experiences. My experience at Excelsior was great, beside some issues I had with my degree conferral. Other than that my advisor was great, and the financial aid department was wonderful and extremely fast with processing stuff.

It's a complete ripoff financially. 9/10 times a degree through either TESC or COSC will be superior than one from Excelsior for the price alone, and will 9/10x be easier to test out of.

They are state schools, they should be cheaper. However, Excelsior still has more students than both schools combined, and as someone who had an abundance of brick & mortar credits, who didn't need to test out, and who was fine with taking some online classes Excelsior was a better option for me, as they required me to complete a smaller amount of courses to complete my degree than what COSC provided me in my degree evaluation. Do what works best for YOU.

[GoodYellowDogs]

I know everyone has their own reasons for which school they select. However, I have to laugh every time someone talks about Excelsior being expensive, especially when they don't know everyone's situation.

I came into Excelsior with an A.S. I took two courses through them (Math and Info Literacy) $1500, tested out with 15 exams (none over $100 - Uexcel, DSST, CLEP, TECEP) $1500, Enrollment/graduation $1500. It was a total of $4500. I spaced it out so that I could pay cash and not have debt.

I don't get involved in recommending one big 3 over another, I just give info on my own experience.

[KittenMittens]

I know everyone has their own reasons for which school they select. However, I have to laugh every time someone talks about Excelsior being expensive, especially when they don't know everyone's situation.

I came into Excelsior with an A.S. I took two courses through them (Math and Info Literacy) $1500, tested out with 15 exams (none over $100 - Uexcel, DSST, CLEP, TECEP) $1500, Enrollment/graduation $1500. It was a total of $4500. I spaced it out so that I could pay cash and not have debt.

I don't get involved in recommending one big 3 over another, I just give info on my own experience.

It still would have likely have been more expensive than the other 2 options due to the fees and highest tuition rates plus those courses could likely be transferred to the other 2 if they weren't offered by either TESC or COSC; people give out recommendations all the time based on experience whether it's for a computer, fantasy football lineup, or a car. It's basically the most popular because they're the largest of the 3, have more programs, bigger marketing campaign (they advertise nationally), private, and a larger student body which all drive up the cost. I recognize that everyone's in a different situation, though it's probably safe to say that the average student who comes here tends to be very interested in testing out of all or a large part of their degree; and why not when courses can be 15x the price apiece, require a lot more work, time, and effort etc. though there are always going to be outliers and exceptions in any direction.

[Leherself]

It's a complete ripoff financially. 9/10 times a degree through either TESC or COSC will be superior than one from Excelsior for the price alone, and will 9/10x be easier to test out of.

Of course, there are always exceptions. For people in the military, the decision making process can be a little different. For military/veterans, Excelsior has some strengths that don't necessarily apply to the other two. I'm in the happy position of being both a veteran (from serving 4 years on active duty) and a current service member (drilling national guard).

Excelsior doesn't charge an admission fee to service members. TESC and COSC both do ($75). Excelsior's graduation fee for military service members is less than either COSC or TESC, as far as I can tell from the websites ($130 vs $299).

All of them have $250 per credit military tuition rates - however, TESC appears to only apply that to active duty, and NJ National Guardsmen (I couldn't confirm one way or another with their admissions folks, which is part of why I ended up going with Excelsior). Excelsior and COSC both give military rates to drilling reservists and national guardsmen from all states.

It's also worth noting that for *graduate* school, TESC does not have a discounted military tuition rate. Excelsior does ($275 a credit). COSC doesn't offer graduate degrees.

COSC does not have any school specific exams.

TESC has a decent selection of school exams. Military TA will not pay for exams. It is unclear from TESC's website how the Post 9/11 GI Bill works with TECEPS.

Excelsior has a large selection of school exams. Military TA won't pay for those either. However, their website makes it clear how the Post 9/11 GI Bill works with Uexcels. If you're an admitted student, then you enroll in an exam (after advisor approves it), and then once you take and pass it, the school then certifies your enrollment with the VA, and uses the dates you signed up for and took the test as your enrollment dates. You can therefore get online-rate BAH just for taking Uexcels if you plan things right.

Since I was pursuing a general BA Liberal Arts, I decided that Excelsior was the best fit since I could maximize my GI Bill while mostly testing out, and they offered significantly more upper division social sciences exams than TESC did, and I was able to easily find the information I was looking for on their website. I never really considered COSC since they didn't have their own exam program - the primary advantage COSC has is that they still take FEMA, but since I already had an overabundance of free lower division credit options (free CLEP and DSST), that wasn't a factor for me.

Now, with that said, since the schools are essentially price neutral for me, if I had been aiming for a different degree program, I might have chosen differently. For instance, it's easier to test out of TESC's business degree requirements than it is to test out of Excelsior's, since all of Excelsior's degrees-with-majors have requirements that can't be met through testing. However, for the BA in Liberal Arts, Excelsior had some flexibility that the others didn't - notably, they accept a lower level math than either other school for credit (ALEKS Beginning Algebra) which was important to me since math is my Achilles heel. Granted, they also had their idiosyncratic college composition requirement, but since they also offered an exam for that I didn't much care.

Just figured I'd put it out there that for *some* people, Excelsior is actually not a complete rip-off, and might even be the best deal financially (at least for people who are using the Post 9/11 GI Bill, and want to mostly get credit by testing). For military using TA, or paying out of pocket, the schools are essentially equal price-wise. It's just a matter of figuring out where you can leverage your credit most effectively, and which school offers the degree that you actually want.

[KittenMittens]

It's also worth noting that for *graduate* school, TESC does not have a discounted military tuition rate. Excelsior does ($275 a credit). COSC doesn't offer graduate degrees.

Well, there are a lot of, imo, better options for a graduate degree in general i.e. programs that may be accredited properly, cost even less, or require less credits typically. At the graduate level, people should be getting a degree in something that is marketable and not generic for it to have some clout.

COSC does not have any school specific exams.

They do accept exams from UExcel, ECE, TESC, CLep, DSST, and some others like NYU, so it's a non-issue.

Excelsior has a large selection of school exams. Military TA won't pay for those either. However, their website makes it clear how the Post 9/11 GI Bill works with Uexcels. If you're an admitted student, then you enroll in an exam (after advisor approves it), and then once you take and pass it, the school then certifies your enrollment with the VA, and uses the dates you signed up for and took the test as your enrollment dates. You can therefore get online-rate BAH just for taking Uexcels if you plan things right.

Since I was pursuing a general BA Liberal Arts, I decided that Excelsior was the best fit since I could maximize my GI Bill while mostly testing out, and they offered significantly more upper division social sciences exams than TESC did, and I was able to easily find the information I was looking for on their website.

The thing is those post-9/11 GI Bill benefits are incredible valuable, they can cover a significant amount of money up to $100,000 or more - and I wouldn't want to use them towards a degree that is $10,000 (i.e. better to pay out of pocket/take loans for the undergrad one or go to an expensive undergrad/grad program instead).

Just figured I'd put it out there that for *some* people, Excelsior is actually not a complete rip-off, and might even be the best deal financially (at least for people who are using the Post 9/11 GI Bill, and want to mostly get credit by testing). For military using TA, or paying out of pocket, the schools are essentially equal price-wise. It's just a matter of figuring out where you can leverage your credit most effectively, and which school offers the degree that you actually want.

It generally still tends to be more expensive and like you mentioned does not offer degrees that can be tested out of. See Excelsior College | Undergraduate Fees . Most people are interested in the "Multi-source option" since the "Course Option" just ends up being more expensive since you have to take at least 6 credits each year . So there's a $740 enrollment fee & $495 annual fee for military.

From: Current Fees - Charter Oak State College Catalog

COSC has a $250 per credit hour rate, application fee of $75, graduation fee of $205 ($290 cheaper than through Excelsior), and no annual fees, plus the ability to take ANY exam through Excelsior, TESC, and using FEMA to test out of the degree and one in a major. So a savings of at least $740 + $495 + $290 - $75 = $1,450 plus any courses you don't have to take either.

[SteveFoerster]

The thing is those post-9/11 GI Bill benefits are incredible valuable, they can cover a significant amount of money up to $100,000 or more - and I wouldn't want to use them towards a degree that is $10,000 (i.e. better to pay out of pocket/take loans for the undergrad one or go to an expensive undergrad/grad program instead).

That's only better if that more expensive program will better help you reach your goals. But there's no inherent advantage to spending a boatload of someone else's dollars on an expensive program just because you can.

[KittenMittens]

That's only better if that more expensive program will better help you reach your goals. But there's no inherent advantage to spending a boatload of someone else's dollars on an expensive program just because you can.

I'd say that anyone who's served in the military particularly in unsafe environments are entitled to use as much as they need and have earned them. There are benefits for going into more expensive programs since they tend (not always) offer a better known degree, or something a particular major/subject, etc. which particularly matters at the graduate level imo. It's good economic policy in general towards maximizing value out of something. Why burn up future benefits that are worth a lot of money ($100,000+) for a few grand?

[SteveFoerster]

I'd say that anyone who's served in the military particularly in unsafe environments are entitled to use as much as they need and have earned them.

That's a great appeal to patriotism, but I wasn't arguing against that. The issue isn't whether veterans are entitled to education benefits, it's why they would want to spend more money than it takes to reach their educational goals.

There are benefits for going into more expensive programs since they tend (not always) offer a better known degree, or something a particular major/subject, etc. which particularly matters at the graduate level imo.

You're greatly, greatly overstating the relationship in higher education between price and quality.

It's good economic policy in general towards maximizing value out of something. Why burn up future benefits that are worth a lot of money ($100,000+) for a few grand?

Value isn't derived from what you pay for something, it's derived from what you get out of something. If you would get the same result from a $15,000 program that you wouldn't from a $75,000 program, why would you prefer the latter even if you're not the one footing the bill?

And this is not a hypothetical. I liked the PhD in Leadership and Change from Antioch University, I met some of their admissions people and was impressed. But their program was $75,000. When I discovered that Cumberlands would meet my needs just as well at 1/5 the cost, it would have been crazy for me to still consider Antioch. And I would have felt that way even if I were spending someone else's money.

If a combat veteran wants to work on Wall Street and gets into Wharton's MBA program, sure, I get that. In that case it's expensive but it's the best, and it's necessary to reach specific career goals. But I don't agree that in most cases we draw that straight a line to connect career goals, program quality, and tuition fees.