Excelsior: AA then BA?

[Skirtlet]

Trying to help a co-worker with Excelsior. Excelsior told her that she would have to do/confer do the AA, then re-enroll in a senior capstone for the BA. She needs 7 more credits for either the AA or BA.

Do you really have to do 2 senior capstones if you want an AA then a BA? 

I'm wondering if she understood Excelsior correctly. 

She's using federal financial aid, so the cost of doing 2 programs is not a concern enough to deter her from wanting an AA along with the BA. It seemed like Excelsior was trying to talk her out of the AA, but she wants as many (affordable) degrees as possible.

[Kab]

In my opinion go for tha BA and forget the AA.
If she want more degrees go for a second bachelor (or master) and use your resources and effort there.
My personal opinion.

[rachel83az]

Yes, you have to do an associate Capstone and a Bachelor capstone if you want both degrees. TESU has some degrees that are similar, but they also have some Associate degrees without capstones.

If she wants an Associate degree, have you suggested Pierpont to her?

IMO, if she's that close to getting a Bachelor's degree, the EC AA is going to be an utter waste of her time. It might not cost her (much) extra money, but it'll definitely cost her time.

[bjcheung77]

Which degrees are they looking at? What is their budget? Does she have a degree plan for each? You need 7 credits for the AA, you need 7 credits for the BA, you need 10 credits for both the AA & BA. If she has tuition assistance or reimbursement from work, it's not a bad deal if she can get all the credits done in couple of terms. Info Lit, Cornerstone, Associates Capstone in one term and the BA Capstone the next term.

[Skirtlet]

Thanks, I'll tell her to look at TESU for non-capstone associate options. I had suggested Pierpont to her but for some reason it didn't work for her. I think it was a lack of RA credits but will have to confirm with her. I assumed an Excelsior capstone would be fairly quick and a low time commitment, but if it's a lot of busy work, TESU would probably be better for her.

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Thanks, she does have the degree plans for each. 7 for the AA then they told her she would need to do a bachelor capstone after. Or, 7 for the BA alone. She has federal aid and some military aid so she would not be paying anything on her own for either/both. I'm not sure how much of a time commitment an Excelsior capstone. She has a lot of very old college credits (20+ years old) so the AA and/or BA would just be in Liberal Arts. She hasn't applied to COSC yet.

Which degrees are they looking at? What is their budget? Does she have a degree plan for each? You need 7 credits for the AA, you need 7 credits for the BA, you need 10 credits for both the AA & BA. If she has tuition assistance or reimbursement from work, it's not a bad deal if she can get all the credits done in couple of terms. Info Lit, Cornerstone, Associates Capstone in one term and the BA Capstone the next term.

[bjcheung77]

Wait, 20 years yeah? Is she still Active Military after all those years? If that is the case, TESU would be my recommendation if she has RA credits already... She can do the 16 credit residency requirements and be done with it! An AA or two, and a BA or two... 16 RA credits is all that is required - the rest can be transferred in using ACE/NCCRS credits.

Another option if she's interested in Competency Based degrees is UMPI. I would get more details on why the Pierpont BOG AAS isn't working for her, that's strange though, it should work for almost all that applies to it... you just need 1 graded credit and the rest can be ACE. Depending on time commitments, a BOG AAS and then UMPI Bachelors would work best!

[dfrecore]

There is zero chance I would pay $1500 and do an associates capstone when I was about to get a bachelor's. ZERO!

Tell your friend to pull the trigger, get those last credits, and get the bachelor's degree. Don't waste time on other stuff.