Finance or Economics Degree HELP!

[learn777]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post here. I have already read through many informative threads on this forum regarding a Finance or Economics degree, but I have some questions.

I am 18 years old. I have qualified for a Pell Grant and a Calgrant (I live in California), so I can attend a local brick and mortar college or university. I have already completed my associates degree at my local Community College. Due to personal circumstances, doing an online degree would be optimal for me.

In my understanding from reading many posts, the BSBA Finance option from TESU or EC, is not a BA Finance Degree but rather a Business Administration degree with a concentration in Finance.

Is anyone aware of an online Finance or Economics BA that is affordable in conjunction with my grants above that you can recommend?

Thank you very much for your help.

[dfrecore]

So, I have zero knowledge of how Pell Grants and CalGrants work, so I'm just going to list some schools that have the degrees you want, and will take 90cr of transfer credit, meaning you can look at the degree, plug in your CC credit, then get another 30cr (if possible) through alternative means, and use your grants to get the last 30cr or so at that school. But, there's no guarantee that you can find everything you need alternatively, so this is just a start to further research:

Franklin University - BS in Financial Management
SNHU - BS in Finance
UMUC - BS in Finance
Wilmington University - BS in Finance

[learn777]

Hi dfrecore,

This is a link to an excellent post of yours elsewhere:
https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...#pid294168

The BSBA-Finance courses you mention in the link seem to be more comprehensive than the BA-Finance courses offered by the online programs you mentioned above.

Is there any disadvantage to having a BSBA-Finance vs BA-Finance? Are the BSBA-Finance courses in the link comparable in rigor to the courses offered elsewhere? Would the BSBA-Finance courses sufficiently prepare one for post graduate studies.

Thanks for your help!

[davewill]

I didn't see either of the degrees you were looking for, but I did find that the Cal State University system has a unified online degree website that lets you search for online degrees available on all their campuses. There is one BSBA Finance there, which might dovetail well with your grants.

https://www.calstateonline.net/

Even some fairly prestigious business schools don't offer a Finance degree separate from their BSBA. I'm not sure it's an issue. If you want to know how grad programs will look at the difference, you should ask the ones you're interested in directly.

[dfrecore]

Hi dfrecore,

This is a link to an excellent post of yours elsewhere:
https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...#pid294168

The  BSBA-Finance courses you mention in the link seem to be more comprehensive than the BA-Finance courses offered by the online programs you mentioned above.

Is there any disadvantage to having a BSBA-Finance vs BA-Finance? Are the BSBA-Finance courses in the link comparable in rigor to the courses offered elsewhere? Would the BSBA-Finance courses sufficiently prepare one for post graduate studies.

Thanks for your help!

So for the first part, you have to look very closely at the degrees to figure out which part is business core vs. actual finance courses.  To try to make it an apples-to-apples comparison, for all business core, I'm going to add Stats & Econ even if they're in the GE, and for finance-specific I'm going to include Prin of Finance & Financial Analysis even if they're in the business core.  I'm going to remove a general computer course from TESU.

Franklin University - BS in Financial Management - 64cr total in the major/pre-reqs, 32cr of business core, 32cr of finance
SNHU - BS in Finance - 69cr total in the major/pre-reqs, 33cr of business core, 36cr of finance
UMUC - BS in Finance - 45cr total in the major/pre-reqs, 18cr of business core, 27cr of finance
Wilmington University - BS in Finance  - 63cr total in the major/pre-reqs, 45cr of business core, 18cr of finance
TESU - BSBA w/concentration in Finance - 54cr total in the major/pre-reqs, 33cr of business core, 21cr of finance

As for whether a BSBA is as good as a BS in Finance, you can see that it really depends.  If I were you, and I really wanted to do the finance aspect, I'd probably choose a degree with more finance courses - in this case, SNHU stands out above the rest, with Franklin in a close 2nd place.

Bringing in 60cr from a CC plus taking the remaining courses through alternative credit should cost the following-ish:

For TESU, it depends on if you do the 16cr in a single 12-wk term on the FT-Flat-Rate Fee of $4928 for out of state, or if you do the per-credit price of $399/cr.

TESU Per-Credit - 6cr + fees = $6,422 + 54cr of alternative credit = $1,800.  Total of $8,222
TESU FT-FR - 16cr = $4,928 + 44cr of alternative credit =$1500.  Total of $6,428.
SNHU $320/cr x 30cr = $9,600.  30cr of alternative credit will cost $1,000.  So maybe $10,600.

SNHU still may be the better option if you have a "better" degree, depending on how many credits you can take at once, and how things work with your financial aid, so don't only go by cost here - figure out the best fit, and the best option for YOU rather than just looking at a layout of the price.  I personally would also look at how your CC credits will fit into a plan, and what courses you need to take for the degree before finalizing anything.

[Ideas]

If you end up doing the concentration in Finance, I'd try to take extra finance courses.

I'm surprised that Wilmington doesn't have more credits in finance! So if you went there, I'd still take extra finance courses.

CSU-Global challenge exams, Study.com, Davar Academy, etc.

[durain]

One more to consider :  Online BBA in Finance, SUNY Canton. Tuition : $353/credit

http://www.canton.edu/business/fsma/

[natshar]

Since you have Pell grant and Calgrant and California CC credits. Maybe check if a school in California offers a finance degree online. Even better if they accept CLEP.

You have an Associates so that's 60 credits. You do a few cleps and get another 30 credits. 

Then (potentially) you could do just one year or 30 credits at the online University and it at no cost to you or very close to it. Note these numbers could be different if your school uses the quarter system and I know some California schools do use the quarter system. I don't know what schools but I know someone who studying CalState long Beach online. Check if any schools in California offer a the degree you want online and if they accept Ace, clep, etc.

[dfrecore]

Since you have Pell grant and Calgrant and California CC credits. Maybe check if a school in California offers a finance degree online. Even better if they accept CLEP.

You have an Associates so that's 60 credits. You do a few cleps and get another 30 credits. 

Then (potentially) you could do just one year or 30 credits at the online University and it at no cost to you or very close to it. Note these numbers could be different if your school uses the quarter system and I know some California schools do use the quarter system. I don't know what schools but I know someone who studying CalState long Beach online. Check if any schools in California offer a the degree you want online and if they accept Ace, clep, etc.

I completely missed recommending this.  So, the CSU's will take CLEP, but UC's won't.  But I don't think it will matter much, since most CLEP's cover things you need in GE.  Also, you can continue to take CC courses if you need to, to get your pre-req's if you have any left.  You should have gotten an ASBA if your school offered one, or at least done your pre-req's like econ, accounting, etc.

As for quarter, it doesn't matter - same difference in the end.  Out of the 23 CSU's, only 2 are quarter-system at this point (San Bernardino & CalPoly SLO).

As for which offer online degrees, that will be a harder one - they are still in the stone ages for the most part.  But it's worth looking for.

[sanantone]

I responded to your PM, but others might find this information helpful.

Ohio State University charges $349 per credit hour.
https://online.usu.edu/econ-b/

FHSU has a BSBA with a major in finance, so it's different from a BSBA with a concentration in finance. They require 39 finance credits. The cost is $219 per credit hour.
https://www.fhsu.edu/efa/finance/Finance...ulum/index

Pennsylvania State University is $555 to $596 per credit hour. They have a BA and BS in Economics and a BS in Finance.
https://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/degrees-...e/overview
https://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/degrees-...s/overview
https://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/degrees-...s/overview

Oregon State University offers a bachelor's in economics, and the cost is $309 per quarter hour. That's the equivalent of $463.50 per credit hour.
https://ecampus.oregonstate.edu/online-d...economics/

Arizona State University has an online BS in Economics, but tuition and fees come out to be over $600 per credit hour.

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Northern State University - Banking and Financial Services - $351 per credit hour
http://catalog.northern.edu/preview_prog...turnto=941

University of Alabama Birmingham - Finance - $441 per credit hour
https://businessdegrees.uab.edu/finance-...B-BSF-SEO2

Granite State College - Accounting and Finance - $355 per credit hour
https://www.granite.edu/tuition-aid/tuition-fees/

Missouri State University - Finance - $295 per credit hour
https://outreach.missouristate.edu/onlin...inance.htm

Metropolitan State University - $310.56 per credit hour
https://www.metrostate.edu/apply/programs/online

University of Minnesota Crookston - Finance - $451.50 per credit hour
https://www.crk.umn.edu/academics/busine...nce/online

University of the Virgin Islands will be offering an online BA in Financial Planning soon. The cost is $434 per credit hour.

Post University charges $570 per credit hour.