Financial Aid?

[Mil0]

I had originally filled out my FAFSA and selected my local community college when I was going to go that route, before I found all of you. 

After deciding on TESU, I amended my FAFSA to reflect that. I was selected for "verification" which meant that I had to send in my tax returns, despite having "connected to the IRS". After I submitted the extra documents that TESU emailed me about, I patiently waited for about a month. I finally emailed TESU's financial aid dept and got a response with 24 hours. Nothing under the financial aid sections of their website (Financial aid by term, financial aid award letter, etc) worked. The response that I received said "you were awarded starting in July 2019" and suddenly everything on their website started working. 


I've been awarded: 

                                  TOTAL     JUL19    OCT19    JAN20    APR20  
Pell Grant                    4645.00  1161.00  1162.00  1161.00  1161.00  
Direct Subsidized St      4500.00  1125.00  1125.00  1125.00  1125.00  
Direct Unsubsidized      6000.00  1500.00  1500.00  1500.00  1500.00  

The total award is $15,145, split over four terms/one year. This works out to approximately $3787 per semester. My original "idea" was just to use a Pell Grant or any scholarships that I may be able to receive so that I wouldn't have to take any loans. Due to the fact that there are several courses that I can't find alternatives for, I'd rather take a subsidized loan and pay it off quickly, than say, using my credit card and paying a higher interest rate on it. 

I'm trying to figure out what I should do. I'm pretty sure that I have it narrowed down to these 6 remaining courses that I will have to take from TESU. 

SOS-110 Info Literacy Living in the Information Age/Critical Information Literacy 
SOC-322 Cultural Diversity in the US
HLS-355 Critical Thinking for Homeland Security
HLS-410 Counterterrorism
HLS-429 Protecting the Homeland, Response & Recovery 
HLS-498 Homeland Security & Emergency Management Capstone 

That's a total of 6 courses and 18 credits that I haven't found an alternative for. This would make it so I don't have to pay the residency waiver fee. I'm an SDC member so I've got that discount and I believe I'd be paying the in-state tuition. $396 x 18 = $7128. The comprehensive plan is $7519 and includes up to 36 credits in a 12 month period. 

That leaves me with the decision of which makes the most sense. I have 54 credits remaining to complete. I believe I have them all mapped out but I'm wondering what makes the most sense. Do I select the pay per credit plan or do I choose the comprehensive plan for $400 more? Do I take 36 credits at TESU since I'd be paying for them anyway if I went with the comprehensive plan? Or do I just take the 18 at TESU that would be required? 

I've been doing as much research as I can on financial aid, the pros and cons, and just trying to make sense of how it all works but it is a little confusing. I know I'd need to maintain at least 2 courses/6 credits, per term, to maintain my financial aid. Considering all of the courses that I'd need to take at TESU would be in my AOS, I don't know if it's going to be too heavy of a course load. As these courses would impact my GPA, I'd want to make sure that I get good grades. 

I feel like my questions in this post haven't been too clear other than "what should I do?" and "HELP!" 

[CarpeDiem8]

Congrats on the Pell grant! At least you don't have to pay for that!

[bjcheung77]

That's pretty awesome, you can get your TESU Bachelors and a WGU Masters with that amount of cash! BTW, did the advising team say you must take SOC-322 Cultural Diversity in the US? There are other courses available that should fit in that category. Like SOS-101 Intro to Sociology and it's available at SL/Study.com

[Mil0]

That's pretty awesome, you can get your TESU Bachelors and a WGU Masters with that amount of cash!  BTW, did the advising team say you must take SOC-322 Cultural Diversity in the US?  There are other courses available that should fit in that category.  Like SOS-101 Intro to Sociology and it's available at SL/Study.com

I haven't had time to actually speak with an advisor yet because of my travel schedule. 

B: Civic Learning
SOC-322 (DEGREE REQUIREMENT) 3 SH[b] (Not started)[/b]
Cultural Diversity in the US 

I've taken SOC-101 already and it was placed into my Gen Ed electives. I'm pretty sure that I need to take this specific course for my Civic Learning Diversity requirement. As far as I can tell, from what I've been able to find from other Emergency Management BA students, they had to take this specific course as well. 

I'm still trying to figure out what to do. I'm guessing they disperse the funds quarterly. I know you get a refund check 35 days later from TESU. I'm hoping that by the time July starts, I'll have everything but my final 18 credits completed. I'm still trying to decide if I should do the comprehensive plan or go with the "per credit" option and just pay for the 18 and do the other credits elsewhere. I've been reading the syllabus for the courses and there are a lot of papers to write! Some of them had 7-10 papers! There is only so much I can write about.  

---

Congrats on the Pell grant! At least you don't have to pay for that!

Thanks! I was honestly surprised because everything that I had read about Pell Grants made it seem like there was no way that I would qualify for one due to my income.

[bjcheung77]

Hmm... That's weird, the degree plan on their site doesn't state "Civic Learning" as a requirement. And I can't even find that course in the Entire Course list they have for TESU courses. That's a bummer though if you have to take it...

I would send a quick email to advising asking if the Civic Learning is the same thing as the Civic Engagement requirement. If it is, ask if you can take the American Government course at SL/Study.com for that requirement instead of the SOS-322.

TESU Course List doesn't even show SOS-322: https://www2.tesu.edu/listall.php
TESU Gen Ed Jan 2019 or later: https://www.tesu.edu/academics/courses/2019-and-after
The general education requirement shows "Civic Engagement" and that Civic Learning course isn't listed anywhere

Yeah, I would try to get everything done before you start your studies at TESU. I would only do at most 2 courses at a time/term unless you're not a very busy person (like me, I have time on my hands at the moment...)

[Mil0]

Hmm... That's weird, the degree plan on their site doesn't state "Civic Learning" as a requirement.  And I can't even find that course in the Entire Course list they have for TESU courses.  That's a bummer though if you have to take it...

I would send a quick email to advising asking if the Civic Learning is the same thing as the Civic Engagement requirement.  If it is, ask if you can take the American Government course at SL/Study.com for that requirement instead of the SOS-322.

TESU Course List doesn't even show SOS-322: https://www2.tesu.edu/listall.php
TESU Gen Ed Jan 2019 or later: https://www.tesu.edu/academics/courses/2019-and-after
The general education requirement shows "Civic Engagement" and that Civic Learning course isn't listed anywhere

Yeah, I would try to get everything done before you start your studies at TESU.  I would only do at most 2 courses at a time/term unless you're not a very busy person (like me, I have time on my hands at the moment...)

SOC-322 is there at the bottom of the section. I've highlighted it for you. 


  Screen Shot 2019-05-21 at 8.10.36 PM.png (Size: 235.65 KB / Downloads: 8)

I've taken American Government already from SDC as well. That went into my Civic Engagement requirement. Civic Learning is a different section which you can see in the screenshot from my academic evaluation. For Section B: Civic Learning, it includes Diversity, Ethics, and Civic Engagement. The only thing that lists a specific course and says it's a degree requirement is the Diversity course. 


  Screen Shot 2019-05-21 at 8.11.45 PM.png (Size: 239.32 KB / Downloads: 7)

[bjcheung77]

Are you feeling lucky? I sure am.  I would show the academic advising person you usually speak with their website link: https://www.tesu.edu/watson/bs/homeland-security as it only mentions in the B. Civic & Global Learning field, "Diversity, Ethics, Civic Engagement".  It's not like the Info Lit where it specifically lists SOS-110.  

Further to that, I would get them to view TESU Gen Ed Jan 2019 or later: https://www.tesu.edu/academics/courses/2019-and-after and show them the "options" under Diversity.  If you have Intro to Sociology and American Gov, then you can still ask if say World Religions will be accepted.  I would even go beyond and ask to see if it can be escalated up the chain,iIt's worth a shot at least...

And since you're debating on just taking the bare 18 credits OR the comp tuition... do you feel like "learning more?"  
For Study.com members, it's 18 x $375 which is $6750 - you can use the remainder of the $ for a Masters.
For Study.com Comp Tuition, it's $7519 for up to 36 credits - you can also use the remainder for a Masters.

If you are into learning, then I would pony up the $769 for X amount of courses.  One course and you get your $'s worth, if you do more, well - you obviously get more worth!  My advice, you can get the AAS ESST by taking the Associate Capstone the requirements are met with basic science/law/etc courses.  In fact, here's how I would do it...

1) Term 1: Take SOS-110 and the Associate Capstone APS-295.
2) Term 2: Take any two of four Homeland Security & Emergency Management courses
3) Term 3: Take remaining two Homeland Security & Emergency Management courses
4) Term 4: Take the Homeland Security & Emergency Management Capstone

In the event you have to take the SOC-322 course you can try to see if you can take it in Term 1.
If I was in your shoes, that is what I would be doing... the Capstone should be done by itself.

[Mil0]

Are you feeling lucky? I sure am.  I would show the academic advising person you usually speak with their website link: https://www.tesu.edu/watson/bs/homeland-security as it only mentions in the B. Civic & Global Learning field, "Diversity, Ethics, Civic Engagement".  It's not like the Info Lit where it specifically lists SOS-110.  

Further to that, I would get them to view TESU Gen Ed Jan 2019 or later: https://www.tesu.edu/academics/courses/2019-and-after and show them the "options" under Diversity.  If you have Intro to Sociology and American Gov, then you can still ask if say World Religions will be accepted.  I would even go beyond and ask to see if it can be escalated up the chain,iIt's worth a shot at least...

And since you're debating on just taking the bare 18 credits OR the comp tuition... do you feel like "learning more?"  
For Study.com members, it's 18 x $375 which is $6750 - you can use the remainder of the $ for a Masters.
For Study.com Comp Tuition, it's $7519 for up to 36 credits - you can also use the remainder for a Masters.

If you are into learning, then I would pony up the $769 for X amount of courses.  One course and you get your $'s worth, if you do more, well - you obviously get more worth!  My advice, you can get the AAS ESST by taking the Associate Capstone the requirements are met with basic science/law/etc courses.  In fact, here's how I would do it...

1) Term 1: Take SOS-110 and the Associate Capstone APS-295.
2) Term 2: Take any two of four Homeland Security & Emergency Management courses
3) Term 3: Take remaining two Homeland Security & Emergency Management courses
4) Term 4: Take the Homeland Security & Emergency Management Capstone

In the event you have to take the SOC-322 course you can try to see if you can take it in Term 1.
If I was in your shoes, that is what I would be doing... the Capstone should be done by itself.

While it isn't listed specifically on that page, in the course catalog, it's definitely specified. 

https://campussuite-storage.s3.amazonaws...log-ug.pdf 

Page 136. 

It also specifies "Research Methods in Social Sciences" which everyone has said is available at SDC but I literally can only find Research Methods in Psychology and Research Methods in Criminal Justice. I don't know if either of those would transfer in and the CJ one has several 3k+ papers. 

My only worry is being able to handle the coursework since all the reviews make it sound like it's too much to do more than 2 courses at a time. 

How does that work with the capstone? Everyone recommends doing the capstone by itself but then you fall below the 6 credit minimum for financial aid? 

I was so nervous to start and then I got into the swing of things and racked up 66 credits in like 6-7 weeks. Now I feel like I'm totally starting over and I don't know where to begin. I was planning on filling most of my free electives with criminal justice courses since they're easy and instead of binge watching law and order or NCIS, I just plan to do the coursework instead. haha!

[bjcheung77]

Hmm... I wouldn't worry too much, I would just finish the courses ASAP and then work on the remaining courses at TESU. You can take 2/term for a total of 8 courses, I wouldn't try taking more unless they're from Study.com or another alternative provider. You can think of it this way, spend all your time with the family and school/work, no "free time" until you're done.

I would revise what I typed earlier to the following, since the SOC-322 is required. It's actually NOT that bad if you do a capstone course with another one, I would take the easiest of the bunch... since these are graded, I would evaluate which ones are "easier" and "harder", then group them to even it out a bit...

1) Term 1: Take SOS-110 or SOS-322 requirement and the Associate Capstone APS-295.
2) Term 2: Take any two of four Homeland Security & Emergency Management courses
3) Term 3: Take remaining two Homeland Security & Emergency Management courses
4) Term 4: Take SOS-110 or SOS-322 requirement and Homeland Security & Emergency Management Capstone

Seriously though, you have this all pat down, complete what you need as fast as you can until the end of June. Then full speed ahead with the TESU courses. That's it Mil0, you're at the finish line with just 8 courses left!

[Mil0]

Thank you, bjcheung. I really appreciate the pep talk. ️️️