Why find courses other than the ones from the Big 3?

[emichele20]

Because they charge too much money for classes taken there.

This is the most truthful answer... LOL very straight to the point and I have to agree. Think about we are all in a crappy economy now so if you can get a class somewhere for a quarter or half the price of the other why wouldn't you take it. Overall it will help you to reach your goal which is getting the degree and at the end that is all that matters.

[ryoder]

degreeinfo.com is a good place to ask for self paced distance learning courses.
I got 7 credits from my MCSD cert so that helped fill out the 12 elective credits quickly.

[Bunbu]

You could also take a look at the Game Institute offerings The have some cool courses at a very good price.

[FinancialWorld]

What about TESC guided study courses? Do those have a defined timeline, or can you accelerate since you are learning on your own? It isn't clear from their site. Some courses I'd rather take w/ a teacher (pre-calculus, discrete math), but others (programming languages, etc) I can take on my own pace and probably go faster.

The guided study courses are 12 weeks long. They're not self paced courses. You work on your weekly assignments alone. I'm finishing up managerial communications as a guided study course. It has been very long!!

[dcan]

degreeinfo.com is a good place to ask for self paced distance learning courses.

I got 7 credits from my MCSD cert so that helped fill out the 12 elective credits quickly.

I'll check that out.

I've only got Security+, which is only 2 credits. :mad:

So I'll have to work on it. I haven't gotten a review yet though, so I'm hoping my CCAF credits will fill at least some of that up. Problem is, I want to take some of those courses -- like I said, quantitative analysis sounds interesting, and I'd really love an operations research course if I can find one.

I'll check out degreeinfo as you suggested. Thanks!

[PonyGirl93]

Approx. $3k/yr at my CC, vs. about $9k/yr at TESC? Easy decision :p Plus I was interested to take a few "real" classes and see how much I was missing out on And my CC offered more classes that I was interested in. I'll take a full year from TESC to get my upper levels in.

[sanantone]

I actually don't think the flat rate at TESC is that bad. It includes up to 36 credits from TECEPs, e-packs, FlashTracks, guided study, and online courses per year. It's $7,190 the first year and $6,254 subsequent years for out-of-state students which is cheaper than the public university in my city.

I wanted to take e-packs which only require taking several quizzes and a final at your own pace, but they aren't covered by financial aid. Only guided study and online courses are covered by financial aid. So, the reason I'm not taking any TESC courses is because they are 3 months long and I've heard that they require a ridiculous amount of writing. One syllabus I looked at said the course required a 15-20 page final paper. No thank you!

Besides, my CC is less than $2,000 a year, they have 8-week long and even some 5-week long courses, and I can take courses there that will be awarded upper level credit at TESC.