Help making a degree plan!!

[madiknune]

hey guys! I’m new here and have recently found out about ACE credit through study.com/straighterline. i’m a senior in high school and have been doing enrolling at my local community college. I currently have 21 credits and I am trying to figure out the fastest and cheapest way possible to get my degree. I’ve always wanted to go away and have the college experience, but I finally realized that going 150K in debt isn’t worth it at all. does anyone know where I should start? I want to major in business administration/finance. I also would really like to transfer to an actual brick and mortar university for my last year. Does anyone know what schools except the most transfer credits? I live in Pennsylvania and I know Penn State requires at least 36 credits to be taken with them. Are there any other schools near Pennsylvania that accept more than 84 credits?? I know I just asked a ton of questions lol. I would really appreciate any advice or help you could give me. Thanks!

[LevelUP]

https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Th...c_Approach

1. You need to figure out what degree you want. (business administration/finance for example)
2. You need to figure out what school you want to go to. (Penn State for example)
3. You will need to contact the school to try to map out a degree plan using alternative credits such as Study.com/CLEP or others.
https://study.com/college/school/index.html

Other colleges in Pennsylvania
https://mycollegeselection.com/colleges-...nsylvania/
https://mycollegeselection.com/colleges-by-state/

[dfrecore]

Generally, we help people figure out which credits to get once a student has done the research to find a school that they're interested in. We do less to help you find a college.

So, to do the research, here's what I would do:
1) Make a spreadsheet of every RA college in PA, sort by type (so private 4yr, then U of Penn System schools, then Penn State system schools); each school should be on 1 line, there will be lots of columns (so you can sort later)
2) Put in their transfer policies; you're looking for 25% max residency, which generally equates to 30cr, which can be done in a year; you also need to see what the policy is for UL credits, and credits in the major to be taken at the school
3) Go to the website of each school, and search for CLEP - that is the one thing that is easy enough to do, and many/most schools will have a CLEP policy
4) Read the CLEP policy, and a link to it on your spreadsheet - look at it and see what they require (like, California University of Pennsylvania has a CLEP/DSST policy of 30cr max transfer; they also show every CLEP & DSST exam they'll take, the course equivalencies, and the score required)
5) See if there's a separate DSST policy - add
6) Finally, look for the ACE policy if they have one. The most common will be for MILITARY ONLY. This won't help you. But at least you'll know.

Once you have all that info, come back and let us know what you've decided. You'll either see that there's a perfect fit, or you may find that no school on the list meets your criteria. In that case, you'll need to expand your search to (probably) private schools out of state, so that you won't get killed on out-of-state tuition (and private schools have much more of a chance of scholarships which could make tuition affordable for you for that one year).

Good luck!

[carrythenothing]

139 institutions in Pennsylvania currently accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education: https://www.msche.org/institution/?name-...Accredited

You can also filter by public and private (for-profit or non-profit) on the website.

[bjcheung77]

@OP, you might want to provide more details as to what your budget is for completing the degree and how much time do you have each day to dedicate towards the degree? I would continue with dual enrollment until you max out the credits you can, these will fit your first/second year and will be transferable later. BTW, are you going for an Associates at that community center or directly going for a public/state university?

[dfrecore]

You'll want to remove all 2yr schools, and all schools without a campus that you're interested in (like, The American College of Financial Services is not going to be what you're looking for; same with the US Army War College).

Remove all community colleges, medical schools, bible colleges/seminaries, art schools, health professions schools, schools that only have graduate studies, etc. You can decide how you feel about religious schools.

Then, remove all schools who don't have a Business degree with a Finance minor/concentration or Finance degree.

That should narrow things down to less than half, maybe 25% remaining.

THEN, start your research.

[thecontrarian]

hey guys! I’m new here and have recently found out about ACE credit through study.com/straighterline. i’m a senior in high school and have been doing enrolling at my local community college. I currently have 21 credits and I am trying to figure out the fastest and cheapest way possible to get my degree. I’ve always wanted to go away and have the college experience, but I finally realized that going 150K in debt isn’t worth it at all. does anyone know where I should start? I want to major in business administration/finance. I also would really like to transfer to an actual brick and mortar university for my last year. Does anyone know what schools except the most transfer credits? I live in Pennsylvania and I know Penn State requires at least 36 credits to be taken with them. Are there any other schools near Pennsylvania that accept more than 84 credits?? I know I just asked a ton of questions lol. I would really appreciate any advice or help you could give me. Thanks!

Hi dude,

I was like you! and opted out of college in my last year of HS. Had lots of offers, but none which seem worth that much cheddar. I'm doing the TESU Accounting degree. Did all CLEPS and ACE stuff between Aug last year and Feb this year. Started my final term at TESU. Hope to get my Accounting degree by June. In that last year or so I worked part-time in retail and also travelled a bit. Hoping to get the degree complete for under $6K and so far on-track. Then I'm gonna go for the CPA exam and maybe around early 2023 try to get into one of the big consulting firms or maybe just do a medium sized local firm and then start my own firm sometime 2024. Lots of choices in accounting/CPA.

I got abzolutely no regrets at all on going this route. Good luck, you will get much help from this group.

[madiknune]

https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Th...c_Approach

1. You need to figure out what degree you want. (business administration/finance for example)
2. You need to figure out what school you want to go to. (Penn State for example)
3. You will need to contact the school to try to map out a degree plan using alternative credits such as Study.com/CLEP or others.
https://study.com/college/school/index.html

Other colleges in Pennsylvania
https://mycollegeselection.com/colleges-...nsylvania/
https://mycollegeselection.com/colleges-by-state/

ok got it! Thanks. I’ll do more research and have specifics as soon as I get off work tonight!

---

hey guys! I’m new here and have recently found out about ACE credit through study.com/straighterline. i’m a senior in high school and have been doing enrolling at my local community college. I currently have 21 credits and I am trying to figure out the fastest and cheapest way possible to get my degree. I’ve always wanted to go away and have the college experience, but I finally realized that going 150K in debt isn’t worth it at all. does anyone know where I should start? I want to major in business administration/finance. I also would really like to transfer to an actual brick and mortar university for my last year. Does anyone know what schools except the most transfer credits? I live in Pennsylvania and I know Penn State requires at least 36 credits to be taken with them. Are there any other schools near Pennsylvania that accept more than 84 credits?? I know I just asked a ton of questions lol. I would really appreciate any advice or help you could give me. Thanks!

Hi dude,

I was like you! and opted out of college in my last year of HS. Had lots of offers, but none which seem worth that much cheddar. I'm doing the TESU Accounting degree. Did all CLEPS and ACE stuff between Aug last year and Feb this year. Started my final term at TESU. Hope to get my Accounting degree by June. In that last year or so I worked part-time in retail and also travelled a bit. Hoping to get the degree complete for under $6K and so far on-track. Then I'm gonna go for the CPA exam and maybe around early 2023 try to get into one of the big consulting firms or maybe just do a medium sized local firm and then start my own firm sometime 2024. Lots of choices in accounting/CPA.

I got abzolutely no regrets at all on going this route. Good luck, you will get much help from this group.

Wow! That is so awesome. I’m looking to do the same thing, but with a degree in finance. I’ve been looking into TESU. Are you happy there so far?

[madiknune]

Hey guys. I have done some research and decided I want to work towards my B.S. in Finance at Penn State University. Here is a link to the program requirements. 
The classes I have taken at community college are below
Dual Enrollment: Total Credits- 18

• Semester I:
  

PSYC-101 - General Psychology (3)
BUSI-101-V20 - Introduction to Business (3)
ENGL-101-V28 - English Composition I (3)

• Semester II:
  

BIOL-103 - Environmental Science (3)
BUSI-209-V04 - Legal Environment of Business (3)
ECON-201 - Principles I Macro Economics (3)
Where should I go from here? I do not want to continue with community college. I know that PSU allows a lot of transfer credits, you just have to take the last 36 credits (just over a year) through them. Here’s a link to their page that explains more about that. What is the fastest way for me to earn 66 credits? I like the idea of study.com/straighterline ACE course credits rather than CLEP exams. I know that my last 36 credits will cost me about 20k in tuition (in state) and another 15k in room and board+meal plan. I am hoping to complete 66 credits for transfer in 12 months, so I am able to enroll at PSU for fall 2023. How much will ACE credits cost me?
Last question, if I end up deciding not to transfer to PSU will I waste credits? Part of me is still considering completing my degree with one of study.coms partnered schools (like TESU). It would be so much faster and cheaper to complete, but at the same time I want to experience living on a college campus yk? 

Also, if anyone has any other school recommendations please let me know!! I just chose PSU because it is 1 hr away from me and has a good, relatively affordable program. 

More info on me:
Will be working full time as a realtor after high school graduation. However, I am dedicating my whole summer to earning alternative college credit. I currently have a 3.9 GPA in high school and am extremely self motivated. Money (paying for school myself) and time (don't to waste 4 years of my life doing more gen eds and pointless classes, when I could start my career in real estate, but also want to have a degree to fall back on if needed) are big factors that led me to look for alternative credit opportunities.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to read this and give feedback/advice. I appreciate it! I need all the help I can get.

[rachel83az]

I've merged your two threads because the new one was unnecessary.

I know that PSU allows a lot of transfer credits, you just have to take the last 36 credits (just over a year) through them. Here’s a link to their page that explains more about that. What is the fastest way for me to earn 66 credits? I like the idea of study.com/straighterline ACE course credits rather than CLEP exams.

For that particular university, it appears that you may be out of luck. The page you're looking for is this one: https://admissions.psu.edu/academics/credit/cbv/ They do not have a blanket policy of accepting ACE credits from things like SDC/Sophia. Your only guaranteed transfers would be through CLEPs or taking AP exams.

How much will ACE credits cost me?

This varies a lot. It can be anything from NOTHING (for CLEP exams) to a couple thousand (for Study.com). Most students are able to get 60-90 credits from Sophia in 2-4 months, which would be about $300. Compared to the standard cost of university courses, most ACE credits can feel like they cost nothing.

Last question, if I end up deciding not to transfer to PSU will I waste credits?

It depends on where you go and what their credit acceptance policy is. A lot of schools don't accept ACE credits at all or have a very, VERY limited view of what is acceptable (such as at PSU). CLEP exams will almost always transfer, as will AP exams. Others sources of alternate credit: not so much.

Also, if anyone has any other school recommendations please let me know!!

I would suggest looking into colleges/universities in Maine. Why Maine? Because Maine seems to have very broad acceptance of ACE credits. UMPI, in particular, accepts almost anything, so long as it is ACE. There is some difference in policies between the online and on-campus programs, so you would want to contact them to find out exactly how many ACE credits you could transfer in.

Including room & board & meals, it looks like UMPI out-of-state tuition would be cheaper than your in-state tuition: https://www.umpi.edu/offices/student-fin...on-a-fees/ Unfortunately, I don't see a finance degree: https://www.umpi.edu/academics/ but another school in Maine may have one and still be cheaper than your local school.

It would be so much faster and cheaper to complete, but at the same time I want to experience living on a college campus yk?

Personally, I don't see the point of spending so much money for such a thing, but everyone has different priorities. If you really want to live on-campus, I would reject schools that are super close to you. I mean, why bother? It won't be that much difference than staying at home in the first place. Should you decide to go, go somewhere that you can actually experience new things and not just the next town over. If you currently live in a big city, try to find a more rural campus. If you live in the boonies, try to find a school smack-dab in the middle of a busy city.