Help with the fastest/cheapest option for a BALS

[park0902]

Hi guys, I'm new to the forum and found out that I could finish my BA quickly with testing/online learning service and the big three or UMPI. I haven't attempted at all the credit from Sophia, study.com as well as the other sites because I wasn't aware of it. I only have a certification for Early Childhood Education. I'd love to hear your input on the fastest/cheapest plan because I'm planning to use it to get a TEFL certificate and teach English overseas. I've been struggling a long time and the pandemic isn't helping. I've read a bunch of posts but I'm really overwhelmed by the options. I'd really appreciate all the help. Thank you all so much for any of your recommendations.
I have a total of 76 transferrable credits on file and an associate degree in Liberal Studies and another AA in General Studies minored in Music. All the classes are from my local CC in California.
KNES 107 SURVEY/ASSESS FITNESS (1)
MATH 253 INTERMEDIATE ALGEBRA (5)
MATH 8 COLLEGE ALGEBRA (5)
ENG 300 BEGINNING WRITING (3)
ENG 340 READING SKILLS/COLLEGE (3)
CD 7 CHILD GROWTH DEVELOPMENT (3)
CD 101 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF TEACHING YOUNG CHILDREN (3)
CD 110 INTRO TO CURRICULUM (3)
CD 15 CHILD,FAMILY & COMMUNITY (3)
CDE 90 INTRO TO ELEMENTARY EDUCATION (3)
ENG 200 FUNDAMENTALS/COMPOSITION (4)
MUS 27 HISTORY OF JAZZ (3)
PS 1 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT (3)
ENG 1A PRINCIPLE OF COMPOSITION I (4)
MUS 20 MUSIC APPRECIATION (3)
SP 1 COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS (3)
ENG 70 REASONING/COLLEGE READING (3)
ENV 24 NAT HISTORY CALIFORNIA WITH LAB (4)
HIST 22 U.S. HISTORY SURVEY (3)
HUM 1 INTRO TO HUMANITIES (3)
PHYS 20 IDEAS&EVENTS IN PHYSICS WITH LAB (4)
MUS 23 INTRO TO WORLD MUSIC (3)
CIMP 3 INTRODUCTION TO VIDEO GAMES DESIGN (3)
MUS 24 MUSIC SINCE 1900 (3)
MUS 28 HISTORY OF ROCK (3)
CSU GEC Full Transfer Certification 
Area A:Yes;Area B:Yes;Area C:Yes;Area D:Yes;Area E:Yes;American Institutions:Yes
Associate in Arts Degree Granted
Major: Liberal Studies
GRADUATED CUM LAUDE

[rachel83az]

With that many RA credits available, you'd be good for either COSC or UMPI. They both have their own advantages and disadvantages. COSC might be slightly cheaper but UMPI would possibly be the fastest.

With both schools, you'd fill in gaps in your gen eds with Sophia.

For UMPI, you'd also need 3 credits in a foreign language. InstantCert would be the cheapest alternate-credit way to do this but you could just take French or Spanish through UMPI. You'd then enroll at UMPI and finish in 4-6 months by taking at least 30 credits through them.

For COSC, you could follow this roadmap: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...ts_Roadmap (I really need to do the basic General Studies degree, but you should have a good enough idea with the History concentration). You would need 27 UL credits through Study.com, UExcel, TECEPs, Olivet Nazarene, and so forth. SDC limits you to 5 exams in a month (15 credits) but, for ULs, you're really probably only going to get 2 or 3 done in most circumstances. ONU courses will probably take you at least 2 weeks per class, if not more. IIRC, the capstone and cornerstone are both 15 weeks. Between SDC and the capstone/cornerstone, I'm guessing that the very fastest that you could get a degree at COSC would be 10 months.

Which one is best for you is going to depend on your priorities. I think that, when you account for the cost of SDC and other sources of credit, UMPI would likely be both faster and cheaper. On the other hand, if you want to be able to easily set your studies aside because of RL, COSC might be the better option for you.

[dfrecore]

You can easily get the BSLS at COSC - you just need an Ethics and Social Science course to check off all of the GE requirements. Then you need to choose 2-3 concentrations; I usually recommend Psych and Business, because both have a good number of options through Study.com. Then you finish the rest off with the easiest possible courses. My suggestion:

Sophia
Intro to Ethics
Intro to Soc
Intro to Psych (concentration)
Intro to Business (concentration)
The Essentials of Managing Conflict (1cr) OR Developing Effective Teams (1cr)
Ancient Greek Philosophers (take prior to Ethics)

Study.com
5 UL Psych courses (concentration)
4 UL Business courses (concentration)

Then enroll in COSC, sign up for the Cornerstone and Capstone (1 each in the first and second halves of the term) and you're done. I don't think it will take more than 1 term as long as you plan it right (finish Sophia and Study.com courses by end of Summer, and do Fall term at COSC). It should only cost $2850 at COSC, plus whatever Sophia and Study.com cost.
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The UMPI BLS may be faster depending on how quickly you can get through courses.

Sophia
Intro to Psych
Human Biology
Intro to Soc
Intro to Ethics
Ancient Greek Philosophers (take prior to Ethics)
The Essentials of Managing Conflict (1cr) OR Developing Effective Teams (1cr)
Intro to IT

Then enroll at UMPI
- foreign language
- hands-on art
- Minor (6-7 courses)
- Free Electives (1-2 courses depending on your minor)

1 term is $1400 / 2 terms is $2800. I think if you do UMPI in 2 terms, you'll get it cheaper since you don't need Study.com.
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Your main difference I think is that with COSC, you are better able to control costs; you won't know how quickly you'll be able to get through a term at UMPI until you start.

[bjcheung77]

Hey! You're the perfect candidate for the UMPI Yourpace BLS with Education Minor and Walden Tempo Learning Masters in Early Childhood Education combo. Both are competency based and you can get these relatively cheap/easy/fast since you have been taking courses in this field already and have some experience in this field... Basically, I highly recommend laddering from one to the other!

But first, get your general education/electives done with Sophia.org and Study.com as these are accepted at COSC & UMPI. If you want to do things faster, take the easiest and required courses at UMPI, transfer all the lengthy/harder courses in if possible. Invest in a second monitor for multi-tasking purposes, it's so much easier to search for info and getting things done effectively & efficiently...

[dfrecore]

Hey! You're the perfect candidate for the UMPI Yourpace BLS with Education Minor and Walden Tempo Learning Masters in Early Childhood Education combo.  Both are competency based and you can get these relatively cheap/easy/fast since you have been taking courses in this field already and have some experience in this field...  Basically, I highly recommend laddering from one to the other!

But first, get your general education/electives done with Sophia.org and Study.com as these are accepted at COSC & UMPI.  If you want to do things faster, take the easiest and required courses at UMPI, transfer all the lengthy/harder courses in if possible.  Invest in a second monitor for multi-tasking purposes, it's so much easier to search for info and getting things done effectively & efficiently...

None of the courses the OP has taken will transfer into the BLS/Ed degree minor coursework, so there's no difference between that and any other minor in terms of number of courses to take.

Why would you suggest a Master's in ECE when the OP doesn't want to go into that career?

[rachel83az]

I would guess because TEFL = teaching and BLS Ed Studies might be useful in that instance. Getting a Master's in education would also greatly increase your chances of being hired. Maybe OP is wanting to teach adults, but having an ECE Master's could still be useful/impressive to potential employers.

You can get a TEFL job with just a Bachelor's, any Bachelor's, but having a Master's certainly wouldn't hurt.

[park0902]

I want to focus on ESL teaching for teenagers in Vietnam because I'm bilingual. I've worked at a Montessori school for a long time but I don't think that group age and methodology is for me so I want to go back to University for a slight career change. I also plan to get my Master of Ed in Administration or ESL/ELL teaching. Do you guys have any competency-based or cheap programs for this degree? Thank you so so much for all the recommendations. UMPI sounds great. I can also speak and write Vietnamese fluently since my parents took me to Vietnamese language school when I was in middle school. Is there any way I can get the language requirement through testing? Or there are only a few popular options such as Spanish, French, German, etc. I will try to apply for financial aids so I can't decide which university is the most suitable if I get the funds.
@dfrecore Your UMPI plan looks awesome. Thank you. Does UMPI require 30 UL credits like the other school? Is your recommendation including the must-take 30 unit requirements? Can I apply your plan to Educational Studies since I think the knowledge's helpful for my career? Otherwise, I can stick with your plan because Business and Psychology can also be beneficial to my grad school experience. I also stopped at Writing Compositions 1 because my CC counselor told me that I could take Readings (which including advanced level writings for graduation equivalent to Writing Compositions 2), you reckon I should take Writing Compositions 2 on Sophia as well? $5600 is the annual tuition, right?

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You can easily get the BSLS at COSC - you just need an Ethics and Social Science course to check off all of the GE requirements.  Then you need to choose 2-3 concentrations; I usually recommend Psych and Business, because both have a good number of options through Study.com.  Then you finish the rest off with the easiest possible courses.  My suggestion:

The UMPI BLS may be faster depending on how quickly you can get through courses.

Sophia
Intro to Psych
Human Biology
Intro to Soc
Intro to Ethics
Ancient Greek Philosophers (take prior to Ethics)
The Essentials of Managing Conflict (1cr) OR Developing Effective Teams (1cr)
Intro to IT

Then enroll at UMPI
- foreign language
- hands-on art
- Minor (6-7 courses)
- Free Electives (1-2 courses depending on your minor)

1 term is $1400 / 2 terms is $2800.  I think if you do UMPI in 2 terms, you'll get it cheaper since you don't need Study.com.
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Your main difference I think is that with COSC, you are better able to control costs; you won't know how quickly you'll be able to get through a term at UMPI until you start.

[rachel83az]

I want to focus on ESL teaching for teenagers in Vietnam because I'm bilingual. I've worked at a Montessori school for a long but I don't think that kind of teaching is for me so I want to go back to school for a slight career change. I also plan to get my Master of Ed in Administration or ESL/ELL teaching. Do you guys have any competency-based or cheap programs for this degree? Thank you so so much for all the recommendations. UMPI sounds great. I can also speak and write Vietnamese fluently since my parents took me to Vietnamese language school when I was in middle school. Is there any way I can get the language requirement through testing? Or there are only a few popular options such as Spanish, French, German, etc. I will try to apply for financial aids so I don't know which one is the best if I get the funds.
@dfrecore Your UMPI plan looks awesome. Thank you. Does UMPI require 30 UL credits like the other school? Is your recommendation including the must-take 30 unit requirements?

You can do Spanish through InstantCert. If you're fluent in something like Vietnamese, though, you might be able to meet the language requirement with an ACTFL exam. https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/AC...Languages) But I'm not 100% sure that UMPI would accept that because they don't teach Vietnamese. I would think so, because it's still a foreign language, but I don't know for certain.

[park0902]

You can do Spanish through InstantCert. If you're fluent in something like Vietnamese, though, you might be able to meet the language requirement with an ACTFL exam. https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/AC...Languages) But I'm not 100% sure that UMPI would accept that because they don't teach Vietnamese. I would think so, because it's still a foreign language, but I don't know for certain.

Thank you for your quick answer. I will ask the counselor before taking the ACTFL.

[LevelUP]

I want to focus on ESL teaching for teenagers in Vietnam because I'm bilingual. I've worked at a Montessori school for a long time but I don't think that group age and methodology is for me so I want to go back to University for a slight career change. I also plan to get my Master of Ed in Administration or ESL/ELL teaching. Do you guys have any competency-based or cheap programs for this degree? Thank you so so much for all the recommendations. UMPI sounds great. I can also speak and write Vietnamese fluently since my parents took me to Vietnamese language school when I was in middle school. Is there any way I can get the language requirement through testing? Or there are only a few popular options such as Spanish, French, German, etc.

You don't need to learn how to speak the language of the country you will be teaching English in, sometimes they prefer you don't know the language.  You don't need a Master's of Ed either.

This YouTuber got a degree from TESU in Liberal Studies, makes a bunch of money teaching ESL overseas in various countries.
https://www.youtube.com/user/GetRICHTeaching
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFVt1KrQMrc