How many courses do you have to take through TESC to graduate?

[cookderosa]

Yep. I'll take those at the local community college though.

As for the enrollment, let me see if I understand this. If I CLEP everything I can and take the rest of the classes at my local college, all I have to do is send TESC a check for $1350 plus graduation fees and I get a diploma? Would this be considered a "diploma mill"? I mean, wouldn't it be looked down on out in the job market?

Oh, I also wanted to add: your local university probably accepts CLEP tests if you feel like that's a better path for you. You will likely have a 30+ credit residency and sometimes a small transfer fee, but nearly everyone takes some amount of CLEP or DSST exams.

[saiguanas]

Why is there a residency requirement for military and not anyone else? Usually the military gets the breaks. I am military so this does affect me.

[bat21]

TESC has the military partnership program with TECP, but it is not a "True" program like Excelsior has with the USAF with the AU-ABC program(I am Air Force Reserve) I was doing that with EC, but I decided to finish my degree quickly instead of taking their on-line classes, which can be a pain in the b***.

But , both TESC and EC ARE NOT DIPLOMA MILLS!! They are both regional accredited schools.(You cannot give them 5000.00 grand and get a diploma)

[saiguanas]

So is the advantage to the military that we (Reserves included?) don't have to pay the $1350 enrollment fee? Looks like the fees are much cheaper.

If you are going to clep everything or take it elsewhere, why even enroll until you are ready to dump your credits on their desk and say "gimme my diploma"? and is that how it works? If you have all of your credits, you just pay enrollment fee and graduation fee and that's it?

It just sounds too good to be true so I want to be sure that I am understanding it. Also wondering why more people, especially military, don't go this route? It sounds like I could have a degree in a few months at most.

[entreelink]

I started with 20 local community college credits in September of 2007. I took 10 more online credit from a local CC. I then took CLEP, DSST and FEMA course and ended up with 130 credits in May of 2008. I did my entire academic plan with the catalog, Instantcert and my $75 application fee and unofficial evaluation.

In May, I paid my $2395 enrollment fee and $225 graduation fee. I spoke to a counselor for the first time then. She said everything looked good for graduation. I received my letter attesting to my graduation on July 3rd.

I will receive my diploma in September. It is a BA in Liberal Studies. TESC and Instantcert, mostly you guys who post here, made this possible.

I am most grateful.

[funcused]

I'm confused about the whole thing. how do i find out which cleps i'm required to take to get a BA in liberal arts?

[cookderosa]

I'm confused about the whole thing. how do i find out which cleps i'm required to take to get a BA in liberal arts?

You get to decide which CLEPs you take, TESC just tells you how many credits in each area you need. It is very flexible!