Looking for Advice on Degree Pathway – Business to Education

[timR]

Your Location: Canada
Your Age: 41
What kind of degree do you want? Education
Current Regionally Accredited Credits: 0
Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: 0
Any certifications or military experience? No
Budget: Minimum
Commitments: None
Dedicated time to study: 5+ hours a day
Timeline: Hoping under 2 years
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: Scholarship at the University of the People

Hi everyone,

This is my first post, so be merciful if I miss something. Hopefully, I am doing this properly! 

I’m looking for guidance on how to efficiently earn my degree in Education while making the most of my current resources. Here’s my situation:

• I am a Canadian currently studying Computer Science at University of the People (UoPeople) but have decided to switch to Business instead. I am in my first year and only have a few credits.
  
• I have a scholarship at UoPeople, which makes it the most affordable option for me right now.
  
• I don’t have the upfront money to pay for a semester at UMPI or WGU, and it would take me about a year to save up for the required one/two semester needed to graduate from those schools.
  
• I also have access to Sophia.org and Study.com to help with earning credits.
  
• My real goal is to get a degree in Education, but UoPeople does not offer that option.
  

My idea is to finish my Business degree at UoPeople, then transfer my credits to UMPI or WGU to complete a fast and affordable Education degree.

Is this a viable pathway? Has anyone successfully done something similar? I’d love to hear about transfer policies, degree completion times, and any alternative suggestions—especially for a Canadian student.

Thanks in advance for your help!

[bjcheung77]

Welcome to the board, which part of the Eastern Coast of Canada are you from? Are you a citizen, PR, or on student visa? Do you know any other languages? I would recommend taking ACTFL for quick credits if you know a second language. I'm curious why you're taking classes at UofP versus starting at Sophia.org and Study.com to max the alternative transfer credits.

If you're going for UofP, you can continue with UofP for their Masters in Education, you don't really need an education undergrad to get into their graduate program, just prerequisites would do. Another option is to transfer all your credits from UofP and Sophia.org/Study.com into Genesis University BA in Education, or do the UMPI BLS with an Educational Studies minor.

[timR]

Welcome to the board, which part of the Eastern Coast of Canada are you from? Are you a citizen, PR, or on student visa?  Do you know any other languages? I would recommend taking ACTFL for quick credits if you know a second language.  I'm curious why you're taking classes at UofP versus starting at Sophia.org and Study.com to max the alternative transfer credits.

If you're going for UofP, you can continue with UofP for their Masters in Education, you don't really need an education undergrad to get into their graduate program, just prerequisites would do.  Another option is to transfer all your credits from UofP and Sophia.org/Study.com into Genesis University BA in Education, or do the UMPI BLS with an Educational Studies minor.

Thanks for the warm welcome, bjcheung!

1. I’m actually from Ontario.
   
2. I’m a Canadian citizen.
   
3. No, unfortunately, I don’t know any other languages.
   
4. To be honest, I just started learning about college hacking… I was very close to paying some ridiculous fee from a YouTuber, but thankfully, I saw people in the comments talking about degreeforum.net—thank god!
   
5. I’d definitely consider UoPeople’s Master’s in Education if it’s a better option than getting a BA in Education elsewhere, and if I can finish it quickly.
   
6. If Genesis University’s BA in Education is a better choice, I’m open to that too.
   
7. I’d also consider UMPI’s BLS with an Educational Studies minor, but from what I’ve seen here, I’d need $1500+ for a semester, and I assume that has to be paid upfront? Like many others, money is tight, so I can only spare a few hundred a month right now, but depending on how long it would take me to finish the other credits, and saving up, it might be possible!
   

I’ve wanted to get my degree for ages, but time and money never aligned. It wasn’t until a year ago that I heard about University of the People, and then just this week, I learned about college hacking. Hopefully, getting my degree will finally help me get out of always being in a tight financial spot.

Would love to hear any thoughts on the best path forward. Thanks again!

[bjcheung77]

Ontario was actually in my first post, I removed it because, it's not the center of Canada. I was also thinking Quebec on a lesser scale. Anyways, since you don't have many credits, I would get the bulk of your credits from Sophia.org first, Study.com, and if you want to, complete the last class from UofP. I wouldn't recommend finishing a degree from them, unless you absolutely want to as they're NA, RA is a better option.

What do you do for a living? Does your workplace have tuition assistance or reimbursement? If not, Canada has a couple options for learning, tax free loans for the first year. I suggest going the UMPI route over UofP, as they have a payment plan, and in the end, you're paying less so much less overall for a much better degree! UMPI will cost $1700, but UofP will be more (unless you have that scholarship you mentioned paying almost everything).

[ss20ts]

Does Canada care about NA vs RA?

[timR]

Ontario was actually in my first post, I removed it because, it's not the center of Canada.  I was also thinking Quebec on a lesser scale.  Anyways, since you don't have many credits, I would get the bulk of your credits from Sophia.org first, Study.com, and if you want to, complete the last class from UofP.  I wouldn't recommend finishing a degree from them, unless you absolutely want to as they're NA, RA is a better option.

What do you do for a living? Does your workplace have tuition assistance or reimbursement? If not, Canada has a couple options for learning, tax free loans for the first year.  I suggest going the UMPI route over UofP, as they have a payment plan, and in the end, you're paying less so much less overall for a much better degree!  UMPI will cost $1700, but UofP will be more (unless you have that scholarship you mentioned paying almost everything).

I see what you mean about RA vs. NA accreditation, and I definitely think RA is the better option. Also, I agree that getting the bulk of my credits from Sophia/Study.com seems to be the way to go.

To answer your question, I’m an online ESL teacher, so I don’t have tuition assistance or reimbursement through work. Unfortunately, I doubt I’d qualify for much financial aid since I’m looking to accelerate my degree and studying online, but I’m currently looking into any possible options.

I like UMPI, but after researching, I really want a full degree in Education, not just a minor. My goal is to teach at the elementary level, so I need a degree that aligns with that path. If UMPI doesn’t offer a full Education degree, I’d need to find a way to transfer credits to a school that does.

What about WGU? Would that be a better option for an Education degree?

---

Does Canada care about NA vs RA?

Good Question! From what I have found looking around, it looks like RA is the way to go.

[bjcheung77]

For most countries, you want to have RA for max transfer, as some NA institutions may not be on the CHEA/USDOE database, but almost all, if not all RA institutions are. For transfer credit, RA institutions don't require foreign evaluation to some institutions, NA will require that evaluation made. Heck, Canada has 4 institutions that have RA in addition to their provincial authorization by charter. 3 in BC, 1 in Alberta, the one in Alberta (Athabasca U - Canada's largest and leading online institution, is withdrawing their RA this year).

[timR]

It’s clear now that going the RA route would make things much easier. The fact that Athabasca University is withdrawing their RA status is surprising, given its reputation as Canada’s largest online institution.

bjcheung77, I see you’re very active in the forums. Do you have any insights about WGU? I’ve heard they allow you to accelerate your degree, and they’re frequently mentioned by YouTubers as a great option. Their Education degrees seem impressive, but I’m not sure what other schools I should look at. I’d love to hear your thoughts or recommendations based on your knowledge.

I’ve found a lot of information about hacking business and liberal arts degrees, but not much on Education degrees.