NEW: Excelsior Students Must Now Complete 15 Credits In-House

[pilot]

I just spoke with an advisor at Excelsior College who informed me that starting March 31st, 2025, all Excelsior students will be required to complete at least 15 credits directly through Excelsior.
Here are the details:
- Mandatory Courses: Complete the Cornerstone, Capstone, and Information Literacy courses (7 credits total).
- Additional Courses /Credits: Complete 3 Additional Courses worth 9 credits.  Since Excelsior doesn't offer 1- or 2-credit courses, this really means completing a total of 16 credits in total.
- Partner Institutions: Partner students from institutions like Sophia receive a discount of $50 per credit hour.
- Cost: With the current rate of $460 per credit hour, (After the 50$ Partner discount) it will cost $7,360 to complete the degree at Excelsior (460 x 16 = 7,360).
Important Note: If accepted before March 31st and you have credits through a partner like Sophia, you will be grandfathered under the 7 credits policy However, ensure you do not state in your application that you are a partner student, or you will be required to complete the 15 credits,
Does anyone else know or have more info. about this change?

[ss20ts]

Ouch! That is spendy.

[bjcheung77]

Everyone on the fence about Excelsior, you should do it now before it's too late! Otherwise, you're most likely going to switch over to TESU if you have plenty of transfer credits, or UMPI for pretty much the same reason. I would keep your ears, eyes, and mind open to other programs offered...

[origamishuttle]

Excelsior is already requiring 15 credits for many/most students due to their alternative credit policy. Unless you basically have enough RA credit to graduate already, EU is no longer a "Big 3" school.

[Ares]

The one thing that makes them appealing they are taking away. Do they not realize they are competing against UMPI? Once UMPI expands its degree options Excelsior is going to be less and less attractive.

Excelsior seems to rely on people not knowing they can transfer in most of their credits and/or giving up fighting to get them approved likely from Military personnel and such.

[bjcheung77]

Actually, it really depends on the end goal and if the person has tuition assistance or reimbursement, having 105 credits for transfer isn't all that bad, as long as you can keep the costs low and have a RA degree (or two), they still allow a very competitive transfer policy (on par with TESU). For those with tuition assistance or reimbursement, you're not really affected.

If you have your classes pat down and resourcefully planned to transfer into the program, just one evaluation would be enough. The extra credits for residency, you can use it for the associates capstone and a second degree capstone (BLSA & BSBA capstones), that would be 9 credits already. Then one more class for your liking, plus the cornerstone and info lit.