Need help getting another friend started

[Dowew]

Hi everyone,

Before the pandemic happened I spent a couple of years guiding a friend to get his BSBA thru TESU and this forum was invaluable.

When Sophia had their free promo I suggested it to another friend, who wasn't ready to start the process.  Hes working a steady job now and he has a new laptop and e-mailed me about it today.  Unfortunately since that time a few things have changed.  The Sophia freebie is over, and also now TESU requires that 30 credits come from "Collegiate sources", so I need some practical guidance on how to structure this degree.

My friend did 2 years at the University of Regina in Saskatchewan Canada.  We are not sure exactly how many credits are banked there, and he is ordering a transcript to be sent to him.  He did a lot of numbers and science courses, but found he much preferred the social sciences and history type courses so I am leaning towards a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies for him.  

When TESU says that 30 credits cannot come from non-collegiate providers, I assume they exact to be from RA colleges and universities in the United States.  Does anyone have experience fulfilling these requirements using credits from recognized universities outside of the United States?

I know that with TESU the cost of doing an accelerated degree keeps going up and up. I think the cost of the residency waiver for my one friend who completed the BSBA might have been more than he paid the rest of the degree.

My current works in GIS as a land surveyor, and he currently loves his job, but he wants to have a Bachelor's in his back pocket in case he ever needs it (he has been musing teaching english abroad when the pandemic is over). 

It looks like excelsior still allows people to test out from the majority of their courses.  Are we better off going thru excelsior nowadays ?

Thanks for your help everyone.

[rachel83az]

In theory, Canadian credits are still collegiate/university credits and should count towards the 30 RA credit requirement at TESU/COSC once the transcript has been evaluated by WES or some other professional evaluator.

TESU: ~15 UL credits required for a degree. 30 RA credits required.
COSC: 30 UL credits required for a degree (15 must be in the AOS). 30 RA credits required.
Excelsior: 30 UL credits required for a degree (I think 15 must be in the AOS). No RA credit requirement.

Another player has entered the fray, though: UMPI. Depending on what he has at the university already, he may or may not want to complete some Sophia courses. UMPI is competency-based: $1400 per term ($700/mo) for as many classes as you are able to complete in that period. They do have BALS degrees but he might be more interested in their History or English degrees: https://online.umpi.edu/programs/ UMPI is almost certainly cheaper than TESU and can be cheaper than either EC or COSC.

[dfrecore]

I would NOT do TESU for a BALS degree if you don't need to. EC is cheaper and easier to get (no concentration needed). COSC is MUCH cheaper, and although they do require the same 30cr RA and 2-3 concentrations, you can easily get those UL via Study.com (psych and business is an easy concentration combo to choose).

If your friend could do a bunch of Sophia courses in a short amount of time, I think that would help prove to him/herself that they could do a UMPI degree, which would be a cheaper option as well.

A TESU BALS is not usually my first choice, due to cost.

[natshar]

In theory, Canadian credits are still collegiate/university credits and should count towards the 30 RA credit requirement at TESU/COSC once the transcript has been evaluated by WES or some other professional evaluator.

TESU: ~15 UL credits required for a degree. 30 RA credits required.
COSC: 30 UL credits required for a degree (15 must be in the AOS). 30 RA credits required.
Excelsior: 30 UL credits required for a degree (I think 15 must be in the AOS). No RA credit requirement.

Well, technically Excelsior requires 7 RA credits now since there are 7 credits that must be taken at EC. TESU and COSC also have 6 out of the 30 RA credits that must be taken in residence as well.

[dfrecore]

TESU: ~15 UL credits required for a degree. 30 RA credits required.
COSC: 30 UL credits required for a degree (15 must be in the AOS). 30 RA credits required.
Excelsior: 30 UL credits required for a degree (I think 15 must be in the AOS). No RA credit requirement.

To clarify, because people get confused due to people pointing out separate issues: RA credits brought in are not required to be UL

TESU requires 15cr of UL for the BSBA, 18cr of UL for all other degrees - 3cr UL will come from capstone  / 30cr RA required, 6cr will come from TESU in residency
COSC requires 30cr of UL - 3cr UL will come from capstone  / 30cr RA required, 6cr will come from COSC in residency
EC requires 30cr of UL - 6cr UL will come from cornerstone & capstone  / no add'l RA required, 7cr will come from EC in residency

[cerich67]

If Canadian and living in Canada, a degree from a college will seem off to most folks, and unless an Ivy, many Canadians look down at US education.

Really, the word University matters in Canada.

Tesu, Umpi us where I would look

[ashkir]

UMPI probably would be good for him. UMPI has a high Canadian population it's on the border to Canada, and they have protocols even for COVID for Canadian students.

In addition your friend probably already knows French because of Canadian schooling laws and can pass the UMPI French course with ease.

[Dowew]

Actually he took french immersion in school so he was bilingual although hes a bit rusty.

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He just sent me a scan of his University of Regina transcript. Looks like he completed a couple of years there, although as you can see his marks are all over the place. He was aiming for a Bachelor of Kinesiology, although I don't this he was really suited for it and its not at all what hes aiming for right now. On the weekend i'm gonna have a zoom conversation with him to lockdown more of what the goal is, but for now, I have removed a couple of failed courses from the transcript and these are what we are left with.

Can anyone suggest where we would start degree planning for him based on what he already has ? Assume for now he just wants any bachelors degree (he was thinking about teaching English abroad and I think that was the impetus for this sudden interest in returning to post-secondary).

Chem 104 - General Chemistry I – Grade 62 – 3 Credit Hours
Kin 101 Writing and Discourse for Academia – Grade 70 – 3 Credit Hours
Kin 115 Social Psy of Sport and PA – Grade 61 – 3 Credit Hours
Kin 170 Lifestyle and Wellness – Grade 68 – 3 Credit Hours
Kin 105 Sports and Health Historical – Grade 63 – 3 Credit Hours
Kin 120 Rec-Persons with Disabilities – Grade 74 – 3 Credit Hours
Kin 260 Human Anatomy – 56 – 3 Credit Hours
Psyc 101 Introductory Psychology – 51 – 3 Credit Hours
Bio 100 Introductory Biololgy 1 – 50 – 3 Credit Hours
Kin 180 Lifespan Growth and Dev – 77 – 3 Credit Hours
Kin 267 Human Physiology I – 52 – 3 Credit Hours
Kin 275 Introduction to Nutrition – 50 – 3 Credit Hours
Kin 269 – Exercise Physiology – 63 – 3 Credit Hours
Kin 280 Motor Learning and Control – 75 – 3 Credit Hours
Kin 285 Biomechanics – 58 – 3 Credit Hours
Stat 100 Elementary Stats for Apps – 82 – 3 Credit Hours
Kin 110 Sociology of Sport Rec and PA – 71 – 3 Credit Hours
Kin 350 Fitness Appraisal – 65 – 3 Credit Hours
Kin 369 – Advanced Topics Ex Physiology – 69 – 3 Credit Hours
Kin 370 Social Psyc Health Behavior – 75 – 3 Credit Hours
Kin 375 Athletic Injuries – 64 – 3 Credit Hours
Kin 220 Research Methods in KHS -73 – 3 Credit Hours
Kin 241 Social Construction Disability – 63 – 3 Credit Hours
Phil 273 Biomedical Ethics – 50 – 3 Credit Hours
SRS 113 Leadership – 69 – 3 Credit Hours

His Official Transcript says he has earned 75 credit hours.

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Was just reviewing my friends LinkedIn page and realized he also has a completed College Diploma in Geomatics and Landsurveying from a Community College in Canada which he completed after he dropped out of University of R. Any idea if any of those credits could be of any use?

[rachel83az]

Still recommending a UMPI English and/or History degree; especially if he wants to teach English. Yes, you can theoretically get an English-teaching job with "any" Bachelor's degree but they're probably going to prioritize hiring people who have relevant degrees over people who have a BALS.

To be honest, most of what he has doesn't appear to be super useful to most degrees except, maybe, a BALS. Definitely missing most gen eds. But since he doesn't "need" this degree (yet) I would certainly recommend that he not rush into a BALS degree. So, I'm going to say: complete everything at Sophia EXCEPT: English Composition I/II, Human Biology, the Business courses, and maybe Intro to Ethics. Apply to UMPI (the application is free) and send it all in. He should be able to finish Sophia in 2-3 months. Then another, what, 6-8 months for UMPI and he'll have his degree in (probably) less than a year.

[dfrecore]

First, I don't know what those grades equate to - are ones in the 60's D's? Or something else? Depending on that, makes a big difference. EC won't accept D's in transfer. COSC will take D's but you can't use it in your major/concentration.
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Assuming those are not D's, I would choose a school that accepts a LOT of Free Electives, since that's what a lot of this is.

EC BSLA - accepts 60cr of Free Electives, 9cr Ul, so he'd have a lot of that done.
COSC BSLS - accepts 60cr of Free Electives, and he could have Kinesiology as one concentration, since he has a bunch of UL credits in there
TESU BALS - only takes 27cr of Free Electives, and none of the UL will matter, I wouldn't choose this school
UMPI - depending on the degree, some have fewer Free Electives, while a BLS accepts a LOT. No idea on what grades they will take.

So, more info would be helpful.