Need to know what UL credits will work for Liberal Arts degree

[AnyName]

I have been doing some research but I can’t find the specifics of what I’m looking for. Hopefully the knowledgeable people here can help.
I am interested in a Liberal Arts degree from Excelsior. I think this college would be best as I don’t have any RA credits and I don’t qualify for PELL Grant or a lot of student loans. I can’t really afford much out of pocket, despite the government thinking I can so I need to do this as cheaply and quickly as possible. I completed quite a few of Sophia classes in 2020-2021 so I need to get my degree ASAP so they don’t go to waste. I was told they expire after 3 years? IDK if that’s true though.
 
Anyway, my main question is this? Where can I find UL Arts and Science classes to satisfy my requirement? Can these be any UL classes from study or other sources? Can this be business or any subject as long as its UL? I am really confused on this.  
 
I also have not completed any English so I am looking for recommendations for that. Preferably not Sophia as both their English courses are very extensive and I have read that the grading is not consistent. I just read on another post on here that study .com's English Comp doesn't satisfy the requirement? 
 
I have my certified nursing assistant certificate from community college. I am not sure if that will count towards Applied Professional credit because its technically a non-credit course. So, I am thinking, No, it wont count.

I'm sorry if I seem stupid, I really don't understand much of this. I'm just trying to get a degree to give myself better job opportunities.  Thank you
 
 
Location: Pennsylvania
 
Age: 38
 
Degree: Looking at Liberal Arts because I have quite a few LL credits and it seems that would be the best option to get a degree quickly. 
 
Sophia: Communications at Work
              Intro to Technology
              Ancient Greek Philosophers
              Human Biology
              Intro to Ethics
              College Readiness
              Intro to Psychology
              Intro to Sociology
              Principles of Finance
              Visual Communications
              Project Management
              Developing Effective Teams
              Intro to Stats
              Foundations of Stats
              Conflict Resolution
              Accounting
              Essentials of Managing Conflict
              Intro to Business
              Art History I
              Art History II     
              Macroeconomics
              Microeconomics
              College Algebra
              US History I
              US History II
              Environmental Science
 
InstaCert: Spanish I
                 American Government
 
CSM Course (Quantitative Analysis)
 
Study .com Western Civ I (although it's not showing on my Credly and I don’t know why)
 
No RA credits
 
No Military

[ss20ts]

What are you looking to do career wise? Any particular reason you selected Excelsior? UMPI may be faster and cheaper for their BLS degrees.

[AnyName]

What are you looking to do career wise? Any particular reason you selected Excelsior? UMPI may be faster and cheaper for their BLS degrees.

I work in healthcare now, direct patient care, and its KILLING me. This is not something I want to do for 20 more years so I'm really just trying to get a degree quickly to give me better job opportunities to get out of healthcare within the next 2 years.

I think I need RA credits for UMPI, which I don't have. Also I think I have to take at least 10 classes with them and so many UL classes. Based on their requirements, it would probably be more money and stress to try to do the degree thru them. With Excelsior I can (hopefully) do everything elsewhere and only have to do their cornerstone, capstone, and info literacy class. That seems much less stressful to me. So I would rather do Excelsior.

[FastTrackDegree]

I don't know the exact requirements for the degree but Lawshelf, Coopersmith and Study.com all have UL courses. Maybe the BPS degree in Business Management could be done fast too, lawshelf have a bunch of UL business courses.

[AnyName]

I don't know the exact requirements for the degree but Lawshelf, Coopersmith and Study.com all have UL courses. Maybe the BPS degree in Business Management could be done fast too.

Never heard of Lawshelf but I'll look into that. I think any business degree is going to require me to do a lot more business classes. I don't have any of the business core classes done and then what ever is required of the concentration. I think LA is best for what I already have completed.

[ss20ts]

What are you looking to do career wise? Any particular reason you selected Excelsior? UMPI may be faster and cheaper for their BLS degrees.

I work in healthcare now, direct patient care, and its KILLING me. This is not something I want to do for 20 more years so I'm really just trying to get a degree quickly to give me better job opportunities to get out of healthcare within the next 2 years.

I think I need RA credits for UMPI, which I don't have. Also I think I have to take at least 10 classes with them and so many UL classes. Based on their requirements, it would probably be more money and stress to try to do the degree thru them. With Excelsior I can (hopefully) do everything elsewhere and only have to do their cornerstone, capstone, and info literacy class. That seems much less stressful to me. So I would rather do Excelsior.

You don't need RA credits for UMPI. Yes, you have to take at least 10 classes at UMPI, but most people complete them in 2 sessions which is $2800.

[rachel83az]

I completed quite a few of Sophia classes in 2020-2021 so I need to get my degree ASAP so they don’t go to waste. I was told they expire after 3 years? IDK if that’s true though.

To ease your mind, this is untrue. Rather, the ACE-recommendation for courses expire after 3-5 years; just the courses. As long as you completed the courses while they were valid, the credits you get are supposed to be good "forever". Some colleges/universities might not accept them after a certain time period, but that's a separate issue and doesn't apply to Excelsior or TESU. And other schools, but I can't list others off the top of my head.
 

Anyway, my main question is this? Where can I find UL Arts and Science classes to satisfy my requirement? Can these be any UL classes from study or other sources? Can this be business or any subject as long as its UL? I am really confused on this.  

Both Coopersmith and Study.com have courses that count as UL Arts & Sciences for Excelsior.
 

I also have not completed any English so I am looking for recommendations for that. Preferably not Sophia as both their English courses are very extensive and I have read that the grading is not consistent. I just read on another post on here that study .com's English Comp doesn't satisfy the requirement? 

For Excelsior, you're pretty much stuck between SDC and Sophia. The SDC equivalents are here: https://study.com/college/school/excelsior-college.html

I think I need RA credits for UMPI, which I don't have. Also I think I have to take at least 10 classes with them and so many UL classes. Based on their requirements, it would probably be more money and stress to try to do the degree thru them.

You don't need ANY RA credits for UMPI. You might be thinking of TESU.

From what others have said, most UMPI classes seem to be similar to SDC & Sophia, though not exactly the same. If you're comfortable writing papers, UMPI will almost certainly be faster, easier, and cheaper than Excelsior. One of their business degrees could well be easier for you than their BLS.

If you'd rather take as many exams as possible, Excelsior is the way to go.

[AnyName]

I completed quite a few of Sophia classes in 2020-2021 so I need to get my degree ASAP so they don’t go to waste. I was told they expire after 3 years? IDK if that’s true though.

To ease your mind, this is untrue. Rather, the ACE-recommendation for courses expire after 3-5 years; just the courses. As long as you completed the courses while they were valid, the credits you get are supposed to be good "forever". Some colleges/universities might not accept them after a certain time period, but that's a separate issue and doesn't apply to Excelsior or TESU. And other schools, but I can't list others off the top of my head.
 

Anyway, my main question is this? Where can I find UL Arts and Science classes to satisfy my requirement? Can these be any UL classes from study or other sources? Can this be business or any subject as long as its UL? I am really confused on this.  

Both Coopersmith and Study.com have courses that count as UL Arts & Sciences for Excelsior.
 

I also have not completed any English so I am looking for recommendations for that. Preferably not Sophia as both their English courses are very extensive and I have read that the grading is not consistent. I just read on another post on here that study .com's English Comp doesn't satisfy the requirement? 

For Excelsior, you're pretty much stuck between SDC and Sophia. The SDC equivalents are here: https://study.com/college/school/excelsior-college.html

I think I need RA credits for UMPI, which I don't have. Also I think I have to take at least 10 classes with them and so many UL classes. Based on their requirements, it would probably be more money and stress to try to do the degree thru them.

You don't need ANY RA credits for UMPI. You might be thinking of TESU.

From what others have said, most UMPI classes seem to be similar to SDC & Sophia, though not exactly the same. If you're comfortable writing papers, UMPI will almost certainly be faster, easier, and cheaper than Excelsior. One of their business degrees could well be easier for you than their BLS.

If you'd rather take as many exams as possible, Excelsior is the way to go.

Thank you for clarifying about the "expiration date" of the classes. I'd still like to get the degree ASAP anyway.


I do see the courses listed on study that say "upper level" but how do I know if it counts towards "arts and science"? That's the part I'm struggling to understand. How do I know what courses count? When I look under arts, none of them are UL and there's only a few under science.


If the SDC English Comp 204 and 205 count then I might as well do them. 


I must be thinking TESU as far as RA credits, but I do prefer exams over papers so I might like Excelsior better but I'll look at UMPI

Thanks so much for all this information

[rachel83az]

Arts & Sciences are classes that fall under the following categories: humanities, social science, history, natural sciences, mathematics. In other words, almost anything EXCEPT business, technology, medical-specific (such as a hypothetical class in medical imaging).

[AnyName]

Arts & Sciences are classes that fall under the following categories: humanities, social science, history, natural sciences, mathematics. In other words, almost anything EXCEPT business, technology, medical-specific (such as a hypothetical class in medical imaging).

OH PERFECT! Thank you! I will still do a bit more research as far as UMPI goes but that's super helpful for Excelsior