Need update, what has changed?

[StoicJ]

I was enrolled at TESU a couple of years ago. I did not complete any TESU courses, but I had transferred classes in. I haven't logged into Moodle (bad password at this moment), but I did log into Walkingstick.

Walkingstick shows 2 degree evaluations with reports dated 07/24/20. ASNSM Computer Science, and BSBA General Management. Catalog year 2018 for both. Program Summary for the ASNSM shows complete. Summary for BSBA shows me needing to complete 8 courses plus the capstone. TES-100 says "Waived". I completed some Study.com courses that transferred over.


Does all this sound promising? What is the cost for the TESU Capstone now? How much is the waiver?

[udi]

Maybe ... I would be very quiet and try to keep your old plan. Maybe nobody will notice the break and you'll keep the old catalog. Transfer in your courses as needed and maybe even apply to graduate once you're done without raising any flags. Not sure if it would be worth it if there end up being consequences. You might be able to squeak by some of the new requirements as long as they don't update your catalog.

Curious what others have done in similar situations.

[StoicJ]

Maybe ... I would be very quiet and try to keep your old plan. Maybe nobody will notice the break and you'll keep the old catalog.

Yeah, I was thinking something might fall apart when I get Moodle fixed. The plan WAS to finish by getting 9 credits via Saylor, and 15 via Study. At Study I was pretty much done with 3 courses. I need to see what still transfers.

I COULD get all credit by exam done by January, then do the Capstone and apply for graduation. A few hundred dollars for CBE, Capstone cost ($397 x 3 ?), and residency waiver (GEEZ, I just looked, $3192?). So $5000 or so plus graduation fees. That doesn't look so good.

[rachel83az]

If you take 16 credits at once at TESU, you qualify for flat rate and residency waiver. Saves a small amount of money.

[Merlin]

Walkingstick shows 2 degree evaluations with reports dated 07/24/20. ASNSM Computer Science, and BSBA General Management. Catalog year 2018 for both. Program Summary for the ASNSM shows complete. Summary for BSBA shows me needing to complete 8 courses plus the capstone. TES-100 says "Waived". I completed some Study.com courses that transferred over.

Does all this sound promising? What is the cost for the TESU Capstone now? How much is the waiver?

The cornerstone and capstone are each 3-credit courses, so you're looking at 3 x $519 each or $1,557 per course ($1,197 in-state). The residency waiver is $3,192 and graduation fee is $298 for a total of $6,604 ($5,884 in-state) plus whatever you pay for the courses you take elsewhere.

Maybe ... I would be very quiet and try to keep your old plan. Maybe nobody will notice the break and you'll keep the old catalog.

Yeah, I was thinking something might fall apart when I get Moodle fixed. The plan WAS to finish by getting 9 credits via Saylor, and 15 via Study. At Study I was pretty much done with 3 courses. I need to see what still transfers.

I COULD get all credit by exam done by January, then do the Capstone and apply for graduation. A few hundred dollars for CBE, Capstone cost ($397 x 3 ?), and residency waiver (GEEZ, I just looked, $3192?). So $5000 or so plus graduation fees. That doesn't look so good.

Considering your enrollment status will have expired by now, it is very likely that when you reapply to TESU to move back into applied status, they will reset your catalog to the current one and you'll lose your cornerstone waiver (TES-100 isn't even an option any longer). So you should also plan to take SOS-110 (cornerstone) as well as the capstone. Both of those are 3 credit courses, and if you're not a NJ resident, that means $519 per credit not $379 per credit (since the Study.com discount doesn't exist anymore).

If you take 16 credits at once at TESU, you qualify for flat rate and residency waiver. Saves a small amount of money.

Well, if you can avoid the residency fee and pay the full-time flat-rate tuition, that will save quite a bit of money. However, you have to take 6 courses instead of 2 directly from TESU (18 credits) to make that possible. You only need 16 credits but its easier to do 18 than 16 and the cost is the same either way.

If you do a 114 credit transfer, you're looking at taking the cornerstone and capstone at TESU (6 credits x $519 per) so per-credit tuition of $3,114 + residency waiver of $3,192 + graduation fee of $298 for a total of $6,604 ($5,884 in-state) plus whatever you pay for the courses you take elsewhere.

If you take 6 courses (18 credits) from TESU directly (which is cornerstone + capstone + 4 additional courses) you can avoid the residency waiver fee and only pay $4,639 flat-rate tuition + graduation fee of $298 for a total of $4,937 ($3,877 in-state) plus whatever you pay for courses taken elsewhere.

So you're looking at a savings of $1,667 ($2,007 in-state) which is a decent amount of change. But it does require taking 4 additional courses with TESU, which are all 15-week courses with no option to accelerate.

[StoicJ]

Thank you all for your helpful feedback. Looks as though even the most optimistic numbers have this path costing well over $5000. Think I'll just have to forget about TESU 

I am not dead set on regional accreditation, so I may apply to University of the People.

[Merlin]

Thank you all for your helpful feedback. Looks as though even the most optimistic numbers have this path costing well over $5000. Think I'll just have to forget about TESU 

I am not dead set on regional accreditation, so I may apply to University of the People.

Well, UoP is working on regional accreditation, but it will probably take a few more years.

If your budget is around $5,000 you can still clear a TESU degree for just around that by doing the last scenario I presented above (take 16+ credits from TESU to get the flat-rate tuition and residency waiver). That will run you $4,937 + books. However, that assumes you don't need to take any additional courses outside of TESU as those will push you beyond $5,000 depending on how many credits you need to take beyond the 16 from TESU.

It looks like you have around 120 credits accumulated but they appear to be a mix of Gen Ed, business, and technical courses. It's hard to really gauge how many additional credits you'd need without a new evaluation.

If you're a US resident you can finish off a BS degree for around $3,500 via WGU if you transfer in 90 credits (including ACE courses) and can complete the last 30 credits (7-10 courses) in under six months. That cost includes all books, certification fees, and proctoring fees. However, it doesn't cover test retakes if you end up needing to take an exam more than twice. So if you were looking to complete a degree at WGU for $5,000 or less, that means you'd have a budget of about $1,500 to pick up additional courses at places like Straighterline or Study.com.

It looks like you were seeking an ASNSM CS and a BSBA GM at TESU. WGU doesn't offer associate degrees, but they do have a pretty decent computer science program and they also offer business administration degrees. I don't know much about the business degrees since they recently restructured all of them, but the IT/CS degrees have a pretty solid reputation.

Taking additional courses via Study.com and StraighterLine averages about $33/credit or $100 per course. That cost can be brought down by volume (speed). At $33 per credit, that $1,500 budget at WGU covers about 45 credits. You need an evaluation to be sure how many of your existing credits will transfer to a degree at WGU, but I'd guess you're probably looking at more than 45 credits depending on the degree. It probably won't be a lot more than that though.

Hopefully, that may be helpful to you. Of course, if you're not a current US resident then WGU isn't really an option, but you still have UoP as a backup.

[rachel83az]

Does it matter what degree? If you're looking for low cost, there's UMPI. They haven't got a ton of degrees (BALS with various concentrations, BA in Business Administration with different concentrations, Accounting, Criminal Justice, History, Political Science, Professional Communication & Journalism, and English) but they're only $1400 per session and, unlike WGU, they don't limit the number of credits you can transfer in. It looks like they even accept ACE credits that most other colleges do not. 

I just found out about this yesterday, so I don't know a whole lot about it. But if any of those degrees would work for you, that's a potentially very inexpensive way for you to get a bachelor's.

[openair]

Does it matter what degree? If you're looking for low cost, there's UMPI. They haven't got a ton of degrees (BALS with various concentrations, BA in Business Administration with different concentrations, Accounting, Criminal Justice, History, Political Science, Professional Communication & Journalism, and English) but they're only $1400 per session and, unlike WGU, they don't limit the number of credits you can transfer in. It looks like they even accept ACE credits that most other colleges do not. 

I just found out about this yesterday, so I don't know a whole lot about it. But if any of those degrees would work for you, that's a potentially very inexpensive way for you to get a bachelor's.

Here is some useful info coming from the admissions counselor at University of Maine at Presque Isle:

Quote: "It is possible to enroll online as a foreign student in any online class UMPI has to offer. However, I must warn you that you will be unable to finish a degree in the English (ProfComm concentration) program by strictly taking online classes. There are some courses that must be taken at the University in order to complete the degree. There is no limit on the amount of transfer credits you can be  granted. The per credit charge (this number includes the online course fee) for a student in your situation is approximately $400. The Unified Fee is roughly $30 per credit hour, and there is also a one-time only $100 Personalized Learning Assessment fee."

I am wondering how it would all work with other concentrations in the YourPace degree programs, since I've only asked about English-Journalism. That doesn't look very appealing.

[rachel83az]

Ugh, I didn't notice this before. They count ACE among PLA credit and only allow you to bring in 30 of those credits. https://www.umpi.edu/yourpace/prior-lear...sment-pla/

The first option is to successfully complete one or more of the exams or options listed here:

• CLEP
  
  
• AP
  
  
• ACE
  
  
• DANTES/Military Credit
  

Please note that there is a fee associated with each exam you choose to take, and you may only use PLA for up to 30 credits.

And it looks like they do charge $50 per credit that you bring in this way. https://www.umpi.edu/academics/prior-lea...-schedule/

Not quite as good as initially thought, but still potentially cheaper than WGU for students starting from scratch.