[New][Help needed] Need some insight/help planning BACS/BSCS

[dfrecore]

So, for testing out, what happens is you look at the requirements for the degree, and then figure out another way to get some of them. For instance, many schools require a certain number of humanities courses (art, communications, english, literature, music, foreign language, etc.). You just need to figure out a fast and cheap way to get as many of those credits as possible. So you could take the English Lit CLEP, or take the Art History DSST, or Visual Communications Sophia course, or Religion at Straighterline (SL). To get your credits in social sciences (history, psychology, economics, Sociology, criminal justice, etc.), you could take a history CLEP, or DSST, or SL course. Lots of ways to find classes in the general education area that can be taken for $100 or less per course. Then you get into the "core" of the degree, and it can become a little more difficult to find those courses. So, you might want to take a couple at your local community college (CC) and transfer those in. Or find an online 4-yr school with decent prices. Etc.

TESU will accept 116cr transferred in - you have to take the 1cr cornerstone and 3cr capstone through them . WGU has a limit (but I don't know what it is - maybe 90cr?). COSC will accept 114 (3cr cornerstone and 3cr capstone have to be taken at COSC). Hodges I have no idea. And, it would be a little more difficult as they don't accept as many alternative courses.

With TESU and COSC, you can figure out exactly what it will cost and how long it can take, because you take each course individually. With WGU/Hodge and other competency-based (time-based) programs, you want to figure out the courses you can take ahead of time for credit, and get those out of the way. There's a balance, between paying for individual courses to make it possible to get all of your core classes completed through them in a single (or maybe 2) terms, and taking so many courses that you overpay because you could have taken them in a term instead. But I would prefer to take as many courses as possible first and get those all transferred in and have as few courses as possible left before you start their program. The cost savings can be significant, so definitely look into those.

One thing we need is your grades. If you got less than a C in anything (even a C-), then you may not be able to transfer it. Some schools will allow for it, others won't. I can tell because you repeated a couple of courses. It's also hard to know exactly what your math courses will transfer in as. And, you took Chem Lab without the Chem course? Is Prin of Physic physics or physical fitness? And, how many credits are all of the courses you took?

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If you were to look at the Hodges degree, here are the following courses you could apply towards their requirements:

Business Core (12cr):
Intro to Business (DSST)
Advanced Computer Applications (Management Information Systems DSST)
Principles of Accounting (CLEP) OR Personal Finance (DSST)

Liberal Arts Component (32cr needed, 40cr taken):
English Comp - English I & II already taken
Math or Science (including College Algebra & Statistics) - Intermediate Algebra, Plane Trig, Precalc Algebra, College Algebra, Bio I + Lab, Chem Lab all taken, Statistics DSST needed
Humanities - Philosophy & Ethics taken
Social Science - Human Development, American History I & II, Macroeconomics taken
Computer Applications - Intro to Computing DSST or Info Systems & Computer Applications CLEP

Electives (8cr) - fulfilled by excess Liberal Arts courses

So, if you passed the above 5 CLEP/DSST exams, you would come in with as much as you could take towards the degree, and all that would be left was the core SW Dev courses. That's what you would want to do for this particular degree program. It would only cost you $80 per exam (plus testing center fees of maybe $20 per exam), so a total of $500, plus the $2750 for a term (or $5,500 for 2 terms). That's a pretty good price for the degree that you want.

Hope that helps figure some things out.