New Student: Business Degree Course Map

[Nate121693]

Hi, I am new to this thread and I am currently a pilot looking to get a 4 year degree to be hired at a major airline. I want to get a business degree. Whichever one allows me to CLEP most, if not all of the credits. I am unfamiliar with Sophia and study.com can someone please share the best course roadmap for going from zero to hero in the most cost effective and time efficient way? I have zero college credits so I am starting from scratch. Thank you

[rachel83az]

What is your budget? What pilot license(s) do you already have? TESU has specific degrees for pilots with license(s): https://www.tesu.edu/ast/programs/aviation These aren't business degrees, but it might be a relatively cheap/easy way for you to get a degree.

Actual CLEP exams will, unfortunately, not get you that far. CLEP exams are only lower-level and mostly only general education credits. So, you definitely have to utilize Sophia and Study.com for a lot of your credits.

TESU also has a requirement of at least 30 credits from an actual college or university. You can take some or all of these from TESU. For budget-conscious students, we usually recommend a single flat-rate TESU term of 16 credits. This will get you about half of the RA credits you need, plus allow you to avoid paying the residency waiver fee. The remainder of the RA credits can come from anywhere, but one of the cheapest options would be to pass 5 TECEP exams. These are kind of similar to CLEP exams, but they are offered directly by TESU. https://www2.tesu.edu/listalltecep.php

For business degrees, it's recommended that you make your own degree plan and you post your spreadsheet here. Then we can help you with any tweaks. The following wiki pages will help you to get started:

https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...ts_Roadmap
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...re_Roadmap

[Nate121693]

I currently have my private pilot, instrument rating, commercial pilot and commercial multi rating. Will those help with getting a different degree?

As far as my budget I am trying to do this the cheapest way possible. I have heard of students getting a degree for 5k. Just not sure how to do it.

For the TESU term of 16 credits are those in person classes I need to take?

Thank you


Thank you

[rachel83az]

Pilot licenses can be worth credit at TESU. You can see the equivalencies here: https://www2.tesu.edu/oplr/client.php?client=FAA-ATP

$5k is a bit low for a TESU degree. Even assuming perfect pass rate (not having to retake anything), you're probably looking at $6-7k at minimum. You'll need to create a spreadsheet to see how close you are to your goal and if there are any easier/cheaper pathways.

All TESU classes are online. You do not have to do any in-person classes anywhere unless you want to do some at a local community college. Or if you choose a degree that requires specific locally-taken credits.

[allvia]

Your quickest and lowest cost business degree option (especially starting from zero credits) is likely through UMPI, specifically the UMPI BABA Management & Leadership. It should come in at about the 5k or less mark - here is the link for plan on the wiki - https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/UM...egree_Plan

Edit: that wiki page is a bit outdated in the sense you don't need anything other than Sophia and UMPI to complete the degree now.

[dfrecore]

It looks like (though I could be wrong) that you have 25cr of LL or so to bring in - maybe another 4cr of UL? If you had your Flight Instructor cert, than another 9cr of UL.
So, what your certs get you at TESU is a bunch of credit - but not enough to put you over the edge. If you opted for a BALS, you could use all of these credits in the Free Electives area. But, that won't get you a ton closer to a degree, since Free Electives are the easiest/cheapest credits you can get.

So, I would probably look at UMPI instead. You're walking away from maybe 30cr, but UMPI would still be cheaper overall, and probably faster as well.

[jch]

Important note for this particular situation: credits awarded through TESU's PLR office, such as the dozen or so credits OP may get from their pilot licenses, are not subject to the 90 credit cap on ACE/NCCRS credits. That's why I always like to clarify that the cap is specifically an ACE/NCCRS limit; the 30 other credits do not necessarily have to be from a college or university as long as they are from some source that TESU doesn't count as ACE/NCCRS. Examples include professional licenses, certifications, and training under PLR, portfolio credits under PLA, and a few other miscellanies sources.
In this case, OP may be able to use their aviation licenses as electives at TESU, do a 16-credit term to get remaining non-ACE credits plus residency, and complete the majority of degree requirements through ACE sources like CLEP, SDC, and Sophia.

[dfrecore]

Important note for this particular situation: credits awarded through TESU's PLR office, such as the dozen or so credits OP may get from their pilot licenses, are not subject to the 90 credit cap on ACE/NCCRS credits. That's why I always like to clarify that the cap is specifically an ACE/NCCRS limit; the 30 other credits do not necessarily have to be from a college or university as long as they are from some source that TESU doesn't count as ACE/NCCRS. Examples include professional licenses, certifications, and training under PLR, portfolio credits under PLA, and a few other miscellanies sources.  
In this case, OP may be able to use their aviation licenses as electives at TESU, do a 16-credit term to get remaining non-ACE credits plus residency, and complete the majority of degree requirements through ACE sources like CLEP, SDC, and Sophia.

"Thomas Edison State University requires a minimum of 30 credits from an institutionally accredited institution in the United States approved under the TESU Transfer Credit Policy and Guidelines for bachelor's degree."

While these credits don't count as ACE/NCCRS, they also don't count as RA credit, so you can't use them to meet that 30cr minimum.

[jch]

In my experience TESU lists the restriction on my academic evals specifically as an ACE/NCCRS limit, and the counter next to it only counts credits that are ACE/NCCRS. Credits from PLR have never counted against the restriction for me.
Here's the exact language:

NCCRS and ACE Semester Hours (SH)
Thomas Edison State University limits the number of semester hours (SH) that are accepted in transfer based on courses and examinations approved through the National College Credit Recommendation Service (NCCRS) or the American Council on Education's (ACE) College Credit Recommendation Service.
Specifically, a maximum of 90 semester hours (SH) in total, from both ACE and NCCRS reviewed organizations, like corporate training, CLEP, DSST, AP exams, Study.com, Sophia, Ma'alot Educational Network, Military Joint Services Transcript (JST), can be used toward a bachelor's degree and 45 SH toward an associate degree. This is a policy revision made in December 2020.
The total amount of ACE/NCCRS semester hours (SH) applying to your degree program is currently: 63.00

That makes it very clear that the restriction is implemented as just an ACE/NCCRS limit.
Edit: also verified this with a quick tally: the PLR credits I have are NOT counted against the ACE/NCCRS limit on my evals.

[bjcheung77]

@Nate121693, Welcome to the board, that's a great first intro post to get more details and ask questions. It's just too short and sweet, but not enough to 'eat' and go by... Basically, it's missing all the important info in the template/last post addendum here, without much more details, it's just a guessing game and will be a waste of energy/time guessing: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

You've provided just a piece of the puzzle, but we need all the pieces to help you be a zero... err, come from a zero to a hero! So, do yourself that favor in providing a better overview of your situation. Without giving us a clearer picture, that path from pilot to degree, is missing what is required to get you to that goal. The skies are clear for take off, you just need to map that path...