Newbie Canadian looking for advice - where to get liberal arts degrees?

[Cdnbackpacker]

Hey everyone, I just stumbled upon this and it is amazing but somewhat complicated. I have 30 credit hours at my local university but due to lack of money had to drop out. Just got back from teaching ESL in China and I plan on doing ESL for many years so I just want a BA to get around visa requirements. I like history and English so liberal arts would be easy. Should I start taking straighterline and Uexcel courses before registering? And would excelsior be the cheapest for international students? I'm completely new to this and could use a helping hand.

Thanks so much for any help you can give

[clep3705]

Have you considered Athabasca University? It is a Canadian university with a physical campus. It specializes in distance education and has regional accreditation in the United States. Regional accreditation, not national accreditation, is what you want in the United States. As a Canadian, you might find it more affordable.

[bjcheung77]

Have you considered Athabasca University? It is a Canadian university with a physical campus. It specializes in distance education and has regional accreditation in the United States. Regional accreditation, not national accreditation, is what you want in the United States. As a Canadian, you might find it more affordable.

If the OP had about 90 credits from a college/university in Canada, then I would have suggested the same thing. However, since they don't, Athabasca is an even more expensive option than the Big 3 or the Competency Based Degree providers such as Brandman/Hodges, Patten/WGU and etc. OP, what institution did you attend and what courses did you get credit for? List that in here and we'll create a plan of action. I would suggest the Big 3 or competency degrees...

[bjcheung77]

Hey everyone, I just stumbled upon this and it is amazing but somewhat complicated. I have 30 credit hours at my local university but due to lack of money had to drop out. Just got back from teaching ESL in China and I plan on doing ESL for many years so I just want a BA to get around visa requirements. I like history and English so liberal arts would be easy. Should I start taking straighterline and Uexcel courses before registering? And would excelsior be the cheapest for international students? I'm completely new to this and could use a helping hand.

Thanks so much for any help you can give

FYI, Athabasca doesn't accept any ACE/NCCRS transfers, Excelsior was the school to go to about a decade ago for the pricing, as they could not be beat...
However, as times changed, TESU and COSC are very good options. It depends what degree and what you have taken is acceptable at the school of choice.

You should take some time and read over the Beginners Guide thread, it's a sticky also found on the Wiki Degree Forum Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia
If you have further questions after reading the guide/wiki, then use this as "your goto thread" for questions...

[rebel100]

TESU or COSC will beat Excelsior on both price and convenience.

It might help if you list the courses you've completed so far.

[Cdnbackpacker]

Thank you for directing me to that sticky thread, that is a big help. I have taken 30 credit hours of academic writing and various history classes, as well as intro German. I'm not holding my breath that they will be easily transferred so I'm hoping to test out or something similar. Like I said I'm new to this so thanks for pointing me in the right direction! I will read everything and come back when I have my questions and everything more in order.

Thank you!

[Old Guy]

All your courses should be readily transferable. A key term to remember is ACE Approved. Charter Oak State College, Excelsior College and Thomas Edison State University accept ACE Approved courses for credit. Look at the requirements for different programs and start taking courses. For $80 per month at Shmoop, I have 5 courses in 3 weeks of pretty intensive study. They have mostly literature, history, and math. Be careful with their math because I suspect some of them might duplicate. One thing to keep an eye on is accumulating enough upper level courses to satisfy requirements but they are out there. There are cheap ($20 for online proctor) ACE Approved from Saylor, free courses from TEEX and a couple others, and math courses from ALEKS which is in ACE limbo at the moment. To accumulate your credits you open an ACE account and and have ACE transfer in your completed credits. The ACE account is free except you pay something like $20 for transcripts. If you're careful, your coursework can be very cheap.

[dfrecore]

Thank you for directing me to that sticky thread, that is a big help. I have taken 30 credit hours of academic writing and various history classes, as well as intro German. I'm not holding my breath that they will be easily transferred so I'm hoping to test out or something similar. Like I said I'm new to this so thanks for pointing me in the right direction! I will read everything and come back when I have my questions and everything more in order.

Thank you!

I'm not sure why you would think that your courses wouldn't be easily transferred? Why wouldn't they?

[bjcheung77]

I'm not sure why you would think that your courses wouldn't be easily transferred? Why wouldn't they?

That's what I was thinking too, I think OP may have missed my question earlier.
Some private colleges/universities in Canada may not transfer well. Anyways, Here it is again,

OP (Cdnbackpacker), what institution did you attend and what courses did you get credit for?
List that in here and we'll create a plan of action. I would suggest the Big 3 or competency degrees...

[Life Long Learning]

You really need to call Excelsior?

They have the most flexible BS Liberal Arts degree of the big three! Not sure if any of them charge out of Country fees?

Hey everyone, I just stumbled upon this and it is amazing but somewhat complicated. I have 30 credit hours at my local university but due to lack of money had to drop out. Just got back from teaching ESL in China and I plan on doing ESL for many years so I just want a BA to get around visa requirements. I like history and English so liberal arts would be easy. Should I start taking straighterline and Uexcel courses before registering? And would excelsior be the cheapest for international students? I'm completely new to this and could use a helping hand.

Thanks so much for any help you can give