COSC - RA credits for general studies degree

[Antonella]

Hello everyone! I'm not from the US but I decided to get my online degree from a US university. COSC seemed like the best option for me and I'm already taking Saylor courses. 

I did not know about the ACE/RA requirements until a few days ago, so now I don't know how to get the RA credits that COSC requires (30) without spending a lot of money. 

I have seen that bilingual students can get college credits by examination, but I don't know if those are ACE or RA credits. 

So, do you have any advice for me? Are there any other universities that I should take a look at? Or any other ways to earn the required RA credits for COSC?

Thanks for the space and for all the helpful information, love this forum.

[rachel83az]

Unfortunately, COSC is no longer a viable option for an affordable degree. They do NOT accept most alternate credit sources anymore, which means it's pretty much impossible to get the 30 upper level credits needed for any degree. Viable choices are:

Excelsior: Everything except the final 7 credits (cornerstone, capstone, information literacy) can come from alternate sources like Saylor, Sophia, Study.com, etc. It's a decent option for a degree. If you take the ACTFL language exams, it's a good way to get a decent amount of UL credit required.

UMPI: Competency based, can be as cheap as $1400-2800USD for a degree, depending on how quickly you can work. You must be comfortable writing academic papers in English, however. You can get up to 90 credits from alternate sources like Sophia, etc., but the remaining 30 credits would need to be taken at UMPI.

TESU: The most expensive option, but also has the most degree options. For instance, if you wanted a Computer Science degree, TESU actually has the cheapest option for that. They also have a 30 RA credit requirement, but this can be met by taking a combination of their own TECEP exams and/or a 16-credit flat-rate term.

What language(s) do you speak? Did you choose General Studies because you actually want that or would another degree work better? I know that "General Studies" or "Liberal Studies" isn't as well-known outside of the US, so it may not be as acceptable to non-US employers.

[Antonella]

Unfortunately, COSC is no longer a viable option for an affordable degree. They do NOT accept most alternate credit sources anymore, which means it's pretty much impossible to get the 30 upper level credits needed for any degree. Viable choices are:

Excelsior: Everything except the final 7 credits (cornerstone, capstone, information literacy) can come from alternate sources like Saylor, Sophia, Study.com, etc. It's a decent option for a degree. If you take the ACTFL language exams, it's a good way to get a decent amount of UL credit required.

UMPI: Competency based, can be as cheap as $1400-2800USD for a degree, depending on how quickly you can work. You must be comfortable writing academic papers in English, however. You can get up to 90 credits from alternate sources like Sophia, etc., but the remaining 30 credits would need to be taken at UMPI.

TESU: The most expensive option, but also has the most degree options. For instance, if you wanted a Computer Science degree, TESU actually has the cheapest option for that. They also have a 30 RA credit requirement, but this can be met by taking a combination of their own TECEP exams and/or a 16-credit flat-rate term.

What language(s) do you speak? Did you choose General Studies because you actually want that or would another degree work better? I know that "General Studies" or "Liberal Studies" isn't as well-known outside of the US, so it may not be as acceptable to non-US employers.

Hi Rachel, thank you for this information! I speak Spanish and English. 

Honestly, I just wanted a bachelor in science with a strong focus on natural sciences and math. I work as a freelancer for US clients so I'm not focusing on how acceptable the degree is, I just want to learn and get a diploma . I have been checking excerlsior college, maybe the information technology degree with a general concentration can be a good option too. I see that you are working towards the [/url]ASNSM in Mathematics at TESI, but I know that they require 30 RA credits as COSC. 
[url=https://www.tesu.edu/heavin/asnsm/mathematics]

[rachel83az]

TESU does require 30 RA credits, yes, but you can get those cheaply by taking TECEP exams. Lower level TECEP exams are usually relatively easy and they cost $50/credit. Which makes each exam $150. This isn't that much more than the cost of credits from places like Study.com. It's the same price as Coopersmith courses. If you want a TESU degree, there are suggestions for inexpensive credits here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...ts_Roadmap If you want a math degree, it's possible to get one relatively inexpensively now, though exactly what you should take is something that escapes me at the moment. The Computer Science degree is also relatively easy/inexpensive these days.

For UMPI, there are degree plans here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Category:UMPI

Excelsior is a bit tricker to plan for, especially for the uninitiated. I'm not 100% sure that the IT degree can be obtained cheaply with alternate sources. dfrecore would know better.

[bjcheung77]

Welcome to the board! You're explaining what you want but not providing much more info for us to help you.  This is why we have a template and last post addendum; I highly suggest you update your current post with the info that's missing here, we can help you further once we know more details: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Forum-D...ing-Advice

In addition to what was mentioned by RachelAZ83, you should work towards both EC/TESU (allows 113/114 credit transfers) or UMPI
allow you to transfer a max of 90 alternative credits into the degree program. Find the requirements for the degree programs that interest you and the courses that can transfer, work on them until you're done... You can apply to both EC/UMPI free and see which one becomes more favorable...

[dfrecore]

TESU is the one school I know of where you can get almost your entire AoS (area of study) done completely through ACTFL exams - they don't consider any of the 4 exams overlapping; scoring the highest on all 4 exams will give you 12cr of UL and 24cr of LL, for $318 or 375 depending on which Oral exam you choose. You can also take the 3 Study.com Spanish courses which will not overlap.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's what's available for Spanish for the ACTFL exams:

ORAL PROFICIENCY INTERVIEW (you can only choose 1):

OPIc (computerized) $108 OR
OPI (live person) $165

Novice High/Intermediate Low 3cr (3cr LL)
Intermediate Mid 6cr (6cr LL)
Intermediate High/Advanced Low 9cr (9cr LL)
Advanced Mid 9cr (6cr LL/3cr UL)
Advanced High/Superior 12cr (6cr LL/6cr UL)



LISTENING PROFICIENCY TEST:

LPT $51

Intermediate Mid/Intermediate High 3cr (3cr LL)
Advanced Low/Superior 6cr (6cr LL)


WRITTEN PROFICIENCY TEST:

WPT $108

Novice High/Intermediate Low 3cr (3cr LL)
Intermediate Mid 6cr (6cr LL)
Intermediate High/Advanced Low 8cr (6cr LL/2cr UL)
Advanced Mid 9cr (6cr LL/3cr UL)
Advanced High/Superior 12cr (6cr LL/6cr UL)



READING PROFICIENCY TEST:

RPT $51

Intermediate High 2cr (2cr LL)
Advanced Low/Advanced Mid 3cr (3cr LL)
Advanced High/Superior 6cr (6cr LL)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm not sure how UMPI and EU will bring in these courses, so you might want to take everything and see how you score, and then send in those transcripts to all 3 schools to see what happens (we already know with TESU obviously); then you just compare how easy it is to finish any of the degrees.

If you do this, please report back so we can see how these exams all come in. Oh, and send them in 1-at-a-time, so we can see what each exam comes in as at each school.