Options for "Fast/Cheap" Credits that Give a Letter Grade at the Big Three?

[retro]

The Big Three let us bulk import ACE credits to satisfy degree requirements. Most of us are aware of the opportunity cost trade-off in doing so: they're just credit, not a letter grade that impacts your GPA. Depending on your exact situation, this can be a benefit or a drawback.

I'm attracted to the speed of credits from the likes of Straighterline, but would like a GPA grade. Are there realistic options for this that are similarly low cost and self-paced?

I've looked at pen and paper correspondence courses — though rare, those are still a thing — but they do in fact look like full courses worth of workload and less like "cram like hell and take 1-5 tests and you're ready." I'm not sure if those would yield a GPA grade or not.

I've also looked at the ePacks from TESU but it looks like I'd have to formally enroll. That's a bit of a turnoff, as I'd like to delay my enrollment until I'm ready to cash out my credits and graduate.

I realize I am trying to bake my cake and eat it too: cheap credits, with 3-14 days worth of effort, a GPA grade, and a low price point. Thoughts?

[natshar]

The Big Three let us bulk import ACE credits to satisfy degree requirements. Most of us are aware of the opportunity cost trade-off in doing so: they're just credit, not a letter grade that impacts your GPA. Depending on your exact situation, this can be a benefit or a drawback.

I'm attracted to the speed of credits from the likes of Straighterline, but would like a GPA grade. Are there realistic options for this that are similarly low cost and self-paced?

I've looked at pen and paper correspondence courses — though rare, those are still a thing — but they do in fact look like full courses worth of workload and less like "cram like hell and take 1-5 tests and you're ready." I'm not sure if those would yield a GPA grade or not.

I've also looked at the ePacks from TESU but it looks like I'd have to formally enroll. That's a bit of a turnoff, as I'd like to delay my enrollment until I'm ready to cash out my credits and graduate.

I realize I am trying to bake my cake and eat it too: cheap credits, with 3-14 days worth of effort, a GPA grade, and a low price point. Thoughts?

If you want to do an epack it doesn't matter if you delay your enrollment. You have one year from when you enroll to either enroll in another TESU course or graduate. So if you sign up for an e-pack now, you have a full calendar year to sign up for the capstone or cornerstone and your enrollment will be extended another year. It used to be, that it didn't make sense to enroll at TESU until you were ready to graduate this is no longer the case. With all changes, TESU is making it makes sense to lock down a catalog sooner rather than later. Also if you do 16 credits at TESU you don't have to pay the waiver fee. This might be a good option for you if you need graded credit anyways.

As to answer you question I don't think there is one to get it all. Some ideas would be ASU earned admissions they are only $400 a class, but most of them are 8 weeks long. My local CC offers 5 week online courses at $100/credit. I don't know how much you will find for 3-14 days for effort and what you will find probably won't be super cheap.

[davewill]

There really aren't any, and even if there were, transfer grades are not reflected in your TESU GPA. If you want the grades for a master's application, for example, you would have to submit a transcript from the original provider, and chances are the master's program wouldn't accept them except from an accredited school.

[allvia]

Just to be clear when you graduate from one of the Big3 you do have a GPA, even with transferring in the  max alternative credits - it's just  based on 2 courses (cornerstone & capstone).  Also, as davewill pointed out transferring in graded credits from another school doesn't impact the GPA reflected on your Big3 official degree transcript.

[cookderosa]

If you switch to COSC, you can get graded credits. Onlinedegree.com classes ($9 each) come in with a grade, plus you'll have the Capstone and Cornerstone. Here's there list - FYI it's $9 no matter how many credits the course is.

Environmental Science, 3 credits
Economics—Introduction to Microeconomics, 3 credits
Criminal Justice—Cybersecurity & Cybercrime, 3 credits
Nutrition & Health, 3 credits
History, 3 credits
Psychology, 3 credits
Healthcare—Introduction to Public Health, 3 credits
Education—Language & Literacy in Education, 3 credits
Astronomy—Introduction to Cosmology, 3 credits
Robotics—Introduction to Robotics, 3 credits
Computer Science—Introduction to Programming, 3 credits
Business—Introduction to Marketing & Strategy, 3 credits
Biology, 3 credits
Cooking—Introduction to Culinary Skills, 2 credits
Business—Introduction to Accounting & Finance, 3 credits

[dfrecore]

The Big Three let us bulk import ACE credits to satisfy degree requirements. Most of us are aware of the opportunity cost trade-off in doing so: they're just credit, not a letter grade that impacts your GPA. Depending on your exact situation, this can be a benefit or a drawback.

I'm attracted to the speed of credits from the likes of Straighterline, but would like a GPA grade. Are there realistic options for this that are similarly low cost and self-paced?

I've looked at pen and paper correspondence courses — though rare, those are still a thing — but they do in fact look like full courses worth of workload and less like "cram like hell and take 1-5 tests and you're ready." I'm not sure if those would yield a GPA grade or not.

I've also looked at the ePacks from TESU but it looks like I'd have to formally enroll. That's a bit of a turnoff, as I'd like to delay my enrollment until I'm ready to cash out my credits and graduate.

I realize I am trying to bake my cake and eat it too: cheap credits, with 3-14 days worth of effort, a GPA grade, and a low price point. Thoughts?

If you want graded credits from an RA school, there are lots of decently-priced options, but they will all require time and completing a full course.  Nothing like $30/cr.  If you want free or ultra-low-cost then you get those from alternative course/exam providers and don't get a grade.

The only exception is that COSC will bring in a grade from some cost providers (OD, Study.com, SL - I think).  But if you were to go to another school later for another degree, and they wanted to see your transcripts, these probably won't work since the "grades" are COSC's invention.