Paying for Cleps/Maximizing student loans

[Motomi]

Hey everyone,
Basically my goal is to obtain a bachelors degree from one of the big 3 within the next 12 months as it has been a roadblock from potential employers and always been a goal of mine. I have my living expenses covered with some web development work I do on the side. However, I would not be able to pay for all the cleps/other fees as I plan on testing out of almost all courses.

I was wondering what the best course of action would be to achieve this, and which of the big 3 would be most suited for this. Perhaps enrolling at my local community college ($137 per credit hour) and taking 12 hours? Then using the leftover loan/grant money to pay for the tests? (I qualifying for full pell grant and loans). I would ideally want to only do this for a maximum of 1-2 semesters to keep loans to a minimum. So in short, attending the CC, receiving the refund, bust my ass taking all the tests that I have already been studying for and then enrolling at one of the big 3 for graduation. Again, I have no idea if this is the best course of action in this situation, just what I have picked up from searching these forums.

Any help would be appreciated, I have to say you guys on this forum have already been invaluable to me and I would love to give back to it some day to help someone in my same situation.

[Prloko]

Hey everyone,
Basically my goal is to obtain a bachelors degree from one of the big 3 within the next 12 months as it has been a roadblock from potential employers and always been a goal of mine. I have my living expenses covered with some web development work I do on the side. However, I would not be able to pay for all the cleps/other fees as I plan on testing out of almost all courses.

I was wondering what the best course of action would be to achieve this, and which of the big 3 would be most suited for this. Perhaps enrolling at my local community college ($137 per credit hour) and taking 12 hours? Then using the leftover loan/grant money to pay for the tests? (I qualifying for full pell grant and loans). I would ideally want to only do this for a maximum of 1-2 semesters to keep loans to a minimum. So in short, attending the CC, receiving the refund, bust my ass taking all the tests that I have already been studying for and then enrolling at one of the big 3 for graduation. Again, I have no idea if this is the best course of action in this situation, just what I have picked up from searching these forums.

Any help would be appreciated, I have to say you guys on this forum have already been invaluable to me and I would love to give back to it some day to help someone in my same situation.

It is possible to do this with TESC if you enroll in 6 credits worth of courses (since this is full time to TESC per quarter), just know that TESC pays moneys out based on a quarterly basis istead of a semester basis (which is odd to me) and you will get only a quarter of your grant. What you will also get is the remaining loan disbursement. I know someone who did this in order to get the loan money for expenses like CLEP and books.

[defscarlett]

This is possible at any of the big 3. In order to recommend which school it depends on what type of degree you're looking for as well as any previous credit or credit worthy certifications you may have. If you just want any degree, just to say you have a degree, I would caution you to make sure that it will suffice to fulfill your career aspirations. Having the "right" degree is more important than finishing in a pre-designated amount of time. Just based on the information provided I would potentially recommend COSC due to the free FEMA courses that can be used for credit. You would be able to start working on college credit before getting your student loans to begin paying for testing etc. I would also potentially consider TESC for the per credit tuition plan, using TECEPs and the couple courses you would take to fulfill the requirements to get the financial aid. I would not specifically recommend going to a community college to get the financial aid because of "residency requirements" for each of the big 3. You will most likely have to take at least one course in residence to graduate; i.e. your capstone.

[Motomi]

It is possible to do this with TESC if you enroll in 6 credits worth of courses (since this is full time to TESC per quarter), just know that TESC pays moneys out based on a quarterly basis istead of a semester basis (which is odd to me) and you will get only a quarter of your grant. What you will also get is the remaining loan disbursement. I know someone who did this in order to get the loan money for expenses like CLEP and books.

Ah, Ok this is very helpful. I was wondering how this worked exactly after reading on their site. So since they are quarterly based 6 credit hours counts as full time instead of 12, any loan/grant payouts will be in 1/4 I see.

[Motomi]

This is possible at any of the big 3. In order to recommend which school it depends on what type of degree you're looking for as well as any previous credit or credit worthy certifications you may have. If you just want any degree, just to say you have a degree, I would caution you to make sure that it will suffice to fulfill your career aspirations. Having the "right" degree is more important than finishing in a pre-designated amount of time. Just based on the information provided I would potentially recommend COSC due to the free FEMA courses that can be used for credit. You would be able to start working on college credit before getting your student loans to begin paying for testing etc. I would also potentially consider TESC for the per credit tuition plan, using TECEPs and the couple courses you would take to fulfill the requirements to get the financial aid. I would not specifically recommend going to a community college to get the financial aid because of "residency requirements" for each of the big 3. You will most likely have to take at least one course in residence to graduate; i.e. your capstone.

Thank you for the replies already a lot of good information. My specific degree I would be pursuing would be Computer Information Systems at TESC, the same as I see you are possibly getting. I do not have any certifications or transfer credits. I am then planning on applying to a few Masters in Information Systems programs. They do not require any certain pre-requisite classes, just a related bachelors and the GRE. So maybe this would make Charter Oak the more attractive school? From what I've read here they still give credit for the GRE and also Fema courses. That would be a possible 50 or so credit hours I would be passing up for free If I was going to take the GRE anyway if I'm not mistaken.

[sanantone]

The best way to maximize financial aid while pursuing a degree the Big 3 is to avoid taking non-required courses at the Big 3. They aren't going to be your cheapest options. COSC does consortium agreements with other schools allowing you to count the credits taken at other schools toward the financial aid requirements at COSC.

COSC gives credits for subject GRE tests, not the general GRE. The general GRE is probably what your master's program of interest requires. If you want a degree in information systems or a related field, none of the subject GRE tests COSC awards credits for will be applicable to your concentration. They will fulfill some general education and free elective requirements, but your free electives can be filled with FEMAs for free. GRE no longer offers the computer science test.

I think attending a cheap community college is fine. You can test out of your UL requirements with the leftover financial aid. TESC's BSBA in CIS technically doesn't have a residency requirement. You can test out of the capstone or transfer it in from another school like Penn Foster. You can use your leftover financial aid for 24 credits worth of TECEPs in order to satisfy the residency requirement under the Per Credit Tuition Plan. This tuition plan does not have an enrollment fee, and TECEPs are only $111 each for non-residents.

[KayV]

Don't forget that there are other cheap sources of credit like ALEKS, Saylor, and TEEX. Saylor offers eleven NCCRS/ACE-approved courses for only the ProctorU fee. TEEX is free, and ALEKS is $20/ month for math credits.

[defscarlett]

I think attending a cheap community college is fine. You can test out of your UL requirements with the leftover financial aid.

Will COSC accept community college credit as upper level?

TESC's BSBA in CIS technically doesn't have a residency requirement. You can test out of the capstone or transfer it in from another school like Penn Foster. You can use your leftover financial aid for 24 credits worth of TECEPs in order to satisfy the residency requirement under the Per Credit Tuition Plan. This tuition plan does not have an enrollment fee, and TECEPs are only $111 each for non-residents.

Systems Analysis & Design will need to be taken at TESC as well as possibly one other CIS Area Of Study elective that will need to be found somewhere. That's with utilizing the TECEP Networking, DSST MIS and TEEX.

Completely testing out of a full fledged CIS degree will be incredibly difficult but there are alternative sources of credit for the majority of the courses i.e. other colleges.

[cookderosa]

I did this since I qualified for a full Pell. I can't remember the breakdown of the numbers exactly (but that wouldn't matter since I graduated in 08) but I payed cash for almost every CLEP for about 6 months before enrolling at TESC. I did that by selling things on Craigslist/eBay, many yard sales, etc. and did a coin jar. I mentioned that to someone in another thread, I think they thought I was kidding; I'm completely serious btw. Our budget had $0 in it for school (and 4 children whose needs came first) so every time I had a dime or a dollar- it went in that jar. Every time I could pay for a CLEP, I'd take one.
I applied for my financial aid and when I did it, I can't remember exactly, but I think the enrollment fee made it hard for me to work out the Pell perfectly, so I ended up taking a student loan for $5k as well. I used TESC for all of my upper level CLASSES and CLEP for lower level exams. I continued to pay cash for exams and TESC kicks back overage every quarter or semester or something, so I put 100% of that into a savings account. I didn't need more than about $1k of my loan if I recall, so all of the "overpayments" were in the savings account and untouched. When I finished my testing, I kept doing my scrimp/saving plan and was able to get my savings account back up to 100% of what the student loan was during my 6 month grace period after graduation. On the day that my first loan payment was due I wrote a check for the entire amount.

You don't need loans to pay for this kind of degree if you already qualify for a Pell. You might need to deliver pizzas and pick up a second or third job until you stash some cash for exams, but this kind of degree won't cost you even $10,000 for the whole thing. You can make it work if you're motivated. Good luck!

[sanantone]

Will COSC accept community college credit as upper level?

No, that's why the leftover financial aid would be used for UL tests, ACE courses, etc.

Systems Analysis & Design will need to be taken at TESC as well as possibly one other CIS Area Of Study elective that will need to be found somewhere. That's with utilizing the TECEP Networking, DSST MIS and TEEX.

Completely testing out of a full fledged CIS degree will be incredibly difficult but there are alternative sources of credit for the majority of the courses i.e. other colleges.

The BSBA in CIS at TESC is very test friendly. Systems Analysis and Design can be taken as an independent study course at Adams State University for less than it would cost to take it at TESC under the Per Credit Tuition Plan. I think the course is around $600. It can also be taken at a community college, but it won't count toward the UL requirements for the area of study.

I have a test out plan for the BSBA in CIS. The problem is that there is one credit missing. TESC might make an exception for that one credit. Javaonline.org offers advanced programming courses that are NCCRS-approved if that last credit is really needed. I don't know their equivalencies, but I plan to ask when I enroll.
Sanantone's BSBA in Computer Information Systems - Degree Forum Wiki