Super Confused about the Residency Waiver

[Merlin]

So if you do 9cr per term for the first term, it's $4639.  Then you'd do 7cr in the 2nd term, which would be $3633.  That's a total of $8272, totally negating the point of this.  If you just took the cornerstone and capstone and paid the residency waiver, then you'd pay $6306.

You only save money by doing 16cr in a single term.  If you can't, then don't bother.  You'll pay almost $2000 more, and spend more time as well (2x12week terms = 24 weeks).  Not a good plan at all, unless you get the Pell grant.

Agreed. This is why I generally don't recommend the flat-rate full-time tuition plan to people unless someone else is paying their way. Getting the courses done through SDC or elsewhere is the better choice for most people since completing 16 credits in a single term would be brutal, especially considering that includes the Capstone.

I just wanted to clarify that the residency requirement didn't require completing 16 credits in a single term, nor does the flat-rate tuition plan. It seemed like there was an implication that this was a requirement for both based on the wording. Someone coming in from a search on the forum may not realize the difference.

[LevelUP]

Es posible to do 16 credits in one term with some caveats.
1. You know how to synthesize a lot of information and write a research paper quickly. (study UL courses practice with this)
2. You take easy courses.  Computer Concepts and Applications (CIS-107-TE), Applied Liberal Arts Mathematics (MAT-105-TE)
3. You have enough time.  40hrs a week free with a job or just doing school full-time no job.  Going to be pure hell the first couple of weeks.

Other possible ways to hack these courses:
1.  Get the books early and read them before starting the courses.
2.  Get ahead in these courses, for example writing papers before due dates, when you do start because the last thing you want to do is get behind.

[dbinghamjr]

Has anyone tried e-Pack courses with the flat rate tuition? From what I can tell in the catalog, they should be included.

You could take the cornerstone, capstone, and a 1cr online/guided study course (medical terminology or the Jane Austen course) and then 9cr of e-Pack courses (which should have no assignments or deadlines other than a final exam due at the end of the term) to fill out the 16cr needed for the wavier. It would still be rather difficult, but not as bad as dealing with discussions, assignments, etc for 5-6 classes every single week.

I'm pretty sure this should also be Pell Grant eligible (since you're still taking 6cr+ of OL/GS courses). With a max grant, that would be around $3k plus books.

[elledee2020]

Has anyone tried e-Pack courses with the flat rate tuition? From what I can tell in the catalog, they should be included.

You could take the cornerstone, capstone, and a 1cr online/guided study course (medical terminology or the Jane Austen course) and then 9cr of e-Pack courses (which should have no assignments or deadlines other than a final exam due at the end of the term) to fill out the 16cr needed for the wavier. It would still be rather difficult, but not as bad as dealing with discussions, assignments, etc for 5-6 classes every single week.

I'm pretty sure this should also be Pell Grant eligible (since you're still taking 6cr+ of OL/GS courses). With a max grant, that would be around $3k plus books.

E-pack doesn't count towards financial aid.  I emailed the other day and asked.  Only Guided Study or actual courses can have cost covered by financial aid.

[Ideas]

16 credits in a TESU term (12 weeks long) is like taking 21 credits in a traditional semester (16 weeks long). For federal aid, 12 credits in a traditional semester is full-time, and many schools with traditional-length semesters won't allow students to take more than 18 credits (without special permission) for good reason.

Guided Study doesn't have as many discussions.

[alab21]

What exactly is the difference between guided study, e-pack and an online course?


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[LevelUP]

Has anyone tried e-Pack courses with the flat rate tuition? From what I can tell in the catalog, they should be included.

You could take the cornerstone, capstone, and a 1cr online/guided study course (medical terminology or the Jane Austen course) and then 9cr of e-Pack courses (which should have no assignments or deadlines other than a final exam due at the end of the term) to fill out the 16cr needed for the wavier. It would still be rather difficult, but not as bad as dealing with discussions, assignments, etc for 5-6 classes every single week.

I'm pretty sure this should also be Pell Grant eligible (since you're still taking 6cr+ of OL/GS courses). With a max grant, that would be around $3k plus books.

Pell grant is divided by 3.  So you get $2115 per term max.  TESU uses Pell Grant formula 3 

You do need to be at least taking 6 credits worth of courses to get the Pell Grant.

[dbinghamjr]

Pell grant is divided by 3.  So you get $2115 per term max.  TESU uses Pell Grant formula 3 

You do need to be at least taking 6 credits worth of courses to get the Pell Grant.

Right, so with the flat rate @ $4,639 + $348 in fees (App & Graduation), minus $2,115 from a Pell Grant, you're left owing a little under ~$3k before buying books.

Regardless of how you do it, you'll have to take 7cr of OL/GS courses (capstone+cornerstone+1cr option), so what I'm wondering is if you can use those 7cr to get the Pell Grant & then tack on 9cr in EP courses without affecting financial aid...

[elledee2020]

Pell grant is divided by 3.  So you get $2115 per term max.  TESU uses Pell Grant formula 3 

You do need to be at least taking 6 credits worth of courses to get the Pell Grant.

Right, so with the flat rate @ $4,639 + $348 in fees (App & Graduation), minus $2,115 from a Pell Grant, you're left owing a little under ~$3k before buying books.

Regardless of how you do it, you'll have to take 7cr of OL/GS courses (capstone+cornerstone+1cr option), so what I'm wondering is if you can use those 7cr to get the Pell Grant & then tack on 9cr in EP courses without affecting financial aid...

The E-packs count towards credit hours for the residency waiver, but not towards the credit hours required to get the full Pell grant or FA loans.  That was the official word from the FA office and it is also stated in the catalog.  So you'd have to have 12 credits from courses or Guided Study to get 100% FA disbursement, then you could use e-packs to get the other 4 credits for residency.

[dfrecore]

What exactly is the difference between guided study, e-pack and an online course?


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Online is the norm - you take the course, you have discussion posts you have to do, deadlines, etc.

Guided study is similar - you take the course, you have written assignments instead of discussion posts, there are deadlines.  So you're just swapping out written assignments instead of discussion posts.  The scoring is a bit different, but I figured out that I would have gotten .2% different in online. So not a huge deal.  I probably ended up writing more than if I'd done the discussion posts, but I didn't have to interact with classmates.

E-Pack is basically a test-out option.  You get the book and self-study; then you take chapter quizzes to see if you're ready, but they aren't graded and don't count towards your final grade.  When you're ready, you take a final exam which counts for 100% of your grade.