TESC Degree Plan for AAS in Criminal Justice and BA in Psychology - advice?

[Mara]

This may not be the cheapest BA from TESC, but my situation is somewhat unique. I have too many upper level Psychology courses to change majors, and I'm lucky enough to qualify for a full Pell grant.

Because I must take six credits of online classes a quarter to maintain financial aid eligibility, it would be cheaper to apply aid funds to the Comprehensive Tuition Plan instead of the Enrolled Options plan. If I'm reading the TESC website correctly, that means I could take an additional 12 credits a year for the same price, either online or TECEPs.

With that in mind, here is my attempted degree plan to earn the requirements for both a BA in Psychology and (since there is no defined minor) the AAS in Criminal Justice. The starred courses indicate the 21 CJ credits. This leaves me completing 16 online TESC courses, 8 TECEP exams, the NCCRS College Algebra class from Saylor, one DSST exam, and 2 CLEPs.

I would appreciate any advice or critiques from those of you with more experience - if you see a class I'm currently planning to take online when there's an easier exam credit available for it, and see a harder exam credit that I might want to take the class for instead of testing out, for example, that would be awesome feedback!

I. General Education Requirements -- 60
A. Intellectual and Practical Skills --15
1. Written Communication - (6)
ENC-101-TE English Composition I
ENC-102-TE English Composition II

2. Oral Communication (3)
COM-209 Principles of Public Speaking

3. Quantitative Literacy (3)
MA001 - College Algebra - Saylor NCCRS Recommend

4. Information Literacy (3)
SOC-291 Criminology *

B. Civic and Global Learning -- 9
1. Diversity (3)
HIS-126-TE World History from 1600 to Present

2. Ethics (3)
ETH-210-TE Environmental Ethics

3. Civic Engagement (3)
American Government -- LaTech Transfer

C. Knowledge of Human Cultures -- 12
PHI-130-TE Introduction To Critical Reasoning
SOC-101-CE Introductory Sociology
AOJ-102 Introduction to Criminal Justice *
POS-101-TE Introduction to Political Science

D. Understanding the Physical and Natural World -- 4
Biology (with lab) -- LaTech Transfer

E. General Education Electives -- 21 (to get a full 60 hours in GE)
PSY-270-TE Psychology of Women
SOC-210-TE Marriage and the Family
AOJ-280: Forensic Science *
AOJ-381: Victimology and Criminal Behavior *
AOJ-484: Public Policy, Crime and Criminal Justice *
SOC-242 Juvenile Delinquency *
PSY-300 Thanatology: An Understanding of Death and Dying

II. Area of Study: Psychology - 39
A. Required Courses - 30
Introduction to Psychology (3) -- LaTech Transfer
Research in Experimental Psychology (3) - PSY-322 Research in Experimental Psychology
Social Psychology (6) - PSY-379 Social Psychology
History and Systems of Psychology (3) -- LaTech ULTransfer
Physiological Psychology (3) - PSY-374 Physiological Psychology
Developmental Psychology (3) -- PSY-211-CE Developmental Psychology
Abnormal Psychology (3) -- LaTech UL Transfer
Statistics (3) -- LaTech Transfer
Ethics in the Social Sciences (3) - SOS-450 Ethics in the Social Sciences

B. Capstone -- 3
LIB-495 Liberal Arts Capstone (3)

C. Psychology Electives -- 6
Psychology of Personality -- LaTech UL Transfer
Psychology of Learning -- LaTech UL Transfer

III. Electives -- 22
Zoology w/ Lab -- LaTech Transfer (4)
Medical Anthropology -- LaTech Transfer (3)
Advanced General Psychology -- LaTech LL Transfer (3)
Chemistry w/ Lab -- LaTech Transfer (3)
HLS-410 Counterterrorism: Constitutional and Legislative Issues (3) *
SOC-376 Women and Social Action (3)
SOS-305-DE Substance Abuse (3)

[swalke321]

SOS 305 Substance Abuse might count as an AAS criminal justice elective. TESC changes their policies from time to time but in June it counted as a CJ elective for the AAS. I've never taken the Gangs class at TESC but an academic advisor recommended it, says students enjoy it. DSST has a criminal justice exam that is easy (AOJ 102 DE), TESC used to count it as 6 credits, that was in April, not sure how it currently transfers. TESC made changes in July so some of their policies may have changed.

[bricabrac]

I don't know anything about the CJ degree but I can offer clarity on the enrollment plan. Yes, the comprensive plan is 36 credits per year. What I did was combined a 6cr course or 2-3cr courses with TECEPs. You can also take advantage of ePacks with the comprehensive plan. They are like TECEPs (one exam at end of term) but you are provided online practice quizzes to build a study guide. You can take each chapter quiz multiple times until you've been presented with all the available questions. I also sent you a PM. Good luck!

[Mara]

I'd like that, if the substance abuse credit/class could be used for the CJ AAS - I considered gangs, but if I could dump Counterterrorism and take another psych course, that'd be awesome. I was going by electives listed under the new BA requirements for CJ, but with the changes it might be best to speak to an advisor. Of course, the plan also depends on all my LaTech psych courses being accepted as equivalent to TESC's version of the classes.

It looks like on the 2016 general education page they're currently only accepting the DSST Criminal Justice as three credits.

[swalke321]

Substance Abuse is only an elective for the AAS CJ not BA CJ. You would want to confirm with an advisor though, since TESC was making changes last time I spoke with an advisor. If you are looking to take an extra TESC course you could complete Intro to Criminal Justice as DSST exam or Straighterline course. I took it as a DSST exam and found it to be easy. It is an over view of the criminal justice system.
For math some students use ALEKS, which is $20/month. I'm not familiar with ALESK but it is fairly popular.

[cookderosa]

I'd like that, if the substance abuse credit/class could be used for the CJ AAS - I considered gangs, but if I could dump Counterterrorism and take another psych course, that'd be awesome. I was going by electives listed under the new BA requirements for CJ, but with the changes it might be best to speak to an advisor. Of course, the plan also depends on all my LaTech psych courses being accepted as equivalent to TESC's version of the classes.

It looks like on the 2016 general education page they're currently only accepting the DSST Criminal Justice as three credits.

>>

Gangs was an interesting class, I think I wrote a post about it (2007ish). I spaced my last year out for the exact same reason, to take full advantage of the Pell. Big picture: 1 year vs 1.5 years is about nil.

[jawbreakingrr]

I also took the Gangs course. It was a really good and an interesting course. A little different from what I expected. I thought it was be like the documentary Gang Land, learning about all the different gangs. For a BA in CJ, it is an elective in Box 2 Area of Study, M: Elective. 15 of 30 credit must be 300/400 level. At least that's what show up on my academic evaluation under the new catalog.

Forgot to add for an AAS in CJ it's under 2 Career Track 21 Credits in CJ with a C or better.