TESU 2nd Area of Study

[Merlin]

This is definitely an interesting question that may need further clarification (in writing) from TESU. 

Agreed. And I stated as much, as I haven't done it myself, so I'm just regurgitating what I've read here and what I've learned from reading the cataloge. As I mentioned several times in my posts, this is all subject to TESU, so anyone who is interested in pursuing two simultaneous degrees should speak with the advisor to help plan and determine what the requirements and restrictions are.

On both their website Award of Degree Policy and on page 182 of the 2018 TESU Catalog, there is no mention that a simultaneous Associates or Bachelors degree must be from the same "school" in order to be awarded within the same graduation cycle that I can discern

I have never read this either. However, the information about how the two degrees must be from different schools is based on what I learned from the experiences of others on this forum and what has been posted previously on the subject. If you review older posts you will find this question comes up a lot and the answer is usually the same.

Of course, it could be that the policies that I'm referring to are old and no longer relevant. However, it is my assumption that they are based on how each "school" has their own rules and does things a bit differently.

It actually seems that if you want to do a second area of study within the same school, that you would declare a second Area of Study instead.

Yep, I mentioned that as well. If they are the same school and have the same capstone, then the second degree is technically a second AOS. This means that the 9 credit overlap option is available. (Assuming it is not a BSBA, that school doesn't allow any overlap in the second AOS).

The policy regarding needing to bring in " 24 new" credits appears to only apply when a student returns for a 2nd degree at TESU and/or has already earned a 1st degree from a previous school.

To clarify, you need 24 "new" credits when you come back for a second degree. But you still need 24 "different" credits if you're trying to do a second degree in the same cycle. If I suggested otherwise, that was my error. The concept of new doesn't really make sense before degree conferral anyway.

In either case, you still need 24 "different" credits in the second degree's AOS, at least as far as what I read on p182 of the catalog:

"Students who desire to have awarded in the same graduation cycle two Thomas Edison State University baccalaureate degrees may do so providing 24 credits are different in the second degree’s core/area of study."

There is a similar requirement on multiple associates degrees require at least 12 different credits.

There is a similar TESU Blog Post dated July 25, 2014 that does not address simultaneous second degrees, but does state the same policy in regards to earning a 2nd degree AFTER a first degree has been earned, as well as the policy on earning a dual AOS within the same degree program.

In the latter case, the author states the process is similar to declaring a double major and that since the general education requirements are the same, unlike a separate degree program where the general education requirements may not be, that the only requirement is to fulfill the 2nd AOS with no more than 9 credits being permitted to overlap both area of studies. I believe the capstone in this case would not need to be repeated either since it is essentially the same so it would not make much sense and with the allowance of 9 credits overlapping in the AOS (the capstone course falls into the AOS) this would be 3 of the overlapping credits towards your allowance of 9 max. Another example may be where you declare a dual area of study (Math/CS) and some of the math required in the AOS for the CS is also required in the AOS for the Math program..so you could double dip up to a max of 9 total credits between both programs. Anything else would need to be new.

This is effectively the same thing that I said. You need at least 24 credits that are different in the second AOS, though up to 9 of your existing credits can overlap in the AOS.

However, my question here is what happens if your AOS requires more than 24 credits? If you only need 24 new/different credits, does that mean that as long as you meet the 24 credit requirement, anything else may overlap, or that only 9 credits may overlap and you may need more than 24 different/new credits? The catalog isn't clear on this.