TESU BACS from 0

[compsci2k]

Hello, I'm looking into getting a Comp Sci degree from TESU. I have 0 credits, HS diploma, and 8+ years of experience in IT (mostly sysadmin). I've dabbled into programming a tiny bit and some front end web dev. Looking to get into software engineering or dev ops. I previously looked at WGU programs (still strong consideration). However, recently I found out about TESU and it might make more sense to go this route because of how flexible it is (also could cost less in the end).

From my research, so far, it looks like I can get the entire curriculum but 2 courses (cornerstone and capstone) outside of TESU. All gen ed credits and some electives can be obtained through Sophia.org and InstantCert. The rest comes from Study.com, StraighterLine (Calculus I), and Coopersmith (Linear Algebra). I put together a spreadsheet using course list from TESU with equivalent courses from mentioned platforms:

TESU CompSci Spreadsheet

I used Generic TESU Degree Plan from degreeforum wiki to fill out gen ed stuff and some electives; transfer guide for TESU on Study.com to fill out majority of area of study and the rest of the electives. Ran into a wall trying to meet "18 credits from 300 & 400 courses" not realizing capstone was part of that (correct me if I'm wrong). After filling everything out I did some math to see what it would cost. Just on TESU side it makes sense to go for 9 credits to qualify for full-time flat rate, rather than going for 6 credits (cornerstone & capstone) on per credit tuition and paying $3k of residency waiver fee on top of that (again, correct me if I'm wrong). Hence I linked to STA-201 Principles of Statistics  to take it at TESU instead of SDC. 

Does my electives section (III) look like it would fulfill required credits? What about CS electives (II C.)? I suppose my main question is, does this look like a solid start of a plan that would get me a BACS degree from TESU?

Any advice, tips, help is greatly appreciated!

[LevelUP]

Hello, I'm looking into getting a Comp Sci degree from TESU. I have 0 credits, HS diploma, and 8+ years of experience in IT (mostly sysadmin). I've dabbled into programming a tiny bit and some front end web dev. Looking to get into software engineering or dev ops. I previously looked at WGU programs (still strong consideration). However, recently I found out about TESU and it might make more sense to go this route because of how flexible it is (also could cost less in the end).

From my research, so far, it looks like I can get the entire curriculum but 2 courses (cornerstone and capstone) outside of TESU. All gen ed credits and some electives can be obtained through Sophia.org and InstantCert. The rest comes from Study.com, StraighterLine (Calculus I), and Coopersmith (Linear Algebra). I put together a spreadsheet using course list from TESU with equivalent courses from mentioned platforms:

TESU CompSci Spreadsheet

I used Generic TESU Degree Plan from degreeforum wiki to fill out gen ed stuff and some electives; transfer guide for TESU on Study.com to fill out majority of area of study and the rest of the electives. Ran into a wall trying to meet "18 credits from 300 & 400 courses" not realizing capstone was part of that (correct me if I'm wrong). After filling everything out I did some math to see what it would cost. Just on TESU side it makes sense to go for 9 credits to qualify for full-time flat rate, rather than going for 6 credits (cornerstone & capstone) on per credit tuition and paying $3k of residency waiver fee on top of that (again, correct me if I'm wrong). Hence I linked to STA-201 Principles of Statistics  to take it at TESU instead of SDC. 

Does my electives section (III) look like it would fulfill required credits? What about CS electives (II C.)? I suppose my main question is, does this look like a solid start of a plan that would get me a BACS degree from TESU?

Any advice, tips, help is greatly appreciated!

16 credits must be earned via TESU to be able to skip the residency waiver.  9cr isn't enough.

Section II 18 credits
12 credits are your UL courses  (this is all you need for UL requirement since computer arch counts as UL too)
6 credits are LL.  The Sophia Intro to IT is 3cr so you just need one more.

Section III free electives can be anything there.

Stats course take that at Sophia, that is the quickest/easiest/cheapest path
Operating systems, take the study.com 105 course, no papers.

[compsci2k]

For students who plan to register for 9 credits or more in a single term, the Full-Time Flat-Rate Tuition rate will be charged. This will result in significant savings.

https://www.tesu.edu/tuition/ug-tuition-comparison

Counting cornerstone (3), capstone (3), and stats(3). Unless I'm missing some information here.

Thanks for other suggestions!!

[Merlin]

For students who plan to register for 9 credits or more in a single term, the Full-Time Flat-Rate Tuition rate will be charged. This will result in significant savings.

https://www.tesu.edu/tuition/ug-tuition-comparison

Counting cornerstone (3), capstone (3), and stats(3). Unless I'm missing some information here.

Thanks for other suggestions!!

You only need 9 credits to qualify for the flat-rate tuition, but @LevelUp's point is that 9 credits still doesn't waive the residency fee. Yes, you'd pay the flat-rate tuition cost (which offers a small cost savings over the per-credit rate if you take enough courses), but you'd still owe the residency waiver fee unless you complete at least 16 credits directly with TESU. So you'd need those 3 courses plus 7 additional credits (a total of six 3cr courses [18cr] or four 3cr courses plus a 4cr course [16cr]). Note: These have to be regular courses as TECEP exams no longer count towards residency.

"The Credit Hour Residency Waiver Fee applies to students who have not earned at least 16 Semester Hours from the University’s Online (OL), Guided Study (GS) or e-Pack (EP) courses towards their associate or bachelor’s degree [...]" (https://www.tesu.edu/tuition/fees)

[bjcheung77]

Wow, for a first time poster, you must have been lurking and researching for a while, that spreadsheet looks great already, but I would change a few things around, a couple have been mentioned by members already... BTW, do you have tuition assistance or reimbursement? Since you've compared this with WGU, what's your current budget/funding look like, in other words, what's your pricing target?

I would recommend the following, it won't really matter if you decide on TESU or WGU, you need to work on your credits that can hit both degree providers.  Just start by getting ALL your Sophia.org/TEEX completed in the general degree plan link above and you can apply to both to see which would be better if needed... But if it was me, I would go for TESU Undergrad and a WGU Masters...

Anyways, here's a recap: Taking courses at TESU vs paying residency fee is up to you
1) 16 credits are required at TESU or you will need to pay the residency waiver fee
2) Instead of taking Study.com Comp Sci 305, SDC Comp Sci 105 course will do
If you look at my signature, I have the BSBA and now going for BA Comp Sci, you might want to do the same, it'll be cheaper for you.

But first, I suggest you update your spreadsheet with the Study.com Comp Sci 305 to 105, and I would delete StraighterLine from the list as you can get Calculus I at Study.com for cheaper/easier/faster.  You should also create a spreadsheet with for an ASNSM Math as the math courses you will be taking should already be sufficient to get that en route to the Bachelors FREE.

My suggestion is the following, complete a BSBA CIS and a BA Comp Sci with enough overlap that you won't need to take any extra courses other than the requirements for both.   You can use 3 UL AOS courses in the BSBA CIS into your BA Comp Sci, you also have 17-20 credits in general education and 21 credits in free electives in the BA Comp Sci, if you add them together, those can be your BSBA professional requirements, thus - two degrees, no extra work required!

[compsci2k]

"The Credit Hour Residency Waiver Fee applies to students who have not earned at least 16 Semester Hours from the University’s Online (OL), Guided Study (GS) or e-Pack (EP) courses towards their associate or bachelor’s degree [...]" (https://www.tesu.edu/tuition/fees)

Thank you! Missed that part somehow.

---

Wow, for a first time poster, you must have been lurking and researching for a while,

Wow yourself. Your reply made the gears turning, gears I didn't even know exist! At this point I'm leaning towards TESU quite a bit more than I did yesterday.

I don't have a set budget yet as I'm putting information together to see what it would cost me to reach my end goal. With that said I do not have tuition assistance or reimbursement, all of this would be out of pocket if I can't find an alternative way (no loans however). I can eat the cost of Sophia, SDC, etc. as I go through those. It's the big chunk of money that I need to figure out.

If I understood you correctly, technically I should be able to get 

• ASNSM in Math (SOS-110: Critical Information Literacy @ $519 + waiver fee @ $3,192)
  
• BACS (LIB-495 Liberal Arts Capstone @ $519)
  
• BSBA in CIS (Business Administration Capstone @ $519)
  

For a whopping $5k, assuming I already have all required credits for all 3 and I could pull 2 bachelors capstones off in one semester(?). Or would a second bachelors require another waiver anyway?

[rachel83az]

Wow yourself. Your reply made the gears turning, gears I didn't even know exist! At this point I'm leaning towards TESU quite a bit more than I did yesterday.

I don't have a set budget yet as I'm putting information together to see what it would cost me to reach my end goal. With that said I do not have tuition assistance or reimbursement, all of this would be out of pocket if I can't find an alternative way (no loans however). I can eat the cost of Sophia, SDC, etc. as I go through those. It's the big chunk of money that I need to figure out.

If I understood you correctly, technically I should be able to get 

• ASNSM in Math (SOS-110: Critical Information Literacy @ $519 + waiver fee @ $3,192)
  
• BACS (LIB-495 Liberal Arts Capstone @ $519)
  
• BSBA in CIS (Business Administration Capstone @ $519)
  

For a whopping $5k, assuming I already have all required credits for all 3 and I could pull 2 bachelors capstones off in one semester(?). Or would a second bachelors require another waiver anyway?

The capstones and the cornerstone are 3 credits each or about $1500 apiece when taken singly. I would suggest registering for the 2 capstones, the cornerstone, and 2 easy 100-level classes + the 1-credit Jane Austin class for a total of 16 credits.

This would cost you $4639 total because the flat-rate tuition kicks in at 9 credits. It would also give you sufficient TESU credits to avoid the waiver entirely.

[compsci2k]

The capstones and the cornerstone are 3 credits each or about $1500 apiece when taken singly. I would suggest registering for the 2 capstones, the cornerstone, and 2 easy 100-level classes + the 1-credit Jane Austin class for a total of 16 credits.

This would cost you $4639 total because the flat-rate tuition kicks in at 9 credits. It would also give you sufficient TESU credits to avoid the waiver entirely.

Right.. Thanks for correcting me there. I guess I got too excited and forgot those are 3cr each. Looking at the tuition comparison page now - 15 credits flat rate in one term would be $7,785 + whatever that 1 credit class would be (~ $500?). So with application and graduation fees I'm looking at about roughly $8,600. Or $8,200 if I go with per credit rate for 9 credits and the waiver. Plus this way I'd have more time for 3 classes rather than 6.

[LevelUP]

The capstones and the cornerstone are 3 credits each or about $1500 apiece when taken singly. I would suggest registering for the 2 capstones, the cornerstone, and 2 easy 100-level classes + the 1-credit Jane Austin class for a total of 16 credits.

This would cost you $4639 total because the flat-rate tuition kicks in at 9 credits. It would also give you sufficient TESU credits to avoid the waiver entirely.

Right.. Thanks for correcting me there. I guess I got too excited and forgot those are 3cr each. Looking at the tuition comparison page now - 15 credits flat rate in one term would be $7,785 + whatever that 1 credit class would be (~ $500?). So with application and graduation fees I'm looking at about roughly $8,600. Or $8,200 if I go with per credit rate for 9 credits and the waiver. Plus this way I'd have more time for 3 classes rather than 6.

You need 100 credit hours earned before they let you register for the capstone.  People here normally do their general credits first, then the AOS so by then they have a good idea what they want to major in. 

I wouldn't suggest taking 2 capstones + cornerstone and then 2 additional courses at the same time.  Those courses have deadlines with lots of writing.  Even doing school full-time with no job this would be quite a challenge to do.

Also, check and see if you qualify for the Pell Grant since that can change the cost.  I uploaded the Pell Grant sheet from 2019 and some Calendars for the Capstone/cornerstone courses to see what you are getting into.

The main mistakes people make during their online college process is:
1. They try to save that few extra bucks and end up taking a lot more time. Especially if they fail a course.
2. They overthink things and take too long to get started.

I would suggest starting at Sophia, by the time you do 2-3 courses, you should know if you want to do this or not.

Start with easy courses such as the IT course and environmental science.

Harder courses are Ethics and math courses. Writting courses isn't hard, but takes longer to do. GL

[compsci2k]

You need 100 credit hours earned before they let you register for the capstone.  People here normally do their general credits first, then the AOS so by then they have a good idea what they want to major in. 

I wouldn't suggest taking 2 capstones + cornerstone and then 2 additional courses at the same time.  Those courses have deadlines with lots of writing.  Even doing school full-time with no job this would be quite a challenge to do.

Also, check and see if you qualify for the Pell Grant since that can change the cost.  I uploaded the Pell Grant sheet from 2019 and some Calendars for the Capstone/cornerstone courses to see what you are getting into.

That's kind of what I was thinking digging a little more into it. ASNSM or BSBA wasn't even on the radar until @bjcheung77 mentioned that was an option so I started looking in that direction to see how that would work. I went over the cornerstone syllabus previously, but haven't looked at cornerstones. That does look like quite a bit of work.

Would going for ASNSM in Math first make more sense? Get gen ed and math out of the way, get an associate's, then proceed with courses for BACS. I would need only 3 extra courses for ASNSM in Math, the rest transfer towards bachelor's. I added another sheet for ASNSM; would appreciate any feedback on it as well.

From the financial standpoint if I go for associates first that will be $5,097 (cornerstone + waiver + application + graduation). Then BACS will be $1,905 (capstone + application + graduation). Waiver applies towards the first bachelor's according to this

Students who successfully graduate from their first associate degree at TESU and pay the waiver will have been deemed to meet the University’s Credit Hour Residency requirement for both the completed associate degree and their first bachelor’s degree should they pursue one at TESU.

I'll look into Pell Grant, thank you!