TESU Cornerstone Deadline

[ISKBizz15]

So this brings up a question that I have been pondering. I am planning out my BALS right now. I am starting from scratch with no credits. I was planning on working on CLEP testing first, then moving on to Study.com or similar. At what point do I need to officially apply to TESU? I was planning on just waiting until I had most of the credits but should I go ahead and do it earlier so that I can do the cornerstone before it goes away?

Yes, you should do that.

This is one of those things that isn't locked in because of your catalog.

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It is getting to the point where TESU is going to make themselves the #2 or #3 (or maybe even #4) school on this forum.  They are already more expensive than EC & COSC, and this just makes it even more expensive.  COSC's cornerstone course is only 8 weeks, this is 12, so it will make the degree longer.

WGU is a better deal even if it takes 2 terms rather than 1, and after this taking 3 terms at WGU will only be slightly higher than TESU (about $1000).

The only benefits to TESU after this: no lab science required (unlike COSC), and a lower level math for most degrees (COSC requires College Algebra or Stats even for a BALS, for instance; EC requires Precalc for a business degree).  And the fact that COSC and EC require 30cr of UL rather than TESU's 15/18cr of UL.

But I think that this will make it so that it's worth the hassle to make the switch to EC, COSC or WGU for most forum members on July 1, 2019.  I certainly wouldn't advise anyone to get a TESU degree for the price ($8300 or so).  It's really a bummer they've decided to do this.

Well in that case I guess that it's better to make sure I complete my degree before next summer. I was in no rush to complete my degree and was actually planning on completing it by the end of 2019 or beginning of 2020.
Who knows what other changes they'll be making between now and then. They've already gone up on the residency waiver fee, who's to say that they won't go even higher than that sometime next year. Time to buckle down I guess and speed through these exams.

You sound like me. When I came back again in February 2018 (after a 7-year educational hiatus) my plan was to take it easy and just get things done casually as I felt like it, but after seeing some of the changes that came down in the spring I decided that I needed to buckle down and just get it done. I had like 20 credits in March/April and have more than 100 now. That has come at the cost of most of my free time over the last 6 months, but I'm only a handful of courses away from graduation now, so I'm mostly good with it.

The accelerated pace has also got me locked into an academic mentality so I'm not planning to stop with the BSBA now, but move onto a master's degree next. So for me, that has been an interesting side effect to the more focused approach I guess.

That's awesome! Good luck with your Masters, what degree program are going for?

I wish that I had started working on my degree after my 6 year hiatus at least that early in the year. That way I wouldn't have missed out on several of the cheaper options of completing my degree like a lower cost of the residency waiver and the variety of course options through Shmoop, especially the UL ones (even though I hate Shmoop, literally wasted my first month of membership, since I started taking classes with them right before TESU stopped accepting them). I was planning on finishing my degree while traveling, but that doesn't look like that's going to happen anytime soon.

[jeffreymb]

Since SOS-110 is a normal 3 credit course, is there any chance that there exists a transfer equivalency? If an equivalency exists, this may actually be a good thing!

Even if no equivalency exists, what are the chances of getting the requirement waived if a student has enough other courses with enough sufficiently?

[dfrecore]

Since SOS-110 is a normal 3 credit course, is there any chance that there exists a transfer equivalency? If an equivalency exists, this may actually be a good thing!

Even if no equivalency exists, what are the chances of getting the requirement waived if a student has enough other courses with enough sufficiently?

This is not about meeting a requirement, but TESU making you take an additional course through them.  Just like with the Strategic Management course that they have (the capstone), you used to be able to take a TECEP for it, or transfer it in with several different options.  Now, you just have to take it through them.  The other courses still exist, but TESU just won't take them.

[davewill]

It doesn't sound as bad as folks are thinking. The email didn't say that TES100 is going away, just that it won't be available every term.

[Merlin]

You sound like me. When I came back again in February 2018 (after a 7-year educational hiatus) my plan was to take it easy and just get things done casually as I felt like it, but after seeing some of the changes that came down in the spring I decided that I needed to buckle down and just get it done. I had like 20 credits in March/April and have more than 100 now. That has come at the cost of most of my free time over the last 6 months, but I'm only a handful of courses away from graduation now, so I'm mostly good with it.

The accelerated pace has also got me locked into an academic mentality so I'm not planning to stop with the BSBA now, but move onto a master's degree next. So for me, that has been an interesting side effect to the more focused approach I guess.

That's awesome! Good luck with your Masters, what degree program are going for?

I wish that I had started working on my degree after my 6-year hiatus at least that early in the year. That way I wouldn't have missed out on several of the cheaper options of completing my degree like a lower cost of the residency waiver and the variety of course options through Shmoop, especially the UL ones (even though I hate Shmoop, literally wasted my first month of membership, since I started taking classes with them right before TESU stopped accepting them). I was planning on finishing my degree while traveling, but that doesn't look like that's going to happen anytime soon.

I'm still researching on which masters program I'll be doing. I'm leaning towards the WGU MSML plus MBA (IT Management), though I'm also considering the Georgia Tech OMSCS. But if I do the latter, it would probably be after WGU since the business degrees seem more useful to me (and faster to complete) right now; I can probably complete an MSML and MBA in less time than I could complete the OMSCS alone.

It would have been nice to have completed this in 2011 when I was last trying to get the degree, but at the time the credit options were much more limited (and more expensive in many cases). Most of the stuff I had planned was CLEP/DSST and after our move, those dried up so it would have taken a lot longer. With all the online options now, its a much more streamlined process.

[dfrecore]

I wonder if TESU reads this forum and realized that the cornerstone they had was a joke, and decided that instead of actually making that course worthwhile, they decided to make everyone take a "real" course through them?

Also, if they are going to be like COSC, and require a cornerstone and capstone, then they should also probably not have a residency waiver. Doesn't make a lot of sense to follow their lead on one aspect but not on the other.

[Merlin]

I wonder if TESU reads this forum and realized that the cornerstone they had was a joke, and decided that instead of actually making that course worthwhile, they decided to make everyone take a "real" course through them?

Also, if they are going to be like COSC, and require a cornerstone and capstone, then they should also probably not have a residency waiver.  Doesn't make a lot of sense to follow their lead on one aspect but not on the other.

I assumed it was a way for them to extract a little more money from students. Particularly for students who are transferring in a lot (most) of their credits. It started when they got rid of the cornerstone waiver and is culminating with the new SOS-110 cornerstone requirement.

But yes, I agree... this wouldn't be as annoying if they did away with the residency waiver at the same time.

[vetvso]

My class was waved, and I should be finished by June but waiting on the degree. I wonder if this will impact some of us? I'm going to ask about this during my next appt with TESU.

[jeffreymb]

I had an appointment with an advisor yesterday. I tried hard to figure out what was going on and if there was a way to transfer in an equivalency to the new required course. It became pretty clear that the advisor didn't actually know himself. He said this is new for them too and just kept reassuring me that it isn't a big deal, just do the cornerstone before July and everything will be ok.

Maybe you can learn more than I was able to!

[vetvso]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to start my cornerstone ASAP then. But I do need to find 2 UL classes to test out of for BA in social science.