TESU Degree plan for IS/IT or Computer Science degrees

[a_mar59]

Hi everyone! So after 10 years at my current IT job I and a bunch of other workers were just laid off yesterday. I still am working till the middle of next year(which is great). However, I wanted to finally get my degree.
They say a degree is the new HS diploma so I need to make sure I am ready. I unfortunately only have 27 credits already verified with TESU.

The spanish courses are from the spanish clep.

SPA-101 Elementary Spanish I
SPA-101 Elementary Spanish I
SPA-202 Intermediate Spanish I
SPA-201 Intermediate Spanish II
COS-116 C Programming
COS-101Introduction to Computers
MAN-210 Principles of Mgmt
ECO-111 Macroeconomics
ELM-151 Computer Repair 1

I am having trouble deciding between the following degrees. I am looking for something that can almost be completely taken through testing. The degree in theory really isn’t too important to me more so than it being relatively easy and quick to complete. After all of these years I haven’t completed much but I have a goal of 10-12 months.

BSBA in Computer Information Systems
BA in Computer Science
BSAST degree in Information Technology


Additionally I would love to parlay these credits in the meantime to get an associate's degree first. That way if something happens where i have to stop i’ll at least have an associate’s


Obviously I’ll need all of my get ed courses. But other than that I am honestly pretty lost/don’t know where to start. I feel like i’ve been looking into this forever and never made a move(other than the spanish clep) because of the infamous analysis paralysis. I see some of the amazing info out there already like Sanantone's TESU General Education Options After July 1, 2015 - Degree Forum Wiki - Wikia or Sanantone's BSBA in Computer Information Systems post-July 1, 2015 - Degree Forum Wiki - Wikia and then I really get overwhelmed because should i clep, should I Uexcel, should i straigherline.

I appreciate you all and the information I have read thus far. Because of this community I got 12 credits in a little over an hour. only 93 more to go. haha
Any advice you guys can give would be great!

[davewill]

Here's my spreadsheet for BA in Computer Science.


  TESU BA Computer Science 2016-1.xls (Size: 37 KB / Downloads: 65)

There are three tabs in there. The first assumes you take 16cr at TESU and meet the residency requirement. The second tab assumes you pay the residency waiver and take as much as possible elsewhere. The third tab is dfrecore's original BSBA sheet I used as a template. You should modify it plugging your existing credits in. Fort Hayes State University is one place that you could get the UL courses a little cheaper than TESU, but I have not found anywhere that has them as Credit by Exam.

The Gen Ed requirements are much the same for all your choices, so there's no reason not to get going on them while you decide which way you'd like to go.

[a_mar59]

Here's my spreadsheet for BA in Computer Science.

TESU BA Computer Science 2016-1.xls

There are three tabs in there. The first assumes you take 16cr at TESU and meet the residency requirement. The second tab assumes you pay the residency waiver and take as much as possible elsewhere. The third tab is dfrecore's original BSBA sheet I used as a template. You should modify it plugging your existing credits in. Fort Hayes State University is one place that you could get the UL courses a little cheaper than TESU, but I have not found anywhere that has them as Credit by Exam.

The Gen Ed requirements are much the same for all your choices, so there's no reason not to get going on them while you decide which way you'd like to go.

Thank you very much davewill. That looks like a great place for me to start!

[dfrecore]

The spreadsheets are based on some old stuff, so you would want to update quite a bit before making a final decision (Kaplan PLA is no longer available, Shmoop, TEEX, NFA are not on here, etc.). And, it's based first on Saylor, which everyone doesn't want to do a lot of (courses aren't the best according to most).

Looking at the CS degree using the waiver, you can delete one of the TESU $1500 courses because there are too many credits there (you need 33cr in the major, there are 36). Then, you can replace the other 2 TESU courses with CSU-Global courses for $250, or the Networking TECEP for $114, if they will be accepted. That lowers the cost to $6200. There are no prices in the Free Electives, so that will go up (presumably). I usually average $100 per course, but with TEEX, NFA, Saylor and Shmoop, you can lower that quite a bit.

The BSBA in GM can be gotten for about $4800.

The BSAST is harder to get, it will cost more than the CS, and courses are harder to find.

None of this takes into account what you've already taken, so you can replace some courses with what you have to lower the price even more.

[davewill]

The spreadsheets are based on some old stuff, so you would want to update quite a bit before making a final decision (Kaplan PLA is no longer available, Shmoop, TEEX, NFA are not on here, etc.). And, it's based first on Saylor, which everyone doesn't want to do a lot of (courses aren't the best according to most).

Looking at the CS degree using the waiver, you can delete one of the TESU $1500 courses because there are too many credits there (you need 33cr in the major, there are 36). Then, you can replace the other 2 TESU courses with CSU-Global courses for $250, or the Networking TECEP for $114, if they will be accepted. That lowers the cost to $6200. There are no prices in the Free Electives, so that will go up (presumably). I usually average $100 per course, but with TEEX, NFA, Saylor and Shmoop, you can lower that quite a bit.

The BSBA in GM can be gotten for about $4800.

The BSAST is harder to get, it will cost more than the CS, and courses are harder to find.

None of this takes into account what you've already taken, so you can replace some courses with what you have to lower the price even more.

Can't believe I miscounted. I think I added the CSU Global course without pulling one out. It came out of both sheets since there were more TESU units than required for residency. I removed the BSBA sheet since I have no intention of keeping it up. Take the Gen Ed section with a grain of salt. There are lots of ways of filling that part in.


  TESU BA Computer Science 2016-1.xls (Size: 26.5 KB / Downloads: 3)

[TrailRunr]

The elective section for CS is actually 21 credits. The whole major does require 36 credits plus another 3 for the capstone. I've seen TESU's website say 15 for CS electives, but it is actually 21 in my eval and in the catalog (pg 44).

At the degreeforum wiki is my version of the CS degree with an option to add a second area of study in math. It doesn't have any details about the GE requirements though.

The networking TECEP will not work for CS. It will work fine for the BSBA:CIS. This TECEP is pretty easy for an IT pro.

In general, the BSBA will be cheaper, easier, and quicker to earn than the other two options. If quick and easy is much more important than anything else, BSBA is the best option.

I know a lot of people on this forum like Associates degrees, but I think they are usually worthless except in a few corner cases. In the IT industry, paper isn't as important as the ability to pass the tech interview. I would rather have a CompTIA cert than an AA, and I don't think much of the CompTIA. CompTIA is more useful because government employers like the DoD will take these of papers.

[davewill]

  TESU BA Computer Science 2016-2.xls (Size: 27 KB / Downloads: 7)

I'm going to get out of the spreadsheet business. TrailRunr, you are absolutely correct. I double checked the academic eval and it's perfectly clear. 15cr of required CS courses, 21cr of CS electives. 15cr in the CS section must be UL. So BOTH of my spreadsheets were wrong. I've revised again, but someone else should keep checking me.

[dfrecore]

The spreadsheets take a lot of time to get right, and I'm best at the BSBA and it's concentrations - I know the degrees well, so I can fill in the spots. But once I get away from those, it gets harder. Let's not even talk about which courses will fulfill all of the various requirements, because that gets exponentially harder!

Which, by the way, is a good reason for anyone to ask on this forum for help with it, because there are some very knowledgable people here who are more than willing to help guide us all in the right direction!

[a_mar59]

The spreadsheets take a lot of time to get right, and I'm best at the BSBA and it's concentrations - I know the degrees well, so I can fill in the spots. But once I get away from those, it gets harder. Let's not even talk about which courses will fulfill all of the various requirements, because that gets exponentially harder!

Which, by the way, is a good reason for anyone to ask on this forum for help with it, because there are some very knowledgable people here who are more than willing to help guide us all in the right direction!

Would you happen to any degree plans/advice for the BSBA in CIS

[dfrecore]

Would you happen to any degree plans/advice for the BSBA in CIS

I do, but it's sort of generic - I have a bunch of stuff in there, but you just need to know what you can switch out for some of these courses (esp in Gen Ed), there are different ways to take a lot of these than what I have in there.