TESU or EXCELSIOR

[moho23]

Thomas Edison State BA in Liberal Studies or Excelsior BS in Liberal Arts

For the more informed folks, which would be easier to achieve using Study, Sophia, and Modern States. 

The goal is to receive a Bachelors for inexpensive as possible. UMPI is out of the question because the person will not be twenty when applying.

[bjcheung77]

Short answers: TESU = Easier, Excelsior = Cheaper. Both take ACE/NCCRS, TESU requires 30 RA credits and you can transfer in 114 credits, Excelsior requires 7 RA in residency credits, 113 can be transferred in.

[moho23]

Short answers:  TESU = Easier, Excelsior = Cheaper.  Both take ACE/NCCRS, TESU requires 30 RA credits and you can transfer in 114 credits, Excelsior requires 7 RA in residency credits, 113 can be transferred in.

Thank you for your response!  Do you mean TESU classes are easier or the transfer process is easier?

[LevelUP]

Excelsior is getting harder to complete a degree.

1. If you choose a Business degree, there are only two ways to meet the second half of the 6-credit requirement for English/Writing. The first is taking the Business Writing course from Excelsior. Not cheap. The second is taking a course from Coopersmith. Coopersmith isn't expensive/difficult, but they use ProctorU and that just doesn't work for a lot of people.

2. Excelsior seems to be rejecting ACE credit at random. See https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...ia-courses Different degree program than what you want, but still concerning. There is no good explanation for why they'd do that.

3. Excelsior has started charging $300 for each subsequent transcript evaluation after the first. That cost could add up quickly if you're not able to nail everything down on the first go. Most students seem to need to send in transcripts at least two or three times.

4. Not as important as the previous points, but Excelsior requires 30 UL credits. 6 of those come from their capstone & cornerstone. It can sometimes be difficult to find sufficient UL credit in the right areas to get an Excelsior degree.

(credit: rachel83az)

[moho23]

Excelsior is getting harder to complete a degree.

1. If you choose a Business degree, there are only two ways to meet the second half of the 6-credit requirement for English/Writing. The first is taking the Business Writing course from Excelsior. Not cheap. The second is taking a course from Coopersmith. Coopersmith isn't expensive/difficult, but they use ProctorU and that just doesn't work for a lot of people.

2. Excelsior seems to be rejecting ACE credit at random. See https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...ia-courses Different degree program than what you want, but still concerning. There is no good explanation for why they'd do that.

3. Excelsior has started charging $300 for each subsequent transcript evaluation after the first. That cost could add up quickly if you're not able to nail everything down on the first go. Most students seem to need to send in transcripts at least two or three times.

4. Not as important as the previous points, but Excelsior requires 30 UL credits. 6 of those come from their capstone & cornerstone. It can sometimes be difficult to find sufficient UL credit in the right areas to get an Excelsior degree.

(credit: rachel83az)

Thank you for your detailed response. This is very helpful.

[rachel83az]

Coopersmith has recently switched to accepting a different, non-live proctor. So ProctorU doesn't have to be a concern now. The rest is still accurate.

[jsh1138]

TESU has been a good experience for me. Excelsior and COSC seem like they want to make it harder all the time for you to get your credits

I was thinking about trying WGU next but if it's just between TESU and Excelsior I would say TESU

[bjcheung77]

Short answers:  TESU = Easier, Excelsior = Cheaper.  Both take ACE/NCCRS, TESU requires 30 RA credits and you can transfer in 114 credits, Excelsior requires 7 RA in residency credits, 113 can be transferred in.

Thank you for your response!  Do you mean TESU classes are easier or the transfer process is easier?

Both, at TESU you can transfer known alternatives that you know already work. Excelsior, that list is much smaller. The EU/TESU cornerstone is very similar, but the TESU is slightly easier and less of a headache. If you're on a set budget, take Excelsior, if you need to splurge a bit to get things done easier/faster, then take TESU.

[dfrecore]

It depends on what current credits you already have are. If you are starting from scratch, Excelsior has easier GE requirements, and no RA requirements. I think it's a VERY easy degree to complete (the BLS especially). It's also cheaper than TESU.

If you already have credits, especially a lot of RA credits, then it open up more options. If you have a lot of free electives (more than 30 credits worth), then Excelsior will be the better option as they allow 60cr of Free Electives, while TESU only allows for 30cr.

One thing to keep in mind - TESU has more majors, and more options to add on certs and things.

For anyone saying Excelsior is harder to get a degree from, I think it's actually easier. And it's cheaper. So even if you needed an extra evaluation, it's still cheaper than TESU. And TESU has really made it harder over the years to complete a degree there as well - especially with the RA credit requirement. Excelsior has changed their pricing to make it cheaper, while TESU has gotten more expensive.