TESU - when to apply?

[Clepper43]

Forgive me - this is a newbie question! I have lurked and searched quite a bit and not found the answer. My son is applying to TESU, probably in English. He has an associates and some of that is CLEP credit. Should he apply to TESU and then do all the alternative credits to fulfill degree? Or should he try to get credits first and then apply? 

It seems (again, sorry) that he should apply first and then he would know what he needs to do for the rest of the degree? 

I see SDC offers 1 month free if you are enrolling at TESU, but do you do that after you take SDC courses?

Or do you enroll at TESU only when you are ready to do the final capstone? I am aware of the encouragement to do it before July 2019 as it is turning into a 3 credit course. 

Thanks for any help! 

[davewill]

I always recommend applying sooner rather than later. TESU is notorious for changing the rules without warning, applying to the school locks in the catalog, which protects you from at least SOME of those changes. Once you've applied, it locks in the catalog for a year, and gets you two "evaluations", which are basically a batch of transcripts. If you want more transcripts evaluated, or the the year is nearly up, then enroll in a course to become an enrolled student. TESU will require you to take the cornerstone course before anything else, so that will be the first course you take. That will lock the catalog in for another year. Before that year is up, you either need to graduate, or take another course or TECEP to reenroll for another year.

[Merlin]

Forgive me - this is a newbie question! I have lurked and searched quite a bit and not found the answer. My son is applying to TESU, probably in English. He has an associates and some of that is CLEP credit. Should he apply to TESU and then do all the alternative credits to fulfill degree? Or should he try to get credits first and then apply? 

It seems (again, sorry) that he should apply first and then he would know what he needs to do for the rest of the degree? 

I see SDC offers 1 month free if you are enrolling at TESU, but do you do that after you take SDC courses?

Or do you enroll at TESU only when you are ready to do the final capstone? I am aware of the encouragement to do it before July 2019 as it is turning into a 3 credit course. 

Thanks for any help! 

Davewill gave you a pretty good rundown on why its good to apply early. However, I think you may be confusing the cornerstone and capstone; those are two different courses, and both are 3 credit courses now. At least for anyone who starts in the 2019 catalog (which apparently now includes anyone who applies on or after Jan 1st).

The cornerstone (SOS-110) is a 12-week 3-credit course that also fulfills your information literacy requirement at TESU. Folks on the old catalog were able to take a 1-credit course (TES-100) for the cornerstone but still needed another course to meet the InfoLit requirement. TESU would like for every student to take this as one of their first courses, but it can be taken whenever it makes the most sense. Registering for this course will officially enroll you in the university for one year.

Each bachelor's degree program also has a required capstone course, which is generally the last course (or one of the last) you take before graduation. It is also a 12-week 3-credit course, but you cannot register for it until you have accumulated at least 100 credits on your TESU transcript and have completed the majority of your AOS courses.

If you apply as a Study.com affiliate member (after transferring at least 1 SDC course to TESU and have it evaluated) you will get a tuition discount at TESU and a discount on the residency waiver fee as well, which will bring the cost of the capstone and cornerstone from $1,497 to $1,098 each and residency waiver down from $2500 to $2200.

[Clepper43]

Thanks so much! You are right. I am confusing the capstone and cornerstone. I'm getting there! : ) I also didn't know that about study.com. I just knew that they used give a residency waiver for affiliation and now they don't. That's very sad.

Time to gear up and apply I guess!

[armstrongsubero]

@Clepper43 thats good advice. Dont wait!

[bjcheung77]

Thanks so much! You are right. I am confusing the capstone and cornerstone. I'm getting there! : ) I also didn't know that about study.com. I just knew that they used give a residency waiver for affiliation and now they don't. That's very sad.

Time to gear up and apply I guess!

First Year Affiliation discount: Cornerstone Waiver, Residency Waiver Discount, Tuition Discount
Second Year Affiliation discount: Residency Waiver Discount, Tuition Discount
This year's affiliation discount: Residency Waiver Discount, Tuition Discount
Note: Each year they had changes to tuition structure

[zzzz24]

Based on needing to complete two 12 week courses now, might be worthwhile to look at COSC or WGU

[Merlin]

Thanks so much! You are right. I am confusing the capstone and cornerstone. I'm getting there! : ) I also didn't know that about study.com. I just knew that they used give a residency waiver for affiliation and now they don't. That's very sad.

Time to gear up and apply I guess!

Study.com affiliation still provides a discount for the residency waiver fee. Instead of $2,500 SDC affiliates pay $2,200, or a $300 discount. In the 2017-2018 catalog year, the discount was almost double that... but it was always a discount, not an elimination of the fee. The tuition discount has remained the same.

SDC affiliation used to provide a cornerstone waiver so you didn't have to take the 1 credit TES-100 cornerstone course, but that was eliminated last summer.

In any case, if you feel that TESU is the right choice for your son, then you should probably put together a rough course plan and have your son take at least two courses at Study.com (the monthly college accelerator plan includes 2 exams per month, so taking at least two courses is recommended) and have them, along with the transcripts for his associates and CLEP credits, sent to TESU for evaluation and application purposes to you can get the ball rolling.

That said, as zzzz24 mentioned, there are other (cheaper) options aside from TESU. We used to recommend them to everyone, but with the recent changes, they are less cost-effective now. Personally, I recommend WGU first (for people looking for IT, business, or education degrees), then COSC, then TESU and Excelsior. So you should also take a look at COSC. If they have a degree that your son likes, you could save a bit of money going with them.

Additionally, COSC accepts Shmoop courses, which TESU does not. This may be particularly useful for an English degree as Shmoop offers a greater variety of relevant courses.

[MrsBulletPoints]

I see SDC offers 1 month free if you are enrolling at TESU ...

Hello Clepper43,

Where did you find this?

Thanks!

[FishNDip]

Wasn't there a free study.com course that they give you for signing up for any class? Something to do with computer knowledge or studying online? What was the course's name? What category does it fall under?