Tamuc & WGU planning advice

[onward25]

Hi I'm Elle and I am excited to get feedback an insight on my journey. 

Your Location: Georgia 

Your Age: 41 

What kind of degree do you want?: TAMUC Org leadership & WGU Software Engineering 

Current Credits:
Sophia credits I've taken for TAMUC 

• US History l
  
• US History ll
  
• Introduction to Chemistry
  
• Art History I|
  
• Human Biology
  
• Environmental Science
  
• Macroeconomics
  
• Introduction to Ethics
  
• College Algebra
  
• Introduction to College Mathematics
  

Professional Development Electives 

• IT Career Exploration 2TS
  
• Visual Communications
  
• Managerial Accounting
  
• Introduction to Business
  
• Principles of Finance
  
• Financial Accounting
  
• Microeconomics
  
• Developing Effective Teams
  
• The Essentials of Managing Conflict
  
• Project Management
  
• Introduction to Information Technology
  
• Introduction To Nutrition
  
• Conflict Resolution
  
• Lifespan Development
  
• Anatomy and Physiology I
  

Sophia Credits in progress

• English Comp l ( final touchstone being grade) 
  
• English Comp ll (3rd touchstone being graded) 
  
• Art History l ( haven't started yet) 
  
• Business Communication ( not sure if I need this since I have Visual communication) please advise. 
  

Also I would like to know if the transfer credits can be used at both schools. 

I've taken a these two courses specifically for WGU 

• Introduction to Relational Databases
  
• Statistics
  

Any certifications or military experience?: none 

Budget: really all depends on financial aid 

Commitments: Fulltime Job and kids I also Doordash and Shipt a couple hours a week. 

Dedicated time to study: I can do 4-5 hours a night, fees hours Sat all day Sunday and a couple hours through out the day during down time at work. 

Timeline: I applied to TAMUC but haven't upload my transcript because Sophia is taking forever with Eng Comp l & || ? 
Should I enroll now are wait? Would love to start Oct 28th

Tuition assistance/reimbursement:
I have been approved for full Pell and loan 
I would like to have a little cushion for expenses so I can focus more on my studies. If anyone has info on how to do that please share. 

Budget: I have $1500 saved and would like to use it to start getting certs for WGU

I have gained a lot of knowledge in building websites and developing iOS and Android apps through online platforms such as Youtube, Udemy, and Coursera. I also have experience in setting up businesses and creating processes and workflows.

I am currently working at a nonprofit organization that assists small businesses. In my role, I build websites, handle marketing, and contribute to the development of workflows.

Im ok at test taking and have a good amount of knowledge in the areas I am pursuing.

I have a spreadsheet outlining the courses I plan to take and the path I have mapped out for both degrees. I can upload it for feedback to ensure I am on the right track.

I am open to all suggestions and assistance because I do not have any support and have spent numerous hours researching information until I found this site.

[ltw900rr]

Good Morning,

Great 1st post!
If you are not in Texas or in a bordering state to Texas, the tuition for TAMUC would be $2000 for each semester. https://www.tamuc.edu/programs/organizat...baas-orgl/ you can see the pricing towards the bottom of that page.

https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...egree_Plan here is the link for Sophia classes that others have taken and transferred into TAMUC.

If you have questions about TAMUC, I will do my best to answer them, but I bet other members will post better options than TAMUC for someone who is not in Texas or a bordering state.

[Jonathan Whatley]

Pell Grants will only be available for your first bachelor's degree, and may be discontinued if you complete enough credits for a first bachelor's degree but defer graduating. Most financial aid may also become unavailable after a first bachelor's degree or equivalent.

Since your plans depend on financial aid, you should reconsider targeting two bachelor's degrees. You could prioritize one to complete now and put one off to the future (that you could self-fund, hopefully with a better job the first degree helped you earn). Or you could pursue a master's degree at that time instead.

[onward25]

Good Morning,

Great 1st post!
If you are not in Texas or in a bordering state to Texas, the tuition for TAMUC would be $2000 for each semester. https://www.tamuc.edu/programs/organizat...baas-orgl/ you can see the pricing towards the bottom of that page.

https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...egree_Plan here is the link for Sophia classes that others have taken and transferred into TAMUC.

If you have questions about TAMUC, I will do my best to answer them, but I bet other members will post better options than TAMUC for someone who is not in Texas or a bordering state.

Thank you for responding and providing links. 
Do you know If I submit credits now to TAMUC with Eng Comp I & II in progress will they get accepted once complete?

[onward25]

Pell Grants will only be available for your first bachelor's degree, and may be discontinued if you complete enough credits for a first bachelor's degree but defer graduating. Most financial aid may also become unavailable after a first bachelor's degree or equivalent.

Since your plans depend on financial aid, you should reconsider targeting two bachelor's degrees. You could prioritize one to complete now and put one off to the future (that you could self-fund, hopefully with a better job the first degree helped you earn). Or you could pursue a master's degree at that time instead.

thank you for responding I didn’t know that they wouldn’t pay for two. How are people double majoring? Is that something that has to be done at the same school simultaneously? Also, if I get a good chunk of financial aid I maybe able to pay for one out of pocket I'm thinking.

[Jonathan Whatley]

The technical definition and usually the practical definition of double majoring is taking two majors within one degree at the same school, with that one degree granted at one time. "Double degree" describes two separate degrees at the same level.

The Pell Grant and federal financial aid will only pay to one school at one time. It is occasionally possible to get federal financial aid to flow from one school to another through a consortium agreement, typically for a visiting student doing a semester or year "away" from the "home school" they'll transfer those away credits back to. This is unlikely to fit your situation.

WGU doesn't allow double majors. It is possible to take a first bachelor's degree at WGU then a subsequent bachelor's degree also at WGU if there is not too much overlap between content. The process is linear and sequential and doesn't really overlap: You'll study general education requirements and in-major requirements for Degree One, then in an an entirely separate process that will start after conferral of Degree One, you'll study the requirements for Degree Two (that were not already transferred in from Degree One or other work).

I don't know whether TAMUC CBE programs allow double majors. Note that information in the TAMUC catalog or policy documents might apply to the mainline TAMUC programs but not the CBE programs.

The double degree combination of a TESU BA in Computer Science with a BS in some business subject – this could be Organizational Leadership – is popular on degreeforum. People cut costs at TESU by transferring in most of the requirements using alt-credit; TESU is unusually friendly to transfer credit and to alt-credit. The alt-credit degreeforumers use comes at a relatively low cost out of pocket, and sometimes employers will reimburse it, but it cannot be funded by federal financial aid.

Because WGU and TAMUC CBE price by "all you can eat" subscription per term, it's unlikely to make sense to be subscribed to both at once.

[ltw900rr]

Good Morning,

Great 1st post!
If you are not in Texas or in a bordering state to Texas, the tuition for TAMUC would be $2000 for each semester. https://www.tamuc.edu/programs/organizat...baas-orgl/ you can see the pricing towards the bottom of that page.

https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...egree_Plan here is the link for Sophia classes that others have taken and transferred into TAMUC.

If you have questions about TAMUC, I will do my best to answer them, but I bet other members will post better options than TAMUC for someone who is not in Texas or a bordering state.

Thank you for responding and providing links. 
Do you know If I submit credits now to TAMUC with Eng Comp I & II in progress will they get accepted once complete?

I submitted courses from Sophia twice, and I had one course that they did not give me credit for from Sophia from the 2nd transcript submission, but they gave another member credit for the same course. I don't know if it had anything to do with making a second submission or not. 

Other members may have different experiences with submitting more than one transcript from Sophia.

[karehiro]

The technical definition and usually the practical definition of double majoring is taking two majors within one degree at the same school, with that one degree granted at one time. "Double degree" describes two separate degrees at the same level.

The Pell Grant and federal financial aid will only pay to one school at one time. It is occasionally possible to get federal financial aid to flow from one school to another through a consortium agreement, typically for a visiting student doing a semester or year "away" from the "home school" they'll transfer those away credits back to. This is unlikely to fit your situation.

WGU doesn't allow double majors. It is possible to take a first bachelor's degree at WGU then a subsequent bachelor's degree also at WGU if there is not too much overlap between content. The process is linear and sequential and doesn't really overlap: You'll study general education requirements and in-major requirements for Degree One, then in an an entirely separate process that will start after conferral of Degree One, you'll study the requirements for Degree Two (that were not already transferred in from Degree One or other work).

I don't know whether TAMUC CBE programs allow double majors. Note that information in the TAMUC catalog or policy documents might apply to the mainline TAMUC programs but not the CBE programs.

The double degree combination of a TESU BA in Computer Science with a BS in some business subject – this could be Organizational Leadership – is popular on degreeforum. People cut costs at TESU by transferring in most of the requirements using alt-credit; TESU is unusually friendly to transfer credit and to alt-credit. The alt-credit degreeforumers use comes at a relatively low cost out of pocket, and sometimes employers will reimburse it, but it cannot be funded by federal financial aid.

Because WGU and TAMUC CBE price by "all you can eat" subscription per term, it's unlikely to make sense to be subscribed to both at once.

Interesting. I've thought about this and wondered if there's a feasible path for someone who wanted to take advantage of the Pell Grant but for 2 separate degrees at different institutions. Say you want a degree via UMPI (such as a BABA) and a separate degree via TESU (such as BA in CS) but you qualify for Pell Grant. Couldn't you take a session (or 2) at UMPI first so that you accumulate enough credits from them to fulfill the residency requirement, then take the next semester to fulfill the TESU (residency) requirements? And once you've fulfilled both schools' residency requirements, you then take all the alt credit you need from Sophia/Study.com/etc and transfer them to the schools in order to graduate from both? In fact, ideally you could take care of the alt credit you would need for both schools first but simply not transfer them over until you're finished with the second school's residency requirements in the second semester.

So to lay it out:
-Take 1-2 sessions or 1 semester at first college (UMPI in this case) and complete the 10+ classes you need to fulfill residency requirement as well as classes that can't be satisfied with alt credit (for business degree)
-Take next semester off from first (UMPI) college
-Do next semester at second college (TESU in this case) and fulfill the residency requirements (for CS degree)
-Transfer all alt credits which would fulfill the degree requirements to both first college and second college

So instead of transferring all credit first before transferring over to your institution, you first start off at your institutions and fulfill the residency requirements, then transfer over all the alt credits afterwards. This way you use Pell Grant for the 2 schools in subsequent semesters, and you have no risk of going "over" for credits with Pell Grant usage or have a conferred Bachelors before either scenario.

Is this a viable strategy? Is there a better one? Or is there something I'm missing which would prevent something like that from happening?

[ss20ts]

This idea doesn't take into account changes to degree plans which happen often and if you take a break quite often you're moved to the new degree requirements. If you don't transfer in your alt credit at UMPI they will require you to complete courses that you don't want to complete at UMPI.

[Jonathan Whatley]

In addition to the issues ss20ts notes, in that plan, if you receive the UMPI bachelor's degree before the TESU bachelor's degree, you'll suddenly become a second bachelor's student at TESU. Under TESU's Award of Degrees policy, you must complete a minimum of 24 credits in the area of study (major) including the capstone "earned after the date the most recent degree, regardless of academic level, was conferred."

If instead you receive a TESU bachelor's degree before the UMPI bachelor's degree, you'll suddenly become a second bachelor's student at UMPI. I expect UMPI would interpret their catalog Academic Policy section titled Dual Baccalaureate Degrees to apply to this situation. Under this policy, you would have to complete a minimum 30 credits "beyond the total hours earned for the previous degree." It is common for schools to require that such credits be earned subsequent to the date of the first degree.