UMPI? WGU? What to do, what to do!

[ElderlyLeemur]

Would appreciate input from anyone in a similar position. Have looked at so many spreadsheets and degree plans and figured I would ask the experts.
My community college days were so long ago and I was not in a good personal or brain space as I was on my own beginning as a HS Junior so a job and place to live were more important... just for background info, lol.  I got a 26 on the ACT back in the olden days (before 1989) so I am presumably not a complete idiot. (Well I wasn't... I am a parent now so it's up for debate!)

Your Location: FL USA
Your Age: Over 50
What kind of degree do you want?: Bachelor's, preferably in Human Resources but could get by with Business.  I have even considered an ADN or BSN program.  Pretty open, tbh.

Current Regional Accredited Credits:

School Name Total Credits: #

St Louis Community College:  27

EMT  l21   Emerg Care   8   C
ENG  I 04   Hon Coll Comp I   3   B
PE  147  Ice Skating   1   C
ENG  102   College Comp 2   3   B
us 114  Enjoyment-Music   3   D  (May not be counted due to grade, depends on school I suppose. Got an A on every test but prof had an attendance requirement, go figure.)
SY  200   General Psych   3   C
PSY 205 Human Gwt Dev   3   A
SOC 101 Intro to Soc   3   C

Continuing Education from SLCC:

EMTB 701 EMT Refresher   3.2   SC (Not a graded course or included in GPA or credits so I do not think it will transfer anywhere)


St. Louis University:  9

SP X 115 BASIC STRUCT II: SPANISH   3   A
SP X 122 SPANISH CIV & CULTURE   3   A
SP X 123 SPANISH CIVILZTN/CULTURE   3   B+


Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits:

Provider Total Credits: #

Sophia Learning:   18


HIST1001 U.S. History I   3   (89% actual grade)
CA1001 College Algebra   3   (84% actual grade)
CS1001 Introduction to Information Technology   3  (98% actual grade)
MATH 1020 Introduction to College Mathematics   3   (81% actual grade)
HUMBIO1001 Human Biology   3   (93% actual grade)
PHIL1002 Introduction to Ethics   3   (93% actual grade)

SeeMore Labs:   3

The CSM Course - CSMLearn   3

Any certifications or military experience?

HRCI PHR (Professional in Human Resources) Certification
FL Real Estate Salesperson license
NV Real Estate Salesperson license

(The above required separate proctored examinations.)

No military service

Budget: I would prefer to stay under $5000 if at all possible.  Speed and level of difficulty is more important than price. I am old. 
Commitments: Child/Spouse/Pets/Businesses
Dedicated time to study: I can spend up to 5 hours per day.
Tuition reimbursement: None

Study preferences:  I prefer testing to essays. I am a good test-taker.

Additional info:  I have applied for (and should be graduating with) the Pierpont BOG AAS in May based upon 6 credits offered for the PHR and 2 for one of the RE licenses.



I hope I have completed the template correctly and appreciate any guidance!

[rachel83az]

If you want to stay under $5000, I think that UMPI would be your best bet. WGU can be under that, but there is no guarantee that you'll finish your degree in a single term. If you don't finish, you could wind up doubling or tripling your budget.

Unless you are exceptionally slow at writing papers, 3-4 sessions/6-8 months ($4200-$5600) at UMPI should be more than feasible. Most students here tend to finish in 2-3 sessions at UMPI. If it takes you longer, it's only another $1400 per session. That's much more budget-friendly.

On the other hand, WGU has exams and UMPI has essays. If you want to prioritize exams over budget, go with WGU. If you follow a degree plan for WGU, you'll increase the likelihood of only having 30-45 credits to take at WGU and in being able to finish in a single session. Not all degrees have the same number of transfer credits available/allowed, so I'd pick the most attractive business degree that also has as many transferable credits as possible.

[allvia]

I would recommend UMPI as well. The BABA Management & Leadership (reported as the 'most likely to complete in the fewest terms' here for the BABA options). You can get the LL you're missing through Sophia (take the Bio Lab for sure - you need a lab science and you've already take the Bio w/out lab there). Here is the Sophia/UMPI wiki - https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/UM...quivalents

The UMPI papers are relatively short, current APA citation rules are far easier than anything a few decades ago, and the best part of doing this now that you're older is you've got experience behind you - so you'll find that you won't be lacking for words on the topics. I speak from personal experience on this

[dfrecore]

A PHR cert is worth 3cr UL at TESU f you took it between 01/01/2014 - 07/31/2018. Any chance that's when you took the exam? Otherwise, it's worth 2cr LL via ACE if you took it between 1/1/18-7/31/22 (so you could conceivably put it on your Credly transcript if they will do that, no idea).

So, IMHO, if you want an HR degree, then your best option is TESU's BSBA w/concentration in HRM. If you don't care and just want "any" degree, then the UMPI BLS w/minor in Management is a good option. It really depends on what kinds of jobs you're looking at - if you have years of experience, and just need a check-the-box, then UMPI is fine.

But honestly, TESU is good, their BSBA/HR degree is good (I have one), and you're well on your way to a degree with them. You could get most of the remaining credits via test-out (Saylor, TECEP, CLEP, DSST, Davar, or Coopersmith) as opposed to Sophia if you wanted to.

I'll do degree plans for UMPI and TESU tonight.

[ElderlyLeemur]

A PHR cert is worth 3cr UL at TESU f you took it between 01/01/2014 - 07/31/2018.  Any chance that's when you took the exam?  Otherwise, it's worth 2cr LL via ACE if you took it between 1/1/18-7/31/22 (so you could conceivably put it on your Credly transcript if they will do that, no idea).

So, IMHO, if you want an HR degree, then your best option is TESU's BSBA w/concentration in HRM.  If you don't care and just want "any" degree, then the UMPI BLS w/minor in Management is a good option.  It really depends on what kinds of jobs you're looking at - if you have years of experience, and just need a check-the-box, then UMPI is fine.

But honestly, TESU is good, their BSBA/HR degree is good (I have one), and you're well on your way to a degree with them.  You could get most of the remaining credits via test-out (Saylor, TECEP, CLEP, DSST, Davar, or Coopersmith) as opposed to Sophia if you wanted to.

I'll do degree plans for UMPI and TESU tonight.

Thank you kindly.  Unfortunately I took the PHR in 2020, passed on the first try with little study mainly due to having many years of experience in the field.  It is on my Credly as a Certification but no ACE credits listed (to my knowledge but now I have to confirm, lol.)
I really prefer an HR degree but yes, this is more a "check the box" situation. I own my own business so it's not really a "need" unless I want to continue HR consulting or be someone else's employee again which is always a possibility!

I look forward to seeing your degree plans and can't thank you enough!

[dfrecore]

So if you want a TESU BSBA/HR, you need 66cr:
Oral Comm requirement
Civic Engagement requirement (Am Govt CLEP)
Science or CompSci course (Computer CLEP)
Financial Acctg (CLEP)
Managerial Acctg
Business Law (CLEP)
Management (CLEP)
Marketing (CLEP)
Macroecon (CLEP)
Microecon (CLEP)
Stats
Prin of Finance
Business/Managerial Comm
Int'l Business
Org Theory
HRM
Org Behavior
3 UL HR courses
Cornerstone
Capstone

The cost would be $6,900 for tuition & fees at TESU for the cornerstone & capstone, plus the cost of the rest of the courses you need; OR $4,778 for a single FT/FR 16cr term including the cornerstone/capstone.
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For UMPI, you'd need 67cr, and your best bets for finishing the GEC and taking the 30cr at UMPI would be:
Am Govt CLEP
A&I Lit CLEP
Human Bio Lab (Sophia)
Any physical science course (Chemistry CLEP, or Chem or EnviroSci Sophia)
27cr of anything (so CLEP or whatever else)

Most people are finishing in 2 terms if they're focused, which is $2,800.
---------------------------------------------------------------

You might want to take all of the courses you need via CLEP first, and see what you can pass (they're all free through Modern States) and then decide from there whether you want to do TESU or UMPI.

The thing to remember: if you go to TESU, you'll be able to test out of everything, but then need to do 2 BIG courses which will require plenty of writing (cornerstone and capstone). If you do UMPI, you'll need to do 10 courses there, and each course will require writing a paper. BUT, honestly, I think that you'll end up writing the same amount for both degrees, it will just be split up differently.

[ElderlyLeemur]

Thank you so much for the replies. I am definitely open to other schools than the ones I mentioned, so this is helpful!

[bjcheung77]

@ElderlyLeemur, that's a great first post introduction and template, very informative! You're at the middle of a crossroad right now, there are so many variables and options to select from to get you to that finish line. From looking at the info, since you're open to any degree, I think you should complete the Pierpont BOG AAS and ladder up to the UMPI BLS with any minor to finish off the degree the quickest (as a first choice).

Another viable secondary option, since you're more into taking exams instead of doing written assignments, maybe an Excelsior BSLA with no concentration would work, you can take as many ACE/NCCRS credits from various providers we recommend here and just complete the Info Lit, Cornerstone, Capstone with Excelsior. This would also be under your budget of $5K, if you resourcefully plan all the courses remaining.

[rachel83az]

A BSLA would not be good if you might ever want to continue on to an MBA or similar Master's degree. It can be difficult to be admitted to such a program if you don't have a Business degree. Maybe you're not planning on continuing to an MBA right now, but it's still something to keep in mind.

[dfrecore]

A BSLA would not be good if you might ever want to continue on to an MBA or similar Master's degree. It can be difficult to be admitted to such a program if you don't have a Business degree. Maybe you're not planning on continuing to an MBA right now, but it's still something to keep in mind.

MANY MBA programs not only admit non-BSBA degree holders, they prefer them.  The only issue might be pre-reqs, but that's a hurdle that can easily be overcome later (for instance, ENMU's MBA program had free pre-req courses available, maybe 3-5 courses, I can't remember; and many will accept CLEP exams as meeting the pre-req's).

I would certainly not let this stop me from getting whatever degree I wanted.  If you decide later that you want an MBA and one particular program won't take you, you have like a thousand others that will.