Ways to get credit

[fretbrner]

Hey. i have a question or two regarding getting credit at the big three.

I know CLEP and Dantes are two ways to get credit. However, being overseas, I do not have a testing center close enough.

I know about straighterline, ALEKS and doing distance ed. with a school that has inexpensive credit hours.

How much does the big three give for life experience? Work experience? I was going to get a BS in information systems or something similar. do they give credit for industry certifications as well?

Can you have an assessment done before you enroll? I was looking at Excelsior, mostly because I am still considered a NY resident.

Thanks!

[cookderosa]

Hey. i have a question or two regarding getting credit at the big three.

I know CLEP and Dantes are two ways to get credit. However, being overseas, I do not have a testing center close enough.

I know about straighterline, ALEKS and doing distance ed. with a school that has inexpensive credit hours.

How much does the big three give for life experience? Work experience? I was going to get a BS in information systems or something similar. do they give credit for industry certifications as well?

Can you have an assessment done before you enroll? I was looking at Excelsior, mostly because I am still considered a NY resident.

Thanks!

The only "life experience" credit you can get is by assembling a portfolio. BUG THUMBS down from me, but you can explore it. You'll pay full tuition *about $500 for every course you intend to challenge. So, you can't just say you have an experience = give me credit, you have to pick a college course and prove that you're work/experience meets the goals comparably of that course. Then, after you submit, they'll decide yes or no. If a no, then no refund. :mad: For $500, I wouldn't even dream of trying for 3 credits.

The "work experience" credits are different. You can sometimes find a work training or certification that has already been evaluated by ACE and in that case, you simply create a transcript with them (free) arrange the documentation (employer verifies) and you'll have an official transcript with the recommended credit. You forward that to any college, including the big 3, and they'll evaluate it against your degree plan. This costs only about $20. If this process will only yield you lower level free electives, I'd say it isn't worth the work (use FEMA instead) but in the case of upper level courses or courses in-major, this is a HUGE time/money saver.

You know about SL and ALEKS, don't discount them. SL has added a lot of new courses, and you could complete the "Freshman Year for $999" through them and pick any 10 classes (labs yield 4 instead of 3 but cost more $). (but not math, ALEKS is cheaper for math)
Then, complete 4 classes with ALEKS in 5 months or less for $100
As you work through this, rock out 27 FEMA for $0

So, before you've taken a CLEP or attended a class, you've racked up half your degree for $1100. Can't beat that!:hurray:

[Shemrat]

Are you in the military? Military training/experience documented in your military transcript (SMART for Navy) can account for a HUGE chunk of your degree plan. The school I go to accepted 30 credits from my Naval Hospital Corpsman training and Dental Assisting while knocking out the entirety of the required internship along with it. My school is not nearly as lenient as the Big Three, so I would imagine you can bag a lot of credits that way.

Somebody mentioned FEMA. These 1-credit exams are EASY and a quick way to stack credits in a very short time-frame. In addition to the 27-credit FEMA limit, National Fire Academy has 3 1-credit courses much like FEMA that may be transcribed, but I do not recall the names of the courses.

TECEP and ECE exams are certainly another viable option that is very much in the same vein as DSST's and CLEP's.

[Yenisei]

Speaking of FEMA, I'm trying to help someone get his bachelor's degree with TESC- how should he approach maxing out FEMA credit at as little expense as possible?

[cookderosa]

Speaking of FEMA, I'm trying to help someone get his bachelor's degree with TESC- how should he approach maxing out FEMA credit at as little expense as possible?

Yenisei, FEMA is completely 100% free to take, and no other laundering is necessary. TESC doesn't charge a penny to put all 27 credits on your transcript either. So, it's happy dance time for your friend. That's like being handed a $4500 scholarship!

[Yenisei]

Thanks, cook. He'll be ecstatic- just a week ago he thought it would take him 4 years to get a degree that he just needs to show he has one.

[fretbrner]

Thanks for the replies! I am former US Navy. I, unfortunately, can no longer use my GI Bill as I have been out of the service too long. That stinks!!

I don't know how many credits I can get for my prior service as I was in electronics back then, I now am in computers, and am looking at a business degree.

I will try for the FEMA courses. See how many I can get out. Be nice to get 20 or so credits out of the way. I have about 15 prior credits from college courses I have already completed.

I wish I could do some Clep testing. But it's a 7 hour drive or a take a plane if I wanted to take them in Canberra.

[ryoder]

Fretbrnr look up degree plans for tesc bsba cis. Its what I just completed and is a well traveled road. Straighterline biz comm and both accounting one and two are perfect for this degree. They have economics and college algebra too but I used clep and alena for those.
Penn foster has your systems analysis programming and finance courses covered.

[Shemrat]

Thanks for the replies! I am former US Navy. I, unfortunately, can no longer use my GI Bill as I have been out of the service too long. That stinks!!

I don't know how many credits I can get for my prior service as I was in electronics back then, I now am in computers, and am looking at a business degree.

I am pretty sure you have a SMART transcript documenting your Naval education floating around out there. It wouldn't hurt to investigate. Not sure where you can go to get it, but I would imagine a Navy College site can assist you.

I PMed you with the phone number to the Navy College site here on my base. Give them a call. You may be surprised!

[MA2]

Definitely send them your SMART transcript. I just got my official academic evaluation from TESC... they gave me 15 credits, including some upper level classes as an E-5.

I would have had 6 more credits for a total of 21 had I not already taken Principles of Management and Principles of Supervision, but no big deal.

Send it!