What graduate schools have Excelsior graduates gotten into?

[cookderosa]

I'm going to be blunt. Your focus needs to become razor sharp. Eye on the prize as they say. You need to get your 90 THOUSAND dollars worth of credit into a bachelor's degree. A legitimate, accredited degree. Brands are for 18 year olds, just buy a hoodie and move on. Sorry, but you need to focus on what will get you working! Earn your remaining credits and squeeze every penny out of every credit.

A few things: AAS degrees are terminal, meaning not typically intended to transfer anywhere, so don't be shocked if the 60+ credits in that degree don't amount to much. *I have one too Your community college gen eds will all transfer. You'll be able to use CLEP and DSST for any gen ed deficiencies. Ask for help filling your major as cheaply as possible- everyone here will help.

I'm sorry, I'm just such a monumental tightwad (and I have 4 children) but if you can turn this into a positive- do you mind sharing how you go into so much debt earning 100/200 level credit? I'm not judging- please know that- I'm seriously hoping you can provide guidance for those who come here and might be able to avoid this situation. I have more credit than what's in my sig- my sig only lists my degrees. So, there are 3 other colleges I left out. I just did the math, and I've spent $42,000 give or take a few bucks. ($24k of that on my AOS two decades ago!)

[GokkunMilkshake]

I'm going to be blunt. Your focus needs to become razor sharp. Eye on the prize as they say. You need to get your 90 THOUSAND dollars worth of credit into a bachelor's degree. A legitimate, accredited degree. Brands are for 18 year olds, just buy a hoodie and move on. Sorry, but you need to focus on what will get you working! Earn your remaining credits and squeeze every penny out of every credit.

A few things: AAS degrees are terminal, meaning not typically intended to transfer anywhere, so don't be shocked if the 60+ credits in that degree don't amount to much. *I have one too Your community college gen eds will all transfer. You'll be able to use CLEP and DSST for any gen ed deficiencies. Ask for help filling your major as cheaply as possible- everyone here will help.

I'm sorry, I'm just such a monumental tightwad (and I have 4 children) but if you can turn this into a positive- do you mind sharing how you go into so much debt earning 100/200 level credit? I'm not judging- please know that- I'm seriously hoping you can provide guidance for those who come here and might be able to avoid this situation. I have more credit than what's in my sig- my sig only lists my degrees. So, there are 3 other colleges I left out. I just did the math, and I've spent $42,000 give or take a few bucks. ($24k of that on my AOS two decades ago!)

1) Go to a community college on student loans for a year, move.
2) Go to a state university for a year (living on campus), drop out
3) go to ITT, graduate
4) Start pursuing ITT bachelors online, drop out
5) Take classes at devry half time for a year, drop out.

The bulk of this debt came from ITT/Devry. A very sizable chunk specifically comes from variable rate private loans gotten through ITT, which have capitalized in a very big way after raising to 9-13.25%APR depending on loan. I absolutely would not advise anybody to go for any variable rate loan, ever.

Why so many schools? Well, I have had a lot of instability in my life. Some circumstantial, a lot self inflicted. Things are getting better now, and I'm clawing my way into a proper life. Probably don't want to share more than that

By the way, Devry's fee schedule is set up so that if you go halftime, your tuition costs twice as much, so you may as well go full time. I went halftime, and even then dropped classes because I really wasn't ready to go bakc to school and was not in a good place.

I am now at my aggregate limit for loans, luckily now I can afford to pay for my expenses out of pocket, at least with the path I am checking out.
Before I learned about TESC, Excelsior, this forum, etc I had planned on taking GenEd courses at Community College to fill out my bachelors at devry, leaving a years left of actual Devry classes to take.
I am glad that I am not doing that now, as that would be a pain to pay out of pocket, especially when I need to be paying down the principle on some of those HIGH interest student loans.

Whatever I go into, I am looking for a few things:
1) Cost
2) Speed of acquisition
3) Applicability to my career. Something that will open doors.
4) Value of degree. Although everything looks promising, I worry if others might bat an eye or perceive TESC or EC negatively. But then again, it can't be much worse than the ITT/Devry's of the world.
5) Ability to get into a graduate program at a state University. The idea is once I get my bachelors, to continue my education, albeit half time. This prevents interest from being capitalized on my loan so I can pay down principle quicker, while getting a higher degree

[NAP]

I'm glad that you found the option of the Big 3, since I know you aren't the only one in this situation.

The topics of debt and paying for college have come up a few times and may be worth a search for some tips. If you are still eligible for Pell Grants, Rebel100 has shared his success with using those to pay for school.

Also, it helps to start with a goal in mind, like several graduate programs, and work backwards to plan your undergraduate degree. For instance, some MBA programs accept CLEP for business prerequisites and some do not. Be sure to contact them with your questions and for help with your concerns, too.

[GokkunMilkshake]

I'm glad that you found the option of the Big 3, since I know you aren't the only one in this situation.

The topics of debt and paying for college have come up a few times and may be worth a search for some tips. If you are still eligible for Pell Grants, Rebel100 has shared his success with using those to pay for school.

Also, it helps to start with a goal in mind, like several graduate programs, and work backwards to plan your undergraduate degree. For instance, some MBA programs accept CLEP for business prerequisites and some do not. Be sure to contact them with your questions and for help with your concerns, too.

Initially I thought I would get an MBA as it is a respectable degree that I could obtain easily without starting over. However, now that I have learned of the big three I'm leaning towards MS in Computer Engineering or Robotics. I find robotics particularly interesting, and see a definite future there.

[bldclot2]

GokkunMilkshake,

First, I'm just putting this out there for the sake of information and no I am NOT a recruiter. Since you served in the National Guard before, this might be an option for you.

The Army National Guard offers a $50,000 student loan repayment program for a 6 year enlistment. They pay $7500 a year on the loan, but you must fill out the form yourself, to request payment on the loan (this is done yearly).

While in the service all CLEP and DSST's, are free to military members. If you use a private testing center they might charge a proctoring fee, but most places will waive the fee because of your service.

Also, while in service you can use TA to pay for classes or you can use the Reserve GI Bill Ch 1606 which goes away once you get out of the National Guard.

I knew a soldier that got out of the National Guard, accumulated massive student loan debt and returned to the Guard, they paid most of his student loan debt off and He used the above mentioned benefits to get his BS and is currently in a Masters program. Most soldier's in the National Guard don't know about the free CLEP/DSST testing and the TA program, or they just don't look into it. Also, the 25 series MOS's, are the communication based MOS's.

bldclot2

[GokkunMilkshake]

GokkunMilkshake,

First, I'm just putting this out there for the sake of information and no I am NOT a recruiter. Since you served in the National Guard before, this might be an option for you.

The Army National Guard offers a $50,000 student loan repayment program for a 6 year enlistment. They pay $7500 a year on the loan, but you must fill out the form yourself, to request payment on the loan (this is done yearly).

While in the service all CLEP and DSST's, are free to military members. If you use a private testing center they might charge a proctoring fee, but most places will waive the fee because of your service.

Also, while in service you can use TA to pay for classes or you can use the Reserve GI Bill Ch 1606 which goes away once you get out of the National Guard.

I knew a soldier that got out of the National Guard, accumulated massive student loan debt and returned to the Guard, they paid most of his student loan debt off and He used the above mentioned benefits to get his BS and is currently in a Masters program. Most soldier's in the National Guard don't know about the free CLEP/DSST testing and the TA program, or they just don't look into it. Also, the 25 series MOS's, are the communication based MOS's.

bldclot2

The Army wouldn't want me back, and I don't want them either.

I should still be able to do all the CLEP and DSSTs for free though, right? Even as a veteran?

[GokkunMilkshake]

I think I am going to go for the BA in Computer Science at TESC.

My plan is to take some general education requirements half time at Glendale Community College this upcoming semester to transfer over. Specifically some of the easier classes, so I can get a GPA boost. While doing that I am going to knocking out as many Math credits as I can out via CLEP/DSST/Straighterline. I learn math better at my own pace. Once I hammer out all the math stuff I will focus on knocking out the other remaining GenEd requirements via CLEP/DSST/Straighterline/Glendale Community College classes. The goal is to spend as little money and credits at TESC as possible.

After I get my BA in CompSci there, I will move on to whatever decent grad school will take me in one of the programs I want.

[rebel100]

I think I am going to go for the BA in Computer Science at TESC.

My plan is to take some general education requirements half time at Glendale Community College this upcoming semester to transfer over. Specifically some of the easier classes, so I can get a GPA boost. While doing that I am going to knocking out as many Math credits as I can out via CLEP/DSST/Straighterline. I learn math better at my own pace. Once I hammer out all the math stuff I will focus on knocking out the other remaining GenEd requirements via CLEP/DSST/Straighterline/Glendale Community College classes. The goal is to spend as little money and credits at TESC as possible.

After I get my BA in CompSci there, I will move on to whatever decent grad school will take me in one of the programs I want.

ALEKS math should be right up your alley, its far and away the cheapest route too (if you don't screw around...and if you get help if you really need it)

Your goal should be as few classes as possible at TESC...

[GokkunMilkshake]

Your goal should be as few classes as possible at TESC...

It is


Another thing I was wondering about was getting a grade for classes I tested for. As I understand, TESC does not give those whereas EC does. Could I feasibly just transfer those ALEKS/Straighterline credits to EC for evaluation, get a good grade, then transfer that back to TESC?

[NAP]

It is


Another thing I was wondering about was getting a grade for classes I tested for. As I understand, TESC does not give those whereas EC does. Could I feasibly just transfer those ALEKS/Straighterline credits to EC for evaluation, get a good grade, then transfer that back to TESC?

As far as I know, ALEKS and SL are pass/fail at EC, too. EC grades some DSST, all ECE, and UExcel exams. COSC does grade SL and other exams. It's rare to be able to mix-and-match policies like that. That is why you need to know the pros and cons of each school/option and make the best choice for you.

I agree that ALEKS sounds like it would be a good fit for your learning style.

Be sure to look at the prerequisites for some of the graduate programs that interest you. For instance, I wanted to use CLEP or SL for Calculus, but I needed graded courses instead.