Cost Comparison TESC or Excelsior

[hsing]

Hello all,

I am a homeschool mom of 2 sons just getting started down the ADL road. I have been reading posts daily for several weeks just trying to get through the learning curve on this "road less traveled."

My older son is working full time and has enrolled in the College Plus program. We just had a degree consultation and it needs to be finished up. We are dragging our feet a bit after reading posts here and on degreeinfo. The hold ups are deciding which 'college' and the possible use of FEMA credits for electives. Those 2 things are non-standard in the CP 'template'. The advisor is open to listening to our options, but I feel we will need to put forth the leg work to offer a different solution. I am wondering if it is worth it to rock the boat, if there is a clear difference.

It seems the vast majority on this forum are enrolled through Excelsior. The reasons seem to be cost and an overall sense of better Customer Service. Yet, the few folks I have spoken with through CP forum have not had issues with TESC.

My son is working on a BA in General Business. He has passed 1 clep - AIL and will soon take US History 1.

We would like to be certain that Excelsior is less expensive overall and not just the yearly tuition, per se. There are other factors that may add up.

The book, "College Without Compromise" p. 137, lays out a degree plan for BSBA from TESC for around $6,000. That is a similar price to 123collegedegree.com BS in 6 months....COMPLETE! from Excelsior.

Does anyone have more detailed info comparing the 2 choices if one is just starting from scratch and has no credits from previous endeavors to transfer?

Thanks for your help!

[Matymus]

As a fellow College Plus alumni...after talking to my advisor, I let him know that I'd rather go thru Excelsior. He didn't have a problem with it. My advisor got his degree thru TESC himself, but he said he never had issues with them at all. After doing a bunch of research on here as well as other places, it really seems to me that Excelsior would be the better way to go due to overall cost, student services (which is B-I-G in my book). My advisor really had the attitude of just wanting me to do what seemed to work out better for me. Anyway....from a fellow College Plus person, those are just a few of my thoughts.

~ Matt

[hsing]

"after talking to my advisor, I let him know that I'd rather go thru Excelsior."

Did you setup your own degree template for Excelsior or did he do that for you?

Did you ever receive a degree template for BSBA through TESC?

Are you still finding the cost difference to be that much less through Excelsior?

What about the extra expense incurred bc you cannot use the English Composition Clep?

Thanks!

[Matymus]

"after talking to my advisor, I let him know that I'd rather go thru Excelsior."

Did you setup your own degree template for Excelsior or did he do that for you?

Did you ever receive a degree template for BSBA through TESC?

Are you still finding the cost difference to be that much less through Excelsior?

What about the extra expense incurred bc you cannot use the English Composition Clep?

Thanks!

To answer your questions...
1) I did receive a degree template for a BSBA - General Management thru TESC.
2) I'm in the process of working with Excelsior now in setting up a degree template thru them. You have to actually submit an application to them first, and they'll let you know what credits you still need to complete their degree, and what transfer credits will be applied to which requirements, etc. I should find out what I need this next week sometime. So, no...College Plus did nothing for me in regard to finding out anything about Excelsior, or doing a degree template, etc. It was almost as if they just work with TESC, so why change or give students the option?

3) In doing a preliminary financial analysis, and after talking w/ Excelsior about costs, etc....I've found that Excelsior will be the much cheaper route than TESC. I'll email you that info when I find it again.

4) I already took an English Comp. class at a community college where I live, prior to even joining CP, so I'm hoping that since Excelsior doesn't accept my English Comp. CLEP, they'll accept the actual class I already took...or at least accept it as partial credit. I'm good enough with English that I have to do it again, I'm not too worried...I enjoy it.

I hope that's answered your questions thus far. Feel free to let me know if you have any other questions.

~ Matt

[barcotta]

Excelsior took my old (20+yr old) community college English credits so I'm sure they will take yours too. The great thing about Excelsior is you just pay for what you need and have all the flexibility you could ever reasonably ask for. My recollection with TESC was that they wanted a bunch of money (like thousands) up front--which included some of their classes. The other great thing is that it's really easy to figure out what Excelsior will cost. Just download their various catalogs--including the one re. fees, and figure it out. I've been enrolled since February and haven't seen any hidden costs yet and they DO have fantastic customer service. Believe me--one class or test isn't going to break the bank on the Excelsior side. ECE tests are $190. TESC tests, according to a recent post on this site, are up to $450!

[barcotta]

Actually, to save the most $$$$, you should do this without CP. You may have already figured that out from this forum and it may be too late. Based on my understanding of the service from their site and from the folks that post here, it looks like a good and useful service for someone who wants to take this route and needs help with the navigation. However, this site provides PLENTY of navigation assistance (you can read my past posts to see what I did to earn my Excelsior AAS on my way to my BS in General Business) and save the $$$$. If you decided on Excelsior and actually didn't bother registering until you were within a year of anticipated graduation, you could save even more. Granted there's a small amount of risk that some of the requirements may change and you won't be grandfathered in (for example, there is going to be a required Business policy class starting in August I believe), but overall, guaranteeing that you only pay for one year's enrollment is more likely than not to save you money. Finally, since I'm pursuing the same degree as your son, I'd be happy to share my degree plan and help with whatever I can if you decide on Excelsior.

I'm sure either college will be fine so I don't believe there's going to be a "wrong" choice here. Just continue to do some internet research, ask questions here, make a decision and don't look back.