minimum age for Big 3/UMPI admission

[EducationSeeker]

Hello,

My son is currently a High School Sophomore and we are looking at resourcefully planning for college by having dual enrollment in his High School and a local community college/University that would give him free college credits. If he doesn't pursue the traditional residential college route and wants to pursue an accelerated Business BA degree after High School, we had some questions about Big 3 or other similar options.

Age requirements for admission:

• COSC - 18 years old or High School diploma?
  
• Excelsior - 18 years old or High School diploma?
  
• TESU - 21 years old *unless* you are active duty (perhaps Natl Guard counts or reserve?) or have 24 RA (i.e. community college credits) and apply for exception if you are 18 or up. My question: if the college credits are not from a CC, can the courses be from a provider like Sophia or SDC if he doesn't take dual enrollment). If the classes are from a source like Sophia, would he be required to take placement tests?
  
• UMPI YourPace program: 21 years old?
  
• WGU: 18 with high school diploma?
  
• SNHU: 18 with high school diploma?
  

Thanks,

EducationSeeker

[rachel83az]

• COSC - no minimum age (with certain caveats). But you can't get the UL credit cheaply, so pointless.
  
• Excelsior - no minimum age, requires statement from superintendent that the class(es) will go to fulfill HS requirements. 
  
• TESU - 21, 18 with at least 24 RA credits. Sophia, SDC, etc. do not count. But you need 30+ RA credits anyway to graduate, no matter how old you are. 
  
• UMPI - 21. On-campus, 18.
  
  

[EducationSeeker]

• COSC - no minimum age (with certain caveats). But you can't get the UL credit cheaply, so pointless.
  
• Excelsior - no minimum age, requires statement from superintendent that the class(es) will go to fulfill HS requirements. 
  
• TESU - 21, 18 with at least 24 RA credits. Sophia, SDC, etc. do not count. But you need 30+ RA credits anyway to graduate, no matter how old you are. 
  
• UMPI - 21. On-campus, 18.
  
  

@rachel83az

Sorry, I should have mentioned that he likely be pursuing the Big 3 (or similar college) *after* High School. For Excelsior, I am assuming he would not need a superintendant's statement if he already graduated? It sounds like Excelsior would likely be the best option if he wanted to get the degree at 18 before age 21 for a non-traditional Big 3 type of option?

Regarding TESU, if he applied for the special waiver when he was 18-20, would the RA credits have to come from a traditional source like a community college if Sophia/SDC do not count or are there other low cost RA credit sources that TESU will consider aside from Community College?

Thanks,

EducationSeeker

[rachel83az]

There are lots of cheap sources of RA credit. Whether they're cheaper than your local CC depends on what tuition is where you are. Some CCs charge tens of dollars per credit hour, others are about as expensive as TESU.

[ece2001biz]

• COSC - no minimum age (with certain caveats). But you can't get the UL credit cheaply, so pointless.
  
• Excelsior - no minimum age, requires statement from superintendent that the class(es) will go to fulfill HS requirements. 
  
• TESU - 21, 18 with at least 24 RA credits. Sophia, SDC, etc. do not count. But you need 30+ RA credits anyway to graduate, no matter how old you are. 
  
• UMPI - 21. On-campus, 18.
  
  

@rachel83az

Sorry, I should have mentioned that he likely be pursuing the Big 3 (or similar college) *after* High School. For Excelsior, I am assuming he would not need a superintendant's statement if he already graduated? It sounds like Excelsior would likely be the best option if he wanted to get the degree at 18 before age 21 for a non-traditional Big 3 type of option?

Regarding TESU, if he applied for the special waiver when he was 18-20, would the RA credits have to come from a traditional source like a community college if Sophia/SDC do not count or are there other low cost RA credit sources that TESU will consider aside from Community College?

Thanks,

EducationSeeker

@rachel83az

I did some more research on Degree Forum and found this link on relatively cheap sources of RA credit:

https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...and-ASU-EA

https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Se...eap_Credit

I am struggling with understanding what is considered a source of RA credit? Would that be an ACE or NCCRS? Are those considered "RA" or Regionally Accredited? Is an RA credit generally from only some type of Community College? I am guessing CLEP, DSST count towards regionally accredited credit but Sophia nor SDC count towards RA credit? Just trying to make sure I look at the right source. My younger son would either get dual enrollment free or Eastern Gateway Community College in Ohio where we live is free for county residents. If anything, he can either take a semester online or in person either while in or directly after High school for 1-2 years and then go to TESU.

I see some cheaper or free sources of credit including:

TEEX - Cybersecurity
Olivet Nazarene University Global (not Ohio Northern University) - trouble finding cost per credit hour
Dine College
Clackamas Community College
Luna Community College

Trying to education myself.

Thanks,

EducationSeeker

[P226mem]

I am struggling with understanding what is considered a source of RA credit? Would that be an ACE or NCCRS? Are those considered "RA" or Regionally Accredited? Is an RA credit generally from only some type of Community College? I am guessing CLEP, DSST count towards regionally accredited credit but Sophia nor SDC count towards RA credit? Just trying to make sure I look at the right source.

I'm not rachel, but wanted to chime in with a tiny bit.

RA credit = regionally accredited.  This refers to institutions of higher education: community colleges, and 4 year state and private universities.  Their course offerings are RA.  It comes from a college or university.  Not from a business.

ACE and/or NCCRS are not same thing as RA credits.
credits/courses with ACE and/or NCCRS are not regionally accredited because they are not courses offered by college or university but by a business.  This means CLEP, DSST, and even AP exams as well as sophia, SDC (and many other options offered by non collegiate organizations) are not RA credit.    It is up to a individual university how such courses will or will not be given credit at the institution from these organizations.

[origamishuttle]

• UMPI YourPace program: 21 years old?
  
• WGU: 18 with high school diploma?
  

• UMPI is 20, same as Pierpont.
  
• I'm not sure if there's a minimum age for WGU, but I don't believe it's over 16 in any case, and their College of IT may not actually require a diploma.
  

[rachel83az]

To make things more confusing, there are a handful of NA (Nationally Accredited, which is "worse" than RA) schools that also sought out ACE endorsements for at least some of their classes. PennFoster is an example. Even though TESU doesn't accept NA credit, they will accept ACE-recommended PennFoster credits. They are counted as alt credits by TESU.

[dfrecore]

• COSC - 18 years old or High School diploma?
  
• Excelsior - 18 years old or High School diploma?
  
• TESU - 21 years old *unless* you are active duty (perhaps Natl Guard counts or reserve?) or have 24 RA (i.e. community college credits) and apply for exception if you are 18 or up. My question: if the college credits are not from a CC, can the courses be from a provider like Sophia or SDC if he doesn't take dual enrollment). If the classes are from a source like Sophia, would he be required to take placement tests?
  
• UMPI YourPace program: 21 years old?
  
• WGU: 18 with high school diploma?
  
• SNHU: 18 with high school diploma?
  

Skip COSC, that's no longer an option w/o a ton of UL credits from RA schools

EU - high school diploma is only requirement

TESU is 18 w/waiver (easy to get after high school graduation and enough credits)

UMPI is 20

WGU - no age limit

SNHU - no age limit that I'm aware of

So skip COSC and UMPI.  For cost, EU is your best bet; TESU is also a good option if you do the FT/FR term; unless you don't have any RA credits, in which case I would go to EU.  I don't usually recommend WGU for recent HS grads, as it's really built for older students who are highly motivated (if you want to go quickly).  If you can't do it in 1 term, then it's cheaper to do EU and/or TESU.

[EducationSeeker]

• COSC - 18 years old or High School diploma?
  
• Excelsior - 18 years old or High School diploma?
  
• TESU - 21 years old *unless* you are active duty (perhaps Natl Guard counts or reserve?) or have 24 RA (i.e. community college credits) and apply for exception if you are 18 or up. My question: if the college credits are not from a CC, can the courses be from a provider like Sophia or SDC if he doesn't take dual enrollment). If the classes are from a source like Sophia, would he be required to take placement tests?
  
• UMPI YourPace program: 21 years old?
  
• WGU: 18 with high school diploma?
  
• SNHU: 18 with high school diploma?
  

Skip COSC, that's no longer an option w/o a ton of UL credits from RA schools

EU - high school diploma is only requirement

TESU is 18 w/waiver (easy to get after high school graduation and enough credits)

UMPI is 20

WGU - no age limit

SNHU - no age limit that I'm aware of

So skip COSC and UMPI.  For cost, EU is your best bet; TESU is also a good option if you do the FT/FR term; unless you don't have any RA credits, in which case I would go to EU.  I don't usually recommend WGU for recent HS grads, as it's really built for older students who are highly motivated (if you want to go quickly).  If you can't do it in 1 term, then it's cheaper to do EU and/or TESU.

@dfrecore

Thank you for the candid advice. I learned that Regionally Accredited (RA) credit needs to come from a college (2 year Community College or 4 year private or public university and not a Business like Sophia or SDC. I am thinking that my son can either take dual enrollment classes at the local CC if he is ready in High School or go for 1-2 semesters out of college to it for free (free to local tri-county residents). If he wants to do the traditional route, he will apply to state colleges. If he doesn't want the traditional college experience, then he can look EU or TESU after he gets his RA credits at the local CC (EGCC) or from other cheap online CC sources like Clackamas, Luna, Pierpont, etc. He is at a local STEM high school and looking at either Aviation Repair or Engineering and Robotics. He indicated he might want to work right out of High School. He still mentioned wanting to get a Bachelor's degree potentially in Business at some point. If he doesn't do the traditional college route, I think EU or TESU might be a viable option and an employer would likely pay for it or we could pay for it relatively cheaply.

He is still figuring it out and I think he will get a good idea if he wants to go the traditional college route or do the TESU/EU option in the next 2 years. He has ADHD and high functioning Autism (previously Asperger's) and doesn't have many friends so I think the social aspect of going away to college could also be very valuable for him. If he wants to do it and would be allowed to join, I also think joining the Ohio Air National Guard and getting a "free" 4 year degree for 6 year commitment could also be a valuable life learning experience for him. It is great to know there are options.

Regarding cost, if he got a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and had RA credits for free, what is the cost of EU and TESU respectively? Does EU or TESU have engineering? It looked like from other posts that it would be in the neighborhood of $5-7k for each one ballpark which is still a deal and I am willing to pay it for him out of pocket. My goal for both of my sons is to get a Bachelor's degree (if they want it) and no or low cost to them without the student loan I still have at 49.

Thanks,

EducationSeeker