undecided between TESU and COSC

[Luka1110]

Hi everyone,

I am wondering If anyone can help me in this confusing journey of my life.

I am working toward a BA in Liberal Studies (no concentration) and I am now undecided between TESU and COSC. Last month I registered with TESU, however, the $3200 residency waiver fee really sounds a big chunk of money. COSC will be ideal but as far as I understood, they only accept 90 ACE credits, while the rest needs to be RA credits (except from the Cornerstone and Capstone). Am I correct to assume that RA means Regional Accredited? If so, where can I gain those credits?

Please consider I am an international student, and I wish my country could offer this sort of Big 3 BA style.

So far I got all the below credits (some of them taken at NFA and TEEX are not very useful). I m doing my best to get a graduation in March 2021, but I am afraid it’s not going to happen.

Thanks a lot!

Accounting I - SL
Accounting II - SL
American Government - SL
Anatomy and Physiology I - SL
Anatomy and Physiology II - SL
Business Communication - SL
Business Ethics - SL
Business Law - SL
Cultural Anthropology - SL
General Chemistry I - SL
Information Technology Fundamentals - SL
Introduction to Biology - SL
Introduction to Criminal Justice - SL
Introduction to Environmental Science - SL
Introduction to Nutrition - SL
Introduction to Psychology - SL
Introduction to Religion - SL
Introduction to Sociology - SL
Macroeconomics - SL
Microbiology - SL
Microeconomics - SL
Organizational Behavior - SL
Principles of Management - SL
Survey of World History - SL
United States History I - SL
United States History II - SL
Western Civilization I - SL
Western Civilization II - SL
 
Cyber Ethics – TEEX
 
Developing Effective Teams – SOPHIA

English Composition I – SOPHIA
English Composition II – SOPHIA
Oral Communication – SOPHIA
 
Fire Service Supervision: Self Study - NFA
Self-Study Course for Community Safety Educators - NFA

[ss20ts]

Being international, I would COSC off your list. You need RA credits to get your degree from them. RA credits are credits from a regionally accredited college or university. As an international student, these aren't super easy to come by. You'd have to enroll at a regional accredited university in the US and pass those courses.

I would look at study.com and what interests you for upper level courses which you'll need at TESU. Have you sent them your transcripts for an evaluation yet? Or made a degree plan? If you plan to graduate in March, then you need to do the cornerstone and capstone in the January term.

[rachel83az]

The easiest/cheapest way to get RA credits as an international student right now would be to get credits from TEL Learning. However, by the time you get 24 credits @ about $66 per credit, you've paid about $1600 for this. With all the SL credits you have, I don't think it's worth trying to get enough TEL Learning credits to get a COSC degree. Also, it takes at least 2x as long to get a degree at COSC because they don't allow you to take the Capstone & Cornerstone at the same time while TESU does allow this.

You're not going to make a March graduation either way - the capstone/cornerstone classes are 15 weeks long and you can't accelerate that - but you should be able to make the next graduation cycle. I would suggest applying to TESU and then filling in the blanks based on this plan: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Ge...egree_Plan

[dfrecore]

The main issue with COSC is that you have to choose a concentration (or 2 or 3), so there's no getting around that. TESU does not require a concentration.

Next, you need 30cr of UL at COSC, only 18cr of UL at TESU.

Finally, you need 24cr of RA for COSC, none for TESU.

What's happening with your credits now is, you have everything you need for TESU except a math course, and your 18cr of UL, which are easy to get (mostly through Study.com). At COSC, you're going to need a lab science, a math, a lit/fine art, and in addition you need 27cr of UL, and 24cr of RA. You are so far on the road of TESU that it would be annoying and expensive to get the credits you need for COSC. It's going to be hard to find UL RA credits for cheap, meaning you're going to need to take your UL credits through something like Study.com AND RA credits through something like TEL, and then you'll have a TON of credits, many of which you don't need. Honestly, switching schools/majors is one of the reasons I see people never finish their degree.

In my opinion, I would do the following:
- apply at TESU, send in all of your current credits
- sign up for Study.com
- sign up for the cornerstone and capstone
- take a math course,
- take 5 UL BALS courses (courses like Communciations, History, Psych)
- send in all of your remaining credits to TESU
apply for June graduation (you won't make it for March graduation as the December capstone doesn't end until Feb 21, and they probably won't let you start it without having all of your UL credits already in)

Your biggest hurdle is going to be paying for it, but honestly, that would be your hurdle with COSC. It would just be spread out a bit.

TESU - remaining costs
3 months of Study.com for 6 courses (math + 5 UL) $600
Application fee $50
Cornerstone & Capstone $3114
Graduation fee $298
Residency Waiver $3,192
TOTAL $7,254

COSC - remaining costs
5 months of Study.com for 1 math + 9 UL courses $1,000
8 3cr courses + Bio or Chem lab course $1,667
Application fee $50
Cornerstone & Capstone $2514
Graduation fee $225
Student Services Fee (x2 terms) $590
Technology Fee (x2 terms) $150
TOTAL $6,121

If you could take UL courses through a school like CSU-Pueblo IS, then you could kill 2 birds with 1 stone by getting UL courses - but that would mean paying $615/course x 9 courses would be $5535. And that would take a while, they're actual courses, although self-paced. But pricy. I honestly don't see how you could do anything else to help either speed things along, or make it cheaper - everything seems to be more expensive AND slower.

[Luka1110]

Being international, I would COSC off your list. You need RA credits to get your degree from them. RA credits are credits from a regionally accredited college or university. As an international student, these aren't super easy to come by. You'd have to enroll at a regional accredited university in the US and pass those courses.

I would look at study.com and what interests you for upper level courses which you'll need at TESU. Have you sent them your transcripts for an evaluation yet? Or made a degree plan? If you plan to graduate in March, then you need to do the cornerstone and capstone in the January term.

make sense, thanks a lot. I do have a degree plan and I have been following since I started this journey. I haven't sent any transcripts to TESU yet, but I' m planning to do this by the end of this month.

---

The easiest/cheapest way to get RA credits as an international student right now would be to get credits from TEL Learning. However, by the time you get 24 credits @ about $66 per credit, you've paid about $1600 for this. With all the SL credits you have, I don't think it's worth trying to get enough TEL Learning credits to get a COSC degree. Also, it takes at least 2x as long to get a degree at COSC because they don't allow you to take the Capstone & Cornerstone at the same time while TESU does allow this.

You're not going to make a March graduation either way - the capstone/cornerstone classes are 15 weeks long and you can't accelerate that - but you should be able to make the next graduation cycle. I would suggest applying to TESU and then filling in the blanks based on this plan: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Ge...egree_Plan

thank you so much....I will have a look at the plan you sent me

---

The main issue with COSC is that you have to choose a concentration (or 2 or 3), so there's no getting around that.  TESU does not require a concentration.

Next, you need 30cr of UL at COSC, only 18cr of UL at TESU.

Finally, you need 24cr of RA for COSC, none for TESU.

What's happening with your credits now is, you have everything you need for TESU except a math course, and your 18cr of UL, which are easy to get (mostly through Study.com).  At COSC, you're going to need a lab science, a math, a lit/fine art, and in addition you need 27cr of UL, and 24cr of RA.  You are so far on the road of TESU that it would be annoying and expensive to get the credits you need for COSC.  It's going to be hard to find UL RA credits for cheap, meaning you're going to need to take your UL credits through something like Study.com AND RA credits through something like TEL, and then you'll have a TON of credits, many of which you don't need.  Honestly, switching schools/majors is one of the reasons I see people never finish their degree.

In my opinion, I would do the following:
- apply at TESU, send in all of your current credits
- sign up for Study.com
- sign up for the cornerstone and capstone
- take a math course,
- take 5 UL BALS courses (courses like Communciations, History, Psych)
- send in all of your remaining credits to TESU
apply for June graduation (you won't make it for March graduation as the December capstone doesn't end until Feb 21, and they probably won't let you start it without having all of your UL credits already in)

Your biggest hurdle is going to be paying for it, but honestly, that would be your hurdle with COSC.  It would just be spread out a bit.

TESU - remaining costs
3 months of Study.com for 6 courses (math + 5 UL) $600
Application fee $50
Cornerstone & Capstone $3114
Graduation fee $298
Residency Waiver $3,192
TOTAL $7,254

COSC - remaining costs
5 months of Study.com for 1 math + 9 UL courses $1,000
8 3cr courses + Bio or Chem lab course $1,667
Application fee $50
Cornerstone & Capstone $2514
Graduation fee $225
Student Services Fee (x2 terms) $590
Technology Fee (x2 terms) $150
TOTAL $6,121

If you could take UL courses through a school like CSU-Pueblo IS, then you could kill 2 birds with 1 stone by getting UL courses - but that would mean paying $615/course x 9 courses would be $5535.  And that would take a while, they're actual courses, although self-paced.  But pricy.  I honestly don't see how you could do anything else to help either speed things along, or make it cheaper - everything seems to be more expensive AND slower.

thanks a lot. I will follow your advice. Quick question, does TESU still accept Aleks for math credits? Or MAT-121 College Algebra taken at Sophia will be enough?

Thanks again 

[rachel83az]

If you have ALEKS from before the ACE recommendation expired, it's still good. If not, Sophia's algebra it is.

Also, between what you already have at SL and Sophia, you might want to consider a BSBA instead of a BALS. It might actually be quicker and easier than a BALS at this point. The best way to find out would be to apply to TESU and compare evaluations for a BALS and a BSBA.

[bjcheung77]

Are you busy with work or married with kids?  If not too busy, I would do it a little differently, depending on the amount of time you have and how fast you can finish a course.  If it takes you about 3 days to finish a StraighterLine course, it may take the same amount of time to finish an average Sophia.org course.  This is my suggestion for you:  Finish all the Sophia.org courses one by one that doesn't duplicate your current courses from StraighterLine, all of them (College Algebra/Intro to Stats, Project Management, etc) but the Foundations/College Readiness.

I too would recommend finishing up a TESU degree and apply for June graduation, but not for one, for two.  I don't know if you read my previous post here: You may want to review this thread post #22 and #26: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...#pid316304 And https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...#pid319616  The reason is simple, it's going to cost you close to $6500 to $7500 for a degree, why not get two Bachelors for around the same price?  I suggest completing the BSBA as well since you've done a few business courses already.

Here's my strategy, after you have completed all the Sophia.org courses that don't duplicate, so do them quickly!!
Email TESU academic advising just to make sure these following sets are all coming in as LL/UL and transferable...
Your missing BSBA General Management AOS requirements can be completed with this:

Sophia.org Project Management - TESU LL
InstantCertCredit - Managerial Accounting TESU UL - $20/$15 proctor fee
Davar MIS - TESU 301 MIS UL
Davar Organizational Behavior - TESU MAN 311 UL
Davar Managerial Communications - TESU MAN 373 UL
Davar Principles of Sales - TESU MAR 310 UL

Your missing BALS No Concentration AOS requirements can be completed with this:
TEEX Death Investigation - UL $75
Davar Business Ethics - TESU 384 PHIL - UL
Davar MIS - TESU 301 MIS UL
Davar Organizational Behavior - TESU MAN 311 UL
Davar Managerial Communications - TESU MAN 373 UL

Yes, I know, I am awesome, I picked the 3 Business courses that CAN be reused as UL in the BALS!
TWO Business courses at Davar is just $99 for both and +15 proctor fee/course
This is the cheapest, easiest, and fastest way you can get the UL requirements for graduation.

Lastly, you need to do this.  Apply for the following 4 courses in the DECEMBER term.
1) SOS-110 - Cornerstone <required for all degrees>
2) SOS-240 - ACI <alternative capstone prerequisite>
3) APS-295 - Associates Capstone <yes, I'll explain later>
4) Any other 3 credit course that's easy, let's choose Biology and Behavior of Dogs UL

In the MARCH Term: Complete the BSBA Capstone & BALS Capstone
This is possible if you have the tuition waiver for the NEW BALS Capstone as per my previous link above
I'll repost it here for good measure: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...#pid319616

In that post I had this calculation: If you are looking to get 16 undergraduate credits, these can be anything + cornerstone/capstone
Cost App Fee: $50
Take lesser courses here for 10-12 Credits in a 3 month term: $4639
3 credits for Liberal Arts Capstone - FREE if there is a tuition waiver
3 credits for Business Capstone 3 month: $1557
Grad Fee: $298
Total: $6544 - you save $100+ USD

If you do have the tuition waiver for the BALS capstone, you get both the degrees for under $7K
If you don't get the tuition waiver for the BALS, you can decide then to either go for both for $8.5K or not.
I would suggest to go for it as you will not be able to get a BSBA for under $1500 for the cost of a capstone!
Last but not least, the APS-295 is for an Associates of Applied Sciences, you can get that en route to the Bachelors.
If you don't go for that course, you can take another in its place, and get an AA/ASBA en route, all are FREE!

[rachel83az]

Last but not least, the APS-295 is for an Associates of Applied Sciences, you can get that en route to the Bachelors.
If you don't go for that course, you can take another in its place, and get an AA/ASBA en route, all are FREE!

Which AAS are you suggesting that OP get? I thought an AAS was considered even less than an AA or an AS for some reason and not worth getting.

[ss20ts]

Sophia offers College Algebra and Introduction to Statistics. You can take one of them for your math requirement at TESU. Good luck! I know it's difficult choosing a program and figuring all of the details out.

[Luka1110]

Sophia offers College Algebra and Introduction to Statistics. You can take one of them for your math requirement at TESU. Good luck! I know it's difficult choosing a program and figuring all of the details out.

Thank you! you have been very helpful 

---

Are you busy with work or married with kids?  If not too busy, I would do it a little differently, depending on the amount of time you have and how fast you can finish a course.  If it takes you about 3 days to finish a StraighterLine course, it may take the same amount of time to finish an average Sophia.org course.  This is my suggestion for you:  Finish all the Sophia.org courses one by one that doesn't duplicate your current courses from StraighterLine, all of them (College Algebra/Intro to Stats, Project Management, etc) but the Foundations/College Readiness.

I too would recommend finishing up a TESU degree and apply for June graduation, but not for one, for two.  I don't know if you read my previous post here: You may want to review this thread post #22 and #26: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...#pid316304 And https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...#pid319616  The reason is simple, it's going to cost you close to $6500 to $7500 for a degree, why not get two Bachelors for around the same price?  I suggest completing the BSBA as well since you've done a few business courses already.

Here's my strategy, after you have completed all the Sophia.org courses that don't duplicate, so do them quickly!!
Email TESU academic advising just to make sure these following sets are all coming in as LL/UL and transferable...
Your missing BSBA General Management AOS requirements can be completed with this:

Sophia.org Project Management - TESU LL
InstantCertCredit - Managerial Accounting TESU UL - $20/$15 proctor fee
Davar MIS - TESU 301 MIS UL
Davar Organizational Behavior - TESU MAN 311 UL
Davar Managerial Communications - TESU MAN 373 UL
Davar Principles of Sales - TESU MAR 310 UL

Your missing BALS No Concentration AOS requirements can be completed with this:
TEEX Death Investigation - UL $75
Davar Business Ethics - TESU 384 PHIL - UL
Davar MIS - TESU 301 MIS UL
Davar Organizational Behavior - TESU MAN 311 UL
Davar Managerial Communications - TESU MAN 373 UL

Yes, I know, I am awesome, I picked the 3 Business courses that CAN be reused as UL in the BALS!
TWO Business courses at Davar is just $99 for both and +15 proctor fee/course
This is the cheapest, easiest, and fastest way you can get the UL requirements for graduation.

Lastly, you need to do this.  Apply for the following 4 courses in the DECEMBER term.
1) SOS-110 - Cornerstone <required for all degrees>
2) SOS-240 - ACI <alternative capstone prerequisite>
3) APS-295 - Associates Capstone <yes, I'll explain later>
4) Any other 3 credit course that's easy, let's choose Biology and Behavior of Dogs UL

In the MARCH Term: Complete the BSBA Capstone & BALS Capstone
This is possible if you have the tuition waiver for the NEW BALS Capstone as per my previous link above
I'll repost it here for good measure: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...#pid319616

In that post I had this calculation: If you are looking to get 16 undergraduate credits, these can be anything + cornerstone/capstone
Cost App Fee: $50
Take lesser courses here for 10-12 Credits in a 3 month term: $4639
3 credits for Liberal Arts Capstone - FREE if there is a tuition waiver
3 credits for Business Capstone 3 month: $1557
Grad Fee: $298
Total: $6544 - you save $100+ USD

If you do have the tuition waiver for the BALS capstone, you get both the degrees for under $7K
If you don't get the tuition waiver for the BALS, you can decide then to either go for both for $8.5K or not.
I would suggest to go for it as you will not be able to get a BSBA for under $1500 for the cost of a capstone!
Last but not least, the APS-295 is for an Associates of Applied Sciences, you can get that en route to the Bachelors.
If you don't go for that course, you can take another in its place, and get an AA/ASBA en route, all are FREE!

that's a lot of good information and I thank you for this   I m actually a full time worker, married and with one child, so I will be very surprised if I will manage to finish one degree. I am not giving up thought!