Hello everyone!

I am sponsoring another student from Manila Philippines. He completed the Alternative Learning System ALS which is the Philippine government’s program equivalent to a high school diploma for out-of-school youth. He is 32 years old currently working as a day trader and wants to pursue a degree in Criminal Justice. I think a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice through UMPI’s fully online competency-based program would be a great fit for him.

Like I did for another student I am helping him build an accelerated affordable degree plan. The plan will use as many transfer credits as possible from Sophia.org and Study.com MOOCs plus the required UMPI residency courses which are 10 courses or 30 credits. He has no prior college credits and a budget under four thousand dollars which I am fully sponsoring. He can study full time eight to twelve hours a day and aims to finish the bachelor’s degree in two terms or less.

Here is a quick profile summary
• Location Philippines Manila
• Age 32
• Education Completed ALS high school equivalent
• Degree Goal BA in Criminal Justice online competency-based
• Current Accredited Credits None
• Transfer Credits Planned Mostly from Sophia.org and Study.com
• Certifications or Military None
• Budget Under four thousand dollars fully sponsored
• Time Commitment Full time eight to twelve hours per day
• Timeline Finish in two terms or less
• Additional Notes Prefers competency-based education needs maximum transfer credit acceptance UMPI residency courses must be taken directly at UMPI

I am looking for advice or templates on
• How to maximize transfer credits from Sophia and Study.com preferably with no proctored exams to save on costs toward UMPI’s general education and electives
• How to plan and schedule the 10 UMPI residency courses efficiently core Criminal Justice and capstone
• Best practices for supporting an international student with an ALS background applying to UMPI
• Any pitfalls or special considerations for this path
• Recommendations on documentation or credential evaluation needed for ALS completion possibly Scholaro

If anyone has experience with UMPI or accelerated online Criminal Justice degrees your input would be greatly appreciated. I want to make sure Jr can succeed without financial or bureaucratic obstacles.

The degree requires a total of 120 credits

Transfer Credits 90 credits
I prefer him to take courses through StraighterLine Sophia.org and Study.com. However I am not sure which courses currently transfer due to recent changes in UMPI’s policies

UMPI Residency Credits 30 credits
The student must complete 10 core Criminal Justice courses directly through UMPI to satisfy residency and major requirements. These courses include
1 CRJ 100 Introduction to Criminal Justice
2 CRJ 200 Introduction to Corrections
3 CRJ 210 Criminal Law
4 CRJ 220 Criminal Procedure
5 CRJ 230 Juvenile Justice
6 CRJ 240 Criminal Investigation
7 CRJ 250 Criminal Justice Administration
8 CRJ 260 Criminal Justice Research Methods
9 CRJ 270 Criminal Justice Capstone
10 One additional upper level Criminal Justice elective

Thanks so much in advance

StraighterLine has changed their pricing to the following 3 options.  Pay as you go, 4 month semester, annual 12 month membership. In order to get the most out of your membership, I would recommend completing the 27 general education classes (17 classes and 10 labs if you need them) in the 4 month membership and then cancel it.  

If you need specific classes then do one extra month for $99 and purchase the classes that are not offered in the discount 4 month membership.  I would not recommend to do the annual 12 month membership even if you don't have enough time to finish, I would just add an extra month membership, a total of 6 months at most.

1) Pay As You Go
Enroll in courses as needed, with total flexibility.
Ideal for students looking to perfect the work-life-school balance on a course-by-course basis.

$99 / month + cost of course
Pay for courses individually
Renews monthly, cancel anytime. One-time course fee.

2) Semester Plan 4-MONTH MEMBERSHIP
Balance speed with flexibility.
Perfect for tackling your course load over multiple months, while keeping costs low.

$699 $349 / 4 months
Complete access to 27 of our most popular courses
Renews every 4 months at full price, cancel anytime.

3) Annual Plan 12-MONTH MEMBERSHIP
More time to finish more credits.
A must for students maximizing their credits and flexibility. 

$1,499 / year
Complete access to 27 of our most popular courses
Renews every 12 months, cancel anytime.

You should compare this with the Sophia.org and Study.com discount offerings and see which would benefit you more.  All three providers have started to remove the proctoring aspect of taking exams, thus, they will work with those who prefer none.  I would check out the classes offered and decide which options would be for you.

Side Note: Before Sophia.org changed to a subscription at $99/month all you can eat for their 75 classes and Study.com offering a $95/month for 67 classes or $235/month for all their classes, I took over 34 classes from StraighterLine.  This was at least 8 years ago when they had proctoring with ProctorU.   Link: StraighterLine Pricing

Hey all,
So I was using AI to try and research doctorate programs and Perplexity recommended something called EUCLID,which appears to be an asynchronous online college run by the UN (HQ in Gambia, West Africa, with satellite offices in Washington DC and Montpellier, France)
If I understand the website correctly, all programs are taught in English but with basic French being recommended of all students. The school primarily offers degrees to UN officials, though it also says general citizens are welcome to apply. Masters degrees are 7,600 total USD and Doctorates 10,145 USD TOTAL.
The website says they are not CHEA accredited because they operate under a UN charter??
They also claim all programs are "work at your own pace"...and can be completed in as little as 18 months.
Anyone know anything about this place?
website: http://www.euclid.int

Hi Rock Stars,

My younger brother is in the final phase of his TESU journey, and I want to make sure I’m not missing anything to support his goal. For context, the current use case for the BSBA degree is to qualify for entry into a German university. He earned his GED at 16, which does not meet university admission requirements in Germany. He also holds a Realschule (intermediate school) and Hauptschule (general secondary) qualification. Earning a Gymnasium credential (12th/13th year) would require an extra, unnecessary year, whereas completing the BSBA eliminates that step and bonus; he has a bachelor's degree versus a bloated German High School certification.


Location: Germany
Age: 17
Degree Goal: BSBA
Budget: $4-6k
Commitments: Full-time study
Timeline: Q1 2026
Tuition Assistance: None
Credit Mix (Sophia, Straighterline, Study & Coursera)
Remaining TESU courses per evaluation:

• BUS-3110 Business in Society
  
• MAN-3720 International Management (Option Davar)
  
• BUS-4210 Business Administration
  
• SOS-1100 Information Literacy Today (Capstone)
  

This just struck me yesterday.  So is here is my situation.  I worked in digital marketing from 2003 - 2012.  I attended Georgia State University from 2011 - 2020 and graduated with a political science degree.  All of my credits were earned the traditional way taking classes at the school.

I have worked in politics sporadically since graduating.  I spent the most time doing marketing for a non-profit until I was laid off last year.  My goal is to eventually go to grad school for a Masters in poli sci or a MPP.  But at the moment I don't feel ready.  I have been out for so long and want to take some specific classes first like statistics and macro and micro-econ as I think that would make me a stronger applicant.  I also currently have no relationships with professors who could write letters of recommendation.

In the more immediate, I have been job hunting for a year.  I have been looking mostly for a marketing kob.  Something that pretty much every job ad says they want you to have a degree in marketing, communications or something related.  I know poli sci is not but I thought my experience would overwrite that but that's not happening.  But if I had a degree in marketing?

I was reading about UMPI yesterday and did a deep dive in the wiki.  So I understand if you already have bachelor's they will wave the general education requirements.  I got the Straightlerline free semester.  Between that and ASU EA classes I could transfer 90 credits iin.  I just would need to earn 30 credits at UMPI...which some people do in one session?  And a session is $2800?

I have no money at the moment and was planning on starting an EA stats class next week but one way or another I will be working soon. 

Are you able to develop relationships with professors at UMPI?  I don't have a good idea of budget for this and I would be going to class while working full time.

Introducing GPT-5
https://openai.com/index/introducing-gpt-5/

The big upgrade seems to be mostly in its ability to write code, as they say it's now on par with Claude AI.

OpenAI is taking GPT-4o away from me — despite promising they wouldn’t
https://community.openai.com/t/openai-is...nt/1337378

Users are sad to learn that the option to use 4o is being removed, as this model had a uniquely human feel. I’ll admit that I could really vibe with 4o as it had a distinct flair and sense of humor that the others just don’t.

Quote from the forum thread:
Please reconsider the decision to remove GPT-4o. Don’t destroy what was alive for us.

Junk food banned from SNAP benefits in 12 states, a win for MAHA advocates
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Food/snap-ben...=124415390

Lyrics from the song "Rich Men North of Richmond":
"Taxes ought not to pay for your bags of Fudge Rounds."

I guess the song is playing out in real life.


Thoughts on this?

I can't tell if they want a PowerPoint file with embedded video clips or a video file of a PowerPoint presentation.

Hi all,

I'm starting the graduation process and would appreciate your insights on two matters.
For those who have already graduated, could you share how long it typically took from submitting your graduation application on the school portal to receiving your physical diploma by mail?

Additionally, were physical student ID cards originally issued to online students upon enrollment? If it's possible to request one at this stage？

Appreciate any experience shares.

Hi everyone
I’m sponsoring a student from the Philippines who completed 2 years of Tourism at Cebu Technological University. We’re working on transferring her credits to UMPI (University of Maine at Presque Isle) for their BABA program with concentrations in Project Management and MIS.

UMPI requires a course by course evaluation from a NACES or AICE member. We’re considering IEE because it seems cheaper but I’m wondering

Does UMPI offer any kind of institutional discount or portal with IEE
Or is it full price unless you’re with another school

Also open to advice if SpanTran ends up being more generous for PH credits

One more thing
Can UMPI accept unofficial transcripts at first just to meet the admission deadline
I really want her to be admitted on time while we wait for the official evaluation
Or do all transcripts including high school and college need to be evaluated already before admission

Any help or experiences would be really appreciated