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+--- Thread: Best Value - TESC or Excelsior (/Thread-Best-Value-TESC-or-Excelsior)
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Best Value - TESC or Excelsior - pinkrose - 11-06-2013
Hi, I am new to the forum! Glad to be here so I can be of help to future newbies. :patriot:
I am pursuing a Bachelor for Environmental Studies. I have about 30 CC credits to transfer. My plan (obviously) is to test out as much before I have to enroll.
I plan on following the course everyone else has (CLEP, DSST etc.) I have sent my transcripts to both EC & TESC to see where I can utilize the most credit.
I did not go with Charter Oak, I did not see a program for environmental studies.
I am trying to make sure I have a full understanding of the required costs & fees, just don't want to be surprised by anything.
Now, with Excelsior:
what I am understanding is there are (2) enrollment options. The Multi Option ($1065.00) & the Course Option ($395.00) where they cut you some slack for committing to taking EC classes. Annual fee of $495.00
Capstone fee of $1275 (425.00 per credit hr. x 3)
Literacy information requirement of $425.00 (425.00 x 1 credit)
Graduation fee $495.00
OneTranscript Service $270.00 (optional of course, but would like to have)
Excludes the cost of exams & proctoring
That is all I could find, hopefully I did not miss anything..
My question is: what are the fees for TESC for the same things? I don't understand how their tuition is structured. :ack:
I looked on their website & these HUGE costs & fees jumped out!
Also, is it true that you can test out of all your classes and just enroll for the capstone for TESC?
Thanks again!
Best Value - TESC or Excelsior - sanantone - 11-06-2013
TESC has 3 tuition options.
Comprehensive Tuition Plan
This is best for those who are taking more than 24 credit hours per year at TESC. It is a flat rate of $5700 for in-state students and $8395 for out-of-state students. It covers up to 36 credit hours in online/guided study courses, ePack courses, TECEPs (TESC's credit by exam), and PLAs per year. This translates to $233.19 per credit hour for out-of-state students, which is actually very cheap and only a few regionally accredited colleges can beat that. If you're receiving financial aid, 12 of those credits per 6 months (24 credits for the whole year) have to be in online or guided study courses in order to get the full financial aid award. The environmental studies major cannot be mostly completed through testing, so you have to decide if you're going to take the courses at internally TESC (or Excelsior if you choose them) or externally at another college. Excelsior offers the required courses for this degree, but TESC does not.
Enrolled Options Plan
This is best for those who are taking less than 24 credit hours per year through TESC. The enrollment fee for in-state students is $162; and, the fee for out-of-state students is $3,062. Tuition is $229 per credit hour.
Per Credit Tuition Plan
Under this plan, you don't pay an enrollment fee, but tuition is $476 per credit hour. This is supposed to be the cheapest option for those taking 3-6 per year, but it's stupid because there is a 12 credit residency requirement for associate's degrees and 24 credit residency requirement for bachelor's degrees. It would take you at least two years to finish if you went that slow. However, the residency requirement can be fulfilled with PLAs, guided study/online courses, ePacks, and TECEPs. TECEPs are still $36 per credit under the Per Credit Tuition Plan. If you use TECEPs to fulfill the residency requirement, you will only pay around $864 without the capstone and $1443 with the capstone (required for Environmental Studies and all other BAs) assuming you transfer in everything else. This is the cheapest deal out of all of the Big 3 schools.
As a comparison, if you take 30 credits at Excelsior, you will pay $12,750 for the courses alone. If you choose to only take the capstone there, you will pay $2340 for the enrollment fee and tuition. The problem with TESC is that, because they don't offer many environmental studies courses, you're going to have to find them somewhere else. These courses are not going to be easy to find. What do you plan to do with a degree in environmental studies? It doesn't have the same utility as environmental science.
Best Value - TESC or Excelsior - pinkrose - 11-06-2013
Hi Sanantone:
Thanks so much for the feedback! I really appreciate it!
About the environmental science, I am really trying to get a degree that is in line with sustainability. I was reading a article about the best degrees to get for the near future. It was talking about how a degree that was in line with sustainability is a very good investment. I guess I was thinking environmental science is the same thing. Both EC & TESC have a program for it. I have background in customer service. My career goal, for example would be to work for a company that helps business to be EPA compliant, that sort of thing. Do you think that would work?
Thanks again for your input, I welcome your thoughts. I would much rather invest time & energy in something I will be able to get a job with!
Best Value - TESC or Excelsior - sanantone - 11-06-2013
Excelsior's environmental studies program is a concentration of a social science degree. It's because environmental studies is not a sub-field of the natural sciences. It's an interdisciplinary program that looks at the economics, psychology, sociology, anthropology, and politics behind environmental issues. It won't give you the technical know-how to deal with environmental issues; it'll give you the social science know-how to create public policy and lobby governments). The main natural sciences fall under the categories of life science (biology) and physical science (chemistry and physics). Environmental science is a life science.
Thomas Edison State College: Environmental Studies
BSAST Degree in Environmental Sciences | Thomas Edison State College
If you want to work for a regulatory agency, you should get a degree in environmental science. In the private sector, you'll also know more about compliance with an environmental science degree. Excelsior and TESC's environmental studies programs are very different, but both of them only require a couple of natural science courses for the major/concentration. I don't see that Excelsior has a degree for environmental science. You might be confusing the two. To be clear, environmental studies is not environmental science.
Best Value - TESC or Excelsior - sanantone - 11-06-2013
Another warning: TESC does not offer all of the required courses for the BSAST in Environmental Science either, and it isn't a test friendly degree.
Best Value - TESC or Excelsior - UptonSinclair - 11-06-2013
If I were interested in Environmental Science, I would focus on Natural Science courses in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. Sprinkle in a little Political Science, Statistics, and Management, and you have a well balanced degree in Environmental Studies. If you plan to test out of most of your degree, you may want to build your own BS in Liberal Studies and then do a Master's degree in something like Environmental Policy.
Best Value - TESC or Excelsior - sanantone - 11-06-2013
One can almost test out of TESC's BA in Natural Science and Mathematics.
Best Value - TESC or Excelsior - pinkrose - 11-07-2013
Thanks UptonSinclair!
I like your idea! The classes you mentioned are the curriculum I had in mind. I am very much into learning more about our natural resources.
Not so much interested in the political scope, working in government or anything like that.
I would like to be an environmental specialist of some sort with a career in recycling.
Alcoa, Inc. has a branch in Knoxville, TN & one in Alcoa, TN close to where I live. To me it would be ideal, very much the sort of thing I was thinking of.
As you said, it would be better to add in a few classes outside the scope that round out the natural sciences.
Thanks again for the feedback!
Best Value - TESC or Excelsior - sanantone - 11-07-2013
I strongly recommend that you consider a natural science degree over a liberal studies/arts degree. Environmental science jobs should be very open to a natural science degree. With a liberal studies degree, you risk having your resume or application screened out by HR software. Also, if the application asks you if you have a degree in a science, you cannot honestly answer "yes." Why choose a degree in liberal arts when you can almost as easily test out of a BA in Natural Science? Again, TESC does offer a degree in environmental science which IS what you're looking for. It's not environmental studies which is NOT what you're looking for. The problem with the environmental science degree is that you can pretty much only test out of the general education and free elective requirements. If you want to "round out" your degree with courses outside of the natural sciences, that is what the general education and free elective requirements are for.
Best Value - TESC or Excelsior - pinkrose - 11-08-2013
Hi Sanantone:
I was doing some research about what the degree in Natural Sciences & Mathematics could be used for. Most of what I was finding said the best thing to use it for was teaching. Definitely not the direction I want to go in.
You are absolutely right, I am not interested in the liberal arts. I want to get into the business end of sustainability. I was looking at the BSAST Degree in Environmental Sciences; that one blew me away, because of all the advanced math. I am not looking to become an engineer, plant manager or anything like that. Something administrative in a waste management plant, recycling plant, where I would be assisting with day to day operations.
Do you think the Natural Science & Mathematics would be OK for that? And maybe take business classes as electives, can you do that?
Oh the other question I had: Why do you think that TESC's degree for Natural Sciences is a BA & not a BS? I would much rather have a BS, the reason I had selected the environmental studies was because it seemed to be what I needed. But I would much rather have a BS.
I hope you don't mind me asking you so many questions. I have gone down the wrong path before about classes I have taken, don't want to do it again.
Thanks again for your great input, it is greatly appreciated! :patriot: