TESC, APU/CS,CIS or general management

[Jackinrke]

Hello all, I have not posted in a while but have continued to be inspired by this forum and its most active members. I have not tested out of any classes to this date but I did follow some suggestions; I found on the forum. That allowed me to receive a health class credit for the CPR training, I completed at work. Thanks that save me little money and a lot of time.

My back story is I am 45 years old. I have an Associate’s Degree in administration management; which I earned back in 1988. Being young and dumb I was not really aware of the differences in accreditation. “National College is accredited by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools to award master's degrees, bachelor's degrees, associate degrees, and diplomas”.

Anyway, I am interested in the IT field so about a year and half ago, I enrolled at the local community college (regional accredited) and had to start from scratch. They would not take any of the previous credits. I am currently enrolled in their Associate of Applied Science Information Systems Technology degree.

“IF” a couple of things works out and “IF” I pass all my classes, than this current semester will complete the degree.
Since, the Associates of Applied Science degree is not designed to transfer completely to a 4 year degree, I will need to pick up some additional credits using testing and maybe straighter line, depending on the college.

I was wondering if anyone used the American Public University to complete the computer courses needed for a CS or CIS degree at TESC? They seem to have a few undergrad certificates that may work. Or if anyone just went ahead and completed a degree at APU?

Right now my short list of 4 year colleges is Liberty (a straighter partner college), Old domain university and Radford (colleges in VA, but will take time), fort Hayes (seems to be cheap credits), APU, and TESC.

One concern is cost, I was very lucky in that my former employee provided assistance for the Associates that I am close to accomplishing. Former employer since my location shut down and I am currently unemployed. That’s one of the reasons I went with the local community college tuition assistance.

At my age changing careers is touch and going into a different field is daunting. I have even considered the Sanantone's BSBA General Management. It looks do able quicker than the CS or CIS degrees.

Any thoughts having the Associate of Applied Science Information Systems Technology, for network administration and security, then following that up with the general management degree?

Would it be an employable combination? Following the two up with a master in information technology down the road?
Or is my first thoughts on the CS or CIS the way to go?

Thanks for any input,

Jack

[sanantone]

You can follow my BSBA in General Management plan until you get to the area of study. TESC offers a BSBA in CIS that is exactly like the other BSBA degrees. The only difference between them is the area of study. TESC also offers the BSAST in Information Technology and BA in CS. The BSBA in CIS is easiest to test out of. All you really have to worry about is completing Systems Analysis and Design and a programming course. The rest of the CIS courses can be anything in computer information systems or computer science, which will probably come from your associate's degree.

Ask TESC about the Per Credit Hour Tuition Plan. It might be possible to only take 8 TECEPs and not have to worry about the enrollment fee.