Need assistance on choosing program

[daristotle]

Hi,
I need some assistance in choosing a program to complete some kind of AA degree. At my local community college I have 87 credits. I also have a few IT certificates as well. My problem is that I still need to finish up some general requirements. If I complete an English and Math course, I could get an Associates of General Studies from my community college. Looking at Excelsior and TESC I could get an AA instead for potentially cheaper.
My main goal is to finish up something quickly.
Which college would best serve my goal? (Or, am I better served by just completing the two courses at my community college and calling it a day.) And, what would be the fastest/cheapest way to finish up the English and Math requirements?
Any help is greatly appreciated.

[rebel100]

It would be helpful if you would list all your credits, each of the Big 3 differ slightly in what they require so without seeing exactly where you stand we can't help much.

What school are you attending? Do they accept CLEP or DSST? Most do, and it might be as simple as knocking out the English and Math CLEP's....all of the Big 3 will require those too, so it may not be cost effective to switch gears.

[cookderosa]

Hi,
I need some assistance in choosing a program to complete some kind of AA degree. At my local community college I have 87 credits. I also have a few IT certificates as well. My problem is that I still need to finish up some general requirements. If I complete an English and Math course, I could get an Associates of General Studies from my community college. Looking at Excelsior and TESC I could get an AA instead for potentially cheaper.
My main goal is to finish up something quickly.
Which college would best serve my goal? (Or, am I better served by just completing the two courses at my community college and calling it a day.) And, what would be the fastest/cheapest way to finish up the English and Math requirements?
Any help is greatly appreciated.

It is unlikely that it would be faster or cheaper to transfer. You're already at 87 credits, but you're not yet at your CC's AA? If you're missing 3 cr English and 3 cr Math, you're still going to need those at TESC (or any big 3) since those are required of all degrees. If you'll share the name of your college as well as the credits earned, it would be a lot easier to help. At TESC you can use CLEP to hit both English and Math, that may be the case at your CC too. It's worth checking!

[KittenMittens]

Since you have so many credits, have you thought about finishing a bachelor's degree too? You can do a basic B.S. degree in Liberal Arts or Business Administration by taking around 30 - 33 credits which is 10-11 exams. Not now of course, but something to consider in the future as you're not far off from getting a BS either.

Degree Forum Wiki

COSC Degree Plans - Degree Forum Wiki

For COSC, there is a sample bachelors in business administration, and AA in General Studies program too at the bottom of the page.

TESC Degree Plans - Degree Forum Wiki
Excelsior College | Excelsior College Program Descriptions

As far as the math course - look into ALEKS - if you have decent math skills, you can take and retake a college algebra/statistics/intermediate algebra exam and if you pass you'll get 3 credits through at least TESC or COSC (I dunno if Excelsior will). It's a nice option because you can retake it as many times as you want, kinda/prettye easy if you are decent at math, and there's no proctor either.

For english, I mean if you've taken 87 credits, your English skills are probably pretty good right? Then look into a CLEP exam in English. Just be sure you pick the right onw which is typically CLEP English Composition. Should be straightforward, but I'd recommend at least doing a practice exam or two to be sure.

[Prloko]

If your only goal is any AA, then Charter Oak State College (COSC) can get you there quick and cheap. All you would need to do is CLEP College Composition, do an ALEKs math course and complete COSCs cornerstone course. My estimate for your total cost is below (assuming you're not a CT resident and not in the military).

$ 75 Application Fee
1038 Tuition for Cornerstone course
245 Student Services Fee
205 Graduation Fee
50 Technology Fee
10 Continuing Ed Fee
80 CLEP College Composition
20 One month subscription to ALEKS
25 Estimated proctor fee for CLEP
35 Ace transcript fee
10 Community Coll transcript
-----------------------
$1793 Total

Now you say you only need two courses from your Community College, it may actually be cheaper to finish with your CC, what college is that? If you can CLEP English and Math and transfer them to your CC, it should only be a few hundred dollars at most, unless your CC won't accept the CLEPs.

If you don't mind doing 4 TECEP courses, your costs can be even lower (probably $800-900, give or take) by doing the AA through TESC.

But I think KittenMittens is right, you are incredibly close to a Bachelors and it may be more financially beneficial to just go for the Bachelors. Listing your credits here can help you better.

[daristotle]

Yes, I plan on going for a BS after I get the AA sorted out. (I mostly just want something to be able to put on my resume at this point if needed.)
The courses I've completed so far from Portland Community College:
ARCH 111 Working Drawings 1
DRF 112 Technical Freehand Sketching
DRF 116 Introduction to Drafting
DRF 126 Introduction to AutoCAD
ATH 102 Intro Archaeology & Prehistory
EC 200 Prin Econ: Intro, Inst & Phil
HST 102 Medieval t/Early Modern Europe
SOC 204 Gen Soc: Soc in Everyday Life
ATH 103 Intro to Cultural Anthropology
HST 101 West Civ: Ancient Wrld to 1200
HST 103 Western Civ: Modern Europe
HST 278 Russian History I
PSY 101 Psychology and Human Relations
HST 201 History of the U.S. - I
ATH 209 Cult Ath: Cult Growth & Change
CAS 175 Introduction to Flash
HST 203 History of the U.S. - III
ATH 207 Cult Ath: Cult Concepts
PHL 210 Intro to Asian Philosophy
SOC 228 Intro Environmental Sociology
WR 115 Intro to Expository Writing
ATH 208 Cult Ath: Cultures of World
SOC 199A Tools Creative Soc Activism 1
SOC 199A Tools Creative Soc Activism 2
CIS 120 Computer Concepts I
CIS 122 Software Design
MP 111 Medical Terminology

Thanks again everyone!

If your only goal is any AA, then Charter Oak State College (COSC) can get you there quick and cheap. All you would need to do is CLEP College Composition, do an ALEKs math course and complete COSCs cornerstone course. My estimate for your total cost is below (assuming you're not a CT resident and not in the military).

$ 75 Application Fee
1038 Tuition for Cornerstone course
245 Student Services Fee
205 Graduation Fee
50 Technology Fee
10 Continuing Ed Fee
80 CLEP College Composition
20 One month subscription to ALEKS
25 Estimated proctor fee for CLEP
35 Ace transcript fee
10 Community Coll transcript
-----------------------
$1793 Total

Now you say you only need two courses from your Community College, it may actually be cheaper to finish with your CC, what college is that? If you can CLEP English and Math and transfer them to your CC, it should only be a few hundred dollars at most, unless your CC won't accept the CLEPs.

If you don't mind doing 4 TECEP courses, your costs can be even lower (probably $800-900, give or take) by doing the AA through TESC.

But I think KittenMittens is right, you are incredibly close to a Bachelors and it may be more financially beneficial to just go for the Bachelors. Listing your credits here can help you better.

[cookderosa]

Yes, I plan on going for a BS after I get the AA sorted out. (I mostly just want something to be able to put on my resume at this point if needed.)
The courses I've completed so far from Portland Community College:
ARCH 111 Working Drawings 1
DRF 112 Technical Freehand Sketching
DRF 116 Introduction to Drafting
DRF 126 Introduction to AutoCAD
ATH 102 Intro Archaeology & Prehistory
EC 200 Prin Econ: Intro, Inst & Phil
HST 102 Medieval t/Early Modern Europe
SOC 204 Gen Soc: Soc in Everyday Life
ATH 103 Intro to Cultural Anthropology
HST 101 West Civ: Ancient Wrld to 1200
HST 103 Western Civ: Modern Europe
HST 278 Russian History I
PSY 101 Psychology and Human Relations
HST 201 History of the U.S. - I
ATH 209 Cult Ath: Cult Growth & Change
CAS 175 Introduction to Flash
HST 203 History of the U.S. - III
ATH 207 Cult Ath: Cult Concepts
PHL 210 Intro to Asian Philosophy
SOC 228 Intro Environmental Sociology
WR 115 Intro to Expository Writing
ATH 208 Cult Ath: Cultures of World
SOC 199A Tools Creative Soc Activism 1
SOC 199A Tools Creative Soc Activism 2
CIS 120 Computer Concepts I
CIS 122 Software Design
MP 111 Medical Terminology

Thanks again everyone!

Okay, so the reason you've not completed your degree is because most of your courses are in social science (a subject I happen to love enough to have earned a degree in )
So, if you headed to any of the big 3 or stayed put, the issue is with credit distribution, nothing more. You're short in natural sciences, math, and humanities.
Without me appearing pushy, did your advisor tell you that you had too many social science credits at some point? You have more than 50 lower level social science credits. There is nothing wrong with taking courses in your interest, but the sucky part is that you're now left with going back and getting the distribution filled.

I have 2 ideas, not sure which appeals to you more.
Idea #1 Stay at your CC and finish your AA. Your deficiencies can be filled with classes or CLEP University Transfer: College Level Exam Program | PCC but if you do this, be SURE you're checking with your advisor very carefully ahead of doing ANYTHING. If you are receiving a Pell Grant, courses from your CC will be paid for- not the case with exam credit. If you're using student loans, I like this idea the least, but there is an argument for having a degree from your hometown.
Idea #2 is to enroll in a bachelor's degree program with TESC or similar. You can actually major in social sciences, and while you're not going to avoid the maths/humanities/sciences, your lower level social sciences will fill in your general education social science slots PLUS they'll over flow into your gen ed electives. Your have several non-liberal arts courses that will free your electives, and I think you'll find that completing upper levels via testing/coursework in the field of social sciences will be less difficult for you than you think. It's possible that you'll get the most utility following this route, but my math is still showing that you're going to have more credit than slots.
A degree at TESC in social science can be filled with history, sociology, anthropology, archaeology, psychology, govt, and economics- which are all in your wheelhouse. There are many upper level test-out options for social science, more so than most fields, so you're not as limited as far as choice goes.

I would absolutely NOT enroll at TESC for an AA. You'll be stepping over dollars to pick up pennies.


Just my two cents.

[KittenMittens]

Are all these course lower level? I.e. 200 level or lower? I assume they are because they're all from community college right?

Edit: NVM, didn't see the numbers to the left. I'll give you a sample COSC schedule in a bit.

[KittenMittens]

So you have 87 credits - but you're missing some requirements for COSC's AA in General Studies Degree. You need about 22 credits in different things at least for COSC.

Figure you'll pay $1333 for the cornerstone course + $75 application fee + $80 CLEP College Composition + 20 One month subscription to ALEKS + 25 Estimated proctor fee for CLEP + 35 Ace transcript fee + 10 Community Coll transcript. DSST Speech - $85 + $15 testing fee + DSST Business Ethics - $85 + $15 + $80 CLEP Natural Sciences + $25 proctor + $99 straigherline* + $99 bio lab drug kit

*Straighterline is actually $99 + $49, but you can use a $49 for the bio lab course by going here http://www.straighterline.com/landing/co...ion-codes/ . You want to complete the course under a month because you're charged $99/month you do it. This is still a lot cheaper than doing it through community college.

All together for COSC AA General Studies - you'll pay about $2,081.00

You should look at liberal arts bachelor's degrees and business administration degrees - perhaps through COSC or TESC. They're going to be cheaper than through Excelsior.

[cookderosa]

I pulled an advising sheet from your CC.

You need:

WR121 (3 cr)
and
College Math CLEP = MTH105 (4 cr)

Your tuition rate is $92, so you're looking at $276 tuition and $100 for the CLEP = $376

So as you can see, there's no reason to go elsewhere for your AA.