Planning For The Future

[Prloko]

Thanks for the breakdown! I'll probably go with your suggested changes unless someone tells me otherwise.

There are a few things I was wondering about:
24 credits being from TESC, I'm guessing that is some kind of requirement on their side?
When should I register with the college itself? Should I get all my CLEP, ACE, and DSST stuff out of the way first and then enroll and take the TECEPs?
ALEKS seems to have multiple math courses so, I should just pick one that doesn't overlap?
Also wonky on the PLA course. Not sure what it is so, will have to look into it.

Thanks Again,
Chris

TESC has recently instituted a "per credit" tuition plan. The school has a yearly enrollment fee. If you check the website, the fee structure can be very pricey, especially if you are not a resident. TESC allows you now to forgo the enrollment fee if you agree to complete 24 credits with the school which includes their courses and TECEP exams. Since TECEP exams are around $105 each, this will save you a lot of money. The only course you are truly required to complete with TESC is the capstone. You are allowed to transfer in the remaining 117 credits if you wish, but again, there is an enrollment charge (which right now is over $3000 annually for non residents).

If you are doing the per credit plan and will complete 24 credits with TESC, you should go ahead and enroll NOW, so you can lock in your catalog and not get any surprise changes happen to you (like the FEMA thing). Even if you don't plan on doing the 24 credits, go ahead and enroll now, to lock in the catalog, get your evaluation and your plan approved. You can always change to the enrolled option later.

Do a search on this site for which courses in ALEKs don't overlap. For example, TESC will only take one of the statistics courses, the school considers the other ones to overlap. Also, make sure that the math course you already took at your CC does not overlap with one of the ALEKs courses. I believe the current ALEKs courses that are accepted for college credit is Inter. Algebra, Algebra, Trig, PreCalc, and the Statistics courses.

As far as the PLA course, I never took it, but some members on this site have and it is good for I believe 3 ACE credits.

I also forgot about TEEX courses, these are also free. Search Sanantone's threads because she has provided a ton of info on TEEX, Kaplan, and other great sources. She introduces a lot of the cool ideas on this site and her ideas are always thoroughly researched by her. Well worth your time.

On a side note, you said you attended Manchester CC ( I used to have friends in that area). You do know that Charter Oak is a State School for Connecticut right? You may want to revisit them since you may be able to save some money and also have a school that is locally recognized as a Connecticut State College. This could be helpful if you ever want to transfer in the future to one of the other local schools like UCONN or pursue a Grad degree.

[ctlw83]

Thanks for the additional information. I did look at Charter Oak, however, it seems much harder to do a communications specialization as it is something they do not actually have the courses for. Not only that but, I would prefer to have a BA in Communications rather than a BA in General Studies with Specialization in Communications. It just doesn't read/feel the same with me. I'll revisit it, but then will need to re-vamp my whole plan if I decide to go with that.

So with TESC, basically as long as I agree to take 24 credits through them (including test-outs) I basically only pay activity fees and such for the year and then per credit tuition when I have my capstone.

I'll take a look at Charter Oak but, my other worry is my previous transcript with MCC. Lots of Fs in there from just ignoring classes. I have 3 transferable courses, the rest are tanked. I'll work through a different plan of action tonight and see what I can come up with comparison wise.

Might be another way to go if it will save additional money.

[Prloko]

Thanks for the additional information. I did look at Charter Oak, however, it seems much harder to do a communications specialization as it is something they do not actually have the courses for. Not only that but, I would prefer to have a BA in Communications rather than a BA in Humanities with Specialization in Communications. It just doesn't read/feel the same with me. I'll revisit it, but then will need to re-vamp my whole plan if I decide to go with that.

So with TESC, basically as long as I agree to take 24 credits through them (including test-outs) I basically only pay activity fees and such for the year and then per credit tuition when I have my capstone.

I'll take a look at Charter Oak but, my other worry is my previous transcript with MCC. Lots of Fs in there from just ignoring classes. I have 3 transferable courses, the rest are tanked.

Charter Oak has (or had) an academic forgiveness policy. I remember reading in their catalog that they will allow you to exclude certain courses from your transcript one time only and you have to do it early I believe. But it seems you have a certain degree in mind and TESC meets your needs.

TESC has certain fees you will have to pay. I believe its a $75 app fee, $58 registration fee, $125 tech fee and $299 grad fee (paid when you graduate). Also the current tuition is $491 per credit for online courses and $37 per credit for TECEP.

[ctlw83]

So, on top of the testing fees it costs $37/credit for the TECEPs? OK, that means each test comes to roughly $216 for a 3-credit course... That changes things a bit.

I will develop a plan with Charter Oak as well, just to see what it would look like. No harm in coming up with an alternative. Besides, if I could get away with only paying the testing fee for TECEP, that would make life a lot easier.

I am just finding their requirements a little harder to wrap my head around. I will see if I can find a course equivalency chart. Although, one negative with Charter Oak is that they will only give 3 credits for CLEP Biology and will require a 1 credit lab as well. On the other side of things some of their requirements seem kind of flexible overall. So, positives and negatives. Also, in-state per-credit cost and tuition is cheaper by a bit.

[Prloko]

So, on top of the testing fees it costs $37/credit for the TECEPs? OK, that means each test comes to roughly $216 for a 3-credit course... That changes things a bit.

The TECEPs should actually cost you about $111 for a three credit course. They don't charge any additional fees for the TECEPs and I know some of them can be done through proctor U for free so you also save the proctor cost. The registration fee I believe is per semester.

My wife hasn't paid any of these additional fees, I don't know if it is because she is under the MDCP, but please verify with TESC and current students on this site on how the school fee structure is actually. Can anyone verify how TESC bills the TECEPs? It's been a while for me.

[ctlw83]

Oh, I thought you meant it was $111 PLUS the fees for the credits! LOL

I still do want to look at Charter Oak. I might feel less "fancy" with a General Education degree but, if it makes things a bit cheaper or easier I wouldn't mind it. Although, it seems to me that they do not go with the College Board's recommended credit or UL/LL structure on CLEP which is an annoyance to say the least. The CLEP Bio is supposed to be a very challenging course but, they only give 3 credits for it, PLUS you need lab.

[Prloko]

  Less than 1 minute ago">comm.xlsx (Size: 16.77 KB / Downloads: 0)

As requested. See the attached spreadsheet. There is two tabs in it. One with your TESC plan and another that is an old plan for someone else for COSC. If you want, you can use the template for your COSC plan also.

[ctlw83]

I was incorrect on Charter Oak with CLEP Biology, although, they do require a lab. Not sure how that works out with testing and such. However, they do give 6 credits for CLEP bio.

It took me a while to figure out where the liberal arts/free elective requirements were:
Degree Requirements - Charter Oak State College

At first I was only seeing 76 credits and was like "WOW, that is an EASY degree".

[Prloko]

Charter Oaks degree completion is slightly different. Rather than "you need this credit here". It's more of, "you need this many of this type and this many of that type". So for the BS, you need 60 LA credits, which some of these will also fill your gen eds, your upper levels, your concentration, etc. As I recall, one course can fill several requirements, but you still need 120 credits. The two major milestones are 60 LA credits for the BS (or 90 for the BA) AND 120 total credits, PLUS 30 UL credits, PLUS your Gen Eds, PLUS your concentration requirements.

[ctlw83]

Thank you very much!