TESU - BSBA w/ Finance BA in 4 Weeks Proposed Plan

[bigrivergroup]

Here's my proposed plan.. Because of my work schedule, I more than likely won't be able to get a BA in 4 Weeks, but this will serve as a blueprint for attack. I'm thinking I may be able to get done more in the 3-6 mos timeframe depending on the actual 3-5 classes I have to take.

Like most, had difficulty finding proper equivalents for some of the finance concentration classes. I'm in Commercial RE finance so having this concentration will help just a bit and will use that foundation to springboard to a proper RE finance, or Investment Banking master's program.

So for the actual classes I need to take, I'm down to 3 TESU courses, one Pen Foster Course, a Saylor Course (I'm taking that and testing out at ECE as Managerial Accounting looks tough) --

And a CSU Global, which at $250 for 3 credits are an expensive gamble, as I'm not seeing a strong path to credit at TESU. I may find an alternative here.

Would love some feedback if anybody has any.

Thanks

Below I'm including my plan in PDF and an XLS version (has two tabs: BSin4Weeks testing schedule and TESU BSBA w/Finance Requirements) in case anyone wants to futz with their own plan..

VIEW UPDATED .XLS IN POST#6

[dfrecore]

Just looking at the BSBA Finance page, I saw a few issues:

1) why Precalc instead of an easier math course? College Math (CLEP), Applied Liberal Arts Math (TECEP), Intermediate Algebra (ALEKS) are all easier choices
2) You have too many courses in the Knowledge of Human Cultures area (only need 9cr, you have 15)
3) Business Law II DSST no longer exists
4) Business in Society/Int'l Business Requirement will no be met with the DSST, must take TECEP or TCC International Business
5) Money & Banking DSST is not available at this time, also is a duplicate of the Financial Institutions & Markets TECEP
6) I'm not seeing Business Law II or Managerial Econ as choices for the major, you would want to get those courses preapproved before you took them
7) I don't think the Securities Analysis & Investments TECEP is considered "advanced", so it would probably duplicate the PF course - double check
8) Strategic Management is not available through Saylor, only TECEP, PF, or CSU-G

Also, I'm not sure why you think CSU-Global is not a good choice? I would get the courses pre-approved, but still a great choice. You also mention that you think they're expensive, but then you are taking some TESU Online courses at $1560 each. Penn Foster is $237 per course, and I think CSU-G is a better option (from a RA 4-year school, comes on a transcript, rather than coming through on ACE).

There are also some less expensive options than you've listed, not sure if you're interested in that? ALEKS math will get you 4 courses for $20/mo (some pass in the first month), Kaplan Open PLA has 3cr free, Insurance Ethics is 2cr free, can be used for Ethics requirement and get a waiver for the last credit (need an additional GE credit), TEEX courses are free, up to 6cr free electives, NFA courses are free, up to 3cr Free Electives, all non-proctored and can do from home.

Saylor courses are $25 each for the final proctored exam.

If you're going to do any SL courses, you might want to do multiple and get through several in less than 1 month, as it will lower the cost per credit. There may also be coupons available.

If you take 8 TECEP's/TESU courses, there is no enrollment fee. If you decide to take more than 3 online courses at TESU, then you should do the Enrolled Options plan, as it will reduce the tuition fees for each course.

That's all I have. Hope it helps.

[bigrivergroup]

Thanks for your response defrecore, really appreciate the input..

I think I posted a confusing spreadsheet. In the xls sheet, there are two tabs:

**Tab #1 -- Being my actual plan (BachelorsIn4Weeks) which I have also included as PDF
**Tab #2 -- The requirements for the TESU - BSBA w/ Finance concentration and some of the testing alternatives I've seen. Tab #2 only shows testing alternatives available, but I'm not actually testing on all of those as part of my plan.. I included it in case someone wants a template to create their own.

1) why Precalc instead of an easier math course? College Math (CLEP), Applied Liberal Arts Math (TECEP), Intermediate Algebra (ALEKS) are all easier choices

Thanks for pointing this out. Looks like I transcribed that into PreCalc when it should be College Algebra, one of the Finance requirements. I'll keep College Algebra as one of the Quantitative Literacy requirements and maybe do Applied Liberal Arts Math as I'm not seeing College math on the GE Math requirements for 2016.

2) You have too many courses in the Knowledge of Human Cultures area (only need 9cr, you have 15)

I'm aware of this. I have a Spanish class on my transcript. Will wait and see what type of credit I get for it before committing here.

3) Business Law II DSST no longer exists

This is only on Tab#2 of the -- I have chosen another course to test out in.

4) Business in Society/Int'l Business Requirement will no be met with the DSST, must take TECEP or TCC International Business

Same-- This is only listed on Tab#2 -- I'm actually taking the TECEP course.

5) Money & Banking DSST is not available at this time, also is a duplicate of the Financial Institutions & Markets TECEP

Same-- This is only listed on Tab#2 -- This one isn't included on my testing plan.

6) I'm not seeing Business Law II or Managerial Econ as choices for the major, you would want to get those courses preapproved before you took them

Thanks.. These are both on Tab #2 as possibilities -- Not included on my plan

7) I don't think the Securities Analysis & Investments TECEP is considered "advanced", so it would probably duplicate the PF course - double check

I'll check in on this. It's a 330 course so we'll see. Thanks for pointing that out.

8) Strategic Management is not available through Saylor, only TECEP, PF, or CSU-G

Yes.. This is just listed on Tab #2 -- I am taking he TECEP test for this according to my plan.

Also, I'm not sure why you think CSU-Global is not a good choice?

I actually agree with you here..Not that it's a bad choice..I just remarked to not test on it before getting it approved or it would be a waste of the $250 and if I can find a better Finance alternative test somewhere that's already TECEP or ACE approved, I might take it.

There are also some less expensive options than you've listed, not sure if you're interested in that? ALEKS math will get you 4 courses for $20/mo (some pass in the first month), Kaplan Open PLA has 3cr free, Insurance Ethics is 2cr free, can be used for Ethics requirement and get a waiver for the last credit (need an additional GE credit), TEEX courses are free, up to 6cr free electives, NFA courses are free, up to 3cr Free Electives, all non-proctored and can do from home.

I'll look in at some of these options..

If you take 8 TECEP's/TESU courses, there is no enrollment fee. If you decide to take more than 3 online courses at TESU, then you should do the Enrolled Options plan, as it will reduce the tuition fees for each course.

This is great..thanks

[dfrecore]

Ok, so I guess I'm confused. The 1st tab is the one you're actually planning on doing? And do you have any of these courses done yet?

[Leherself]

I'm not seeing College math on the GE Math requirements for 2016.

CLEP College Math transfers in to TESU as MATt-102 and MAT-103 General Math I & II. TESU doesn't offer those classes, so it's not on the list, but it does still apply to the general education requirement for the 2015/16 catalog year. I know because it's the only Math I've got and that's where they put it for me . Which made me happy because math is my enemy, lol.

[bigrivergroup]

Ok, so I guess I'm confused. The 1st tab is the one you're actually planning on doing? And do you have any of these courses done yet?

Yes exactly -- The first tab is my actual plan.. I based it on the BAin4Weeks even though it's doubtful I'll get in all done in that timeframe.

No, nothing done except the Spanish I -- I'm scheduling the 3 CLEP courses on Year 1 (Monday) for two weeks from now to get started and will try to finish all of "Year 1" within 2 mos.

CLEP College Math transfers in to TESU as MATt-102 and MAT-103 General Math I & II

Interesting.. I have a 3cr. College Math class on my transcript. Maybe it will transfer here as well.. Otherwise, I'll look to take the College Math CLEP -- I'm in Finance and hate math as well..

I made a couple of adjustments based on some of your suggestions:

  Less than 1 minute ago">TESU-BachelorsIn4Weeks-02102016v2.xlsx (Size: 39.92 KB / Downloads: 7)

[dfrecore]

Wow. Ok, it's very ambitious, but go for it.

My only recommendations (based on the new plan):

1) BA in 4 weeks is REALLY old, the TESU requirements have changed - but luckily this plan still works with a little moving around. But you might want to look at the new requirements to familiarize yourself with them:
Criminal Justice does not fill the Info Lit requirement, so it would get moved to Gen Ed or Free Electives
World Religions does fill it, so that would move there from Diversity
Sociology then fills the Diversity Requirement

Also, at the time (2004), there were not the same options available as there are now. CLEP, DSST, UExcel and TECEP were basically the only way to test out of the degrees (or at least the only ones included in the plan). There are SO MANY ways available now, it's crazy. And many of the courses are free, or cheap. SL is another good way to get a LOT of credits in a short amount of time, and for less than a CLEP/DSST exam costs (and you do them from home). Study.com has been recommended as well, although it will take a year to get full advantage of it ($990/12 months subscription, allows 2 exams per month, 72cr=$13.75/cr).

2) You need to plan in 8 TECEP's, there are more than enough there, but you need to figure out which ones to do

3) I would group some like courses together if you can, to kill 2 birds with 1 stone

4) Public Speaking is available as a DSST or through TCC, and a Communications course from SL will fit there also, for a lot less than TESU online

5) CSU-Global has additional courses that may fit. They are not ACE-approved, they are a 4-year college and will give you a transcript when you complete the course(s).

Getting most of your courses completed and then applying at TESU with everything, and then getting CSU-G courses pre-approved is a very good way to make sure you don't overpay for TESU courses you may not need. Others on here may know of FIN courses that cost a lot less than $1560 each to fulfill the requirement, and TESU will pre-approve courses for you.

Good luck!

[cookderosa]

Here's my proposed plan.. Because of my work schedule, I more than likely won't be able to get a BA in 4 Weeks, but this will serve as a blueprint for attack. I'm thinking I may be able to get done more in the 3-6 mos timeframe depending on the actual 3-5 classes I have to take.

Like most, had difficulty finding proper equivalents for some of the finance concentration classes. I'm in Commercial RE finance so having this concentration will help just a bit and will use that foundation to springboard to a proper RE finance, or Investment Banking master's program.

So for the actual classes I need to take, I'm down to 3 TESU courses, one Pen Foster Course, a Saylor Course (I'm taking that and testing out at ECE as Managerial Accounting looks tough) --

And a CSU Global, which at $250 for 3 credits are an expensive gamble, as I'm not seeing a strong path to credit at TESU. I may find an alternative here.

Would love some feedback if anybody has any.

Thanks

Below I'm including my plan in PDF and an XLS version (has two tabs: BSin4Weeks testing schedule and TESU BSBA w/Finance Requirements) in case anyone wants to futz with their own plan..

VIEW UPDATED .XLS IN POST#6

Dfrecore will help you sort out the details, but I don't think anyone has done a BA in 4 weeks since Lawrie Miller......this is going to be interesting!! Good luck, I hope you do it! You'll be a rockstar

[SuzanneD]

Penn Foster has some UL finance classes. Good luck and keep us posted.

[bigrivergroup]

Thanks very much for all the input.. Made lots of adjustments and broke down some costs. Even though I call it 4 weeks, I'm thinking in terms of months to get this all done.

Found, like dfrecore mentioned, Straighterline is a great deal, with lots of bang for the buck. Their Business Bundle gives you 4 months subscription (@ $99) and 3 business courses for $496, saving about $50 -- But it looks like there's the ability to add any course beyond that for $49. There may be a bit savings if one is allowed to add some of their more expensive classes like Public Speaking ($74) or some of the GE classes with the professor led upgrades.

I've organized the schedule to try and get all the 14 straighterline courses knocked out within that 4 mos. of subscription in the business bundle

I'm wondering though if anyone has received their full 6 GE credits for the Intro Biology or Intro Chemistry classes through straighterline. CLEP testing gets all 6 credits.

I also found open enrollments for some outside finance classes instead of the two $1500 TESU courses..like BYU Extension's Money and Banking course for $534 + books and UCLA Extension's RE Finance course for $595 + books -- Actually UCLA extension has many upper level finance and investment banking courses that could work to satisfy some of these missing TESU finance requirements. Will check with TESU to see if they will qualify for the finance degree.

Finding those cheaper outside courses to replace the TESU courses meant though, that I had to find two additional TECEPs to help make up my 24 credit matriculation requirement. I replaced two of the $80 DSST/CLEP courses with the TECEP versions for this and took the $60 hit in fees.

In case anyone wants to see the updates, here's a version #3 with some rough pricing (not including add'l fees, books and testing center fees) -- comes out to around $3 - $4k for the bachelors in finance if all works out.


  Less than 1 minute ago">TESU-BachelorsIn4Weeks-02122016v3.xlsx (Size: 47.47 KB / Downloads: 9)