Need a plan for my Bachelors. TESU? COSC? Other?

[Ideas]

I would appreciate some advice on any parts or all of this!

I'm looking to complete my bachelors cheaply and easily. But not quickly. Because of serious health issues, I need the ability to sometimes take months off, or go slow, without running up more costs. But some weeks/months, I'd like to accomplish a lot quickly. I really prefer studying at my own pace and testing out. I feel like my best route would be to test out as much as possible, then enroll only when I'm sure I can complete the rest in about 3-6 months. Is that the only way I can avoid running up the cost, to delay the enrollment?

I would like a degree transcript that won't look too bad if I decide to pursue DL grad school (because I might have more money and time later), but yet, I'm eager to do this as fast as my life allows (which won't be too fast). My eagerness is because I believe I'd earn more once I have the degree. So I'm also considering making an Associates my first goal, or even a Certificate. (However, I'm not seeing appealing Certificates at COSC.)

I have old AP exam credit and old college courses, which I hope are not too old. On a TESU Associates degree page, it says if more than half your credits are over 10 years old, you have to demonstrate current knowledge. Would I just write about why my knowledge is still current?

The last time I was enrolled, the school was giving me 41 L credits in total for my previous stuff. I believe Excelsior gave me more credit for the same courses, with some being U. My credits are in calculus, english, psych, chem, bio, physics and I did that Excelsior "Information Literacy" course... I think that's it! No history, art, or foreign lang credits.

My old plan involved getting 2 certifications, which I did, but I never got the transcripts sent so I could get credit. I let the certifications lapse, but I think I could get credit still? For the one certification (EMT through NREMT) it looks like I'd get 2 L 2 U at COSC or 4 credits at TESC. However, I'm not sure this helps much as I have many "general" L credits. In my research, I found a post saying the other certification (CPhT) is worth 6 UL + 9 LL credits at COSC. If that's true, that seems significant. TESC only gives 1 credit for it.

My old plan also involved getting lots of credit for the Psych GRE Subject exam. I took that exam, but I don't believe it got put onto a transcript. (I know COSC still offers GRE credit, but I read it's 15 L and only 3 U, so it seems like little help in my situation.)

I would prefer a degree in Human Services or Health Studies. Human Services seems to only be a TESU. However I was worried about the requirements to show 1500 hours employment in the field at TESU (800 for Associates degree). I have hours but am not sure what they consider good enough. I guess I could always change the degree if they deny me. For Health Studies, at COSC and TESU they say it's for people already in healthcare, and at TESU it's through a partner school. The courses seem harder too.

So I was also considering an Individualized Studies degree. and TESU seems to make the "Learner Designed Area of Study" easy? At the other school I was enrolled in, it seemed pretty hard to design a custom degree. Possibly also considering "BA in Liberal Studies with concentration in Health and Wellness". TESU also has a H&W Certificate. And I know the TESU BSBA General Business doesn't needing capstone, and I do have knowledge and interest in the field so it might be easier for me, but I don't feel it would help my career the same as the HHS field degrees, so I'm torn.

Financially, I think I would qualify for a Pell grant, but since I don't want to take courses very much, I don't believe that helps me? If I decided to go for the 7 TECEPs route, then there's no point in my getting financial aid, since I can't use it toward anything? Or can I use it toward the capstone course?

In terms of cost, I want to do as much of the cheapest ones like Straighterline, but one issue for me is that I'm afraid schools will change what's accepted after I've done some exams. I guess I'm worried because of how my GRE result became sort of worthless, and because I know I might take a while to get this done. (And how my choice of school changed in the past, making those certifications probably worth less... the one certification took so long...) I know that more math credits are easy to get, but I doubt I could even use them.

I see how COSC takes the FEMA credits, but I guess then the degree must be in "Emergency Management" which I'm not as interested in... but, then again, if the cost/effort is that much lower, I can't just eliminate it. For me, any Bachelors degree is better than not completing it, and I don't know if I can keep at this for years (when you include my necessary medical breaks).

Oh, and I could get doctor's letters saying that I need a leave of absence, if that helps the enrollment/cost issue. I believe I could earn more (in my PT jobs) if I could say I'm actually enrolled somewhere rather than just working on self-study toward the degree.

[sanantone]

You can use the FEMA credits for free electives at COSC. COSC offers a Bachelor of Art/Science in General Studies with a concentration in Health Studies. They just don't make these concentrations easy to find now that they have a few degrees with majors. I believe you'll need a certification in something. You can ask them about something easy to get such as pharmacy technician or optician certification.

https://www.charteroak.edu/catalog/curre...tudies.cfm

[dfrecore]

I think your best bet is to apply at all 3 schools, including sending any certs, the GRE, AP scores, etc. to see what kind of credit you can get for them. Send EVERYTHING to all 3 schools. It will cost more up front, but you're better off seeing what you will be dealing with. I'm betting there will be a BIG difference in what they give credit for, so it's important to find out.

The benefits of getting a degree at TESU - they only require 15cr UL in the major (plus the 3cr capstone); they count more courses/exams as UL, even if ACE does not; the BSBA is cheaper because it has a TECEP instead of the capstone. Unfortunately, they are raising their residency waiver fee, and the TECEP may be going away (not sure yet). The residency for 7 TECEP's is gone, so you have to pay a fee now for that ($2200ish).

The benefits of getting a degree at COSC - price (they MAY be the cheapest of the Big 3 soon); they accept a lot of certifications; they still accept the GRE for credit (18cr is nothing to sneeze at, that's 6 courses!); and they take FEMA credits towards any degree (at least I think they do).

EC also accepts some certs, and they have a discounted rate through POAG that you can ask for up front.

I think whichever school and degree you choose, you may want to think about testing, using CLEP, DSST, TECEP, UExcel, Davar, etc. - you study when you feel good, and then go test when you're feeling great, and then rest when you need to. Saylor is also an excellent choice (possibly the best), because it's free to take the course, and you only pay the $25 fee once you're ready to take the final exam for credit.

I also think you might want to look at some of the other providers that let you take longer for each course like JumpCourse, Ed4Credit, Sophia, etc. They all seem to allow 4 months per course, which gives you more time than SL or Study.com.

Using the more popular course providers like SL and Study.com may work, but because you pay by the month, it might be more difficult for you to work with. You would need to be careful to put courses on hold when your health was bad, and then to pick up again as soon as you felt better - not sure if that's a great option for either of these.

If you ultimately ended up at COSC, I would wait to get enrolled, as it could get quite pricey to stay enrolled there. I know you run the risk of some credits not being accepted, but you also run the risk of running out of money to even take courses if you keep the term-based fees going there.

If you ultimately ended up at EC, I'm not sure how their enrollment works, so you would need to find that out - but I think it's more like COSC in that it will cost you to stay enrolled.

For TESU though, there's no downside to enrolling, as you lock in your catalog - and you need to take a TECEP each year to stay enrolled. No fees per term.

If you post your credits on here, we can help figure some things out for you. KayV will help you determine if an AAS at WVNCC might work - and the cost is minimal, so it's a no-brainer for you to get that out of the way before moving onto your BA/BS at one of the Big 3.

Good luck!

[Ideas]

You can use the FEMA credits for free electives at COSC.

Oh!

COSC offers a Bachelor of Art/Science in General Studies with a concentration in Health Studies. They just don't make these concentrations easy to find now that they have a few degrees with majors. I believe you'll need a certification in something. You can ask them about something easy to get such as pharmacy technician or optician certification.

Thanks! I have the Pharm Tech already which supposedly gives 6 UL and 9 LL credits at COSC, and that looks very interesting!

They probably want labs for the Anatomy & Physiology and/or Microbiology. I think sometime I heard about a place to do microbio lab online, and maybe A&P. Or maybe I'd be allowed to do PLA for just the lab portion. (But I guess that would be $250 for a microbio PLA credit and $500 for A&P PLA.)

[sanantone]

Oh!



Thanks! I have the Pharm Tech already which supposedly gives 6 UL and 9 LL credits at COSC, and that looks very interesting!

They probably want labs for the Anatomy & Physiology and/or Microbiology. I think sometime I heard about a place to do microbio lab online, and maybe A&P. Or maybe I'd be allowed to do PLA for just the lab portion. (But I guess that would be $250 for a microbio PLA credit and $500 for A&P PLA.)

Straighterline offers the labs.

For the Public Health Policy requirement, there is at least one CSU Global CBE that will fulfill it.

https://csuglobal.edu/admissions/transfe...t-exam-cbe

I don't know if they'll accept the Health and Human Development DSST for the Wellness or Communicable Disease requirement. They might accept the Uexcel for Pathophysiology or Straighterline's Personal Fitness and Wellness. The capstone, obviously has to be taken as a course at COSC. You can definitely test out of everything else.

[Ideas]

I think your best bet is to apply at all 3 schools, including sending any certs, the GRE, AP scores, etc. to see what kind of credit you can get for them. Send EVERYTHING to all 3 schools. It will cost more up front, but you're better off seeing what you will be dealing with. I'm betting there will be a BIG difference in what they give credit for, so it's important to find out.

Hm, ok, I'll have to consider that.

The benefits of getting a degree at TESU - they only require 15cr UL in the major (plus the 3cr capstone); they count more courses/exams as UL, even if ACE does not; the BSBA is cheaper because it has a TECEP instead of the capstone.

Unfortunately, they are raising their residency waiver fee, and the TECEP may be going away (not sure yet). The residency for 7 TECEP's is gone, so you have to pay a fee now for that ($2200ish).

Thanks for that run down.

I guess that's also why I want to get enrolled sooner. It seems like previous students are usually not affected by fee increases, extra requirements, etc.

But that's a mistake I made last time, enrolling before I had done lots of the CLEP, etc.

For TESU though, there's no downside to enrolling, as you lock in your catalog - and you need to take a TECEP each year to stay enrolled. No fees per term.

Oh, very nice.

If you post your credits on here, we can help figure some things out for you. KayV will help you determine if an AAS at WVNCC might work - and the cost is minimal, so it's a no-brainer for you to get that out of the way before moving onto your BA/BS at one of the Big 3.

Good luck!

My old credits are:
Information Literacy (online course at Excelsior)
Intro Psych (B&M school)
AP Physics, AP English, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Calculus
The one school was giving me 35 L credits for the AP exams and 6 L credits for the other two things, for a total of 41 L.

I was able to find a message from Excelsior, and apparently they were giving me 30U and 5L for the same stuff (instead of 41 L). That seems much better due to so many being U.

Then my newer stuff:
EMT through NREMT which all schools give some credit for, but COSC only gives 2L apparently, I'm finding most schools give 4-6 credits
CPhT which COSC seems very generous with, TESU gives only 1 credit
a few FEMA credits done

Thank you!

[sanantone]

Straighterline offers the labs.
For the Public Health Policy requirement, there is at least one CSU Global CBE that will fulfill it.

https://csuglobal.edu/admissions/transfe...t-exam-cbe

I don't know if they'll accept the Health and Human Development DSST for the Wellness or Communicable Disease requirement. They might accept the Uexcel for Pathophysiology or Straighterline's Personal Fitness and Wellness. The capstone, obviously has to be taken as a course at COSC. You can definitely test out of everything else.

Since we posted around the same time, I want to make sure you don't miss this.

[Ideas]

Straighterline offers the labs, but labs aren't required. They'll take 6-8 credits of A&P. If labs were required, they would only accept 8 credits. They'll accept 3-4 credits of Microbiology. If the lab was required, they would only accept 4 credits.

For the Public Health Policy requirement, there is at least one CSU Global CBE that will fulfill it.

https://csuglobal.edu/admissions/transfe...t-exam-cbe

Thanks!

I don't know if they'll accept the Health and Human Development DSST for the Wellness or Communicable Disease requirement. They might accept the Uexcel for Pathophysiology or Straighterline's Personal Fitness and Wellness. The capstone, obviously has to be taken as a course at COSC. You can definitely test out of everything else.

Great! This is exciting

Do you perhaps have any info on the TESU Health Studies (or BA Liberal Studies w/ Health and Wellness conc) for comparison? Or programs at Excelsior or others.

[Ideas]

I am really leaning toward COSC if they do indeed give so much credit for the CPhT, and due to the FEMA credits.

I'm thinking that COSC may give more than 2 L on the other certification... I saw something else suggesting 4 credits.

And since TESU will probably raise their fees before I get very far with testing.

I was looking at Excelsior's BS in Health Sciences requirements at https://my.excelsior.edu/c/document_libr...upId=78666
The titles of the courses make me think they'd be hard to test out of. They have a Health Sciences assoc degree too.

Edits:

But then I really love how I can stay enrolled at TESU by taking one TECEP. But what happens when they get rid of them?

COSC may raise their fees before I am ready too.

Even if I'm pretty sure of COSC, I could put off doing the FEMA credits for a while, until I'm closer to enrolling. However, I worry they would stop taking FEMA credits if I put them off.

Now I realized I was too hasty, and portfolio assessments could be perfect for me. Depending on the schools' requirements. The previous school I was at didn't make it easy and it was expensive. I'm reading more about portfolio credit. I'm wondering if this might shave off 4-8 months for me. That would be amazing. (TESC is getting rid of or drastically changing their portfolio options...?)

I prefer a BS over a BA.

I guess I can eliminate the TESU Health Sciences program. First, I don't know if I could get into the TESU Health Sciences program. Two require AA/AS, and the others seem to have requirements. It's in partnership with Rutgers, wow, but it seems like testing out of most would not be possible. Their tracks are so specialized too. I don't really like them except for one that requires AA/AS. http://shp.rutgers.edu/dept/IDS/bshscien...ogram.html They only admit students once a year apparently. There are bound to be some other requirements and policies due to being in partnership with Rutgers.

If I go with TESU, currently I strongly lean toward "Learner Designed Area of Study".

[sanantone]

TESU and Excelsior's health programs are not test-friendly. Excelsior will charge an annual enrollment fee of over $1,000. COSC charges a student service fee of over $200 per semester. You only need to pay the student service fee while you're taking the cornerstone and capstone.

Technically, you can enroll at TESU by taking a TECEP (they are not getting rid of TECEPs; they might be getting rid of the TECEP that covers the BSBA capstone). This will lock in the current catalog. However, you either need to pay a residency waiver of $2500 or take 24 credits in TESU courses at $499 per credit hour in order to graduate. To be honest, COSC does not change degree requirements nearly as often as TESU. Most of their degree programs have stayed the same since I discovered the school in 2010. I wouldn't even worry about locking in the current catalog at COSC. They could stop taking FEMA credits, but you will likely still save money since you can test out of almost all the requirements.

TESU is extremely picky about what you can create with the Learner Designed Area of Study. If the area of study you design is anything like one of their majors, they will not approve it. If you create a health or human service AOS, they will tell you to just enroll in the human service or BALS with a concentration in health and wellness program. The capstone and residency waiver at TESU will cost you $3,997. The cornerstone, capstone, and two semesters of the student service fee at COSC will cost $2,796. So, even if you couldn't use FEMA credits at COSC in the future, COSC will be over $1,000 cheaper for the required tuition and fees, alone. And, if you choose a TESU degree that requires several courses that you can't cheaply test out of, the difference in cost will be even greater.

A lot of students naively put a lot of emphasis on BA vs. BS when no graduate school or employer cares. All they care about is that you completed the desired coursework. I can guarantee you that no one cares that Harvard University only offers ABs (BAs) for their science and computer science majors.

TESU's portfolio assessments are cheaper than COSC's, but PLAs require a lot more work than people think. It is usually much faster to test out or complete an ACE or NCCRS-approved courses.