TESU - when to apply?

[ambull01]

Thanks so much! You are right. I am confusing the capstone and cornerstone. I'm getting there! : ) I also didn't know that about study.com. I just knew that they used give a residency waiver for affiliation and now they don't. That's very sad.

Time to gear up and apply I guess!

Study.com affiliation still provides a discount for the residency waiver fee. Instead of $2,500 SDC affiliates pay $2,200, or a $300 discount. In the 2017-2018 catalog year, the discount was almost double that... but it was always a discount, not an elimination of the fee. The tuition discount has remained the same.

SDC affiliation used to provide a cornerstone waiver so you didn't have to take the 1 credit TES-100 cornerstone course, but that was eliminated last summer.

In any case, if you feel that TESU is the right choice for your son, then you should probably put together a rough course plan and have your son take at least two courses at Study.com (the monthly college accelerator plan includes 2 exams per month, so taking at least two courses is recommended) and have them, along with the transcripts for his associates and CLEP credits, sent to TESU for evaluation and application purposes to you can get the ball rolling.

That said, as zzzz24 mentioned, there are other (cheaper) options aside from TESU. We used to recommend them to everyone, but with the recent changes, they are less cost-effective now. Personally, I recommend WGU first (for people looking for IT, business, or education degrees), then COSC, then TESU and Excelsior. So you should also take a look at COSC. If they have a degree that your son likes, you could save a bit of money going with them.

Additionally, COSC accepts Shmoop courses, which TESU does not. This may be particularly useful for an English degree as Shmoop offers a greater variety of relevant courses.

Wow, thanks for the great info! You just threw some self doubt into my plan. I already applied to TESU, printed out an Academic Evaluation for a BSBA in Finance, and completed the insurance ethics course from The Institute. What's the cost savings of WGU vs TESU? What would you say are the pros and cons between WGU and TESU?

[Acam10]

Hi Merlin,

I just looked up WGU. Which classes from Study.com will transfer into their Business Management Program?

[Merlin]

Wow, thanks for the great info! You just threw some self doubt into my plan. I already applied to TESU, printed out an Academic Evaluation for a BSBA in Finance, and completed the insurance ethics course from The Institute. What's the cost savings of WGU vs TESU? What would you say are the pros and cons between WGU and TESU?

Pricing differences between the big 3 and WGU came up in another recent post, you can check there for more details. However, in summary, the prices for a bachelor degree from each of them are as follows:

1. WGU - $6,370 (1-term)
   
2. COSC - $6,614
   
3. EC - $7,020
   
4. TESU - $8,657
   
5. WGU - $9,595 (2-terms)
   

So if you can complete a degree in a single 6-month term, WGU is the cheapest of the four schools, but if it takes two or more terms then it becomes the most expensive of the four. That said, you can transfer in up to 90 credits towards a degree at WGU and they are very flexible in terms of the types of credit sources they accept (they accept nearly everything that TESU does, plus they also accept professional certifications and some NA college credits), so you only need to complete the remaining 30 credits (10 courses) in a single 6-month term to graduate. It means finishing one course every 2.5 weeks or so, which shouldn't be too challenging, particularly if you already have some prior experience (which is what competency-based courses are all about).

I don't have a list of pro's and con's for WGU vs. TESU, but the biggest pro for WGU is probably the ~$2,300 difference in price. COSC is nearly the same cost though. Also, I personally feel that WGU has better course offerings in IT and related programs. For master's programs, they are one of the most cost-effective options for an RA non-profit college. Another pro is that once you complete the final course for your degree, you graduate right away; you don't have to wait for multiple months until the next degree conferral date like TESU. The biggest con is probably that their subscription-style tuition isn't very cost-effective for people who aren't able to accelerate their way through classes. It adds up quickly for people who end up taking more than 6-months to complete their classes.

The biggest pro for TESU is that they accept up to 114 credits to be transferred in, so you only need to take 2 courses to graduate; this also means you can take longer to complete a degree since you don't have to pay a per-term fee to TESU, just pay to apply, pay to register for courses, and pay for graduation & residency waiver fees. They are also one of the most predictable schools, which makes it easier for people to plan BALS and BSBA degrees via TESU. The biggest con to me is their cost, followed by their poor advisors, constant changes, and their growing lack of alt ed flexibility.

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Hi Merlin,

I just looked up WGU. Which classes from Study.com will transfer into their Business Management Program?

I have no idea. It looks like Study.com is working on an equivalency guide for the business programs, but only has accounting complete so far. You can probably use the accounting program as a starting place unless someone on the forum wants to volunteer a degree plan with more details.

https://study.com/program/Western_Govern...ransferTab

Straighterline also has an equivalency guide for the WGU business school:

https://www.straighterline.com/colleges/...uivalency/

WGU also provides general transfer guidelines for how transfer courses will come into their various degree programs which might also help. Here is the page for the business management program, which may help you figure out other equivalencies for Study.com or other providers:

https://partners.wgu.edu/Pages/BSMG.aspx

Part of the process of pursuing a non-traditional education is to figure out the best way to do it. I also found it to be part of the intellectual challenge. You should be able to get a pretty good idea of what your options are from those links.

Good luck!

[quigongene]

1. WGU - $6,370 (1-term)
   
2. COSC - $6,614
   
3. EC - $7,020
   
4. TESU - $8,657
   
5. WGU - $9,595 (2-terms)

Where are you guys getting that WGU is $6,370 for 1 term? It's $3225 according to this:

https://www.wgu.edu/online-business-degr...html#close

[mysonx3]

I believe the numbers used here assume that you transfer in 90 credits at $100/3 credit course.

[Merlin]

I believe the numbers used here assume that you transfer in 90 credits at $100/3 credit course.

Yes, all those numbers indicate full cost starting from 0 credits using alt credits for all but the required number of credits at each college. I lifted the numbers for the big three from the post I linked earlier (which were provided by dfrecore) but the WGU numbers I calculated myself.

90 credits (30 courses) @ $100 each = $3,000 (or so)
WGU undergrad business program tuition (1-term) = $3,225
WGU resource fee (1-term) = $145
Total = $6,370 (1-term)

Each additional 6-month term adds $3,225 + $145 = $3,370 more.

The numbers do not include the $65 application fee since that is most often waived.

[quigongene]

Got it. My bad.

[Clepper43]

I see SDC offers 1 month free if you are enrolling at TESU ...

Hello Clepper43,

Where did you find this?

Thanks!

Of course i can't find it now! It says here try it risk free - but I don't want to click through to find out because i have to enter my name:
 https://study.com/academy/university/tho...rsity.html.

Also this page at TESU explains the partnership: https://www.tesu.edu/studycom/#are-there...igible-for.

[dfrecore]

I see SDC offers 1 month free if you are enrolling at TESU ...

Hello Clepper43,

Where did you find this?

Thanks!

Of course i can't find it now! It says here try it risk free - but I don't want to click through to find out because i have to enter my name:
 https://study.com/academy/university/tho...rsity.html.

Also this page at TESU explains the partnership: https://www.tesu.edu/studycom/#are-there...igible-for.

Try it risk-free is not a free month.  At the most, it's a 3-day trial or something - and you can't get college credit for it (meaning it's not the College Accelerator membership).  I'm going to guess it's old and TESU hasn't removed it.

[Merlin]

I see SDC offers 1 month free if you are enrolling at TESU ...

Hello Clepper43,

Where did you find this?

Thanks!

Of course i can't find it now! It says here try it risk free - but I don't want to click through to find out because i have to enter my name:
 https://study.com/academy/university/tho...rsity.html.

Also this page at TESU explains the partnership: https://www.tesu.edu/studycom/#are-there...igible-for.

Try it risk-free is not a free month.  At the most, it's a 3-day trial or something - and you can't get college credit for it (meaning it's not the College Accelerator membership).  I'm going to guess it's old and TESU hasn't removed it.

TESU and Study.com used to have a "free 30-day trial" deal, though that went away last year. It only allowed you to preview the courses, you couldn't take exams or earn credit; you still had to pay for a regular college accelerator membership to gain the ability to take exams.