Can I complete the majority of a degree on Study.com or a similar site?

[hlg38]

I know you can take courses at Study.com and transfer them to universities for credit. I've looked at the transfer guides.

Does anyone know if you can complete the majority of a degree this way? I'm thinking it'll be much more cost effective. Or, in your experience, is it generally just a handful of courses? 

Thanks!

[bjcheung77]

You're going to get the following answer - It depends on the school you're applying to, as it is the school that determine the amount of alternative credits available for prospective students to transfer into their programs offered. My recommendation always is to not take all your courses from one provider, as some other provider might be cheaper/easier/faster... Study.com is great for Upper Level and it is my first choice recommendation now for both lower level and upper level...

This varies greatly from at max of 30 credits from one institution up to 90 credits at another, most of the schools will be in this range - including the competency based degree providers such as WGU etc, the only 3 exceptions are the Big 3 which allow up to 114 credits transferred into their programs, and they also have a limit of 87 at COSC/90 TESU from one source, you can take 90 from Study.com for example... So, find your school and degree program you want to get into, then decide the on the provider.

[armstrongsubero]

@hlg38 did you have a school or degree in mind? What's your budget like? Maybe you can get advised on what your options are.

[davewill]

I know you can take courses at Study.com and transfer them to universities for credit. I've looked at the transfer guides.

Does anyone know if you can complete the majority of a degree this way? I'm thinking it'll be much more cost effective. Or, in your experience, is it generally just a handful of courses? 

Thanks!

The short answer is, "Yes". There are definitely schools and degree programs where you could get more than half of your credits from Study.com. One of the most popular subjects on this board is the concept of a DIY degree. This is enabled by the Big3 schools (TESU, COSC, Excelsior) which allow you get get all but 6 credits from alternative sources (although not all from one provider). We call it a DIY degree because you have to do all the degree planning on your own (the school won't really help, but we will). You should spend some time reading here, and you will quickly get the idea. When you feel ready to start, post here what credits you currently have and what kind of degree you would like to earn.

[jsd]

The short answer is, "Yes".

The long answer is "Yes, but...."

[Merlin]

I completed 57 credits of my TESU undergrad via Study.com and could have done up to 90 had I wanted to.

As others have said, each school has its own requirements in terms of how many credits they will allow you to transfer in or may have limits on how much you can transfer from any single institution, so it really depends on where you want to get your degree.

For example, as far as I can tell, WGU doesn't have any limit on how much you can transfer from a single source, they just limit the overall amount you can transfer to 90 credits. Which is basically the same as TESU.

[hlg38]

Thank you all for your helpful responses. I suppose I should have spent some time introducing myself, since I am clearly new to the forum. I'm interested in getting another Master's degree, but it's just for personal growth. I love to learn. I feel stagnant when I am not working toward some kind of educational or professional goal. My family thinks I'm crazy.

However, I've spent my fair share on education, despite getting some financial help along the way, and I would like to see how far I can get with a DIY degree. I'm interested in getting a Master's in Emergency Management or an MPA. These do not seem to be as easy to DIY as business, computer science, etc.

Currently, I hold the following degrees:

M.Ed. Instructional Design & Technology, American College of Education
Graduate Certificate: English, American College of Education
B.S. Public Administration, Northern Arizona University
A.A.S. Emergency Response and Operations

[dfrecore]

Thank you all for your helpful responses. I suppose I should have spent some time introducing myself, since I am clearly new to the forum. I'm interested in getting another Master's degree, but it's just for personal growth. I love to learn. I feel stagnant when I am not working toward some kind of educational or professional goal. My family thinks I'm crazy.

However, I've spent my fair share on education, despite getting some financial help along the way, and I would like to see how far I can get with a DIY degree. I'm interested in getting a Master's in Emergency Management or an MPA. These do not seem to be as easy to DIY as business, computer science, etc.

Currently, I hold the following degrees:

M.Ed. Instructional Design & Technology, American College of Education
Graduate Certificate: English, American College of Education
B.S. Public Administration, Northern Arizona University
A.A.S. Emergency Response and Operations

You generally can't DIY a master's degree.  We do Associate and Bachelor's degrees here.  We discuss different options for Master's degrees, but most schools don't allow you to bring credits (or not many) into a MA.

[armstrongsubero]

@hlg38 you are better off looking at a competency based masters program.

[hlg38]

Thank you all for your helpful responses. I suppose I should have spent some time introducing myself, since I am clearly new to the forum. I'm interested in getting another Master's degree, but it's just for personal growth. I love to learn. I feel stagnant when I am not working toward some kind of educational or professional goal. My family thinks I'm crazy.

However, I've spent my fair share on education, despite getting some financial help along the way, and I would like to see how far I can get with a DIY degree. I'm interested in getting a Master's in Emergency Management or an MPA. These do not seem to be as easy to DIY as business, computer science, etc.

Currently, I hold the following degrees:

M.Ed. Instructional Design & Technology, American College of Education
Graduate Certificate: English, American College of Education
B.S. Public Administration, Northern Arizona University
A.A.S. Emergency Response and Operations

You generally can't DIY a master's degree.  We do Associate and Bachelor's degrees here.  We discuss different options for Master's degrees, but most schools don't allow you to bring credits (or not many) into a MA.

I wouldn't mind going for another Bachelor's degree. I'll check out my options with The Big 3. Thank you!