Locking in a degree plan at TESU?

[jacobvanhelden]

First of all, thanks again for all of the help in this forum.  I have finally started classes thanks to everybody's advice in here. 

Anyways, as for my question - Is there anyway to lock in my degree plan at TESU?  I am trying to complete as many courses at Sophia as possible, but I am worried with the changes after July 31st that what they accept from Sophia will radically change.  With that, is there anyway to lock in a degree plan from TESU, and make sure that they will accept those credits?  For instance, if I can complete almost all of my Gen Ed from Sophia before July 31st, could I get those credits transferred and set in stone at TESU?  If so, what would be the best way to go about doing this?  Should I just enroll in one of the cornerstone classes? 

I will attach my degree plan as well for reference.

[dfrecore]

You can lock in a CATALOG by enrolling (taking a class or TECEP). You can lock in COURSES by having them on your evaluation, so you need to get things sent in to them on a regular basis.

You cannot lock in future course equivalencies - TESU may change rules or how they bring things in, and there's nothing you can do, especially if you're not enrolled, and don't have the course already applied to your degree.

[natshar]

looks good.

1. If you would like you can do sophia.org's intro to ethics for the ethics if you didn't already reach the 90 from sophia.

2. Saylor is dirt cheap and basically just an exam and pass. If you think you know all the material you might want to try it for some of the business core. Saylor is difficult though that is why I said do it if you have prior knowledge but only $25 and I've heard intro to finance isn't bad. Also, Davar is just an exam and pass as well and cheaper then study.com/SL this might be cheaper and faster option, especially for UL. Davar is 100/for 2 exams so $50 each. also, onlinedegree.com has marketing for only $9. You don't have to change any of it but just giving you options if you realize study.com or sl isn't your style or are trying as cheap as possible those are some ideas.

3.You have a 1 credit and a 3 credit cornerstone on your plan. I would delete the 1 credit one.

4. What is the last finance course?

You lock in your catalog by taking a class or TECEP at TESU. If you are getting financial aid you have to take 6 credits which is why people take both at once. If you are paying out of pocket then it doesn't matter.

If you are paying out of pocket: take sos-110 asap to lock in a catalog
If you are getting financial aid: take a tecep asap to lock in catalog (i'd recommend something that counts towards your business core or UL finance course) and then take sos-110 and capstone together when you are ready.

[jacobvanhelden]

You can lock in a CATALOG by enrolling (taking a class or TECEP).  You can lock in COURSES by having them on your evaluation, so you need to get things sent in to them on a regular basis.

You cannot lock in future course equivalencies - TESU may change rules or how they bring things in, and there's nothing you can do, especially if you're not enrolled, and don't have the course already applied to your degree.

Thank you for the response.  So, it would be possible to apply know, enroll in a class upon getting accepted, and transfer them all of my completed courses from Sophia before July 31st and I would be in the clear for all of those at least?

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looks good.

1. If you would like you can do sophia.org's intro to ethics for the ethics if you didn't already reach the 90 from sophia.

2. Saylor is dirt cheap and basically just an exam and pass. If you think you know all the material you might want to try it for some of the business core. Saylor is difficult though that is why I said do it if you have prior knowledge but only $25 and I've heard intro to finance isn't bad. Also, Davar is just an exam and pass as well and cheaper then study.com/SL this might be cheaper and faster option, especially for UL. Davar is 100/for 2 exams so $50 each. also, onlinedegree.com has marketing for only $9. You don't have to change any of it but just giving you options if you realize study.com or sl isn't your style or are trying as cheap as possible those are some ideas.

3.You have a 1 credit and a 3 credit cornerstone on your plan. I would delete the 1 credit one.

4. What is the last finance course?

You lock in your catalog by taking a class or TECEP at TESU. If you are getting financial aid you have to take 6 credits which is why people take both at once. If you are paying out of pocket then it doesn't matter.

If you are paying out of pocket: take sos-110 asap to lock in a catalog
If you are getting financial aid: take a tecep asap to lock in catalog (i'd recommend something that counts towards your business core or UL finance course) and then take sos-110 and capstone together when you are ready.

Thanks for getting back to me! 

1.) I think I will be making the Ethics switch, considering the Institutes ethics course apparently no longer qualifies according to an individual in a different thread. With that, since I will need to fill one more elective slot due to the switch, do you know if TESU would accept the college readiness course from Sophia (or any other Sophia course) as an elective that I do not already have listed? 

2.) I will certainly keep Saylor and Davar in mind, but personally I feel I would do better taking a course, rather than testing out of a course. 

3.)  Is the one credit cornerstone not required in the elective section?  I only have it there due to other templates I have seen that also have it.  Also, upon reviewing my electives, it looks like I will only need 6x three credit electives, so I should be able to just switch the ethics courses, and do not need to add an additional GE elective to fill that slot.  Does that sound correct? 

4.) I have been having difficulty finding one more finance course to take to fill that slot.  Do you have any suggestions for an additional course that would fill that slot?  I have just left it blank while I fill out my GE stuff, and have a plan in General Management as a backup if I think it would be worth switching. 

Sorry for all of the question, but would you also be able to elaborate a bit for me on what it means to "lock in your catalog?" This is all very new to me.  Does it mean what I think it means, in that taking a course at TESU is the only way to begin transferring credits to them, and once those credits have transferred then they are locked in?  Or does it mean that once I take a TESU course, I can put on my degree plan that I am going to take all of these Sophia courses, and they will allow for me to transfer those credits at a later date, even after they change their catalog?  

Thank you for all your help - I really appreciate it.

[natshar]

As far as I know any other Sophia course you haven't used above should count as an elective. Free electives are the easiest to fill so it doesn't really matter. Basically, all electives are anything that TESU grants credit. So just take any other sophia course, college readiness would work or any sophia course really as long as tesu accepts it and you don't 90 from sophia.

As far as GE electives if TESU accepts the ethics course then you should be good. If not, then just find something else you can probably do something else on sophia as long as you don't hit 90.

TESU used to have a 1 credit cornerstone instead of the 3 credit sos-110. The 1 credit counted as GE electives and then you had to find your own way to do information literacy through a variety of options. This is no longer the case. There is only the 3 credit cornerstone now so delete the 1 credit cornerstone.

I personally found onlinedegree.com's accounting superior to Sophia's accounting as far as actually learning to accounting. If you don't care about learning accounting do Sophia, but if you want to learn it, do onlinedegree.com. And onlinedegree.com's marketing is easy as well and would be cheaper then sl or study.com. Those are both courses, not test outs and only $9 a course you pay at the end. Just something to consider and they are actually courses vs test outs.

The money and banking dsst test will work as the last UL finance. However, the issue is all testing centers are closed now due to the virus. I would just plan that in since you are starting from scratch by the time you get to that point you testing centers would hopefully be open.

Also I don't know where you are getting the July 31, 2020 date from? The courses from Sophia are free until July 31, 2020 but that is only when you "purchase" them. You can complete them anytime after July 31, 2020. No rush to finish them. This was discussed in another thread and even Sophia responded confirming this.

TESU usually changes their catalogs on July 1, 2020 so I would enroll in either a course or tecep by July 1, 2020. Teceps are an exam but you get 3 months to do it and they aren't that bad and even if you don't pass a tecep it still locks in a catalog. If I were you before July 1, 2020 I would choose if you are going to enroll in a tecep or sos-110. Remember if you are getting financial aid you need 6 credits so that is why I recommended doing a tecep. Another option would be to do sos-110 now and then do the capstone alongside your last UL finance course as a course at TESU later. But at that rate, you would be at 9 credits at TESU which at that point it might be cheaper to do 16 at TESU to avoid the wavier fee.

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Once they accept you. You can enroll in a course or tecep anytime as long as you meet the pre-reqs. So they might not even have all your transcripts processed or say you don't have anything done yet you could still enroll.

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Looking in a catalog means you can still transfer in as many courses as you want. They can now just give you unlimited evaluations and you are technically an enrolled student there. You aren't stuck with only taking courses at TESU you can still transfer as much as you want.

Locking in a catalog is important because if Tesu makes major changes (for example my bsba had the 1 credit cornerstone) then you are grandfathered in from any new requirements. Also, you get unlimited evaluations so you can keep sending credits and then will enter them in.

Actually I see you are a finance major in that case I highly suggest onlinedegree.com's accounting or even do both because why not even if they duplicate. Sophias is a breeze and onlinedegrees touchs on finance as well. I made a post about it: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...#pid305791
Accounting is the language of business and important.

[jacobvanhelden]

Thank you so much for all of the help with this, Natshar - that really helped clear things up for me.  I made all of the necessary changes to my degree plan, and will certainly check out that other accounting class.  Would you mind if I send you a PM if I run into any additional questions through this process?  


Thanks again!

[natshar]

Thank you so much for all of the help with this, Natshar - that really helped clear things up for me.  I made all of the necessary changes to my degree plan, and will certainly check out that other accounting class.  Would you mind if I send you a PM if I run into any additional questions through this process?  


Thanks again!

of course.

[bjcheung77]

Question: So, it would be possible to apply know, enroll in a class upon getting accepted, and transfer them all of my completed courses from Sophia before July 31st and I would be in the clear for all of those at least?

Answer: Setup an ACE registry account, Apply to TESU $50, enroll by taking the Medical Terminology TECEP ($50, you don't have to pass the exam to be enrolled and locking your catalog year), complete your courses at Sophia (sign up by July 31, not finish the course by then), lastly transfer them to TESU when you're done with Sophia.

1.) I think I will be making the Ethics switch, considering the Institutes ethics course apparently no longer qualifies according to an individual in a different thread. With that, since I will need to fill one more elective slot due to the switch, do you know if TESU would accept the college readiness course from Sophia (or any other Sophia course) as an elective that I do not already have listed?

Answer #1) I answered that here, they'll move your Sophia Ethics into the Institutes Ethics area: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...#pid305332 But you still have an issue with your degree plan, you have Sociology showing up twice. Change the second one to Sophia Art History II and you're done.

2.) I will certainly keep Saylor and Davar in mind, but personally I feel I would do better taking a course, rather than testing out of a course.

Answer #2) I agree, take the courses over exams if you're feeling that way. Further to that, take ACE credits over NCCRS as NCCRS is less accepted and doesn't have a registry to bank the courses - COSC seems to have stopped accepting some of the NCCRS providers and I think Excelsior/TESU is going to follow.

3.) Is the one credit cornerstone not required in the elective section? I only have it there due to other templates I have seen that also have it. Also, upon reviewing my electives, it looks like I will only need 6x three credit electives, so I should be able to just switch the ethics courses, and do not need to add an additional GE elective to fill that slot. Does that sound correct?

Answer #3) Yes that is correct, the 1 credit cornerstone, in 2018 didn't have it, was only an option for the 2019 catalog, 2020 is now the 3 credit course - this is the significance of "locking" a catalog, as requirements change - see below. Yes, the Sophia Ethics will go properly into the required ethics field and you have 6 gen eds already.

4.) I have been having difficulty finding one more finance course to take to fill that slot. Do you have any suggestions for an additional course that would fill that slot? I have just left it blank while I fill out my GE stuff, and have a plan in General Management as a backup if I think it would be worth switching.

Answer #4) I type slow, so the post of a post of a post in #1 pointed to three possibilities. 1) Take it at community college or do the DSST at an exam center 2) Take an upper level Principles of Finance course (from an ACE/NCCRS provider) or 3) Email TESU and see if Study.com Health Finance & Budgeting will do the job. Your best bet is to do either 2 or 3 as #1 will take longer to complete.

"General Management": You created another thread with both a Fiance/GM template (https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...quirements), I purposely didn't answer the bottom part of that thread until now because, like Accounting, Fiance is a "hard to grasp" area of study. Testing out is fine, but you'll hardly learn the full scope of it in such a short time.

So, I advise and agree to your post in having a GM as the main plan and Finance as the fall back plan, as you get closer to the final courses, you can decide to do either one or both. They are both BSBA with a different concentration, yet it's still just a Business Administration degree. The reason is because once you start on a few Finance courses, it'll be the one that truly weeds out the Fiance Folks from the GM Folks.

"Locking a catalog". Think of this as a membership to a gym, it's only good for one year. You need to pay for another membership the next year to retain your membership rights. Locking the catalog is the same, you take an exam or a course to continue your enrollment. The enrollment entitles you to whatever the catalog year holds, if the year lapses and you miss the enrollment period, you're now on a new catalog year with different course requirements for your degree, example above, the cornerstone.

My feedback in regards to Accounting: Taking the course at Sophia.org would be sufficient enough, Onlinedegree.com would be a duplicate. If you were going for an Applied degree with a focus in Accounting, then knowing your basics better would be recommended. My post about applied degrees: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...rs-Degrees

Natshar has completed her associates and on track to finishing her bachelors, she wants to learn more about Accounting and I would recommend taking both for her. But in your case, it's different as your main goal is the degree not to duplicate your learning. My post: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Accounting

What I propose is this: Since you're taking Accounting at Sophia.org, instead of doing the same course at Onlinedegree.com, take a different accounting course from StraighterLine or Study.com, in fact, take two. And here is my reasoning, it'll help you finish your BSBA with a GM in addition to your Finance if you choose PLUS hit the Accounting area if you needed.

Your GM courses and your Finance courses have 3 that overlap, 3 courses are the only difference as they only allow a max of 9 credits to overlap the two areas of study. These are the courses you need for your GM - 3 UL Finance, the LL Sophia.org Project Management course, StraighterLine or Study.com Intermediate Accounting I (LL) & Cost Accounting (UL). In fact, it's just two additional courses as Project Management is a given. Just those two courses or two in another Marketing or Management (1 UL/1LL and that's it).

[natshar]

Good points. But I don't think there is another UL finance course anywhere (Davar duplicates sdc) besides maybe the health and budgeting you suggested. But it doesn't really seem like being concerned about another finance course when you zero completed. Hopefully, by the time you get to that point, there will be another UL finance from sdc or somewhere or a testing center will be open.

The onlinedegree course is titled intro to accounting and finance it comes in as accounting but it touches on things you would lear in intro to finance as well at least more than sophias accounting.

My personal experience with accounting is a little weird. I've actually tried taking classes in at college I just either failed and/or didn't pay attention so I did have some knowledge of the subject. My thread didn't say all that. Its a complicated situation. I knew what accounting was I just didn't know how to apply it. That is why I said sophias was easy and didn't teach how to apply it.

Also why pay for medical terminology when for only $100 more you can get an actual degree requirement out of the way? Considering clep is closed you are looking at $100 for a ll business course from sl or sdc anyway, seems like doing it through tecep might be a good idea. idk unless just spending 50 on medical term as a throwaway seems more appealing. I guess it doesn't matter either way.

[jacobvanhelden]

Question: So, it would be possible to apply know, enroll in a class upon getting accepted, and transfer them all of my completed courses from Sophia before July 31st and I would be in the clear for all of those at least?

Answer:  Setup an ACE registry account, Apply to TESU $50, enroll by taking the Medical Terminology TECEP ($50, you don't have to pass the exam to be enrolled and locking your catalog year), complete your courses at Sophia (sign up by July 31, not finish the course by then), lastly transfer them to TESU when you're done with Sophia.

1.) I think I will be making the Ethics switch, considering the Institutes ethics course apparently no longer qualifies according to an individual in a different thread. With that, since I will need to fill one more elective slot due to the switch, do you know if TESU would accept the college readiness course from Sophia (or any other Sophia course) as an elective that I do not already have listed?

Answer #1)  I answered that here, they'll move your Sophia Ethics into the Institutes Ethics area: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...#pid305332  But you still have an issue with your degree plan, you have Sociology showing up twice.  Change the second one to Sophia Art History II and you're done.

2.) I will certainly keep Saylor and Davar in mind, but personally I feel I would do better taking a course, rather than testing out of a course.

Answer #2)  I agree, take the courses over exams if you're feeling that way.  Further to that, take ACE credits over NCCRS as NCCRS is less accepted and doesn't have a registry to bank the courses - COSC seems to have stopped accepting some of the NCCRS providers and I think Excelsior/TESU is going to follow.

3.)  Is the one credit cornerstone not required in the elective section?  I only have it there due to other templates I have seen that also have it.  Also, upon reviewing my electives, it looks like I will only need 6x three credit electives, so I should be able to just switch the ethics courses, and do not need to add an additional GE elective to fill that slot.  Does that sound correct?

Answer #3) Yes that is correct, the 1 credit cornerstone, in 2018 didn't have it, was only an option for the 2019 catalog, 2020 is now the 3 credit course - this is the significance of "locking" a catalog, as requirements change - see below.  Yes, the Sophia Ethics will go properly into the required ethics field and you have 6 gen eds already.  

4.) I have been having difficulty finding one more finance course to take to fill that slot.  Do you have any suggestions for an additional course that would fill that slot?  I have just left it blank while I fill out my GE stuff, and have a plan in General Management as a backup if I think it would be worth switching.

Answer #4) I type slow, so the post of a post of a post in #1 pointed to three possibilities. 1) Take it at community college or do the DSST at an exam center  2) Take an upper level Principles of Finance course (from an ACE/NCCRS provider) or 3) Email TESU and see if Study.com Health Finance & Budgeting will do the job.  Your best bet is to do either 2 or 3 as #1 will take longer to complete.

"General Management":  You created another thread with both a Fiance/GM template (https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...quirements), I purposely didn't answer the bottom part of that thread until now because, like Accounting, Fiance is a "hard to grasp" area of study.  Testing out is fine, but you'll hardly learn the full scope of it in such a short time.  

So, I advise and agree to your post in having a GM as the main plan and Finance as the fall back plan, as you get closer to the final courses, you can decide to do either one or both.  They are both BSBA with a different concentration, yet it's still just a Business Administration degree. The reason is because once you start on a few Finance courses, it'll be the one that truly weeds out the Fiance Folks from the GM Folks.  

"Locking a catalog".  Think of this as a membership to a gym, it's only good for one year.  You need to pay for another membership the next year to retain your membership rights.  Locking the catalog is the same, you take an exam or a course to continue your enrollment.  The enrollment entitles you to whatever the catalog year holds, if the year lapses and you miss the enrollment period, you're now on a new catalog year with different course requirements for your degree, example above, the cornerstone.

My feedback in regards to Accounting: Taking the course at Sophia.org would be sufficient enough, Onlinedegree.com would be a duplicate.  If you were going for an Applied degree with a focus in Accounting, then knowing your basics better would be recommended.  My post about applied degrees: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...rs-Degrees

Natshar has completed her associates and on track to finishing her bachelors, she wants to learn more about Accounting and I would recommend taking both for her.  But in your case, it's different as your main goal is the degree not to duplicate your learning.  My post: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Accounting

What I propose is this:  Since you're taking Accounting at Sophia.org, instead of doing the same course at Onlinedegree.com, take a different accounting course from StraighterLine or Study.com, in fact, take two.  And here is my reasoning, it'll help you finish your BSBA with a GM in addition to your Finance if you choose PLUS hit the Accounting area if you needed.

Your GM courses and your Finance courses have 3 that overlap, 3 courses are the only difference as they only allow a max of 9 credits to overlap the two areas of study.  These are the courses you need for your GM - 3 UL Finance, the LL Sophia.org Project Management course, StraighterLine or Study.com Intermediate Accounting I (LL) & Cost Accounting (UL).  In fact, it's just two additional courses as Project Management is a given.   Just those two courses or two in another Marketing or Management (1 UL/1LL and that's it).

Would the medical terminology just be a throwaway to secure a spot at TESU?  Or would I be better off taking the Literacy course and the Capstone together? 

1.). Wow, I can't believe I didn't notice that.  Thank you for pointing that out.  I moved Art History I into the Knowledge of Human Cultures to substitute for the duplicated Sociology course, and then added Intro to Religions back into my electives portion.  Do you know if TESU will accept Intro to Religion as an elective?  It's worth noting, I made some additional changes to my degree plan to account for the seventh elective that I had.  I will reattach the updated copy for clarification. 

2.). Good to know.  Fortunately, I have only looked into classes that are ACE approved, so everything on my plan should transfer to them without issue.  The credit banking system is also a big plus for me as well. 

3.) In regards to getting rid of the one credit cornerstone, TESU switched that requirement for the information literacy course, is that correct?  So the only two required TESU classes are Information Literacy and the Capstone, if I am understanding this correctly? 

4.) I will certainly email them to see if the Health Financing and Budgeting will work - that would be awesome if it does.  Do I have to be an enrolled student at TESU to be able to get an answer to that? 

As for the GM backup, what you said is exactly what I'm worried about.  Realistically, I want to get this degree as fast as possible, and I am worried that a finance AOS will be a bit of a road block in regards to that, as they seem to be more difficult classes. Plus, having to test out of one of the additional classes if the aforementioned class does not work worries me a bit, as I think I would have a difficult time with that. 

I guess my biggest question in regards to which AOS I go with is this - does it really matter to employer what my AOS is if it is still just a business administration degree?  I would be looking to get into investment banking / financial advisor with this degree, but if a future employer would just see BSBA (and not care about GM vs Finance), then I would rather just take the general management AOS. Do you think the AOS makes much of a difference? 

After your post, I think I will count on just going the GM route.  I will go ahead and post my revised GM degree plan as well - would you mind looking it over to see if any changes need to be made, or if I should be good to go?