Advise please - seeking business degree

[CircleT7]

My almost 19 yo son wants a general business degree.  He likes the small business concentration option at COSC, but entrepreneurship, organizational leadership, general business,  etc. is fine.  He has 56 (all online) dual credits from Dallas College and Lone Star College (listed below), costing us $1868.86 so far (we pay in high school, kids pay once graduated).  He will be working full-time while getting his degree, so he won't fly through them, but hopes to get it done in a year or so. He hasn't done any math yet because he hates the subject (any suggestions for easiest way to get this credit?)
Several thoughts on where to get the degree.  TAMUC is a good choice - he likes the name recognition (my oldest son got this degree several years ago, had 30 CLEP credits and got done in 1 year. He did 10 classes in one 7-week term - they don't allow that anymore). Downside is it can be slow and frustrating waiting for the professor and staff to confirm you've completed a class and load a new one.  
COSC has the small buisness concentration. I'm concerned about recent comments on another post and changes they may be going through. They gave him a free application, so we're waiting for them to evaluate his transcripts.  
UMPI is not an option since he's not 20 yet (unless he takes a full year to get outside credit). 
I'm not sure if there's anything better or more cost effective for his situation.  
Any suggestions about what outside courses to take and/or which college would be a good fit - we'd appreciate the input!

Completed through dual credit:
ENGL 1301  Composition I
ENGL 1302. Composition II
SPCH 1311  Intro to Communication (Speech)

HIST 1301    US History I
HIST 1302    US History II
GOVT 2306  Texas Government
GOVT 2305  Federal Government

CHEM 1405  Intro Chemistry I (with lab)
ENVR 1402  Environmental Science (with lab)

PSYC 2301  General Psychology
PHIL2306   Intro to Ethics
ARTS 1301  Art Appreciation

COSC 1301  Intro to Computing
BUSI 1301    Business Principles
MRKG 1302  Principles of Retail
MRKG 1311  Principles of Marketing
MRKG 2333  Principles of Selling
IBUS 1305    Intro to International Business

[rachel83az]

COSC is not an option. There isn't sufficient UL credit that they'll accept now. Essentially, everything must come from RA credit.

There a couple of options remaining:

• Excelsior University - This can be tricky to plan for. His Composition II probably wouldn't count for a Business degree - he'd need a specific class from Coopersmith to count for that. They also charge $300 per evaluation of transcripts after the first evaluation. For this reason, if you choose Excelsior, it's important that you try to nail the required transfers on the first try. That said, it would be the cheapest option for a 19 year old.
  
• UMPI - As you've already noted, he would have to wait 12+ months to be able to enroll here. However, all things considered, there's a good chance that this wouldn't actually be that much slower than the other options available to him right now. It'll take a few months for him to gather the alt credit, then a few more months to complete the capstone/cornerstone classes (at the very least). It could well take 12+ months for him to obtain a non-UMPI degree.
  
• TESU - This would be the most expensive option, but they do have a BSBA Entrepreneurship. This would essentially be like COSC's Small Business degree, except it's actually possible to obtain with alt credit. Degree plans here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...ts_Roadmap The biggest question would be whether you/he wants to do the 16-credit flat-rate term to save money or if y'all are okay with paying the residency waiver fee. With the 16-credit flat-rate term, it's only slightly more expensive than Excelsior.
  

For a Business degree from TESU, the required math classes would be:
Statistics - Sophia
College Algebra - Sophia
CSM Course - SeeMore Impact Labs

All of these are great options for math-haters. Many students have reported that they didn't think they'd be able to complete a university-level math course until CSM and/or Sophia came along. Sophia is open-book. While not strictly necessary, it might be wise to invest in a decent calculator for the Stats and Algebra classes. If he's already got a TI from high school, he can use that. He could use the basic 10-key that comes with Windows, but having a physical calculator will make the Sophia classes easier.

[origamishuttle]

TAMUC is a good choice - he likes the name recognition (my oldest son got this degree several years ago, had 30 CLEP credits and got done in 1 year. He did 10 classes in one 7-week term - they don't allow that anymore). Downside is it can be slow and frustrating waiting for the professor and staff to confirm you've completed a class and load a new one.  

I think that TAMUC is the best choice. In terms of cost and time, TAMUC is only $750 per 7-week term, and he could finish in two or three terms if he transfers the maximum. I don't see how COSC compares favorably at all. Even assuming he could transfer in everything to COSC (which he can't, at least not easily), they still require cornerstone and capstone in separate 8-week terms, which would cost a total of $2,514 plus fees.

[bjcheung77]

@CircleT7, Welcome to the board, it's great seeing parent walk through the educational process with their teens! That's almost two years worth entirely through dual enrollment, wow! Is he going to get an associates before he starts his journey for the Bachelors? I suggest filling in the template/last post addendum here to give us a better overview of his situation. https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

I'm leaning towards a 50/50, 50 going the route of TAMUC BAAS with Organizational Leadership concentration for the reasons origamishuttle mentioned. The other 50 going the route of TESU BSBA Entrepreneurship for the reasons Rachel83az mentioned. It really depends on factors and variables that are missing as you haven't completed the template and last post addendum indicating the budget, commitments (other than work), study habits, etc.

[CircleT7]

Thank you so much for these fantastic replies, advice and encouragement!  I'm already learning some things I didn't think about before.  Please keep it coming - I'm listening!!  Yes - I think he's done really well for being 18 and half way through - super proud of him!
I forgot to mention that he applied to WGU (he heard about this route and liked the looks of it) but they mapped out his degree and will only take 19 of his credits.  That would just discourage him, so not an option.
Here is the rest of the information from the template:
Your location:  East Texas
Your age:  18 (19 in June)
What kind of degree do you want: bachelor's in business
RA credits:  listed in OP, 57 from 2 community colleges
Budget:  paying out of pocket as he goes, or with help from parents,  which will need to be repaid.  Hoping to stay under 10K total (including the 1900 already spent)
Commitments: full-time work and some time for fun. 
Dedicated time to study: Honestly, he's a bit lazy, but he's motivated to get a degree because he knows it will help him get a better job in the long run. He finally has most of the core (boring stuff) done and he really does like the business courses. Dual credit has been a good fit because there are assignments/tests with deadlines.  He always does them on the last night, in the last hours.  His biggest challenge is going to be making his own deadlines and keeping them, because his tendency is what can be done at any time, will get done at no time. Hopefully the money he's spending will be a big motivator. (He'd say these exact things about himself, so I'm not trying to put my son down).
He's been doing 2 dual credits classes at a time/4 per semester for the most part, since he was 15, and handling that well. He did a super senior year this year (homeschool) to get more dual credit in (for the costs). The mindset until now was getting basics out of the way. Now it's shifting to make sure he takes what he needs for the end result.
Timeline: He's been doing college since he was 15. He's ready to be done. He'll be the determiner of that though, since he'll need to balance the work/school load.
Tuition assistance/reimbursement:  None
Goal:  work for a company and get experience. He currently is a manager at a local country club (pro shop, cart staff, etc) and likes his job. He'll be moving out with an older brother over the summer and probably will seek similar employment while finishing school. Eventually, he'd like to manage real estate and/or have a small business - but he doesn't know exactly what that looks like.

[rachel83az]

All of the options so far should come in under 10k. Counting what's already been done, TESU should be $8k-9k at most and it's the most expensive option. Well, unless one goes with a competency-based degree and isn't able to finish quickly. A WGU degree, in particular, could quickly become way more expensive. UMPI and TAMUC are definitely more "budget friendly" for students who have difficulty estimating how long it will take them to complete their studies.

[bjcheung77]

@CircleT7, Rachel83az is correct. It really boils down to what your son is looking at or looking for... It seems he needs deadlines, so, my suggestion now has shifted more to TAMUC over TESU, the main reason is because your son already has Texas Government, it drops the required 36 residency credits down to 33 for TAMUC. These require him to work on a tight schedule, so he won't have time to 'be lazy/slack off'. For TESU, everything else would be transferred over through Sophia/Study.com or whatever, these are 'self-paced' and there are no deadlines, he makes those deadlines himself if he wants to save on subscription time, the only two courses that are at TESU and required are the only ones that have specific assignment deadlines.

[origamishuttle]

I would argue that TAMUC and TESU are rather similar, up to the final 6 credits. Both plans would include Sophia and Study.com courses to get to 87 transfer credits, so that part of it will be essentially the same.

27 of the final 33 credits would not be appreciably different either: Consider that TAMUC is ~$400 per month, while Study.com is ~$200 per month. So from a cost perspective, there is not much difference. And they're both self-paced CBE, so they're also similar from a work perspective.

The last 6 credits, though, will be very different. TAMUC is still self-paced for ~$400 per month, while TESU is either 12 or 24 weeks with periodic deadlines for $3,210 tuition + $3,288 waiver + $298 graduation fee + textbooks. For the final 6 credits with TESU, you're more locked into their schedule, and the total cost is much higher.

[ss20ts]

The last 6 credits, though, will be very different. TAMUC is still self-paced for ~$400 per month, while TESU is either 12 or 24 weeks with periodic deadlines for $3,210 tuition + $3,288 waiver + $298 graduation fee + textbooks. For the final 6 credits with TESU, you're more locked into their schedule, and the total cost is much higher.

Or take 16 credits at TESU and the waiver is waived. Tuition isn't much more for 16 credits.

[dfrecore]

I'd like to point out that the TAMUC degree is NOT a business degree, so if he was to apply for jobs that specifically required this type of degree, he'd be at a disadvantage. I like that you're in TX and the name recognition part of it, but not the degree name.

I fear that all of these options are not the best for someone who needs deadlines to stay on track. Doing Sophia/SDC/Coopersmith with zero deadlines...might be a way to get him on track. Prove to himself that he can do it before he plunks down any money for a CBE program. Same with WGU, only the stakes are higher, since it's a much longer time period and more money.

TESU might be a better option for OP.