Quick/Cheap Internationally Accepted Degree Plan needed

[thisisausername]

Hi, following on from my previous thread :

Location: UK 
Age: 30+ 
Previous credits: None 
Degree needed: I need a qualification equal to, or higher than an AQF (Australian Qualification Framework) Bachelors degree to pass the Skills Assessment part of a visa application. My actual job doesn't require any sort of degree/qualification so reputation/league tables aren't a concern as long as its going to be accepted as a valid qualification in Australia. The skills assessment body uses uk-naric for their UK/European qualifications assessments so that's something to consider.
 
It's normal to do a Masters in the UK without a Bachelors if you have the appropriate work experience hence why I'm looking at going straight into a Masters, however, if there are bachelors I can do in 1 year or less for this budget then I'm more than happy to consider this - I'm just not entirely sure whether the skills assessment will have an issue with this 1 yr degree which makes the masters more appealing (doing further research on this atm, hard to find a straight answer). 

Subject: Needs to be marketing and IT heavy
Timeframe: ASAP   1 year max
Budget: £2k max
Time available: 2-3 hours most nights 
Learning style: needs to be 100% online, so nothing that requires me to go somewhere to take tests - however, if an option is to do a bunch of credits online then transfer them to a UK uni and finish the qualification off there to get a UK Masters then that's definitely something I'd do if it was going to come within budget.

[rachel83az]

I really don't think you're going to find anything in your budget that will fit your needs. ENEB is probably the best you can do, but I don't know if it will be accepted as a valid degree for visa purposes. I would guess not. But I'm not aware of anyone having tried it yet.

The next cheapest would be to complete a UMPI Bachelor's degree. Approximate costs would be $200-300USD for Sophia classes + 2 or 3 sessions at UMPI for $1400USD per session. It is theoretically possible to complete a degree in a single 8-week session. It's been done before. But you'd probably have to devote more time per day to writing the necessary papers. Especially if you go for UMPI's Marketing degree; UMPI's Marketing courses are reported to be quite weighty.

Something has to give. You either need to come up with more money or more time somehow. Your budget for both is extremely low. I get that you're not looking at a substantial pay rise after obtaining your degree, but 2k for a (preferred) Master's degree that doesn't have the prerequisite of a Bachelor's degree is extremely low. A Master's degree from UoPeople (which probably wouldn't suit your needs AND it requires a Bachelor's degree) would cost nearly $4kUSD; that's the cheapest internationally-available US degree I know of off the top of my head.

Self-paced usually isn't much of a thing outside of the US, so a lot of Master's degrees wind up taking at least 2 years; maybe 1.5 years. And that's if they even accept students without Bachelor's degrees in the first place. There are a handful of US Master's degrees that may accept students without Bachelor's degrees, but they tend to start at 10-20k and go up from there.

If it weren't for Brexit, you could take advantage of EU pricing for a (mostly) self-paced IT Bachelor's degree from Metropolia University in Finland. But that one has a 10k€ price tag for non-EU residents/citizens.

[allvia]

Of those who did manage to get through the UMPI program in a single term their choice was the (BABS) 'Management & Leadership Concentration' - We have a good wiki plan using Sophia then to UMPI to get it done. With that said you should still plan that you could need 2 terms. That would bring you (with expected Sophia time) to about $3K US.  One term would bring you under your $2k budget - but as rachel83az said, something has to give, and in this case it would be time (you would have to commit every free hour to 'getting it done', but it would be done really quick - well under your 1 year max)

[bjcheung77]

@thisisausername, that's too less of a budget to go by, have you thought of doing the ENEB Masters & MBA, plus OfQual/Qualifi Level 6 & 7 combo? You'll be doing evaluations anyways for the ENEB degrees, you can also do the evaluations for the Level 6 & 7 UK options as well. All of these are self study which involves various amounts of written assignments, numerous nights of research, and time management... Technically, with effective/efficient methods of completing your work, you should be able to complete a Level 6 in 3 months, Level 7 another 3 months, 1 ENEB in 3 months and the final ENEB in the latter 3 months for the exact 12 months in the year.

[dfrecore]

There is nothing under $2400 except a UMPI 1-term degree where you already have most/all of your credits. Anything else will be more than that. A 2-term degree is possible for $2800 + the cost of Sophia.

[thisisausername]

@thisisausername, that's too less of a budget to go by, have you thought of doing the ENEB Masters & MBA, plus OfQual/Qualifi Level 6 & 7 combo?  You'll be doing evaluations anyways for the ENEB degrees, you can also do the evaluations for the Level 6 & 7 UK options as well.  All of these are self study which involves various amounts of written assignments, numerous nights of research, and time management... Technically, with effective/efficient methods of completing your work, you should be able to complete a Level 6 in 3 months, Level 7 another 3 months, 1 ENEB in 3 months and the final ENEB in the latter 3 months for the exact 12 months in the year.

Is there a recommended place to study the Level 6&7? Can't really find much from Googling apart from the London School of International Business.

[bjcheung77]

Actually, on second thought, you might want to do the ENEB Masters Big Data/BI & MBA to get the UK NARIC evaluation... Previously, the MBA should come in as an Advanced Bachelors and the Big Data/BI should be the Masters equivalent. What I would then suggest you do is to take the Graduate/Doctoral Level 8 CMI Strategic Direction and Leadership Diploma instead. Technically, if you do all 3, you will be within your budget as well! If you go the Level 6 & Level 7, that exceeds the threshold and will be over budget!

[thisisausername]

Actually, on second thought, you might want to do the ENEB Masters Big Data/BI & MBA to get the UK NARIC evaluation... Previously, the MBA should come in as an Advanced Bachelors and the Big Data/BI should be the Masters equivalent.  What I would then suggest you do is to take the Graduate/Doctoral Level 8 CMI Strategic Direction and Leadership Diploma instead.  Technically, if you do all 3, you will be within your budget as well!  If you go the Level 6 & Level 7, that exceeds the threshold and will be over budget!

Ah never considered the CMI, thanks!