TESU Bachelor to Masters Program Plan Cheap and Fast?

[Sargoththemino]

Originally I was just going to go for a Bachelors BSBA but after looking at this program I was thinking about stretching a little for an easy path to a MBA. Before I moved my plan around I wanted to see if my math is correct or if anyone has experience with this.

TESU will let you take 4 Graduate Level courses (12 credits) an un undergrad that will count towards both your BSBA and MBA. They also require you to take 15 credits at the school to get around the large 4k+ residency waiver fee. Here is my idea.

Take the 4 GL courses and the capstone to hit 15 credits.

MKM-7000: Marketing Management
FIN-7100: Financial Management
SOP-7200: Strategic Operations Management
MCO-7400: Management Communications
BUS-4210: Business Administration Capstone

Transfer in the other 105 Credits from my community college/ alternative credit sources.

After getting the BSBA take the 12 Units and transfer to Excelsior for thier 33 credit MBA plan. Reading the Excelsior site, they will let you transfer in 15 Credits towards the degree. I am also going to take the PMI PMP certification test in the next few months and Excelsior will give you 3 GL credits for that. I transfer in the 12 TESU credits + the 3 PMP credits. Then I should only have to take 6 couses at Excelsior (18 Credits) to get an MBA. I don't really need an MBA but 6 classes is a low bar.

Does all that sound correct? Or am I missing something? From what I can tell the 4 TESU course seem to match up with Excelsiors MBA Core Requirements. Thanks.

[Jonathan Whatley]

TESU states a requirement for admission to the Bachelor's to Master's Program is a minimum TESU GPA of 3.0. Transfer credit is not counted towards the TESU GPA. This implies you would need to have taken at least one prior course from TESU.

You might want to confirm in advance with TESU if it's possible to meet the minimum requirements for the BTM program, and apply, but be told no, and if it is possible, for what reasons.

Students in the Bachelor's to Master's program pay undergraduate tuition, but that might imply normal "Per Credit Undergraduate Tuition," not the "discounted Full-Time Flat-Rate Tuition" that many of our people use (e.g., for a "15-credit term.") (TESU Tuition and Fees)

The Full-Time Flat-Rate Tuition is based on the length of an undergraduate term, which is 12 weeks (except for the School of Nursing and Health Professions). But the graduate School of Business and Management uses an 8-week term. (TESU Academic Calendars)

I'm skeptical about whether TESU would allow a BTM student to take a load of 12 graduate semester hours during one 8-week term. They might not even offer all four of those courses during one 8-week term.

545 per-credit out-of-state undergraduate tuition x (3 sh initial course to get a 3.0 TESU GPA + 12 sh BTM business courses + 3 sh capstone) = 9810 would be much more expensive than a waiver or a straight undergraduate 15-credit term. And then you'd have boxed yourself in to an MBA that accepts these 12 sh transfer credit (or an MBA from TESU), whereas your ideal master's degree might be something else.

There would be some advantage from having the same work count toward both undergraduate and graduate levels.

[bjcheung77]

@Sargoththemino, you may want to fill us in on the addendum/template details and what you're trying to do. For the most part, the Bachelors to Masters option is going to be only appealing to those who can use their tuition assistance or reimbursement for. Otherwise, for the majority that want it cheap, easy, fast, I highly recommend going for UMPI MAOL, WGU MSML/MBA, or the HAU MBA at $3K if you want to go slightly slower... https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

[Sargoththemino]

OK thanks for the extra info. Thats a few more things to consider. I see how it could be expensive to finish the Bachelors but there would be a signifigant cost savings in the graduate program. Assuming the worst, I have to pay for all 18 credits at the full $545 rate ($9,810). I would make it back, 12 credit hours x $728 ($8,736), on the MBA side because I wouldn't need to take those courses. There is also the big additional benefit that I would be taking 4 less classes. A signifigant time saver and huge plus.

I'll be able to take a look before deciding. I am going to go to TESU to get the BSBA regardless so I'll have an opportunity to talk to an advisor. I should have mentioned that I will be taking some TECEPS in addition to the 5 courses. I know TECEPS don't generate a GPA but they will classify me as an attending student. I'm still 33 credits out from the BSBA but I have to plan ahead precisely to make sure I have space for the 4 GL courses and still hit the requirements for the BSBA Finance focus.

This really only works if I commit to the MBA due to the large upfront sunk cost getting the BSBA. Otherwise I will probably just transfer in 114 and take 6 credits at TESU. $3,270.00 (6 credit cost) + $3,354 (Waiver Fee) = $6,624.00

I'm also not set on transfering to Excelsior but it seemed to work the best as long as the TESU credits count towards the Excelsior MBA core. An MBA at TESU wouldn't be a bad option but the want 39 credit hours and I am not sure if they will give any credit for the PMP certification.

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I registered at UMPI at first but it didn't work out. I have an AS in business from a CA commnity college that was designed for transfering to a CA State college. UMPI has some very specific GA courses they want you to tak. In short I was going to have to take an extra 6 classes at UMPI. I'll post my template up shortly

[Jonathan Whatley]

Your goal of an MBA quickly and cheaply, you could probably also meet with a competency-based MBA like WGU's.

[Sargoththemino]

Here is my original Plan for the classes I still need. I applied for TESU today because I'd like to get the advisors reassurance that Davar and Coopermith will be credited as I have planned. I am also not sure about the DSST course. If I switch it up to the MBA long game everything has to move around.

Classes Still Needed for TESU BSBA Finance Original Plan
Credits Course
3 Financial Institutions and Markets DSST? ECO-3320 Money and Banking
3 Principles of Finance Sophia BUS 350- Principles of Finance
3 Fundraising for Nonprofits TESU FDR 4400 Fundraising for Nonprofits
3 Quantitative Skills for Business Coopersmith Quantitative Analysis (MAT-303)
3 International Management Davar MAN-372 International Management
3 Business Administration Capstone TESU BUS 4210 Capstone
3 Small Business Finance Study.com Finance 306: Small Business Finance
3 International Finance Davar FIN-334 International Finance
3 Risk Management Study.com Finance 305: Risk Management
3 Security Analysis and Portfolio Management TECEP Security Analysis and Portfolio Management (FIN-3210-TE)
3 Managerial Communications TECEP Managerial Communications (MAN-3730-TE)
33

I also wanted to see if there were alternatives to the Fundraising for Nonprofits course.

If I go the MBA route I have to try and get these four course in there. To make it work I could drop or change the Finance focus and commit to that as the MBA focus (if I have to).

MKM-7000: Marketing Management
FIN-7100: Financial Management
SOP-7200: Strategic Operations Management
MCO-7400: Management Communications

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I did take a look at WGU and they do have a good MBA program, but I don't think take any credit transfers so it wouldn't work with this particular strategy.

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Your goal of an MBA quickly and cheaply, you could probably also meet with a competency-based MBA like WGU's.

I did take a look at WGU and they do have a good MBA program, but I don't think take any credit transfers so it wouldn't work with this particular strategy.

---

@Sargoththemino, you may want to fill us in on the addendum/template details and what you're trying to do.  For the most part, the Bachelors to Masters option is going to be only appealing to those who can use their tuition assistance or reimbursement for.  Otherwise, for the majority that want it cheap, easy, fast, I highly recommend going for UMPI MAOL, WGU MSML/MBA, or the HAU MBA at $3K if you want to go slightly slower...  https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

I'll take a look at these schools to see if they will work well with my existing credits. I have 95 at the moment. I know most schools require you take at least 30 at their school to graduate. That was my original idea behind going to TESU. As I mentioned before UMPI had some specific GA requirements that didn't work with my transcript but that was my first choice. I really just didn't want to retake GA classes.

[dfrecore]

I'm not sure where you're getting 18cr, but TESU requires 39cr for their MBA - so that would be $6540 for the 12cr with undergrad pricing and then $18225 for the 27cr of graduate pricing. Totals $24,765.

You only save $130/cr for those 12cr, for a total savings of $1560.

[ss20ts]

TESU states a requirement for admission to the Bachelor's to Master's Program is a minimum TESU GPA of 3.0. Transfer credit is not counted towards the TESU GPA. This implies you would need to have taken at least one prior course from TESU.

You might want to confirm in advance with TESU if it's possible to meet the minimum requirements for the BTM program, and apply, but be told no, and if it is possible, for what reasons.

Students in the Bachelor's to Master's program pay undergraduate tuition, but that might imply normal "Per Credit Undergraduate Tuition," not the "discounted Full-Time Flat-Rate Tuition" that many of our people use (e.g., for a "15-credit term.") (TESU Tuition and Fees)

The Full-Time Flat-Rate Tuition is based on the length of an undergraduate term, which is 12 weeks (except for the School of Nursing and Health Professions). But the graduate School of Business and Management uses an 8-week term. (TESU Academic Calendars)

I'm skeptical about whether TESU would allow a BTM student to take a load of 12 graduate semester hours during one 8-week term. They might not even offer all four of those courses during one 8-week term.

545 per-credit out-of-state undergraduate tuition x (3 sh initial course to get a 3.0 TESU GPA + 12 sh BTM business courses + 3 sh capstone) = 9810 would be much more expensive than a waiver or a straight undergraduate 15-credit term. And then you'd have boxed yourself in to an MBA that accepts these 12 sh transfer credit (or an MBA from TESU), whereas your ideal master's degree might be something else.

There would be some advantage from having the same work count toward both undergraduate and graduate levels.

For price comparison...

Amberton's grad courses are $300 per credit so $900 per course plus around $35 per term fees. MBAs are 36 credits at Amberton. They're graded RA credits as well. Amberton does accept some grad transfer credit, but only on courses 3 credits and they have to apply to your degree. 

As an MBA grad, I cannot imagine a college allowing an undergrad to take 4 grad courses in a single term. I was unemployed as a grad student and took 4 classes 1 term. It was ridiculously difficult! Soooo much reading and writing. Grad courses are much more work than undergrad. If someone doesn't have the undergrad basics in something like finance, I can't imagine how much they would struggle in a grad course.

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I'm not sure where you're getting 18cr, but TESU requires 39cr for their MBA - so that would be $6540 for the 12cr with undergrad pricing and then $18225 for the 27cr of graduate pricing.  Totals $24,765.

You only save $130/cr for those 12cr, for a total savings of $1560.

$18225 for the 27 grad credits? YIKES! You can spend far less at Amberton or WGU.

[bjcheung77]

That's right, it's an overpriced option that isn't even self-paced, you're stuck at a term or two with courses you need to take at TESU. You should review post #3 for your alternative options that are cheaper, easier, faster, and competency based (or HAU at $3K). You save energy, money, time with these over TESU...

[jch]

I participated in the Cybersecurity BTM program before I switched over to BSIT. While BTM does make TESU's programs more attractive, other schools still have better Master's offers.  
On this board, we generally advise people to take as few courses at TESU as possible. That's because TESU's courses are expensive, slow, very time/effort consuming, and of mixed quality. Doing more stuff at TESU will skyrocket your costs, timeframe, and frustration. Many degreeforum users aim to take only the cornerstone and capstone at TESU! For some of the more popular programs like BSBA or BALS, there are tons of cheap and fast transfer and alt-credit options, eliminating the need to take anything else at TESU. In those cases, BTM doesn't make sense. For other more niche degree programs without sufficient credit options, there may be some room for BTM courses. IMO, if you plan to take some courses at TESU and can handle the academic load, taking the BTM courses isn't a bad idea. The grad versions of the courses step up the content, assignments, and thinking a notch or two but are still very manageable. 
Note that you need to establish a GPA at TESU and have your degree mostly complete before you can even apply to BTM. You'd need to take a first term with at least the cornerstone, wait for final grades to be posted, apply to BTM, and wait for your BTM acceptance before you can start taking BTM courses. Moving through those steps is going to take a long time, really bumping out your timeframe.   
Advising is unlikely to let you load up with many different graduate courses at once. In TESU's regular graduate programs, students are only expected to take two simultaneous courses.  
Do you really want to complete a graduate degree at TESU? Unlike many of the other options out there, TESU's grad degrees are expensive, inflexible, and slow. Graduate-level credits earned in and applied to an undergraduate program might not be accepted to an external Master's program. If you want to position yourself for an MBA, it might be better to just bang out a quick and cheap undergrad now instead of worrying about grad stuff just yet.