Speedy and Inexpensive Bachelors

[ATM925]

Your Location: Texas, United States 
Your Age: Almost 40
What kind of degree do you want?: Any - I am a working professional and ideally a Risk Management/Insurance degree would be great but ANY Bachelors in really any business field is fine.  I'd consider management, administration, IT, whatever... I would like to avoid as much math as possible.   
Current Regional Accredited Credits: 12

Iona College Total Credits: 6
BUS 130 Legal Environment of Business, 3.00, B+
ENG 120 Commnctn Skills: Writing 1, 3.00, B

Community College of Denver Total Credits: 6
ENG 122 ENGLISH COMPOSITION II, 3.00, B
SOC 102 INTRO TO SOCIOLOGY II, 3.00, B

Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: NONE. I HAD SOME STUDY.COM COURSES STARTED BUT I STOPPED TO BETTER PLAN WHAT I NEED.

CERTS/LICENSES: I am a licensed realtor.  License is on hold b/c it's not currently what I do but I took all the courses and everything is in good standing.  

I have a TX insurance adjuster's license.

Budget: I have around 10k.  I'd like to go the cheapest route possible, but will consider spending more for easy and fast.  
Commitments: Kids, spouse, pets, full time job. 
Dedicated time to study: I can likely commit to an hour or two every weeknight and 4 hours on the weekend.  Between 9-14 hours per week
Timeline: I would like to finish in the next 12-18 months.  My oldest son just started college and I need to finish before him  I told myself I would and I've been putting it off too long.  
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: Yes, my job offers some type of reimbursement for Gen Ed courses that are job or business related, provided by accredited institutions and pre approved by my HR dept.  I prob would not utilize this.

I have read a lot on this forum (thank you all for what you have put here).  I initially was thinking that TAMUC would be the best route to go but I see it mentioned less that it used to be.  Happy to look elsewhere - UMPI, WGU,... it doesn't matter.  It has been awhile since I have been in school.  I am historically a good test taker.  My written communication is fine but I do not enjoy or excel writing a lot of papers.  I prefer quizzes, tests, etc.

[Duneranger]

Your Location: Texas, United States 
Your Age: Almost 40
What kind of degree do you want?: Any - I am a working professional and ideally a Risk Management/Insurance degree would be great but ANY Bachelors in really any business field is fine.  I'd consider management, administration, IT, whatever... I would like to avoid as much math as possible.   
Current Regional Accredited Credits: 12

Iona College Total Credits: 6
BUS 130 Legal Environment of Business, 3.00, B+
ENG 120 Commnctn Skills: Writing 1, 3.00, B

Community College of Denver Total Credits: 6
ENG 122 ENGLISH COMPOSITION II, 3.00, B
SOC 102 INTRO TO SOCIOLOGY II, 3.00, B

Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: NONE. I HAD SOME STUDY.COM COURSES STARTED BUT I STOPPED TO BETTER PLAN WHAT I NEED.

CERTS/LICENSES: I am a licensed realtor.  License is on hold b/c it's not currently what I do but I took all the courses and everything is in good standing.  

I have a TX insurance adjuster's license.

Budget: I have around 10k.  I'd like to go the cheapest route possible, but will consider spending more for easy and fast.  
Commitments: Kids, spouse, pets, full time job. 
Dedicated time to study: I can likely commit to an hour or two every weeknight and 4 hours on the weekend.  Between 9-14 hours per week
Timeline: I would like to finish in the next 12-18 months.  My oldest son just started college and I need to finish before him  I told myself I would and I've been putting it off too long.  
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: Yes, my job offers some type of reimbursement for Gen Ed courses that are job or business related, provided by accredited institutions and pre approved by my HR dept.  I prob would not utilize this.

I have read a lot on this forum (thank you all for what you have put here).  I initially was thinking that TAMUC would be the best route to go but I see it mentioned less that it used to be.  Happy to look elsewhere - UMPI, WGU,... it doesn't matter.  It has been awhile since I have been in school.  I am historically a good test taker.  My written communication is fine but I do not enjoy or excel writing a lot of papers.  I prefer quizzes, tests, etc.

Check out the ACE credit guides/wiki for transfer to SNHU, WGU, UMPI etc. You can knock out a lot of credits. ACE credits don't work for most standards schools though (some take a couple as gen electives...maybe). So definitely take them expecting to go to schools like the above. Sites like Sophia have partner schools you can check out.

UMPI went to brightspace which elminated tests mostly. Its now totally project and paper based so keep that in mind.

[rachel83az]

TAMUC isn't as popular as UMPI for one simple reason: most students here aren't from Texas. It often makes sense for Texas students to get a TAMUC degree, even if the subject isn't the one the student wanted, because 1.) for Texas residents it's cheaper per session than UMPI and 2.) it's a known Texas school. The name can be important for Texas residents. But there aren't a lot of non-Texas students who are specifically looking for the kind of degrees TAMUC offers. It doesn't mean that they're bad or slow, it just means that we haven't had a lot of Texas students for a while.

If you prefer not to do papers, UMPI is probably not going to be the school for you. I'm not sure that TAMUC would be either, however. I don't know if there are any exams in the TAMUC degree at all, but I'm pretty sure it's at least mostly papers. It depends on why you dislike writing papers, though. Do you struggle to write long, struggle to ideate, or both?

That leaves you mainly with TESU. Study.com and Sophia are mostly quizzes/exams, though there are some papers. Especially in the capstone.

For a BSBA at TESU, you need 3 math courses. Statistics can be taken at Sophia and is open-book. Even students who struggle with math have praised the Sophia Statistics course as being straightforward. Ditto for College Algebra. The third one would be CSM Learn. It's not really a math class and it's not really not a math class either. A lot of it is reading things that happen to have numbers and interpreting what it says. Things like invoices, bus schedules, etc. It's... pretty simple. Less than Algebra but also slightly more complicated than basic College Math.

Or you could do the BS Professional Studies or BS Organizational Leadership at TESU. Those require just College Algebra. CSM Learn might also be acceptable.

Not counting gen eds, you can see what is required for the Professional Studies degree here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...egree_Plan
Organizational Leadership here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...egree_Plan

If you'd prefer something like a BA History or a BA English, those definitely don't require Algebra. I think CSM Learn would work, but so would Sophia's Introduction to College Mathematics (which is lower than Algebra).

WGU isn't out of the question, but it's not devoid of papers either. I think in the business subjects there may be more papers than not? I'm not 100% sure about that. I would go looking at the WGU subreddit to see what people are saying. The only Business degree plan for WGU we have at the moment is the IT Management one: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/WG...egree_Plan But we could certainly assist if you'd prefer, say, a BSBA Marketing from WGU. However, even with maximum transfer, most students need at least 2 terms and sometimes 3 to finish their WGU degree. If this could be an issue for your budget, you might not want WGU.

[bjcheung77]

@ATM925, Welcome to the board, you've completed the addendum and template with the additional details I love reading... With what you have provided, I would still recommend the TAMUC BAAS Organizational Leadership as it meets your "Business, Leadership, Management" type requirement and hits all the spots. By following advice... you can be like this person who is about to complete the degree in the next session or two: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...accounting

[allvia]

Since you're in TX, TAMUC is really too good to pass up (imo); especially as in your case of looking for a business related 'check box bachelor'  - here is the wiki page for it - https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...egree_Plan

[origamishuttle]

I agree that TAMUC BAASOL is a strong option for you, although WGU BSBAITM is likely to be faster, easier, and possibly even less expensive: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/WG...egree_Plan

There are a few things that make WGU faster/easier:

• lots of courses consisting of a single multiple-choice test, or one test and one short paper, so if you cram/test well, then you can progress quickly
  
• lots of information on reddit/quizlet/discord about courses, so you can study more efficiently for tests and have a better idea about requirements for papers
  
• no grades, so the lowest passing score is equivalent to a perfect score - no wasted time on getting an "A"
  
• unlimited attempts for papers, so there's much less pressure, but they tell you what needs to be fixed so that you should be able to pass on the second attempt at most
  

[dfrecore]

My vote is TAMUC because you're a TX resident - and you can do 90cr (so for you 76cr) through Sophia/SDC/ACE providers. Even though you'll do a lot of papers in the TAMUC degree, it's only 10 classes - the rest can be done easily, cheaply, and quickly via Sophia (or whatever).

Second choice is UMPI. It MAY be the same price as TAMUC, because you can go very quickly through the courses, meaning even though it's twice as much as TAMUC for you ($1,500/8-week term), most are finishing in 2 terms ($3000 total). TAMUC seems to take longer, so 4 7-wk terms will be the same price. If you can finish faster though, then it will be cheaper at TAMUC. Just not sure how fast people are finishing.

[ATM925]

**UPDATE**

I started at TAMUC - BAAS Safety and Health in the Summer II term. I could not get started in spring as life and work got in the way, but spoke to Becky at TAMUC in the early summer and she advised the in state 7 week tuition was being increased from $750 per term to $1000 per term in the fall but if I got started and continued than I'd be grandfathered in at $750. Completed 3 courses in the summer term and 5 Sophia courses in the last 3 weeks so beginning fall term I'll be taking TX Government and starting on my 10 applied major courses. I have a busy fall with work but think should be able to complete my degree by the end of the spring term depending on how easy/difficult it is to accelerate.

I struggled with the major decision between OL, GS, and Safety and Health and ultimately landed on this one as I am indirectly in the safety field and it seems more applicable than OL. I am 40 and mostly just checking the box and want to study something that interests me. I wish TAMUC would allow GS majors to complete applied major courses from the other CBE programs. If that were allowed I would have chosen some criminal justice and health and safety as well as some OL courses to complete my degree and I truly would feel that would lead to me having a more well rounded degree.... it is what it is...

I want to thank you all for the info on this site. Not sure I ever would have started if it wasn't for you all and the info here. I am already looking at potential graduate degrees!