Want to enroll/get an education

[ItinTech]

Hello I recently found this amazing community like 5 hours ago and it’s one of the best things I’ve ran into. 
Recently ive been battling extreme procrastination when it comes to getting an education. I’ve been going back and forth on whether or not I want to spend the money on a bootcamp or go the degree route and while searching around online I saw someone mention this gem and after looking around for the last couple hours on here it made me decide to want to go for my BA Or atleast AAS. My only fear is that when I was in high school I only did what I needed to do to pass and now it may comeback to bite me. My grades were not great and I also did not go to college at all so I have nothing to show after HS which I’ve seen most admissions want if you didn’t at least have great grades in HS. Any help would be appreciated as I’m really trying to improve myself and QOL. Budget is around 15k-20k also I may be eligible for financial aid so that will help with tuition aswell. I’m hoping to find an efficient enough route that won’t take me too long to complete if possible I.e that’s one reason why ive been going back and forth between getting a degree or boot camp

I hope I posted this in the correct category lol

Your Location: New York, United States.
Your Age: 25
What kind of degree do you want?: Been wanting to get into CyberSecurity/IT. I’ve always been interested in technology since I was young and that’s what I envisioned my future career would always be in(tech).
Current Regional Accredited Credits: None
Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: None
Any certifications or military experience? None

[azmusic]

Many options for IT with that budget here are few to look into:

1. cheapest
Pierpont BOG (Board of Governers) Associates in Applied Science with emphasis in Information Systems - can be completed entirely with very inexpensive alternative credits and nominal school fees
if properly planned transfers very well into UMPI Bachelors of Applied Science with minor in Management Information Systems. Takes many alt credits as well. You would need to take 30 credits at UMPI but it is competency based meaning you pay by term instead of per credit. Courses are not tied to semester schedule and can be completed quite quickly. $1700 per 8 week term.
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Pi...egree_Plan
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/UM...egree_Plan

2. WGU has several Bachelor's of Science IT degrees (general IT, Cybersecurity, Network Engineering, Cloud, CS, etc.)
Also competency based. Takes many Sophia Learning and Study.com credits as well as many IT certs as credits.
About $4k per 6 month term. Take as many alt credits as you can and you should have budget for 3 terms at WGU which is a reasonable amount of time to finish your remaining credits.

3. SNHU has a BA in IT, BS in IT, and a CIS degree. Non-competency based option, more traditional online school at ~$330 per credit. Also accepts many Sophia, Study.com, and IT certs as credits. Definitely get the Google IT Support Professional for this. Minimum 30 credits at SNHU

4. TESU BSIT or BS CIS - Non-competency based option, more traditional though online school at $556 per credit. Also accepts many Sophia, Study.com, and IT certs as credits. Definitely get the Google IT Support Professional for this. For the BSIT in particular you'll likely need about 15 credits at TESU if you do all the possible alt credits opportunities.

other options UMGC, Purdue Global,

[ItinTech]

Many options for IT with that budget here are few to look into:

1. cheapest
Pierpont BOG (Board of Governers) Associates in Applied Science with emphasis in Information Systems - can be completed entirely with very inexpensive alternative credits and nominal school fees
if properly planned transfers very well into UMPI Bachelors of Applied Science with minor in Management Information Systems. Takes many alt credits as well. You would need to take 30 credits at UMPI but it is competency based meaning you pay by term instead of per credit. Courses are not tied to semester schedule and can be completed quite quickly. $1700 per 8 week term.
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Pi...egree_Plan
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/UM...egree_Plan

2. WGU has several Bachelor's of Science IT degrees (general IT, Cybersecurity, Network Engineering, Cloud, CS, etc.)
Also competency based. Takes many Sophia Learning and Study.com credits as well as many IT certs as credits.
About $4k per 6 month term. Take as many alt credits as you can and you should have budget for 3 terms at WGU which is a reasonable amount of time to finish your remaining credits.

3. SNHU has a BA in IT, BS in IT, and a CIS degree. Non-competency based option, more traditional online school at ~$330 per credit. Also accepts many Sophia, Study.com, and IT certs as credits. Definitely get the Google IT Support Professional for this. Minimum 30 credits at SNHU

4. TESU BSIT or BS CIS - Non-competency based option, more traditional though online school at $556 per credit. Also accepts many Sophia, Study.com, and IT certs as credits. Definitely get the Google IT Support Professional for this. For the BSIT in particular you'll likely need about 15 credits at TESU if you do all the possible alt credits opportunities.

other options UMGC, Purdue Global,

Thank you for taking the time and providing some insight on what may be the best course of action for me. 

I have heard and seen alot about WGU and SNHU which have been on my radar for awhile so I may look into the roadmap for both of those to see what can be done and how long it may take me to complete (currently mainly looking into cybersecurity). Also as far as I understand for WGU or most admissions is that my high school diploma/transcript and an accepted IT cert should be enough for me to get accepted or atleast be able to apply for most schools degree program?

[davewill]

All of the schools we regularly discuss here have open enrollment, meaning you don't need a particular GPA to be admitted. You will need a H.S. diploma or equivalent, but it doesn't matter what your grades were. You certainly won't need a certificate.

Now, in the case of WGU, we do recommend getting all the transfer credit ready before applying as WGU won't let you earn and transfer in credit once you've started with them. Usually these are ACE credits, but they can also be certifications.

[fromthedepths]

Many options for IT with that budget here are few to look into:

1. cheapest
Pierpont BOG (Board of Governers) Associates in Applied Science with emphasis in Information Systems - can be completed entirely with very inexpensive alternative credits and nominal school fees
if properly planned transfers very well into UMPI Bachelors of Applied Science with minor in Management Information Systems. Takes many alt credits as well. You would need to take 30 credits at UMPI but it is competency based meaning you pay by term instead of per credit. Courses are not tied to semester schedule and can be completed quite quickly. $1700 per 8 week term.
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Pi...egree_Plan
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/UM...egree_Plan

2. WGU has several Bachelor's of Science IT degrees (general IT, Cybersecurity, Network Engineering, Cloud, CS, etc.)
Also competency based. Takes many Sophia Learning and Study.com credits as well as many IT certs as credits.
About $4k per 6 month term. Take as many alt credits as you can and you should have budget for 3 terms at WGU which is a reasonable amount of time to finish your remaining credits.

3. SNHU has a BA in IT, BS in IT, and a CIS degree. Non-competency based option, more traditional online school at ~$330 per credit. Also accepts many Sophia, Study.com, and IT certs as credits. Definitely get the Google IT Support Professional for this. Minimum 30 credits at SNHU

4. TESU BSIT or BS CIS - Non-competency based option, more traditional though online school at $556 per credit. Also accepts many Sophia, Study.com, and IT certs as credits. Definitely get the Google IT Support Professional for this. For the BSIT in particular you'll likely need about 15 credits at TESU if you do all the possible alt credits opportunities.

other options UMGC, Purdue Global,

Thank you for taking the time and providing some insight on what may be the best course of action for me. 

I have heard and seen alot about WGU and SNHU which have been on my radar for awhile so I may look into the roadmap for both of those to see what can be done and how long it may take me to complete (currently mainly looking into cybersecurity). Also as far as I understand for WGU or most admissions is that my high school diploma/transcript and an accepted IT cert should be enough for me to get accepted or atleast be able to apply for most schools degree program?

I would maximize the amount of credits you want to transfer if prior to enrolling. Here are the cybersecurity degree plans for WGU and PUG:

https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/WG...egree_Plan
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/PU...egree_Plan

[ItinTech]

Thank you guys for all the feedback and clarification on options i have and how i should approach them. Im gravitating towards the WGU route for now. i will continue to look at my options and will update once i take my first steps. I appreciate all the help

[Vulturer]

Thank you guys for all the feedback and clarification on options i have and how i should approach them. Im gravitating towards the WGU route for now. i will continue to look at my options and will update once i take my first steps. I appreciate all the help

Good luck buddy

[bjcheung77]

Hmm... I finally figured out why people were missing the addendum, it's because they're copy/pasting the "code" area, thus, I updated it to include the following. OP, basically, you should update us with the following information as well in a reply.

Any certifications or military experience?
Budget:
Commitments:
Dedicated time to study:
Timeline:
Tuition assistance/reimbursement:

For the time being, I suggest the WGU accelerated BSIT/MS option. However, the option #1 for Pierpont BOG AAS > UMPI BAS > UMPI MAOL is my #1 recommended option for the last few weeks. It really depends on your answers to those addendum and template.

[ItinTech]

Hmm... I finally figured out why people were missing the addendum, it's because they're copy/pasting the "code" area, thus, I updated it to include the following.  OP, basically, you should update us with the following information as well in a reply.

Any certifications or military experience?
Budget:
Commitments:
Dedicated time to study:
Timeline:
Tuition assistance/reimbursement:

For the time being, I suggest the WGU accelerated BSIT/MS option.  However, the option #1 for Pierpont BOG AAS > UMPI BAS > UMPI MAOL is my #1 recommended option for the last few weeks.  It really depends on your answers to those addendum and template.

Oh ok sorry about that. Will add a new reply with the added information

---

Any certifications or military experience? None
Budget: Max 15k but if absolutely needed/worth it can do 20k
Commitments: Will be leaving my job at the end of sept (not tech related whatsoever) so that’s why I’ve been finally trying to get a plan setup/in motion so I can start as soon as possible. 
Dedicated time to study: Will be unemployed so should have almost every sec/min in the week to study/learn.
Timeline: looking to finish as soon as possible but anything within 2.5-3yrs is also fine
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: I should be eligible for financial aid once it comes time to enroll Into a college(hopefully). Other than that i will be using  personal funds/savings mainly but not opposed to possibly taking out a loan if needed(which I will prob need to anyways depending on how many terms I need to pay for)

[bjcheung77]

Hmm... It's still neck and neck for me, either #1 Pierpont BOG AAS> UMPI BAS> UMPI MAOL or the #2 WGU accelerated BSIT/MS option. It's going to be very close in terms of energy, money, speed... However, UMPI can and should be 'cheaper, easier, faster' if you speed through this and complete it with the time you currently have.