Associates Degree - Cheaper / Easier of the Big 3?

[cookderosa]

TESC is the most expensive ONLY if your looking to complete all classwork via TESC courses. Like a previous poster mentioned, its far cheaper/faster to use a combination of aleks, straighterline and cleps. Use TESC for the final two or three courses.

I think a degree from TESC doesn't become efficient until you go for a bachelor's degree. If you are completing 120 credits, your break even point is MUCH sooner, and you'll come out with a significantly cheaper degree. I think that at the AA/AS level, you're going to be caught in the enrollment/grad fees and end up costing = or > your cc.

TESC: application $75, enrollment fee of ~$2700, grad fee $400, FEMA $0, ALEKS $20-$40, roughly 16 CLEP/DSST exams @$80 $1280 = ballpark $4500

Average community college
application $0, enrollment $0, grad fee $0 (let's assume you can't use FEMA or ALEKS), roughly 15-30 CLEP credits or 5-10 tests $800, remaining credits in residence 30-45 @$75ish roughly $3000 = ballpark $4000

These numbers are just ballpark based on averages and generic estimations. But, as you can see, it's easy enough to calculate using your own community college and real numbers/real fees. Your college's CLEP policy will also be a bid part of the calculation.

For my money, if my CC and TESC were the same cost, and I had the ability to take some/most/all courses via distance, I would probably do so. The local name recognition has value to employers. Now, if I were seeking a bachelor degree, my advice would be VERY DIFFERENT, but the OP's question was for an associates.