Enrolled at TESC without a plan... Woops...

[mrs.b]

Comprehensive tuition allows for 36 credits (in course from TESC...you can earn all you want above that through other institutions and transfer in at no cost) during the course of the year. If you take more TESC credits than that, you'll have to pay the additional funds out of pocket. To avoid that, aim for 9 credits per semester through TESC (usually 3 courses), and try to select those courses so they are similar in material to save yourself a bit of sanity; TESC runs four terms a year, so you'll get full advantage of the tuition without driving yourself batty with too heavy a work load. Depending on the courses, it can be heavy and require serious time management, but it is manageable with family and full-time work commitments, with a bit of time here and there to squeeze in some CLEP/DSST/other credit study time...so your overall total by the end of the term is in the neighborhood of 15-18 credits (9 in courses, 6-9 from tests or other). All 15-18 in courses would be sanity-crushing with work and family, but CLEP/DSST/other methods are extremely flexible, which is why they're so popular here. With 3 courses at a time, there will be a little time - maybe not daily or even weekly, but some - to steal an hour or so of study time for CLEPs.

With 36 credits in courses slated, you've still got a lot of room in a 120-credit hour Bachelors program to test out of things. For now, pick three courses to enroll, and while you wait for those to start, take advantage of your course-free time and get your feet wet with a CLEP or two? As for which courses, I would suggest a couple Gen Eds to begin. You will need to take them at some point, and while you will want to CLEP most of those and use most of your 36-credit course bank for major-related courses, Gen Ed classes tend to be easier and it would be a good ice breaker to get your head back in school mode after these years.

And above all, remember you're not alone in this little journey. Everyone here is doing what you're doing. I promise you'll hit hurdles that will make you want to swear the whole thing off, but hang in there, gripe to your family, and post for support here. Before you know it, you'll be posting an "I'm done!" thread. Best of luck! You'll do great.