Answer a few questions to help me decide between WGU, Big 3, other online programs?

[dbdtw]

First off, thanks a ton for all the info everyone here shares with the rest of the world. I really appreciate that you are willing to spend the time and effort to help out those of us who are just now finding out that education can be had for far less time and money than is traditionally known.

I've been lurking around this forum for a little while, but now I'm ready to get going. The only thing is, I think I've read too much information about the various options for finishing up a degree, so I'd like to get some guidance from anyone on this forum who might have some advice for me.

[About Me]
I have 20 years of experience with computers including Windows and Mac desktop maintenance and repair, Windows Server administration, a little bit of programming, and system engineering. For those of you with a little bit of nerdiness in you, my ultimate goal is to become something of a hybrid Linux Sys Admin and a software engineer. I am currently in a career position, and may stay with my current organization, or I may start looking around once I have a degree. About half of the positions I see (inside and outside of my current organzation) require at least a BS in IS, IT or CS *plus* years of experience, and these are the positions I am shooting for. Ultimately, I would like to have a BS IT or BS CS, but in the near term, I would just like to earn a degree so I have more mobility at work and if I decide to go somewhere else, so I'm considering a general BS (which I'm pretty sure is what COSC awards anyway, right?) and then going somewhere for a 2nd BS in IT or CS. Having said that, I'm definitely not opposed to going right for my IT or CS degree, if I can find an efficient (re: time and money) path to do so.

[My (Loose) Plans]
The only application I have submitted so far is to WGU and I am awaiting transcript evaluations. Until I came across this forum, I was planning on using StraighterLine to knock out as many WGU GenEd reqs, then enrolling in one of their BSIT programs, but after reading a ton of info here, I've decided to use IC to CLEP/DSST out of as much as I can, then use ALEKS and SL to fill in gaps where needed, but I'm also wondering if I should give serious consideration to the big 3 and/or a few other online schools.

Here's what I have:
Credits from 4 different schools: UoP, 2 community colleges, and 1 state university. I'll post the info from my transcripts in a post in this thread, in case any knowledgeable folk have time to help me figure out how far along I am at the big 3 or any of the colleges listed below (except WGU, since I have a transcript eval in progress with them right now).

[Colleges]
Here's what colleges I'm looking into (I've listed them in order of preference as of right now, but I have only gone as far as to read a few reviews online for some of these colleges). If you have experience or knowledge with any of these, please chime in. If you only know an answer or two in this huge post, please feel free to contribute also.
WGU, COSC, TESC, U of Wisconsin (FLEX), Northern Arizona U, EC, Georgia WebBSIT, UMass Online, Dakota State U, Arizona State U, Florida State U, U of Illinois, SNHU (their per credit option would be pretty expensive, but they have a competency (I think) based program that is $2,500 per year called College for America that I haven't looked very far into yet).

[Taxes]
Before I ask my questions about schools, I'd like to know if anyone has applied the costs of CLEP, DSSTs, StraighterLine or ALEKS courses and materials (books, website subscriptions, etc) to get money back on their taxes using one of the education credits? I know if I enroll in one of the big 3, WGU or any of the other colleges I'm looking at, I'll be able to use one of these credits, but one of the tax credits (Lifetime Learning Credit) is more general than the other (American Opportunity Credit).

[Questions]
Here's what I would like to specifically know about each college, please:
1. What is the IT, CS or IS program like? Do you feel like you're gaining valuable knowledge from the degree-specific course materials, or is the course geared more toward having you memorize enough to pass a test? This is probably my top criteria. I want to gain usable knowledge in whatever program I take. Quality of the online instruction is almost as important, so feel free to comment on that also, please.

2. I know the big 3 and WGU accept StraighterLine courses (I've looked over the spreadsheets that show which StraighterLine courses can satisfy requirements at each of those 4 institutions), but does anyone have any experience getting any of the other colleges I've listed to accept courses from StraighterLine? Maybe through an ACE transcript?

3. Do any of the colleges I'm looking at award credit (and satisfy requirements) for classes from UoP? I understand that UoP is accredited, but my 4 year B&M won't even consider any of those classes for elective credit, so now I check everywhere.

4. Are any of the ALEKS offerings *aside* from their math stuff ACE recommended?

5. Cost to apply? This is what I have so far. Are there any hidden costs that have to be paid in order to get my transcripts evaluated?
- COSC = $75, this includes my transcript evaluation.
- TESC = $75, pretty sure this includes transcript eval
- EC = $80, this says it includes "premilinary review", so covers transcript eval