Which of the Big 3 should I choose if CLEP will be paid for?

[dfrecore]

Here is a spreadsheet that shows the cost to get a BSBA in General Management at TESU. It is normally the cheapest degree available through the Big 3. BUT, I'm not sure if it's the cheapest in your particular situation.

For instance, it utilizes ALEKS. Now, since it's only $20/mo, it's probably worth it for you to just pay out of pocket. BUT, it's almost certain that your company won't pay for it because it's a monthly fee rather than a set fee per course.

Same with Straighterline; SL is a great deal, but it's a monthly membership fee, and then a set amount per course. To get around that, you might be able to take a "bundle" where you pay $496 for 3 courses in 4 months, and then you can take additional courses within that time period, without paying the membership fee. Also, the Business courses all include the eTextbook in the price of the course, so you'd come out ahead that way as well. But you'd have to check with your company to make sure they'd pay.

study.com is also a monthly fee of $199, and you can take 2 courses. But, they don't have a set per-course fee, so it may not work.

DSST exams are popular and cover many courses CLEP doesn't, so you may want to talk to your company about that (I would imagine they will pay for DSST if they will pay for CLEP).

I think you best bet is to talk to your HR department about this, and take along the degree plan, as well as anything showing that the school will accept the courses/exams you plan on taking, so there's no question. SL has a page for each school showing that they will accept the courses. I know that TESU has a page for both CLEP, DSST & TECEP's.

CLEP - College-Level Exam Program
DSST (formerly DANTES)
About TECEPÂ Exams
Online Courses, Online Classes for College Credit | StraighterLine

Last but not least, you will want to see what the prices are at EC and COSC, since I don't know those. But for TESU, they don't have any semester fees or student fees, but they have recently added the Residency Waiver Fee of $2000. So you would have to pay that yourself; but if your company paid for all of your courses, then you would definitely get a lot of bang for your buck.

P.S. If they won't pay for SL or study.com, there are some additional options; more expensive, but a set per-course fee (JumpCourse, Sophia, TCC, CSU-Global, Penn Foster, Propero, Ed4Credit, and LowCostGenEd). My husband's company has the same rules as yours so I still found a way for him to make a plan using these courses instead of SL.