Need a plan for my Bachelors. TESU? COSC? Other?

[dfrecore]

I think your best bet is to apply at all 3 schools, including sending any certs, the GRE, AP scores, etc. to see what kind of credit you can get for them. Send EVERYTHING to all 3 schools. It will cost more up front, but you're better off seeing what you will be dealing with. I'm betting there will be a BIG difference in what they give credit for, so it's important to find out.

The benefits of getting a degree at TESU - they only require 15cr UL in the major (plus the 3cr capstone); they count more courses/exams as UL, even if ACE does not; the BSBA is cheaper because it has a TECEP instead of the capstone. Unfortunately, they are raising their residency waiver fee, and the TECEP may be going away (not sure yet). The residency for 7 TECEP's is gone, so you have to pay a fee now for that ($2200ish).

The benefits of getting a degree at COSC - price (they MAY be the cheapest of the Big 3 soon); they accept a lot of certifications; they still accept the GRE for credit (18cr is nothing to sneeze at, that's 6 courses!); and they take FEMA credits towards any degree (at least I think they do).

EC also accepts some certs, and they have a discounted rate through POAG that you can ask for up front.

I think whichever school and degree you choose, you may want to think about testing, using CLEP, DSST, TECEP, UExcel, Davar, etc. - you study when you feel good, and then go test when you're feeling great, and then rest when you need to. Saylor is also an excellent choice (possibly the best), because it's free to take the course, and you only pay the $25 fee once you're ready to take the final exam for credit.

I also think you might want to look at some of the other providers that let you take longer for each course like JumpCourse, Ed4Credit, Sophia, etc. They all seem to allow 4 months per course, which gives you more time than SL or Study.com.

Using the more popular course providers like SL and Study.com may work, but because you pay by the month, it might be more difficult for you to work with. You would need to be careful to put courses on hold when your health was bad, and then to pick up again as soon as you felt better - not sure if that's a great option for either of these.

If you ultimately ended up at COSC, I would wait to get enrolled, as it could get quite pricey to stay enrolled there. I know you run the risk of some credits not being accepted, but you also run the risk of running out of money to even take courses if you keep the term-based fees going there.

If you ultimately ended up at EC, I'm not sure how their enrollment works, so you would need to find that out - but I think it's more like COSC in that it will cost you to stay enrolled.

For TESU though, there's no downside to enrolling, as you lock in your catalog - and you need to take a TECEP each year to stay enrolled. No fees per term.

If you post your credits on here, we can help figure some things out for you. KayV will help you determine if an AAS at WVNCC might work - and the cost is minimal, so it's a no-brainer for you to get that out of the way before moving onto your BA/BS at one of the Big 3.

Good luck!