Please help with a degree plan for my daughter

[allvia]

This doesn't sound like an alternative route, since it's only a temporary certificate.  It also doesn't say that they will accept her AA - most states require a BA.  I didn't check the links, but I would try to find that out.  I find it really hard to believe that a school would hire a teacher with an AA.  I've not heard that that's an option.

Oh no, I didn't mean that she would take this route with her AA.  We were just trying to figure out if getting her BA/BS from TESU and then doing an alternative route would be quicker than going with WGU.  Although we did discover that she can substitute teach with her AA.  That seems like a good way to get her "foot in the door" while finishing up her degree.

Ah, got it.

I would guess that getting the BA from TESU and then getting the alternative cert is going to be the same amount of time as getting her degree at WGU.  You have to spend the same amount of time in the classroom student teaching, whichever way you go.  So whether you do your degree quickly and then student teach, or whether you student teach while getting your degree, seems like it would take the same amount of time.

If I was in her shoes, I would go the WGU route.  I think it's a better option if she knows she wants to be a teacher.  Seems way less complicated to just start and finish and not have to degree map the heck out of it beforehand and then jump through the hoops after she gets her degree.

A degree in Education for a teaching position will tend go over better in an interview than the alternative route (especially since she at the age of just starting out in a career - if she was 44 and switching careers after 20yrs of working it could be different), plus the WGU is nationwide  - she'd keep the option to teach throughout the US (even if she plans to stay in FL, always good to have options). Also as I mentioned before it would give her the option to use financial aid. I'd be very surprised if she would not be eligible for a Pell Grant = no pay back.