WGU vs TESU for BSBA General Management

[Jenniferinfl]

Okay, so, which is the best path is highly individualized.

I was going to attend either TESU or Excelsior and do a lot of alternative credit. I hit a bottleneck in funds availability to do that. I work in one of those social work/pink collar fields where you get paid $12 an hour and have to bring your own supplies to work. I did a few Straighterline courses, but, then couldn't afford to take anymore. I took as many free CLEP's that applied to my degree as I could. I could only really fit 1 maybe 2 Straighterline courses into my budget per month. Money was going to be my bottleneck. I work fulltime, but, have a one hour lunch and a 1.5 hour commute, so, enough time to listen to plenty of lectures. I could have tested out of a gened every few days, but, I could only afford to take one once or twice a month.

Because my income is poop, I qualify for financial aid in the form of Pell grants and loans. For me, it made sense to go with WGU. I will only owe around $1200 for the term. I started April 1st and have already earned 25 credits. I still have 22 weeks left to finish my remaining 41 credits. 13 classes to go and around 11 days per class available. So far I'm averaging around 3.3 days per class. Now, I have some really difficult classes ahead that are going to take me longer, but, even if I end up going into a 2nd term I will only owe around $2400 on my degree thanks to the Pell grant and one of WGU's $500 scholarships.

Obviously though, if you run out of steam midway through the term and only finish a couple classes you won't get a particularly good value out of it. If you go the TESU route you could probably skip school for a couple months without it costing you anything but time.