Degree path guidance for new dad

[Merlin]

I myself have been debating back and forth for several months now which school would be ideal, WGU vs COSC. Charter Oak gives you more freedom as far as credit sources go, while WGU allows financial aid. Was heavily leaning toward WGU for a long time because of the FA factor, but allvia makes a great point about COSC giving you more freedom and excepting NCCRS credits. Plus considering how quickly elbebopkid knocked out that degree...

I don't see WGU offering less freedom than the big 3. Yes, the big 3 accept NCCRS while WGU doesn't, but that is a tiny percentage of credits. Instead of accepting NCCRS they accept NA college credits, which is a much larger pool. They also accept a ton of industry certifications for credit.

Speed wise, the big 3 don't hold a candle to WGU. The speed that you can complete a degree will be comparable between any of the big 3 since you are limited by how quickly you can get through the required 12-week course(s) you take directly from them. The majority of your credits will likely come from ACE recommended providers (plus any old college credits you bring with you) so the speed won't vary between target colleges. The next big delay with the big 3 is that you have to wait until the next graduation cycle before you officially receive your degree. Between the 12-week capstone and waiting months to graduate, that added nearly 6 months to my TESU degree.

You can finish at WGU faster than any of the big 3. Yes, you can only transfer in 90 credits to start, and they don't accept NCCRS credits, but you also don't have to take mandatory 12-week courses or wait for months after finishing your last course to receive your degree. Plus most WGU undergrad courses take between a day and a couple of weeks to complete. Many people appear to be able to get through the WGU undergrad courses as quickly as they could get through a comparable course on StraighterLine or Study.com. So it is almost the same as taking all the courses via SL or SDC in terms of speed. Heck, there are plenty of folks who claim to have completed an entire WGU undergrad degree in 6 months or less without using SL or SDC.