Competency Based Programs

[Merlin]

Do you have a list of classes I can take on Study.com by any chance? I want to keep that option open as well. or it's better to try to master competency in WGU?

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I was able to find the classes:
https://study.com/college/school/western...rsity.html

That list is a good place to start, but you should look up the transfer guide for your specific chosen degree program at https://partners.wgu.edu (see the prior poster's comment for additional details) to make sure you map the right courses to the right degree. WGU does make changes to their degree programs now and then, so you should always defer to the WGU transfer guide as the first source of truth. The study.com transfer guide is useful but probably doesn't get updated as often.

I read that sometimes it is better to take the competency classes than going to the route of Study.com.

Yes and no. It depends on how many credits you're transferring, how fast you complete courses, and whether you're paying your own way or not.

If you're paying your own way, the least expensive option is to take courses from places like Sophia, StraighterLine, Study.com, etc. and transfer 90 credits into WGU. This leaves a balance of 30 credits (10 courses) to complete your degree, making it much easier to finish in a single term (you only need to complete one class every 2-3 weeks). This means you only have to pay that $3,500 tuition once. You'd have to complete 106 credits per term (~6 courses per month) at WGU for the average cost per credit to equal the ~$33/credit you pay for courses from ACE providers.

If someone else is paying your way (grants, loans, company tuition assistance, etc.) then cost isn't the biggest factor. While there are exceptions (university math courses appear to be harder, for example), people can complete classes at WGU at roughly the same rate as at SL or SDC. As with all competency-based coursework, subjects you have familiarity with go faster than those you know little about. So, if you can complete 3 courses a month at StraighterLine, you can probably do the same at WGU... except perhaps for the degree capstone which can take 3X as long as a normal course.

You'll need to look at how many courses you need to finish up a degree, how quickly you can complete them, and the length of your financial runway to see which approach makes more sense. Personally, I pay my own way, so I would prefer to transfer in as many courses as I can to ensure to only have to pay WGU once. Plus that means I won't be as pressed for time as I would be if I were taking all my courses from WGU directly.

Of course, as Ideas said, if UW is willing to apply all of your transfer credits you may want to go there instead--assuming everything else is equal. I don't know anything about that program, so you need to judge how it compares from a cost and time perspective.

Also keep in mind that completing an associate's degree first will often mean the target school will waive all your GenEd requirements as a block transfer. At least it does at WGU. So you may want to finish that before enrolling with either school.