CUNY - Online Degree Completion ($4,575! Transfer up to 105 credits out of 120!)

[Merlin]

So here's summary:

They accept 105 transfer credits out of 120.

- 60 credits must be from a regionally accredited college.
This can be TESU's TECEP exam credits? if TESU lists TECEP exam credit as native credit on their transcript, TECEP credit can be accepted.
or you can try cheap online community college, ASU earned admission ($99 per 3 credits until mid August).

- 45 credits can be from Saylor Academy, CLEP, DSST exams.

- The remaining 15 credits can be earned within one semester at CUNY.

Well, CUNY does accept more transfer credits than most schools, but not by much. Plenty of schools will accept up to 90 credits in transfer, and many of them have generous ACE transfer policies. You can transfer 90 ACE credits towards a degree at WGU for example, and WGU also accepts NA credits. They don't accept NCCRS or Shmoop credits though.

To be part of the Big 3 (4) CUNY would have to accept at least 113 credits towards their degrees and all of it should be alternative credit. Or that was the case until earlier this year when COSC instituted the 30 RA credit requirement. Personally, I don't see COSC as part of the big 3 anymore because of their new 30 RA credit requirement. But I tend to look at things from the perspective of people who are coming into this forum with no (or very little) transferable RA college credit like I did. 

CUNY would be even less part of the Big (4) given they require 75 RA credits (60 in transfer plus 15 in residency) and are highly restrictive on the type and number of alternative credits they will accept. It seems they only accept Saylor Academy specifically rather than ACE credits in general.

Of course, even if CUNY does accept TECEP exams as traditional RA courses, TESU doesn't offer enough TECEP exams across the various subjects to make 60 credits a reasonable target. At the least, you'd need to add in Excelsior UExcel and CBE's from other colleges, but those can get expensive.

As I mentioned above, trying to complete 45 credits at Saylor will have you pulling your hair out by the end, but it is potentially doable if you are coming in with significant prior knowledge and patience. CLEP makes more sense as a means to burn through GenEds... well, once Covid is behind us and test centers can reopen.

Are you sure that CUNY accepts DSST exams? You didn't mention that initially. They aren't as broadly accepted as CLEP. so most schools don't even know what they are. Not to mention, DSST test centers are getting harder to come by unless you're in the military or have access to a military base.

That all said, CUNY seems like a great degree-completion school. At least for people who already have half of a degree completed from an RA school and are looking for someplace to finish it. For those people, it sounds like a good choice along with the Big 3, WGU, or any of the transfer-friendly schools out there. They are probably a better option than COSC for people who have enough prior credit. It would definitely be a strong choice for people who are looking to graduate from a college with a bit more name recognition.

CUNY is not a good choice for people who are coming in with little to no credits or who don't have the prior knowledge to get through the Saylor courses. For those people, TESU, EC, or WGU are still much better options. At least from my perspective as someone who has been doing this for a while.