How to deal with FA

[sambam0812]

Oh that's a bummer. Tuition there is not cheap. Did you check out WGU's HIM program?

https://www.wgu.edu/online-nursing-healt...ogram.html

*Ding ding* This is what I was going to suggest as well... there are other providers such as TESU/Rutgers BSHIM, I would look into the other competency based degree providers as well such as Capella.  There are a few others that are cheaper/easier/faster than COSC if you can do a search and then review/research their requirements/tuition...

Yes, I have been researching this for almost a year.

I chose COSC because they offer credits for certifications—-so although WGU (and I looked at Herzing also) may be cheaper per credit hour, I would literally have to take 6-8 more classes than at COSC at either school, making the actual cost difference super small.

Here's the thing though. WGU is competency based which means you don't pay per class. You pay a term fee and you complete as many classes as you want and can during the term. I'm in a competency based program in another school and wish I knew about these types of programs back in February when I started at CSU Global. I have completed 4 courses in 5 weeks at UMPI. At CSU I would be 5 weeks into 8 week courses. And I could only take 2 at a time. I couldn't go at my speed. I had deadlines to meet and a class schedule to follow based on a semester program. Oh and to take 4 classes at CSU was $4,200. My 4 classes at UMPI has cost me $1,400. I will be adding a 5th class before the term ends. A fifth class at CSU would have raised my tuition to $5,250. There will not be a price increase in my tuition at UMPI. That's how competency based programs work. It's freaking AMAZING!

Honestly, that's awesome that you can do competency-based at a faster level than what the school assumes you will; because even though they tell you you can finish as fast as you want, they *plan* for your education to take a certain amount of time. I also plan on worst-case scenarios. So I know I can only do part-time or roughly 6 credit hours per semester; so I get the full 12 credits for the 6 months. That's right on par with a traditional 15-16 week semester type calendar, which means I would finish my bachelor's in approximately 3.5 years. With COSC, I am still doing part-time, but it's per 8-week term, rather than a 16-week semester. So by the traditional standards, I am actually a full-time student and can finish my bachelor's in 10 terms, or 5 semesters. I have planned for a few semesters to maybe be 3/4 time when a particularly hard class comes up. It still adds up to less than 2.5 years even allowing for that.


So the approximate cost for WGU: $21270 for 3.5 years; the approximate cost for COSC is $22028.40 for 2.5 years, neither including books or any software I might need.

Like I said, I've done a LOT of research and math on this. If I was doing more of a generic degree where I could transfer in a ton of other credits, competency-based might make more sense. But seeing as I'm stuck with taking the major courses, I might as well go somewhere where I can get it done fast (on my schedule, not some fairy tale the school sells me about how smart I am), and where I have 21 credits already stacked up in my major column purely because I happen to have an industry certification.

On top of all of that, COSC publishes all of their undergrad syllabi for the public to view, so I actually know what classes are going to be hard ahead of time and can pair them with easier classes so if that if I need to I can breeze through one class and spend the majority of my 8 weeks focusing on the tougher one.