Fastest online bachelor’s degree

[SmugKitten]

Well, first off, plenty of people start doctorates when they're older. You're only 27, that's still pretty young! Depending on which Bachelor's and Master's degrees you got, you could theoretically start a doctoral program in your early 30s. That's actually about right for a lot of people.

But, first of all, you need that Bachelor's degree.

For Psychology (and Liberal Arts), you've got a few options:

• UMPI would probably be the fastest/cheapest. They allow you to transfer in up to 90 credits toward a degree. The remaining 30 would need to be taken with them. They're $1500 per 8-week session. You complete as many classes as you're able to during that time period, but there are otherwise no deadlines. The exception might be the practicum that UMPI requires. Depending on what kind of work you're already doing, this may not be viable. You may be able to work something out with them, though. If you decided to go with one of their BLS degrees, there would be no practicum.
  
• TESU allows you to transfer in everything but 6 credits. It does cost a bit more to do it this way, because then you need to pay the residency waiver fee, but it is an option. You already have 44 RA credits, so that's not a concern. You can transfer in everything you need from Sophia, Study.com, and Coopersmith. Their BA Psychology doesn't require a practicum. The final 6 credits of a degree will have weekly deadlines, but otherwise no set class times or anything like that. They require 15 UL credits + the capstone course (18 UL credits total) for their degrees.
  
• Excelsior University also allows you to transfer in everything but 6 credits. They may be slightly cheaper, but they're otherwise quite similar to TESU. The main differences are that Excelsior requires 24 UL credits + UL capstone & UL cornerstone courses for their degrees. Their capstone requires a group project, which is often not ideal for busy students. In addition, if you don't hit all degree requirements upon enrollment, they charge a $300 evaluation fee after the first month. This can become quite expensive, quickly eliminating the price gap between them and TESU.
  

Based on what you've said, I think UMPI would be the optimal choice for you - if you can work out the practicum requirements ahead of time. Second choice TESU. Distant third would be Excelsior.

You can see degree plans for UMPI here, to see what would be required for their degrees: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Category:UMPI

For TESU, you'd start here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...ts_Roadmap TESU can be a bit more confusing at first, especially with all the possibilities, but it gets easier once you've become an enrolled student and can see the real process.

For both TESU and UMPI, you should be able to finish in the 18 months you specified. You might even be able to finish UMPI in 8-10 months.

This was SUPER helpful! I was leaning towards UMPI based off what i read but there is so much info on here I wasn't sure which would be best between these 3. Thank you for laying it all out so clearly.

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@SmugKitten, Welcome to the board, great initial post with many details!  If you want to complete courses without a set schedule, you can start with Sophia.org and work your way towards the UMPI BLS with a minor in management and psych, then ladder up to the UMPI MAOL (9 courses instead of 12), and be done within a year or less.  

The BLS will get you a Liberal Studies degree and you can select a minor with Management, plus another in Psych too.  You will need upper level credits to finish the degree anyways, in addition to that, you can add the 3 courses that can go towards the MAOL, so instead of finishing 12 MAOL classes, you only need to complete 9 courses.

This hits your Liberal Arts, Psych, and instead of Operations Management, you'll be well versed in Organizational Leadership.

Thank you! I really appreciate the advice with the minors. 
I have a question. I see that the Online Programs are divided into 2 sections: Online Degrees & Online YourPace Degrees.

The online degrees are only 3 options: 
eduction, history, and psych (from what I read I only see the mention of minors as an option on this section)

The online yourpace degrees have the BLS degrees: 
BLS - educational studies, BLS - Management, BLS - Accounting, BLS - Project Management, BLS - Management Information Systems.  It looks like the BLS - Management matches best with my desired field, but these YourPace degrees don't mention the option of minors from what I'm reading. 

Based on these options, what would you recommend? My career goal is mostly related to operations management in human/social services (I'm an operations manager at homeless services now, but may want to get my foot into HR/Department management as I rise in my career) that's why I was always leaning towards the psych major (especially if I go for my PhD in more towards the social work/clinical side of the field..)

 I'm not sure if the online degrees differ much schedule wise compared to the yourpace degrees. If yourpace is more flexible and faster than I'd prefer that.