Hello, I am interested in purse a computer-related degree. I have researched schools offering an associate to begin with, and I have found Penn Foster and Ashworth University. Both schools are NA, but their tuition are reasonable. I am eventually interested in a Digital Forensics degree such as the one Champlain College offers. The tuition being high, I am looking for a cheaper alternative for an associate, with the possibility of transferring credits there. Thank you in advance for any suggestions.
Computer related degree... that's a BROAD degree range... you should hone it down a little Forensics is a specialized field - Champlain is a great college but the tuition is high. I also believe that in order to transfer credits into Champlain you'll need an RA AA/BA or AS/BS....now you're 'narrowed' down to RA colleges/universities. You'll need to narrow your list down.... Computer Science, Networking, InfoSec, etc....
Instinct: If digital forensics is your ultimate goal, then Champlain College cannot be beat for the excellent digital forensics programme. However, due to the relatively high tuition rate you would be well-served to complete as many non-core courses as part of an associate degree at another regionally accredited school and transfer those credits into the bachelor degree at Champlain College. "A student who transfers from another college may receive up to 30 of the required credit hours for an associate’s degree, or up to 75 credits toward a bachelor’s degree, provided that the credit is being transferred from an accredited institution, similar required or elective courses are offered at Champlain College, and the student has received a grade of C or better in that course." So, you can transfer in up to 25 3-credit hour courses that are applicable; choose to complete the general education and related courses outside of Champlain College to reduce the overall monetary expenditure. One of the Big 4 can be used to earn an associate degree. Everyone has their opinion as to the best institution and I am not different - Thomas Edison State College (TESC) offers a very flexible associate of arts (AA) in terms of course selection. If you map the general education and related course required for the BS (Computer and Digital Forensics) at Champlain College to the AA at Thomas Edison State College, you should end up most of the non-core credits from the BS completed. Now to keep the costs down, choose to take the actual courses for the AA at schools with low tuition rates such as University of North Dakota, Louisiana State University, or a local community college for example. Good luck with your educational pursuits.
sentinel, Thank you for your in-depth response. I am very interested in either Thomas Edison or the University of North Dakota to complete my non-core courses. UND seems to have a fairly flexible and relatively inexpensive way of registering for courses. Thank you again for your response!
You can complete all courses external to Thomas Edison State College and transfer them into the associate degree. TESC has NO residency requirement so ALL credits can be earned elsewhere.
