Hello all, Just a quick question regarding fees at Excelsior. If I take the route of taking the tests only ($235-275), do I still have to pay for the class in order to receive credit? I think I read a review somewhere that stated this is the case but it wasn't very clear. A little about me...I work for a small software company doing builds/release management, QA, bug fixes, and support. I have about 60 credits already (all gen ed/pre-reqs) from several years ago. I'm in a great position with my current job, plenty to learn and all great experience to put on my resume. But I'm worried that as I move higher up the ladder the lack of an actual degree could hurt a little. Even if it doesn't, I'd still like to have it. I have read a lot of the posts here and found the one mentioning the fast track BS at Excelsior - then a Masters interesting. It's something I am now contemplating. Thanks for all the great info on here. It's very helpful. -Jay
Have you signed up for a FREE account at Excelsior College to access the information available about their degrees and examinations? It seems odd to pay for a course that you are challenging via examination plus pay for the actual examination. You should contact the school directly.
I did email them but I got a generic repsonse, not really an actual answer. I am signing up now for the free account to have access to more info. Thanks for suggesting that.
Sorry for stacking my posts, but I didn't see a way to edit my previous post. After more research, it seems that I will not be able to "test out" of any of the IT courses at Excelsior. I can get certifications from other entities and use them for credit, but they don't list any "test out" exams for IT. That's dissapointing. I'm emailing them again for more clarification. It comes down to cost for me. I can't see shelling out $1000 for a class I basically have to learn on my own, when I could do the same thing and only pay $2xx to take the exam. Doesn't make sense to me.
If your undergrad doesn't have to be in IT then you might want to look at the BS in General Business, which you can now complete almost solely via testing I believe. With 60 credits down you can probably get your Bachelor's done in 6 months if you're diligent. That'll take away any stigma of not having a degree, and it'll be a business degree as well. You can then look at a distance learning IT Masters such as offered by Dakota State University, which can be completed in a couple of years. If you're happy at your current employer, you probably won't need additional IT education, unless it's certifications for a specific area, so an IT-based degree won't help. If for some reason you want/need to leave, having the 1st degree done ASAP, even if it's not in IT, will be more helpful than having 50-70% done of an IT degree.
I would add that it is almost all done trough testing. Excelsior now requires all Business program students to take its own Business Strategy course. You probably already have the English Composition requirement covered, otherwise you can either take their College Writing exam or an affordable course at some other college (Penn Foster, Louisiana State U, etc...). Another requirement that is not available as an exam (which you probably already have), is Information Literacy (can also be economically fulfilled at Penn Foster College).
Check WGU Not as cheap as EC but you earn 8 IT certs and get IT degree. If price is a problem you can transfer your credit to World College and complete your IT degree there. They allow up to 75% in credit transfer.
Thanks to all for your advice. Still not sure what I'm going to do. Still researching. I'm leaning toward taking the ICCP and TESC exams that will take care of most of the core requirements, then take a few LL classes at a CC that will take care of my free electives (Cost less than half of the EC courses). Then I'll only have about 5 or 6 actual courses I'll have to take at EC or one of the others. Once I get it all figured out, I'll make a thread outlining my roadmap in case anyone else may benefit from it. Thanks again.
For your free electives why not just take CLEP or DANTES exams? They'll be cheaper still and there are a number of them that aren't too involved. The CLEP general exams give you 6 credits, and Spanish/French/German can give you up to 12 in a single exam if you have (near) fluency - a huge amount to transfer in a short time.
