Need your expertise (long)

Please bear with me and any help would be greatly appreciated. I have been two weeks nearly daily looking into distance learning to complete a bachelors degree. I'm 47 with an AAS in Nursing from an accredited community college affiliated with the state flagship public university. I graduated in 1998 and have practiced non-stop in nursing at the university medical center. I'm finding the work exhausting and can't see handling the physical aspects of nursing much longer.

I do NOT want a BSN, and am looking for a BS in Healthcare Administration or Healthcare Service. I've received information from Touro, AIU, Phoenix and multiple other schools, currently waiting to hear from Columbia Southern and Baker. I thought I'd found an answer with Kennedy Western until reading here. The problem I am encountering is the enormous costs involved and that many schools will not accept the 80 credits I have, some only giving me as few as 27 hours of credit requiring me to complete multiple hours of freshman level general education credit before I can even start any upper level classes. Before becoming a nurse I was a mid-level manager in banking and finance for 20 years, having attained a good salary with no college, simply working hard and being quick to learn.

I cannot afford 21,000-30,000 to complete a bachelors degree. That would make sense if I was 25 and had 40 years of work ahead of me, but I'm not. I can't work full time and attend classes, distance learning is the answer for me but I can't find any place that will take my full 80 credits and apply that in a parallel field such as healthcare administration. I'm frustrated beyond belief and ready to quit trying. Can anyone recommend an accredited school for a middle aged bright person with a full history of employment in business and health? I could just cry, I didn't think that this would be as impossible as it is turning out to be. I don't understand why Dtec schools are so looked down upon. The courses and programs I've looked at appear most legitimate. I'm not unwilling to work hard for an education, but I am unwilling to go into debt thousands of dollars to take classes that have nothing to do with the major and are freshman level liberal arts. Thank you in advance for your help.

 

The problem is

The problem is you have an AAS degree. Yes, it is 2 years of college but unlike an AA degree it is very light on the general education core curriculum that is a component of any bachelors degree. You would have to complete that if you switch over to a RA bachelors program of any type, no way around it. Now, there are ways to acquire that through testing but you will need to be a good test taker. Look at threads on Excelsior and Thomas Edison on this board. Use the search feature to find them. Good luck.

 

While I do not suggest quitting, I do suggest that you take a deep breath and acknowledge that you're not likely to find a place that will take all your credits. As Chris indicated, you're essentially changing the direction of your academic trajectory and despite the hard work that you did, it was not all relevant to your new goal. There are many people on this forum who "got a late start" in college and are in a position similar to your own. I bet they'd all tell you that the accomplishment is worth the effort. By the way, it wasn't clear if you were looking for help in identifying schools with Healthcare Admin. type degree programs through DL. Also, I'm not sure that a DETC school would solve your problem any more effectively than an RA school, would it? Will they take more credits? Do they cost less? If the answer to these questions is "yes" then perhaps you should consider them more carefully.
Jack

 

Following up Chris' comment on testing, you will want to investigate CLEP and DANTES tests. CLEP tests are all for lower level college courses while DANTES tests include some upper level courses.

If this is up to date then these are the CLEP tests:

 Accounting, Principles of
 Algebra, College
 Algebra-Trigonometry, College
 American Government
 American Literature*
 Analyzing and Interpreting Literature*
 Biology
 Business Law, Introductory
 Calculus
 Chemistry
 Educational Psychology, Introduction to
 English Composition
 English Composition with Essay
 English Literature*
 French Language
 Freshman College Composition*
 German Language
 History of the United States I: Early Colonizations to 1877
 History of the United States II: 1865 to the Present
 Human Growth and Development
 Humanities
 Information Systems and Computer Applications
 Macroeconomics, Principles of
 Management, Principles of
 Marketing, Principles of
 Mathematics, College
 Microeconomics, Principles of
 Natural Sciences
 Psychology, Introductory
 Social Sciences and History
 Sociology, Introductory
 Spanish Language
 Trigonometry
 Western Civilization I: Ancient Near East to 1648
 Western Civilization II: 1648 to the Present

There's a bit more to know about them but this is a start.

As Chris said, check Excelsior and Thomas Edison as they may take more of your prior credits than will other schools.

 

Hi,

Have you looked at CLEP and Dantes tests for credit. You can use these to fulfill most general education requirements at Touro, Bellevue, and likely the other schools you have looked at or will look at. Also, at ~$65 per test (either 3 or 6 credits for most tests) these tests should be looked at by anyone wanting to lower the cost of their education. Also Thomas Edison State College offer several health related degrees which can be fulfilled by testing cheaply and/or taking courses through Weber State University, who offers a slew of health related courses by dl.

Good luck,
Tony

Edit: I apologize for the redundant info in my response.

 

You might want to check this out

http://www.cchs.edu/bachelors/

 

Try this program:


BS in Health Science w/ Minor in Management From Old Dominion Unversity


I mention it because it seems like a degree completion program for A> Navy Corpsman who have lower level training B> I think they accept a lot of credit from associate degrees in the same field (I am guessing an ASN [or AASN or whatever you have]). If it is anything like the General Engineering Technology degree completion program, they should take a majority of your degree (I had an AAS and they took just about all of the credits). Email them with a copy of your transcript and maybe they will do an off the record evaluation..

Hope this helps,
Bill

 

TESC might be a way to go too. The BSBA in Health Administration Management may be pretty friendly to an AAS transfer. Whatever applied professional credits from your AAS could fit into the 18 hours of free elective credit you can have in the BSBA.

The key to transfering AAS degrees into a Bachelors degree is to find a program w/ plenty of elective credits (which means the major area is smaller..). I went into a computer science program w/ an AAS in electronics and all of the credits were taken (either as elective or minor credit). Now whether or not the credits satisfied degree requirements (9 of them didn't because there were not sequences of courses [I took western civ II and american history II when I should of taken all western civ or all american hist. for example]).

ODU is not expensive (I think it is around 160 per credit) and TESC is fairly cheap if you go the CLEP route for your gen eds.

Have you tried Fort Hayes? They have a BS in General Studies that is really cheap (they have a bunch of different concentrations). Ohio University is fairly cheap too and you can practically design your own Bachelors in Specialized Studies w/ them.

Bottom line, don't sweat the AAS transfer difficulties. It is possible to find a program that will transfer a majority (maybe even all) of your credits.

Bill

 

Another good reason to consider Fort Hayes' BGS program is that it has 58 open elective credits (I seemed to remember forwarding my SMART and Excelsior transcript to them and they gave me even more credits than Excelsior did at the time). I think they will even work with you on a specialized concentration. Definately email them with your situation..

 

Some very good ideas have been offered so far. Consider also, Charter Oak State College - Individualized Studies (concentration/major). You could get over 50 credits with this one - with several towards your concentration/major. Another thing about COSC is that they don't require too many general education credits. They will also take an unlimited number of testing credits.

 

The following schools offer distance learning Bachelors degree programs in Business Administration with specializations in health related fields:

• Bellevue University
• Cedar Crest College
• Central Michigan University
• Clarkson College
• Empire State College
• Kaplan College
• Lynn University
• Mountain State University
• Spring Arbor University
• Thomas Edison State College

More information, including links to the schools, programs, and even tuition information, can be found on my Web site (click on the link below my name), which lists over 200 undergraduate Business degrees that can be completed entirely via distance learning. The site also provides links to, and information about, numerous generic degree programs (such as Professional Studies, General Studies, etc.) that will allow you to create a personalized program of study.

 

The advice on this thread so far has been excellent. I would add that if your college is affiliated with a major university, that would be the first place I would check out.

And if the answer is not satisfactory, don't automatically trust what the admissions people tell you. You might want to talk to someone in the academic department in which you are interested, preferably the chair.

 

I know it can easily frustrate one with many years of quality work experience when a young rascal with a college degree (that you don't have) overtakes you. But if a school offers credit for life experience, then it is probably a mill. You CAN get credit for documented learning that comes along from your experiences, hence the need for assessment (tests) or portfolio. School is a concept, not necessarily a place. Its stock and trade is new learning and formal education, not affirmation of experience.

Good luck... I would look at a portfolio school or maybe CCHS. CCHS is pretty affordable (I think books are included too) and one with a nursing background would probably do well on the 300-500 level courses related to health. The lower level stuff could be clep'd but I think CCHS (Thompson Learning/Education Direct) would probably give full credit for a AAS.

 

Don't cry..I was in your shoes not long ago

I was a Med/Surg nurse in the State of Florida. (Still maintain my license) I broke my foot and shortly after it healed it got broken again. Another nurse not seeing me ran over me with a Hill-Rom bed with a patient in it. OUCH! It broke my foot again. The orthopod said that was the end for my nursing career. I can not stand on it without it swelling like a football.

I was in the same situation as you are. All my credits were toward my nursing degree. Please take the advice of the experienced members here and check out the institutions that they have suggested. I have taken there advice and they have always been right.

Check with your local community college, university and the state of Kentucky to see what they offer in distance learning. I was not able to attend classes and work a full time job with less pay. I was surprised at what I was able to find at reasonable prices. I found TV courses, online courses, multimedia courses. I was able to CLEP and DANTES prereqs also. Had those prereqs out of the way in no time flat.

Please take the suggestions given here by the experienced members.

I know it is frustrating but in the end it is worth it. I am not far behind you in age. Hang in there. If I did it, I know you can.

 

I really appreciate everyone's input. I'm starting to feel a little more confident. I don't however understand several things. I've been reading on this site about clepping out of virtually all the classes at Thomas Edison, and transferring credits from one school to another in order to meet requirements, and basically that there are some who are beating the system at it's own game. I'm trying to read and understand how to do some of this in terms of the general education requirements. I don't understand how TE works, you pay for enrollment and then pay different fees, etc., and then on top of that you pay per credit hour when you do take classes. Some of this is very confusing. It appears I can't get the info from TE unless I pay a large fee and enroll first. I'm very confused. I'm used to the pay per credit education, not enrollment fees, etc.

I have contacted CCHS, thanks for the tip. And thanks for explaining about filling lots of electives with my nursing credits.
I really like the idea of creating a degree that some of the schools offer. I would really like to create a health related-legal(civil law-criminal law )risk management-sort of business based degree.

I will keep reading here and trying to figure out this "clep-dantes-transfer" idea. If I have to take this stuff I'd like it to work to my advantage.

I can honestly say that the 36 hours of freshman general education credits I took in my AAS degree had been used instead in other areas related to law, management, etc. I've yet to use my American History, sociology, literature, etc. classes anywhere, whether in business or nursing. As I wrote in one of my English Composition I arguments against general education v. professionally based programs: when I drive across a bridge I don't care if the engineer who built the bridge had 2 years of French in college, I'd rather he have two more years of learning how to build bridges perfectly! I know there are many here who would disagree, but I still don't like being forced to take classes that I took in high school all over again because someone has decided that all education is not education unless it has been deemed "well rounded" by the acedemics deciding what we "should" have rather than what we "need" in the real world.

Again, thanks and I continue to read and hope to learn more about this system of higher education.

 

Yes, it is. And it may take some time to get the hang of things but that will be time well spent.

On this site are some true experts (not me) in the field of alternative higher education so perusing this site and this forum will be helpful. Another site that has helped many is Lawrie Miller's, BA in 4 Weeks . Take not the title of that site literally and you should benefit from the information there.

If you determine that "testing out" will be your route then there is little reason to wait in beginning that process while acquiring further knowledge on the process of obtaining a degree. In fact, you can and maybe should complete a good number of CLEP, DANTES, etc. tests before enrollling in any school as doing so can save you money. The trick is in knowing which tests you will need to take.

 

Thank you for the tip

Thanks for the website tip, I have bookmarked it and will study it carefully. Are there any other sites like this out there?

I really feel that I would do well with this sort of testing as long as I have some basis for finding study guides.

When I sat for the ACT at the rip old age of 39, having not been in school or tested for anything in 21 years, I scored a 27, which I was very pleased with. It's amazing what a little age and experience will do for you in terms of general reasoning to pick correct answers. What astounded me, having not had any higher math than high school algebra was that I scored highest in the mathematics section in trigonometry (sp), never had a lick of it in school. I just colored in various bubbles. Just very lucky there, but was lucky where I needed it in the exam. I know the clep or dantes won't be that way. I have no problem in reading and studying for the tests as long has I have good material.

I'm very motivated and fired up. Any help for other sites or sources of study guides will be greatly appreciated. I'm so glad I found this site. I'm already hooked and have been reading and reading here.

The classes I've had in college are:

Eng 101, Eng 102, Psy 100, Developmental Psy, Interpersonal communications, US history (pre and post 1865), sociology (aspects of death and dying) sociology (individual, marriage and family) computer literacy, math, anatomy and physiology (1 and 2), microbiology, all sciences havings labs. And of course tons of nursing, which ought to account for something as they were behind-kicking mind numbingly difficult with multiple research papers and a necessary score of a minimum of 77 to stay in the program plus 100% passing of all math each semester or being dismissed, but evidently doesn't equate to anything in the real world of college other than electvies (what a shame).

What other general clep tests should I look at for applications to general undergraduate studies? I hate literature and writings pre-1900, bores me to death, what are good substitutes? I'm very interested in all aspects of the law, any suggestions?

Thanks so much for your kind replies.

 

Re: Thank you for the tip

For a list of available DANTES: http://www.getcollegecredit.com/materials.htm#exam_titles

For a list of available CLEP: http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/clep/about.html

There are two types of CLEP exams and they are called: "General" and "Subject." They cost they same amount, but the all of the general exams are worth 6 credits and most of the subject are worth 3 credits.

A good substitute for English Lit. type of courses/exams is the CLEP: Analyzing and Interpreting Literature. It sounds worse than it is! Most adults find this one fairly easy (it's mostly reading comprehension). More good news: it is worth 6 credits.

Also, Business Law exams are available through CLEP and DANTES.

Use the search function on this site extensively. Here is some encouragement: I have tested out of over 100 credits in 5 months and I am only 25 years old. If I were older (more experienced), I am sure I could have gone even faster. If you have not lived in a box for most of your life, then you will be shocked at how much you know.

The aforementioned Charter Oak State College will let you design your own degree within their guidelines. Have a look at their Individualized Studies degree.

 

AAS degree?

Please define AAS.

Here in Washington, an Associate of Arts and Sciences is a transferable degree. One can get just the plain vanilla AAS, or one can mix it up major-related courses and get an AAS in 'something' like nursing. This allows one to transfer to a four year school as a junior.

An Associates in Applied Science is usually not fully transferable, because the general education requirments required by four year schools have not been met.

If I missed this distinction in the original post, I apologize.

Sean

 

Wow. What an impressive bunch of posts. No question about it, if a person wants to get a degree creatively, this is the place to learn how to do it right... or, at the very least, to learn where to begin looking.

Just my two cents worth, for what it's worth (and my ex-wife will tell you that that's all it's worth): If you want an excellent (and I mean excellent) BA in Healthcare Administration, check out St. Joseph's College of Maine's various healthcare administration programs. Or if you're interested in other degrees or certificates in similar and/or related fields, check out their long-term care administration programs and/or their nursing programs. It's not the cheapest (nor the most expensive), but the school has developed a reputation for treating students truly as individuals and having the time to give them when it's needed. And it's owned by the Sisters of Mercy, of whom I've always been a huge fan (even though I'm not Catholic); and who also own lots of hospitals and other types of healthcare systems and who, therefore, know exactly what a health care administration program should cover. Something to think about.

St. Joseph's College of Maine is all distance learning (with, for most programs, a mere two week residential requirement... but on an amazingly beautiful campus near a lake); and, perhaps most importantly, it's regionally-accredited.

Good luck!