DL bachelor's from a traditional U offering substantial non-academic credit

Hey, everybody, thanks for the responses to my earlier post about finding a DL MBA program without a bachelor's. But Rich Douglas is right, it's probably a good idea to have a bachelor's anyway, so I'm redirecting.

Again, I'm 42, working full-time as a financial analyst, close to completing my AA in business and have substantial and diverse real life business experience and non-degree education (including 4 securities licenses and a number of other professional licenses).

Now I'm looking for an accelerated bachelors program that allows substantial credits for life experience and/or professional licenses and CLEP testing, preferably from a traditional U that also offers DL. If the U is in Florida, I would do some limited residency. I've contacted Nova SE and should get the package soon, but I don't think they do much for non-academic credits.

It's extremely frustrating! With my experience I should be making literally 3 X what I earn now. The lack of a degree has slammed a lot of doors.

Thanks for any insights!
Jeff

 

Nova is highly structure in the way it handles credit transfer and I doubt that Nova will give you credits for works that are not academically related. Besides, Nova is not big on undergraduate DL. I think that Florida State University has some kind of 2+2 arrangement.

Ike

 

Charter Oak State College has a "special Assessment" for non academic licenses and certifiactions to award credit. It might be possible to find RA classes that would lead to your certificates or licenses that will allow you to do a portfolio assessment.

Thomas Edison and Charter Oak do portfolio assessments (Excelsior will accept them but does not DO them)I found COSC responsive and the least expensive for MY needs. (transfering in 87 credits from 1969-1973 and 30 credits on special assessment instead of portfolio)
http://www.tesc.edu/
http://www.cosc.edu/
http://www.excelsior.edu/


Dan

 

I missed "d" in structured. The statement should have read: "Nova is highly structured in the way it handles credit transfer and I doubt that Nova will give you credits for works that are not academically related

Ike

 

It seems that Jeff is only interested in traditional colleges that offer undergraduate DL.

Ike

 

Thanks.

I've checked into Charter Oaks and TE, but was hoping to find a U.S. DL program at a traditional U, for an MBA program (or bachelor's if I can't find a good pre-bachelor's MBA program) that gives credit for life experience, professional licenses, CLEP, etc. I know it may take a little longer that way than some of the credit banks or pure DL U's, but I don't mind. I haven't had any luck yet.

Thanks.

 

I'm not sure what the advantage is to getting a DL degree from a brick-and-mortar school. Tens of thousands of graduates from Excelsior, TESC, and COSC have gone on to great careers in medicine, law, public service, and yes, even financial services.

You will, if you look long enough, find a brick-and-mortar school with a process for giving life experience credit. And you my also find that you can earn a great deal of credit nontraditionally. But, unfortunately, you will also find it much harder to fit your credits into their degree program. You'll also be faced with a minimum number of credits (likely 30 s.h.) that must be earned at that school taking their classes, classes you may or may not want to take or fit into your schedule.

My sincere recommendation is that you take your previous academic work to TESC and then go through their portfolio evaluation to see how close you can get to a bachelor's. Then you can earn the rest of the credits any way you please, including taking classes at your local university.

Most people will have no idea you took your bachelor's degree from a DL school. "Thomas Edison State University" sounds pretty darn substantial. You can almost hear the marching band playing at halftime at the football games.

I graduated from the Regents External Degree Program three times (1 AA and 2 bachelors' degrees) when it was The University of the State of New York. No one in the 21 years since has ever asked me about it. In fact, I often get "Oh, SUNY?" I used to try to explain it, but it got tiresome and didn't solve anything. No matter how I try to explain it, they're convinced I went to a SUNY school. But the ultimate was when I was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Air Force (after having been a staff sergeant). When they got my transcripts from Regents, they didn't have a computer code for the Regents program. However, they saw the Albany, NY, address and coded me as having gone to SUNY at Albany. I called and explained that I didn't go to SUNY at Albany, that it was the Regents program, blah blah blah. Their response? "Yes, you did go to SUNY at Albany." Can you believe it? Considering that they thought they knew my life better than I did, who was I to argue? It never made a material difference anyway, and I would've fought for a long time for nothing and to get nowhere.

Take the first bachelor's degree you can get your hands on. This will allow you to take the master's program you say you want. Where and how you earned your bachelor's won't matter much, if at all.

Rich Douglas

 

Too substanial! Of course, I meant "Thomas Edison State College." But with the trend of colleges "universitizing" themselves, who knows?

Rich Douglas

 

You're right Rich. Thanks for hammering away at my pre-conceptions about DL's. At 42, it's silly trying to take the long course for a bachelor's, especially since I'm currently taking non-academic, post-master level stuff.

That's hilarious about SUNY and the military insisting you went there!

So you think Thomas Edison is the best bet in my situation for a quick BA with a respectable sounding U? Maybe everyone will think I went to SUNY too...

I'll email them today.

Thanks again.
Jeff