please help an old soldier, are there any other ra schools like excelsior/charter oak

are there any other ra schools like excelsior and charter oak, that will let you earn a bachelors or masters degree by transfering in all previously earned credit and will not require a minimum number of courses taken with the school?????

during my military service i earned a lot of credit from several schools and i would like to be able to combine them toward one degree without having to take more classes is this possible with any ra school other than excelsior or charter oak??????

someone please help out an old soldier i need....

Thanks

 

Thomas Edison State College is another. By the way, why not just go through Excelsior or Charter Oak?

 

fellow soldier.

I transferred in 118 credit hours from Florida State and Nova Southeastern to Thomas Edison. I took one english course and viola! BA in Liberal Studies. Its a good racket.

 

I graduated from COSC and never took a class with them.

 

Here's my $.02 worth...

I get your point -- and it's a perfectly valid one, by the way -- but characterizations like that tend to inadvertently demean degrees earned by the method (and from the type of institutions that) you describe; and to also serve as fuel to the mill shills who decry regional accreditation and those who endorse it as the minimum standard of quality that any degree-seeker should require of any institution from which any degree should ever be obtained. While it is not a method that I've chosen, COSC's, Excelsior's and TESC's methodologies are perfectly valid ways of obtaining perfectly-legitimate, regionally-accredited college degrees. Characterizing them as a "racket" might cast some doubt on that in the minds of newbies around here... though I'm sure that wasn't your intention. Please don't misunderstand... I'm not finding fault with what you wrote so much as I'm just making sure that the reader doesn't misinterpret.

Finding any other institutions quite like COSC, TESC or Excelsior would be difficult. They saw a market niche and went after it. But being an institutional player in that market can be fraught with distracting complexities -- as anyone who's noticed a decline in the quality of customer service, and the tendancy of those institutions to sometimes treat students like mere numbers, will readily attest. Furthermore, many in academia wince at the COSC, TESC and Excelsior business model. So they may well be pretty much it when it comes to that kind of institution.

That said, there are many RA institutions out there with comparatively liberal credit transfer and graduation requirement policies. Some of them wear it right out on their sleeves, and others don't really want to talk about it much. My point is, if you look long enough and hard enough, you'll find other institutions that are nearly as attractive as COST, TESC or Excelsior for the reasons you cite.

One institution that I've talked about around here a few times, and which is one of my favorite RA undergrad institutions for those interested in fully D/L degree programs (and one that has expressly stated its interest in current and former military transfer students) is the regionally-accredited Southwestern College of Winfield, Kansas (owned and operated by the United Methodist Church... but not in a way that an online student -- or even most residential students -- would ever even notice).

Southwestern will accept just about any prior credit as long as it's accredited by an agency approved by the US Department of Education (USDE) and/or its Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA); and almost no matter how old it is. It allows someone to transfer into one of its nine fully-online, fully-regionally-accredited bachelors programs with as few as 30 hours of transferable credit -- including CLEP and DANTES credits; and even including nationally-accredited associates degrees... which includes, for example, any of the DETC-accredited AS degrees from Ashworth College, just to name one -- and they'll let you out with a 124-credit-hour BA or BS degree as long as few as 15 of the last 30 hours completed were obtained from Southwestern; and, for transfer students, as long as no fewer than 60 of the 124 hours were from a four-year-degree-granting institution. (See the college's graduation requirements web page for more details.)

Southwestern makes a point of talking, on its web site and in its catalog, about its military (and corporate) partnerships, and is expressly catering to current and/or former military types like you... among others, of course. (See its eArmyU.com page; and its McConnell AFB page; and its SOC Institution page.)

It's just an opinion, mind you, but I've always felt that Southwestern belonged right in there on the list alongside any other schools out there that are extremely flexible, but just shy of being quite as flexible as COSC, TESC or Excelsior -- particularly in light of the fact that it will accept nationally-accredited (particularly, DETC-accredited) associates degrees. Yet, it's rarely been mentioned around here... by anyone other than me, that is. Curious.

Anyway... hope that helps!

 

Understand what you are saying.

I certainly wasn't demeaning my own BA degree. But certainly it is an easier route than the b&m method that I earned the first 118 credits with.

I do think there is still a stigma about DL degrees. My FSU degree probably would have merited more respect than my TESC degree (even though only 3 credits came from TESC).

Nonetheless, I have become a big fan since I started my online MBA.

 

Re: Understand what you are saying.

And I certainly didn't think I had to write much more of a disclaimer than, "Please don't misunderstand... I'm not finding fault with what you wrote so much as I'm just making sure that the reader doesn't misinterpret," in order to keep you from thinking that I thought you were. But, alas, I guess I was wrong.

Easier? More convenient, perhaps. There's a difference.

Agreed... though there shouldn't be.

Did you mean "would have" or "should have?" The phrase "would have" usually portends a coming "but," but none appeared in your words, above. So did you mean "should have?" I'm not nitpicking or challenging you, by the way... or being sarcastic or anything like that. Seriously. I'm just trying to figure out precisely what you mean... nothing more.

Good for you! Good luck on that.

 

No you were not wrong. I was just qualifying my answer a little more.

No I would have to go with easier actually

Actually I probably should have said "would" and dropped the "have"

 

COSC/TESC/Excelsior Model

greenguy,

While there are many quality RA institutions offering very liberal transfer credit as part of their DL programs at the baccalaureate level, due to your military background, you should begin with the big three ... COSC, TESC, and Excelsior. The basic model from which these schools operate allow for a wide range of credit-earning options in addition to accepting transfer credits. An added plus is that all three deal with substantial number of military and former military personnel, as well as other municipal, state and federal government employees at various levels. Excelsior, to cite one example, grants 36 credit hours for graduates of the New York City Police Academy (barring duplicate credits, of course).

After seeing what going the big three have to offer and what it will take to earn the degree sought, you can look at some of the less publicized programs and make a comparison. One such school was recommended by DesElms, http://www.sckans.edu/online/. Another option may be a BGS program offered by a number of the large state universities in a DL format. These alternatives, while probably less frequently traveled by someone with an extensive military background such as yourself, may offer a particular program that suites your needs. Good luck!

 

Hmm. Now you've got me curious. Easier just by virtue of its being D/L (versus B&M) you think? I mean... I thought the consensus around here was that any given D/L course, generally, tends to be more difficult than its B&M counterpart if for no other reason than it requires more self-discipline on the part of the student; and there is probably (not always, but often) more reading involved. And some have cited other reasons, but I thought that at least those reasons were generally always true about D/L. No? I mean... that hasn't been your experience?

 

Out of curiosity, is it possible to transfer two masters degrees (RA)worth of credits toward a masters degree from any of theses institutions?

Would the value of these credits perhaps "earn", a degree, without further study?

 

Well sort of but not really (how's that for an answer ). Mostly I was just talking about TESC's coursework. I thought the process and the work extraordinarily easy. But maybe that was the class I took?

I do find my online MBA courses challanging at times, but I honestly cannot say that they are "more difficult" than a traditional B&M course.

One advantage of DL courses is that you can work on the coursework at anytime because, obviously, there are no set lecture times. I think this is also a disadvantage as sometimes you just need a lecture to clarify the material (as is statistics). Sometimes just reading a book is not enough. But that is me.

From a convenience factor, DL has B&M whooped, no question. But overall, I have to say that my B&M coursework was more difficult that my DL coursework...so far...

 

Perhaps the degree seems easier. I mean, by the time one goes to the big three, the bulk of the work that goes into a degree has already been done. It's just the easier bureaucratic wrangling with college administration and a few "mop up" classes left to be done. Things always seem easier to me once the hard work is done.

Just a thought.

 

My university (Northeastern Illinois University) and four other universities in the state (Western Illinois U., Chicago State U., Eastern Illinois U. and Governors State U.) offer the Board of Governors/Board of Trustees Bachelors program. Like the "big three", this program features a liberal transfer policy, opportunities for credit via different methods (e.g. CLEP/DANTES testing, portfolio evaluation, etc.) and the ability to declare (or not declare) a specific major.

The main difference with the "big three" is that our programs do have a residency requirement which, depending upon the institution, can be as little as 15 units. However, the residence requirement can be met by taking courses at any of the five participating universities (including DL courses), so you could do the entire program via distance learning without having to come to class). The BOG/BOT programs are a nice popular alternative to the "big three" programs.

We also have a program called University Without Walls, which is an individualized learning contract program.

You can get some information about the programs at http://www.neiu.edu/Nontrad.htm and even more by calling (773) 442-6030

It is nice to live in a time where we have so many choices in higher education. Best of luck in your search.

Tony Pina
Administrator, Northeastern Illinois University

 

Since you've only took one class, of course it was the class you took. Duh!

My wife is taking her accounting classes, and I am duly impressed by their level of difficulty. Honestly, good chunk of my graduate CS coursework was easier (for me at least). On the other hand, Excelsior's Info Literacy class was easy.

 

Is she doing the accounting classes via DL? Is so, where?

I'm looking for "backup" course alternatives in case I fail some of my challenge exams for the Excelsior accounting degree.

Thanks!
-Jassen

 

A funny smell; and eternal vigilance...

Has anyone else noticed that "old sarge" (greenguy) has started three threads here on basically the same subject; that he never posts follow-ups in this or any of the threads he's started; and that at least two of his thread-starting posts have really hit hard the whole "without doing any work" thing?

The "big three" have always been a target of the mill shills here and (mostly) in other fora who cite (and completely wrongly, I might add) said "big three" as examples of regionally-accredited institutions that they say are no better than their own unaccredited, credit-for-life-experience-oriented shams in the hope that newbies and others who don't know the differences (and why said differences are so meaningful) might sign-up with them for alot less money instead of paying more and taking more time to get it done the right way at one of the regionally-accredited "big three."

Were I one of them; and knowing how unsuccessful millishism around here tends to be, and how short-lived tend to be the logins of those who practice it right out in the open here, I might be temped, indeed, to couch my millishism in seemingly thoughtful, innocent, and carefully-worded questions such as old sarge (greenguy) is asking...

...and, just to keep it front-and-center, I, too, would start a new thread every time I asked. (See this thread, and this one... both in addition to the one you're reading right now... all three started by greenguy who, at this writing, has only those three posts to his username here).

Just observin'... and thinkin'... and sayin'... for what it's worth.

 

Yessss DesElms,
I'm sure everyone has noticed.....an indiscriminate passion for bigness
-Gavin

 

LSU www.is.lsu.edu . Quite incredibly cheap and, as far as I can tell, has all the courses in accounting to actually graduate from Excelsior with Accounting degree. That's our plan for the next three or four months, anyway.

 

Please... don't hold back

Meaning?