Seeking schools... heeelp :(

Over the past week I've been researching various institutes that offer Distance Learning programs that fit my needs and I've been unable to find any that are a perfect match... This is what I'm looking for:

1. Independent Study (No meeting people in central locations for group projects or exams preferably, schedule doesn't provide enough time.)
2. Low Tuition (In the <$20,000 range.)
3. Quality Education (I want the best I can get, obviously)
4. Associate or Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration / Management
5. Regionally Accreditted Online-Only Program

Now, about me...

- Dependency: Dependent Student
- Education: GED
- Age: 18 (19 at the time of enrollment)
- Gender: Male

Schools I've considered, favor, and passed over:

- University of Phoenix: One of my two top-picks for the moment, the only snag is the tuition cost. With my discount I'm looking at $19,760 for an Associate's degree and much, much, much more for a Bachelor's.

- Columbia Southern University: Seems like a perfect fit, another discounted tuition for me. Would be approx. $11,500 for Associate and Bachelor's (total: $23,000). The only snag is them not being regionally accredited (only accredited by the DETC/CHEA).

- Liberty University: Also a pretty good looking school with $15,600 for Associate / Bachelor (combined: $31,200). Problem? Evangelical institution, with three religious courses required. I have no problem with religion, I'm just not a religious person and I'm looking to get the most out of my investment... So I'd prefer all academic / business related classes.

- Kaplan University: Approx. $35,000 for Bachelor's (with a 16% discount). Little on the high side in my eyes.

- Capella University: Approx. $32,500 for Bachelor's (with 10% discount).

Not sure what a good price on these are... if you think that one of the schools I've listed is reasonably priced, just say so.

So, I've come here in hopes of being pointed in the direction of a institution that can provide what I need at a reasonable rate. First hand experience with schools you provide would be a huge plus.

 

Hi,

Check out Peru State College. Peru is a regionally accredited liberal arts college in Nebraska. They offer an online B.S. in Business Administration, w/ concentrations in Marketing, Accounting, Human Performance and System Management and Computer and MIS.

Tuition is very reasonable at $168.50/credit.

University of Phoenix will not meet your needs, as a group project is required for nearly every course.

Good Luck!

Tom

 

Have you looked at Northcentral? They meet all of your criteria except the <$20000. The tuition is $275/hr for a Bachelors so the undiscounted BS is at $33000. They do offer some discounts. I just started the MBA program there and I am happy with it.

 

IMHO, all of the above are too pricy in my opinion for a BSBA or related degree. Check out:

http://www.geteducated.com/rankings/best_bachelorsbm.asp

You can reduce the cost further by using CLEP exams or transfering credits from a community college (such as Clovis CC) in New Mexico.

I am a current Capella University Ph.D. learner - and while I am extremely satisfied with my choice, for a BSBA, you can earn that degree for far less money.

Shawn

 

You just gave me another 25 schools to research... I'm going to go cry, lol.

To Japhy- I'm reading over their site now.
To Maw- NCU also seems to be a religiously influenced institute, but none-the-less I'll still check into it!

 

If I were investigating schools on that list - I would start with the University of Wyoming. UW's business program is accredited by AACSB - something that only 10 - 15% of schools have.

Shawn

 

If you're good as self study, likes GED that you got. Then you should start taking CLEP, FEMA, and DANTES exams. Those ways, you can save lot of time and money. Then apply to one of the BIG THREE. Another school that I would recommend you is Troy University, where you can bank up to 60 credits.

 

Have you considered a local community college. They are usually cheaper and easy to work with. Most community colleges offer associate degrees online that you could pick up for about $4 or 5K.

 

Well, I've checked into the local universities. For me that'd be OSU & OU. OU doesn't provide an online course in the area I want, and OSU doesn't classify online students as full-time. I want to go beyond an Associate's degree, Bachelor at the minimum most likely an MBA/DBA by the time I'm done. Not sure if it'd be more cost effective to use a CC for my pre-baccalaureate studies or not.... I'll check into it.

I'll also check into the other ideas posted, a big thanks to Capella Rocks, I'll check out UW asap.

 

I research NCU and took one course there - I never found anything religous about NCU.

 

I'm not sure I have any prior experience that would be of use on CLEP, but if scoring high enough eliminates some of those boring general studies courses I'm all for it.

As far as FEMA and DANTES, I'm not sure what FEMA is other than Federal Emergency Management Agency... DANTES is a mililtary-related exam from what I remember.

To clarify,

 

Actually, there are two schools with very similar names. Ian was referring to Northcentral University, which is commonly referred to as NCU around here, not to be confused with the religious North Central University.

Northcentral's website is www.ncu.edu

 

North Central / Northcentral

Wrong Northcentral.

North Central University (www.northcentral.edu) is a religious institution of higher learning in Minneapolis.

Northcentral University (www.ncu.edu) is a for-profit institution of higher learning in Prescott Valley, Arizona.

basrsu

 

Here is the link to the University of Wyoming's online business degree. Note it is designed to enter into after completing the associates degree...

http://business.uwyo.edu/MGTMKT/info.asp?p=1894

How do you do that:

CLEP
Online Community College Courses (Clovis Community College is a great place to start)
Correspondence courses from LSU or U Wyo.

Fortunato can tell you more about the UW program - he has a degree from there that he used to get into Duke's B-grad school.

About CLEP - TEKMAN is right. A motivated person can crank out CLEP credit relatively quickly. My 15 year old has 9 credits through CLEP.

Shawn

Shawn

 

Both the CLEP and the DANTES/DSSP sites give a summary of test content plus recommmend test preparation info (books). Anyone can take the DANTES/DSSP tests (pereferably after studying for them).
http://www.getcollegecredit.com/resources.html#readiness.

You got FEMA right - they offer courses that can be used for college credit (do a search on this site for more info).

 

Well that certainly clears things up, lol! I'll check back tomorrow before work, thanks for all the great resources so far... keep the suggestions coming though, I've still got two months to debate!

 

I think I'm going to pursue my A.A.B. first and then just transfer it to a university when I finish... a local uni has it available online for about $11,500 (~$190/hr).

Question though, once I start pursuing my BSBA which major should I go for? I was thinking either

* Management
* Retail Management
* International Business
* Entrepreneurship

Not sure what I'm going to do once I get my degree, I'm working at Wal-Mart right now (it's actually not a bad place to work!) so I may just take a promotion for the time being so I can get settled in (just moved here recently). After that, who knows.

 

Apparently Edit disappeared, just wanted to clarify.. I was looking at the wrong school on my list when I wrote that... should probably go to bed... Anyways, I was looking at the A.S.B.A. from Connors State College (www.connorsstate.edu), which is about $4665 (@$77.75/hr).

 

It depends on what you are studying.

Some programs of study have few accredited distance learning programs.

For instance, I am currently seeking a Masters in Electrical Engineering and found that only Walden University offers this.

 

Walden offers through National Technological University. Some of the courses are taught at Southern Methodist University.