Information Overload

This place is a gold mine for information on online education. Much thanks goes to the people who spend the time to share. I have been lurking and researching for awhile but frankly I am overwhelmed with all the good info and was hoping for some advice on choosing a school or at least a short enough list to continue my research.

I will be going for a Bachelors in Business Admin/Accounting (will eventually go for CPA)
I have obtained 86 credit hours from a 4 year university here in Michigan(EMU) so I need a school that is transfer friendly.
It is hard to decifer the best quality (most bang for the buck), although I want to spend as little as possible, I do not just want to go the cheapest route if I am compromising the quality of education or the reputation percieved by the business/ corporate world.
So I am looking for transferability of credits, overall quality/affordability, and perception.
From this forum these are the schools I feel I should look into further. I went on their websites just to get a brief idea of what they have to offer.Would you guys eliminate or add to this list at all?

Peru State College
Thomas Edison State College
Excelsior College
University of Illinois-Springfield (seem expensive for out of state students)
Northcentral

 

Peru to me is a good option if you decide to become a CPA and then Excelsior, since both address the issue for the CPA requirements to the letter. NCU is a bit soft at the bachelor's level accounting. Although NCU is understanding that accounting is the way to go for globalization and accounting in the US and has come with better curriculum at the graduate level.

Hope this help!

 

Very helpful, thank you

 

Where are you located?

Be careful because Excelsior's rules are for NY CPAs. TX, for instance, forbids the use of distance learning above a certain threshold.

Have you checked your state board yet? They have a website with requirements for education listed. You want to start there.

 

I would drop Northcentral for the cost. The other schools on your list are better and cheaper options, IMO.

 

Indiana State University has a nice looking program too.

http://www1.indstate.edu/degreelink/business-administration.html

 

Agree for the undergraduate level. Also to mention no possibility for financial aid.

 

Are you sure about this? I thought they have etution for distance learning regardless of residency.

"E-TUITION:
UIS has a special tuition rate that applies only to online courses. This rate is termed "electronic tuition," or simply "E-tuition." The following students will qualify for E-tuition:

All Illinois residents who have applied and been admitted as a degree-seeking student in an online program and take only online courses.
All non-residents of Illinois who have applied and been admitted as a degree-seeking student in an online program and take only online courses.
Non-residents of Illinois who do not meet the criteria itemized in (2) above are charged out-of-state tuition rates when they enroll in online courses. For the Spring 2009 semester, the E-tuition rates are:

Undergraduate (Non-guaranteed): $229.25 per credit hour
Undergraduate (SM04, FL04, SP05): $160.00 per credit hour
Undergraduate (SM05, FL05, SP06): $160.00 per credit hour
Undergraduate (SM06, FL06, SP07): $201.00 per credit hour
Undergraduate (SM07, FL07, SP08): $232.00 per credit hour
Undergraduate (SM08, FL08, SP09): $275.00 per credit hour
Graduate: $283.25 per credit hour
"


URL: http://www.uis.edu/registration/tuition/springtuition09.htm#etuition

 

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Just curious, so far in, why not finish at EMU? You wouldn't loose anything in transfer, and they seem to offer a large number of online classes.

A serious error can be getting into another program that is going to reset you back another 2 years. That's valuable time and money you could be using on your CPA and or MBA.

 

Hmm... isn't Saskatchewan in IL? ;-) Why not have have an e-tuition for everyone that's interested in pursuing a degree there? *gripe*

 

In Michigan, I already checked out the CPA exam info and it didn't seem to say anything about Dl. I will look into it further to make sure.

 

Thank you, I will check them out

 

Alright now, I am glad you mentioned this, I didn't realize that colleges would drop rates for e-students although they are out-of-state. I just briefly looked over their tuition and fees, obviously did not dig deep enough, thank you.

 

I hear you, I do not want to lose time or money. My credits are all over the map though and are not it the business/accounting arena (mostly general eds + couses towards a teaching degree) I did take some online courses with EMU, which I loved, however, I spoke with an accounting professor there and she said they don't offer accounting online courses and they do not plan to (she really frowned on the idea of it). I stopped going two years ago and college is not possible for me unless I can do it at home in the middle of the night, because I teach/care for my 4 children during the day and waitress at night. A friend I work with recently started going to Uof P so I started thinking maybe I could possibly do this if I could do it online.

 

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As a homeschool mother of 4 children myself, I know how hard it is to give up sleep You'll notice it's after midnight as I type this! I did nearly all of my study time while the kids were off at karate practice with Dad, or on weekends when my hubby was home and gave me a "break" so I could do school.

You can do online learning- it's different than a classroom, but it is totally doable and according to the dept of ed website, 98% of public colleges offer classes online! I have taken 15 classes for credit online so far (4 sources) and they are all a little different

I don't know anything about accounting- so I won't go there- but I beg you to do a lot of research before choosing UofP for your bachelor's degree. I won't even go into it, maybe you could search the forum archives here.

If you're set on accounting, accept the wise advice of those here who have walked that road. Anything with laws can be sticky.

If your unsure or not 100% set on becoming a CPA, you might consider a degree from one of the big 3 (one of 3 schools in the country which have no residency) they will accept all of your credit (as long as it fits into your degree plan) and also they allow you to test out of an unlimited amount of courses for CHEAP (assuming a test exists for the course you need!) I tested out of most of my gen ed classes here locally and sent them in. That saved me thousands of dollars. (it's not as hard as it sounds). I started from scratch and did my whole AA and BA in 18 months.
Here is where I went: www.tesc.edu
Here are the tests I used: www.collegeboard.com (CLEP exams)
and www.getcollegecredit.com (DSST/DANTES exams)

 

Hey, wait a minute! I think I contributed to an old Acounting thread way back, something like thread number 19XXX. I'll go look for it.

EDIT: And here it is! Associate's, bachelor's, master's and doctorates in accounting via distance learning: http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19406 .

 

Very, very helpful, thank you. I did do a search on accounting but I never came across this, thanks again.

 

Originally I was thinking of Uof P, have already been in touch with a counselor but after coming to this site I changed my mind, quickly! I never realized you could test out of so many courses! It makes me sick to think how much money I have spent on college so far! Thank you for the advice I have a lot of researching to do to make sure I go the right course.

 

Just a thought, since you live in Michigan you may wish to look into Baker College's BBA in Accounting.

It may be a little expensive but I would assume it is a well recognized name in Michigan.

 

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Hey, you are here, and there IS a gold mine of info. You'll find a great road that works for you I owe my degree to this board. (ok, so they didn't do my homework for me...but you get my drift!)