Assembling the least expensive regionally accredited degree via exam/portfolio

I was doing some research yesterday and trying to figure out what the least expensive option would be for completing a regionally accredited bachelor's degree via portfolio or exam-based credits with one of the Big 3. I was surprised that there doesn't seem to be any detailed discussion of this issue in our archive, and not much of anywhere else I can find online either.

Five or six years ago, it was easy: take the unlimited flat-rate at TESC, and use portfolio and exams, and get your degree for about $3500 plus exam costs. But TESC has done away with the flat rate option (or, rather, limited it to a maximum of 36 credits per year) so now it doesn't seem like there are any clear answers.

From my cursory review, TESC seems to charge a fairly hefty fee (80/credit) for granting credits from CLEP and DANTES exams, in addition to the cost of the exams themselves ($95/test for 3 credit ones, plus an admin fee), so it looks like the cost per credit for credit-by-exam is around $115 per credit for CLEP and DANTES, slightly less for the GRE Subject exams.

It wasn't clear from Charter Oak's pricing whether they charge on a *per-exam* or a *per credit* basis for granting credits based on exams. If it's per exam, then they are significantly less than TESC, but if it's per credit, it's the same.

And then Excelsior was even more confusing, because I couldn't find any clear reference to what they charge (if anything) for granting credits based on exams, other than the charges to update your transcript, which are negligible ($25 for updating, regardless of how many scores or transcripts they update.)

It also looks like portfolio credits have a similar pricing structure at all three schools.

Has anyone looked at this in detail? Are there other ways to earn credits very inexpensively (less than $50 per credit?) At one time Chemeketa offered a ton of courses at $15 per credit hour (their in-state rate) to all DL students, but they seem to have done away with that.

Lawrie Miller addressed costs to some extent on his BAin4weeks.com site, but it doesn't look like it has been updated much in about 5 years.

I have several friends who are looking to complete degrees, and was surprised that I couldn't find any detailed discussion of this. So perhaps we can start one in this thread.

 

For California residents the community college tuition cost of $22 per semester unit is hard to beat (I'm expecting that to increase significantly with California's fiscaless).

 

Excelsior doesn't charge for updates. You only paid the initial enrollment fee and the 440 annual service fees. I had quite a few updates and there is no charge.

Excelsior Charges:
05/27/2007 Undergraduate application fee $75.00
06/25/2007 MIL Enrollment $845.00
05/16/2008 Student SVCS Annual fee $440.00
02/20/2009 BUS 495 - Business Strategy $900.00
next week paying graduation fee $495.00

Total Excelsior charges $2,755

Prior to signing up with Excelsior, I contacted them to see if they accept ACE credits and wanted to pursue my SCLA (Senior Claims Law Association) designation and they advised based on those courses and my Program in General Insurance, I would satisfy all of my upper division courses and have 30 units toward my degree. I thought that was a great deal because my employer paid for those courses.

I also took 42 units at my local community colleges in California. Since I qualified for the BOG waiver, the tuition is free. I also had 15 units of CLEP that was sent to Excelsior and was not charged to get those added.

The other courses I took as follows:
MGMT 311 Operations and quality management at Colorado State University - Pueblo $495

Took CJS105 Ethics in Criminal Justice and FIN101 Financial Management at Penn Foster. I think those classes was 270 each.

My employer paid for everything except for enrollment fee, annual service fee, and graduation fee.

Joe

 

Ian, thanks for that... the California $22 per credit hour is indeed a steal -- and if you are a low-income student, there is a fee waiver that gets the $22 down to $0 I think, one of my friends did that.

I was more after exam or portfolio-based credits, simply because the degree can be earned a lot more quickly that way, and that's what my friend is after. Of course, if the California system allows one to exam out of the classes and earn the credit, which I know some schools do, that could work and be the best of both worlds.

Joe, do you know specifically if Excelsior charges any per-credit or per-exam charge to take the scores for CLEP and DANTES and grant credits for them? TESC and COSC both charge; TESC on a per-credit-hour for every exam, so a 3 credit DANTES costs like $240 plus exam fees. COSC appears to charge a flat $75 per exam to grant the credits, but I can't tell if Excelsior does, and when I called the "Admissions Department", I got some offshore call center with somebody who knew nothing.

 

I think BOG waiver in California is for both low income and people who qualify for financial aid. I made over 60K last year and still qualified for the waiver. You just file for financial aid and enter the school code for the school you plan to enroll at http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ Even if you don't qualify for any grants but just loans you should still receive an email from financial at your school saying to complete the BOG application and will get the waiver. Of course, that is only students living in California.

As for college credits, I just paid the initial 75 dollar application fee and had all of my credits from schools I completed over the past 20 years, to include sending the ACE transcript for my SCLA and AICPCU "Program in General Insurance." Initially, I paid the enrollment fee and I signed up for the BS in Liberal Arts at Excelsior and was told they would accept 93 credits and I think I needed like 6 upper level GE and 32 lower GE credits to get my degree. I ended up changing my major to BS in General Business because I was considering an MBA noticed quite a few preq. courses I had to complete. As I took CLEP and other courses I just had those submitted directly to the school. Matter fact, where I took the CLEP exam, I just put the school code for Excelsior in and those grades would get sent automatically to Excelsior within a few weeks. I forgot to mention, if you change your major you would have to pay an $80 fee to switch.

I was looking at the fee schedule and think the $25 dollar for updates is in reference to the College Bank that Excelsior has. When I was enrolled in my BS in General Business, I counted over 22 updates during the time I was taking courses. I also spoke with the business advisor and was told the portfolio is only for people who want to challenge courses they have left to get their degree. For example, after I sign up for BS in General Business and told some of the classes I have left to complete is Introduction to Management and Financial Management, and some upper division elective courses, I would use the portfolio to challenge those courses as part of my work. Basically, you would complete reports showing what you have learned based. I was told that was not needed for me, because the courses I took were on ACE.

Joe

 

That is highway robbery, plain and simple. $240 to transcript a CLEP? What in the world do they have to do to get the test results into their student info system? I understand that it takes money to run the school, but TESC already charges the highest fees out of the Big 3. What are they doing with all that money, saving up for a flying car?

 

Hi Chip,

Excelsior does not charge any per-credit or per-exam fees for accepting the CLEP or TECEP exams. I have first hand knowledge regarding this, as I just graduated this past April with an A.S. in Liberal Studies. I transferred in one CLEP and one TECEP exam (both taken after I enrolled in the school) and they did not charge any fees.

 

We did a cost comparison on another forum a few months ago to discuss the cheapest degree possible from one of the Big 3. Some of these fees may have changed a bit since, and COSC now has added a capstone course requirement that will increase the price of a degree from there. Still, here's the link where it was discussed.

Hope that helps!

 

TESC CLEP fees are ZERO

"That is highway robbery, plain and simple. $240 to transcript a CLEP? What in the world do they have to do to get the test results into their student info system? I understand that it takes money to run the school, but TESC already charges the highest fees out of the Big 3. What are they doing with all that money, saving up for a flying car?"
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This is not correct- I just finished my BSBA Mgmt with TESC. You do pay $80 a credit for TECEP tests if you are out-of-state, but nothing other than enrollment fees to transcript CLEP or DSST credits. I took 11 CLEP/DSST exams for 36 credits. I only paid the approx $75 fee to CLEP or DSST, and the approx $15 proctor fee to my local CC and UofP test centers. My 4 TECEP exam cost me $240 ea for 3 credits; my 1 guide study class was the standard $175 per = $525 for 3 credits.

My total expense for 51 semester hours including the $2550 enrollment fee, books and graduation fee was about $5600.....that does NOT include the $120 spent for IC- EASILY THE BEST MONEY I HAVE EVER SPENT IN MY LIFE!

 

I'm really glad to have the clarifications. It didn't make a lot of sense to me, but I also have noticed that TESC's fees have gone up outrageously in the past 4 or 5 years.

ANd thanks for the comparision, Alissa... lots of good info there.