Best option for an undecided teen?

I'm looking for some recommendations for online programs for my son.

He graduated HS last year and is ready to go back, but would prefer to do online study. He's still not sure what he wants to pursue though so he wants to start with Gen Ed courses and then switch to a BSc program once he figures it out more.

I'm thinking that Excelsior is the best choice, but would love some input from the board if this is the best option.

The questions/requirements then would be:
Is an AA the best choice, or maybe enroll in a BSc in say, Business, and then transfer to a different program later if he decides?
Financial Aid must be available
Regionally-accredited is preferred

Thanks in advance.

 

Your local community college probably offers online classes. It's pretty much guaranteed to accept financial aid, be regionally accredited, and be cheap. If your son has no idea what he wants to do, is just looking to fill general education requirements, and doesn't want to do CLEP/DSST tests, then you're going to be hard pressed to find a better deal, plus you have the advantage of being able to go to campus and use the library, meet with advisors and teachers, etc. As far a specific programs go, you're probably looking at something like this AA offered by Johnston Community College in Smithfield, NC. (I'm only pointing the AA out as an example, not recommending your son go to JCC.)

There are some community colleges that are favorites with some of the "locals" here, including Clovis CC and others, and they're worth checking out, but IMNSHO, if the price advantage for Clovis over your local CC isn't just absolutely amazing, I'd buy locally. I'd also recommend your son seriously consider preparing for and taking CLEP and DSST exams - it's a cheap way to build credit relatively quickly.

Best of luck to your son!

 

What state are you in? Many have excellent online courses at the community college level. If your state does not, there are a few states that offer in-state tuition to all online courses taken by out-of-state residents.

Additionally, if your son did well in high school and is the inquisitive/intellectual type, he might well consider doing CLEP/DANTES/ECE exams and earning an associates degree almost entirely by exam; he could then transfer the associates degree to whatever school he decides to attend and have all of his general ed stuff out of the way quickly and at low cost.

It really depends on what he's after.

 

I agree that the community college route is probably the best and is lower in cost than the other options you are suggesting. Although it would be even cheaper, your son would have to be quite self-disciplined to study on his own and then take CLEP or DANTES tests to earn a self-study degree. Most fresh high school grads I know of do not have that much self-discipline, yours could be an exception.

My daughter chose to go to community college just because she is frugal. She approached me to say that she thought that doing 100 and 200 series classes at an expensive school is a waste of money. She has now just finished her AA at our community college with with a very high GPA and plans to go to one of the UC schools. UCLA or UCI probably. She has saved me probably $40 to $50K with her wisdom.

 

I agree strongly with what everyone else suggested.

A few other things to consider, a community college, unlike a 4 year university, offers career driven training. Associate and certificate degree options right out of the gate. For instance, perhaps your son is in an online class locally and interacts with Mary Smith, who is in the Landscape program. Then he interacts with Bill Jones who is in the Respiratory Care program, and Jim Jones who is pre-law. His discussions with these students may prompt him to consider various career paths that he hasn't yet considered. Some of these programs will be face to face, but a community college student has the best of both worlds!! You can mix and match, and your transcript doesn't even say "online" or anything. So, it's a very conservative suggestion- but one that I agree with.

Generally speaking, any 2 year degree leads to a 4 year degree. The amount of credit that transfers depends on the program, but if your son is considering a school like Excelsior, then he will likely be able to roll any area of interest into a 4 year degree in the future. He needs to get his momentum going- start with 1 CLEP this summer, then strictly general education courses for fall, and see how he feels next semester.
So, add my vote to the "shop local" group.

CLEP, something else I strongly suggest, allows him to earn general education credit without enrolling anywhere. You pay cash, and just start logging credit. At less than $100 per "class" it's very inexpensive.

 

One caution: be sure not to enroll in an AAS (Associate of Applied Science) degree program if you intend to pursue a four-year degree.

Most of the time, the majority of the credits in an AAS are technical, and they may not transfer to a four year school.

 

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You missed the point and just derailed my suggestion. I read all of the words the poster wrote, and I thoughtfully and carefully made a suggestion based on my extensive familiarity with AAS/AOS programs, community colleges, and Excelsior.

Enrolling in a AAS/AOS wasn't my suggestion. Excelsior (the school in this thread) accepts technical credit in their BSc. My suggestion was to
1) Take gen ed classes
2) Expose the child to careers --> consider possibilities for future
3) Know that the specific program in this conversation DOES accept tech credit IF the poster goes for the 4 year degree at some point in the future.

 

I agree with what has been said above. However some introductory/elementary community college courses may not applicable to an associates degree or transferable to a four year school.

I would also recommend taking a first course in a subject that your son is interested in or has some knowledge of. This will get him up to speed on distance learning practices.

 

I didn't say that it was your suggestion. I just wanted to add this information for the benefit of the OP. If the student does not want to pursue a degree at Excelsior, then he needs to be careful about technical credit.

I didn't intend to offend.

IMO, someone who is his early adult life probably benefits most from a traditional degree or a degree from a B&M school, even if online.

As a side note, I think that it is best for a young individual to have a traditional college experience. Non-traditional forms of education are great, but there is something transformative about traditional education as a young adult that I think non-traditional education lacks. For older adults, it's not as important.

 

Although my teenage daughter earned an AA online as part of homeschool, had an affordable local option been available for her I would have taken it. So my vote is to try the local community college if it makes financial sense.

 

I agree 100%.

There are schools that will accept an AAS degree, but the choices are slim. I'm currently working on opening up some more options for myself after I learned how hard it can be to transfer an AAS degree. I decided to work on gen eds until I figure out what I want.

 

This is pretty much what I would suggest. Since he's recently out of high school he should have retained a good bit of what he learned. This would make for very little study time for most of the gen ed cleps/dsst's. Good luck!

 

To go a little more in depth with this Bellevue ( Bellevue University | Real Learning for Real Life ) and TESC (Thomas Edison State College) will both take an AAS in mostly a full transfer. Hope this helps...

 

Thanks to all of you. I knew I could expect some great advice and help from this board.
My son and I will be visiting the local Comm College this week to get him enrolled.

 

Although I agree there may be some limitation on transfering credit from an AAS/AOS program, I believe Cookderosa made a good point about your son's ability to network with other students may lead to new career choices. Because of this many community colleges have articulation agreements with 4 year schools that ensure that the credits earned will transfer completely when they move on to the 4 year school.

 

Jen is correct - some schools (including my community college) has articulation agreements, including some of our AAS programs.

Shawn

 

Whenever I meet someone who is undecided about what to study, I suggest management. Just about every field requires a management skills at some point. It's a good all-purpose degree to have.

 

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Thanks. It's funny though, because I specifically said (repeatedly) in my post for him to take only GENERAL EDUCATION courses.

Yes, all public community colleges have articulation agreements. As a holder of an AOS/AAS degree, I assure you there are limitations-even inside of articulation agreements. Anyone who has been on this board for more than 10 minutes knows that I'm very vocal about the cautions of AOS/AAS degrees. I'm just still wondering how my post was misconstrued. Wait, that's a lie. I'm not.