Bummer: Excelsior wants 6 more credits for me to graduate

I've been informed I need another humanities class and another social studies class. Apparently the requirements have changed since I developed my degree path. It's a sad day for me--had to fight the urge to break the computer.

On a brighter note I thought that the A+ and N+ were worth only one credit and they are giving me two for both, additionally the N+ and an ALEKS course are being counted as upper level, big step forward in my 4 year degree goals. It looks like I'll only need to use 9 FEMA classes, very helpful as far as money goes.

Another thing I've been considering is switching to TESC, since FEMA is free and it turns out I have to take additional classes for EC after all. The benefit of EC has declined to the point I no longer know which school would be better--but I'm pretty sure TESC would be cheaper and that makes a big differance.


Does anybody have an accurate and modern degree outline for the Excelsior College A.S. program? I was going to call them today but forgot about the time difference. I'm also looking for the structure of their liberal arts bachelors degree. Links appreciated if available. I would like to have my homework done before I call tomorrow, just in case there was a mistake and they don't see it.

 

Lets say that you'd have to come up with 15 credits... (figure the 6 and 9 to cover the FEMA instead of paying $76 PER CREDIT to have them washed so EC will take them). You could do that in 3-4 CLEPS at ~$80 each + a sitting fee (possibly). I'm still trying to figure out how $2900 enrollment & technology services fee is 'cheaper' than $895 enrollment + $495 graduation + (lets say you do 5 cleps) $400 + $100 CLEP sitting fees (usually around 10-$20, lets say $20) = $1890.

Nope... Not seeing it...

 

The LS catalog with lots of detail can be downloaded from the EC website.

I do not see any changes in the last couple of years. If you know of any could you please list them?
Thanks.

 

Is this still the case? I thought I'd read somewhere that they were moving away from that and you actually needed 300+ classes for upper level?

 

From what I've read TESC now has 300+ level requirements in some programs while others haven't converted over yet.

 

Sorry to hear this - hopefully you can resolve this without too much hassle.

One piece of advice I give to anyone doing an Excelsior degree is to get EVERYTHING approved in writing, including your degree plan, etc.

I was hit with something like this back in 2004 when I was almost completed - they wanted to deny one of my exams as their requirements had changed but I had written proof saying they approved my degree plan so they backed down.

Excelsior, from year to year, is always changing their degree requirements but should grandfather people in if you get approval beforehand. Have you tried pushing back to them, especially if you have any written approval from one of the academic advisors?

 

I am deeply sorry for disappearing a couple days after starting a thread, I've been busy working on my fixer-upper condo and painted a kitchen, bathrooms and cabinets recently and didn't get a chance to really follow up. Thanks for all the good responses!
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Just got off the phone with Excelsior. Good news and bad! First of all, no changes have been made to the degree structure. They made two mistakes one during the review and one prior. One I can do something about, and one I cannot.

The mistake during the review was not fully explained, but they acknowledge that I actually only need one class, not two as stated by the review. The reason I need to take another class is because they cannot split up my AP test amongst two categories. Their 2nd mistake: I called and asked them if they could do just that, once it was the primary concern of the call and the other time an afterthought, both times they said it would be fine.

So I guess it's a fairly minor set-back.

(Just looked at all SL's newest ACE reviewed courses, I don't think any of them will work, sad day)

 

TMW: Thanks, I did not know TESC's fees were THAT outrageous. Nonetheless, I believe that I'll probably take the easy road and use FEMA, frankly, I grow tired of the college game and am just ready to be done (for the time being) .

IAN: My mistake, no change.
https://my.excelsior.edu/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=b208fe9f-2bdf-460d-996c-b179a1efc21b&groupId=78666

GuitarMark: They told me I would be grandfathered in, but you are right. I wonder how much hassle it is to get things in writing from EC? What was your experience?

Steve/DL/TMW: That is actually very interesting. I wonder how that would play into my potential four year degree? I believe that with FEMA included I would be a senior (or very nearly) at TESC, perhaps a 4 year degree isn't outside my foreseeable reach, getting upper level credit is the biggest obstacle, straighterline would probably provide all remaining lower level credit for a minimal cost if I only needed a handful of UL credit I could actually sort that out fairly easily. I'm almost tempted to sign up for SL just in case and crank out a few science classes before my new job starts at the end of January....just in case. Last time I got 12 credits for about $200, but that was one of the worst months of my life, never have I worked so hard, but if I could pull out 9 credits, what would that imply for a 4 yr from TESC?

 

One of the reasons employers like to hire people with degrees is that they managed to successfully navigate college bureaucracies in order to obtain their degree.

 

Pretty simple actually - every (and I mean EVERY) time you speak with them about your degree plan or graduation requirements ask for an email confirmation. Actually, I rarely spoke with them but mostly emailed so I had an audit trail?

 

One problem that he faces is that this was the unofficial evaluation. As we know, with EC nothing is concrete until you pony up the enrollment fee.

 

I'm in somewhat of the same boat, but I'm hoping to fix some of the problem.

I needed 15 hours years ago when I first sent my transcripts to EC--which was still part of the NY state system at the time. I knew I would need 3 more because I had all of my upper level hours but I would need the Capstone.

But when my transcript review came back this week they say I need 27 hours total. I nearly died, until I started looking and found:

2 classes that weren't counted with the note 'course content will be reviewed upon enrollment' (Econ 2030--Economic Principles and Econ 2035--Money, Banking and Macro Economics). Both of these classes were accepted before, so I'm thinking that they will be accepted again.

English Lit 202--second half of British Lit survey class, listed as a duplicate course. It's not, but someone has posted the wrong course number for the first half of the course (Eng 2233 listed instead of Eng 2223) so now I have to get a copy of that transcript sent to me so that I can see if the JC I took it at typed in the wrong number, or if EC keypunched in the wrong number.

I certainly hope that the accept my 2 Econ classes again in the Applied Professional category and that I can get this English Lit problem straightened out--that's 9 hours I don't want to have to pay for again!

 

Thanks everybody. I'll be in touch when I have a plan!
Good luck Ann, that would have scared me to death, I probably would have died before getting to the explanation part of the document.

 

Respond as soon as you can, hoping to sign up today! Thank you all!

What's a known ACE reviewed Penn Foster Humanities or Social Science 3 credit class that someone here found quick and enjoyable, ideally interesting and useful? Preferably without proctoring as I'm on something of a tight schedule (need to have the course issued, done, and transfered to EC by end of January if at all possible so I can focus on my new job).

I'm frustrated by the ACE database because the credit recommendations never simply say "humanities" or "social science" they say that a consumer behavior course is a consumer behavior category so I'm never 100% sure if it counts or not towards what I need.

Thanks!

 

Subjects that count as either humanities or social science are listed on page 15/16 of the EC School of Liberal Arts catalog.

Penn Foster lists its Humanities and SS courses in its catalog
http://www.pennfostercollege.edu/pdf/college_catalog.pdf
I do not see Consumer behavior listed in either category.

If you have any doubt about a course check with EC for approval prior to committing time and money.

 

For PF Humanities I completed Art Appreciation and Introduction to Literature. I enjoyed the coursework of the Intro. to Literature more (reading, answering questions) but remember having to rush on the final (I think the proctor misunderstood the time allotment). I don't remember the final for Art Appreciation being overly difficult, kind of uneventful if you will.

 

I was in such a rush I made a very poor post. I've already taken art and music appreciation. Literature would have been a great idea, unfortunately, I've taken the AP Lit test and I think they would duplicate. Somebody suggested psych and it's ACE reviewed and three credits so I'm going to go with that one. I've always wanted to take psych.

 

if you're interested in psych then buy these
Theories of Human Development
Theories of Human Development
currently 70 dollars

and this
Amazon.com: Cracking the GRE Psychology Subject Test, 7th Edition (9780375764929): Princeton Review: Books
Princeton Review - Cracking the GRE Psychology Subject Test, 7th Edition [Paperback]

and take the Excelsior Developmental Psychology exam or CLEP Life Span Developmental Psychology exam

I have that DVD collection and it is very interesting. I think it is the best psychology set they have. The teacher is excellent and the material is easy and interesting.

there are 24 DVDs, each 30 minutes long
So you could easily watch them in 3 weeks and read the relevant material in the princeton book and pass either exam with an A.
In fact, you could do it in a weekend if you were motivated and had nothing else to do.
But I found them so interesting that I really wanted to watch them 2x and soak in the knowledge.

 

Thanks for the great suggestion James
Ian: Your post will be extremely helpful for verification. Thanks!