'The Big Three'

I was reading about getting a Bachelors degree with 'credits by examination', and came across three online schools that do not have a limit as to how many credits you can get this way. Thomas Edison State College, Excelsior College, and Charter Oak State College. What are the pros and cons of each of these? Is one better than the rest? In fact, any information about this would be greatly appreciated as I just learned about this method of education and this website today. Thank you!

 

I'll post mostly what I posted on another forum.

Everyone is going to be different. Some people have a lot of transfer credits, some people have a little, and some people have none. I applied to all of the Big 3 to see who would give me the most credits. Some people are concerned about the enrollment fees. Some people are concerned about the tuition rates. Some people are concerned about being able to test out of everything. You might find your desired major and/or concentration at one of the Big 3 and not the others.

I had a significant amount of transfer credits, so I applied to all 3 schools. TESC and COSC gave me the same number of transfer credits. Excelsior gave me very little. TESC was the only one to give me upper level credits. I first chose COSC because of the customer service, but I found out that it would have been expensive for me to complete a psychology degree with them because I would have had to depend on Excelsior exams for upper level credit. At the time, Excelsior exams were a few hundred dollars, but most are $95 now. I switched to TESC because they had already awarded me some UL credits, took more CLEP/DSST as UL, required less UL credit, and gave UL credit to community college courses which I took online cheaply.

If I were going to choose a school for the lowest fees and would be testing out of most of the requirements, I would choose COSC given that I could test out of most of the requirements there. If I wanted to take a significant number of credits with one of the Big 3, I would choose TESC's Comprehensive Tuition Plan because it's the cheapest rate you're going to get at any of the Big 3. If I were looking to avoid a capstone for a business degree, TESC would be my only option. If I had to transfer credits from a nationally accredited school or was looking for credit for various IT certifications, then Excelsior would probably be the best option. I believe Excelsior is the only one of the Big 3 that will consider non-ACE or non-NCCRS approved courses from nationally accredited schools. TESC and COSC require regional accreditation if the course is not approved by ACE or NCCRS. TESC gives credit for a select few IT certifications; it looks like Excelsior gives credit for a wider variety of certifications. I heard the limit of credits given to IT certs at Excelsior is low, but I haven't seen it myself in their catalog. Maybe someone else has found it.

When you're completely testing out of a degree at TESC, you will only get a GPA for the required capstone if your degree requires a capstone (95% of them do). TESC only gives grades for TESC online and guided study courses. Some people choose to take a few TESC courses for a GPA. Some people choose to only take one for a GPA, but I don't think that does much for graduate school. COSC and Excelsior will give grades for 2-digit DSSTs, Excelsior exams, and I think Penn Foster and Straighterline courses. I took a lot of graded courses at other colleges, so I wasn't worried about not having a GPA at TESC. Graduate schools usually require transcripts from all colleges attended, and they calculate their own GPA.

COSC is the only one left of the Big 3 that gives credit for the subject GRE tests. Free courses are offered by FEMA's Emergency Management Institute. The Big 3 will give free elective credits for these, but Excelsior requires that the credits be transcribed by a community college that charges $77 per credit hour. TESC and COSC take them directly without any additional costs. While TESC's enrollment fee is higher than Excelsior's, if your program has room for a lot of free electives, the free FEMAs that TESC accepts will end up saving you money over Excelsior. COSC has the added bonus of having low enrollment fees and taking FEMAs for free.

 

Sometimes one or two of the big three will have a program, or a relative academic strength, the other one or two don't have.

For instance, for a bachelor's in paralegal studies, head straight to Charter Oak. They have a full program in paralegal studies designed in association with the Connecticut Bar Association. There's no close program at Excelsior. The closest at TESC is a BS in Human Services with an area of study in Legal Services. For their Human Services degrees, TESC is selective and some of the usual "Big Three" rules go out the window. Requirements include a serious-commitment internship at a community service agency.

In electronics engineering technology, Excelsior has specialized programmatic accreditation from ABET TAC. TESC does have an electronics engineering technology program, without ABET TAC accreditation at this time. (TESC holds ABET TAC for their program in nuclear energy engineering technology program alone.)

Meanwhile at Charter Oak the closest you'll find are more general programs in Engineering Studies or Technical Studies, without specialized accreditation.

But for a bachelor's in homeland security, the BS in Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness from Thomas Edison will probably be your best fit. And so on.

 

I'm female. You might remember me as Tammy from eLearners. :silly:

TESC has terrible customer service, but it was worth it for me to suffer through it. I was able to educate myself by reading a bunch of posts on another forum. You can't expect to get accurate information from their advisors over the phone. I even had one hang up on me after I was enrolled! TESC will answer general questions of prospective students if you email them, however. I wasn't able to get Excelsior to tell me anything. I also don't like their initial evaluation. It's vague, and mine had a few "will further evaluate after enrollment." So, I didn't know how all of my credits would apply to one of their degrees. COSC's evaluation is decent. It'll tell you the general requirements your transfer credits satisfy. TESC has a very detailed evaluation that will tell you exactly how your transfer course will be coded and where it will be placed. TESC also gives 2 evaluations before you enroll as opposed to 1 at the other two, but TESC will take a lot longer to do everything. A cool feature that TESC has is that once you get your evaluation, you can use their "what-if" feature to see how your credits will apply to other degree programs.

 

My experience with Excelsior was that I could submit all my credits (140+) and they awarded me my BS. However now you must earn 4 or 3 semester units through Excelsior.

I can't speak for COSC or TESC so go check their catalogs.

 

Yep!

• Toward the beginning of a student's enrollment at the school (but, as of 2013, after at least ENG 100 or equivalent has been completed, IDS 101 Cornerstone Seminar, and

• when most of the concentration has been completed, a capstone course or sequence (one 3 sh course or a 1 sh + 2 sh pair, depending) specific to the student's concentration, e.g. MGT 499 Strategic Management Capstone.

If a student posts a very low score on an short online writing test taken at the start of the cornerstone process, I believe they're generally sent to take ENG 100 Writing Refresher. I don't know whether it would be possible to substitute a writing refresher from another school or developmental writing work from another source.

 

All of Excelsior's programs have a capstone. TESC has a capstone for almost all of its programs. The BSBA programs don't have one. There are a couple of other degrees that don't have a capstone, but there aren't many if any tests for the areas of study, and the courses are hard to find. These degrees are meant to be completed through certifications and PLAs.

 

SUNY-Empire State College:

Effective with the September 2012 term, the following students receive in-state tuition rates, regardless of where they reside:
• active-duty service members
• reservists and National Guard members
• veterans
• spouses and dependents of active-duty military service members
Tuition and Fees for Military and Veteran Students | Student Accounts | SUNY Empire State College

 

That's interesting, but it also shows how competitive TESC's out-of-state tuition is. ESC's in-state tuition is $245 per credit hour. That is $7,350 for 30 credit hours and $8,820 for 36 credit hours. TESC charges non-residents $8,395 for up to 36 credit hours of online courses, guided study courses, ePack courses, TECEP exams, and PLAs. If you're receiving federal or state financial aid, you only have to take 24 credit hours in online or guided study courses to receive the full award. Financial aid only covers traditional courses. TESC will let you take the other credit earning options at no additional charge up to 36 credit hours because the whole flat rate has already been covered by financial aid.

 

I chose COSC for two reasons:

First they had awesome customer service...especially as compared to TESC and EC....it wasn't even close.

Second, they allowed me to cycle my financial aid through them while taking cheaper courses through CSU-Pueblo via an articulation agreement. This meant I could gain full time status while keeping a handle on costs.

And yes....COSC requires a corner and capstone course be taken with them.....but their fees are a fraction of TESC if you do it right.

TESC and COSC will allow FEMA credits to be used free of charge,,,this can be up to 30 credits or 1 year of school, greatly reducing your time and expense (in some degrees). EC will let you use them, but force the credit through Frederick CC for about $80/credit. If your using FEMA I would skip EC.

 

The posting was merely as an additional consideration to TESC, COSC and Excelsior. Too, these customary fees are NOT paid by active-military personnel and veteran students:
• orientation fee
• college fee
• student activity fee
• telecommunications fee
• health and wellness fee
• portfolio (assessment) fee
• individual evaluation fee (IEF)
• individualized prior learning assessment (IPLA) fee