Degree Completion online - help please!!

Hi all.. In a quick snapshot.. As of 2007 I had 30 credits from univ of rhode island and then transfered to school in NJ (montclair state university) where I earned an add'l 89 credits..

However, a job opportunity presented itself abroad (currently living/working in Hong Kong) and have recently wanted to complete my degree but unsure of the best way to do it..

The real issue comes in that there is a hold on my 1st university transcript (this seems to be in error as the transcript was sent the first time enabling me to transfer in the first place) and all of the online schools want to see transcripts from both institutions, not just the latter (which is fine)

1) does anyone know a way around this? I presume most degree completion programs will be mandatory 30 credits anyway - so why the need to see/use my first 30 credits of school?

2) would a school internationally, say Canada or UK, also accept applications using the same stipulations?

3) In worst case scenario and I just pay whatever confusion has come up at my first university... who offers the cheapest/fastest way to a degree online using my current credits (I was a business major, but now just looking to have a degree in anything!)

Many thanks

 

it's standard, sorry. If school A is on school B transcript, you'll need to provide both. If school B transcript didn't have the credit from school A you would have gotten around it. You're probably going to have to settle your account with school A so you can have access.

 

1. No way around it - you will need to make arrangements to have the hold lifted.

2. If you are looking for the fastest degree, you should examine Exclesior College's BS in Liberal Studies.

Good luck!

 

There is possibly a way around this, but it will only be temporary. I don't know if they still do this, but Central Texas College and Colorado Technical University would let people enroll and take courses without all of the transcripts. However, all of the transcripts were required in order to graduate.

If you don't mind testing out of courses, then the cheapest and fastest degrees will be at the Big 3. The cheapest and fastest of the Big 3 will be Thomas Edison State College under the Per Credit Tuition Plan as long as you use TECEPs (TESC's credit-by-exam that can soon be taken at home with ProctorU) to meet the 24-credit residency requirement. There is no residency requirement under the other tuition plans, but they are much more expensive. As for which degree will be fastest to complete, that depends on your transfer credits. If you already took a bunch of business courses, chances are you are closer to a business degree than any other degree. At TESC, you can test out of social science, business administration - general management, psychology, liberal studies, possibly humanities, possibly natural sciences/mathematics, and you can come close to testing out of history. For the business program, you don't even have to take a capstone course; you can just test out of it or transfer in an equivalent course.

The next cheapest option would be Charter Oak State College. Even though COSC's total cost for tuition and fees will be slightly higher than Excelsior College's, you can save a lot of money with FEMAs. FEMA courses are free and mostly accepted as free electives. COSC and TESC accept them directly at no additional cost. EC will require that you have them put on a transcript at a college like Frederick Community College which charges $77 per credit. COSC, however, requires that you take at least two courses at the college; and, they have to be taken in two separate semesters. That is a minimum of 30 weeks. TESC's capstone courses are 12 weeks, and that is the only course you have to take at TESC for most degrees (as I said earlier, the business programs don't have a real capstone). Excelsior College's capstone (only course you have to take there for most programs) is 8 weeks.

 

I agree with Shawn. Plus the EC BSLS allows up to 59 professional credits so your business credits will count as electives. At EC you will have to take 4 units though EC. So with luck you have 30 + 89 + 4 = 123 units = BSLS.

 

Don't rush it. Select the online school you feel most comfortable with. Try and get your issues resolved with the school that has a hold on your transcripts. Perhaps you owe money and there is a hold. If it is an error, they should be able to get the hold lifted. If you have fees outstanding, you can make arrangements to pay those off, etc.

I would think hard about what you want your degree to be in. I would avoid one of the so-called "Big Three" and similarly avoid testing out of classes. Find a regionally accredited, nonprofit online school you can be proud of and that is accepting of many of your credits and that offers the program most appealing to you. You have worked this hard on; there is no need to rush it and end up with something not to your liking merely for the sake of completing it.

If you are this close to completing at Montclair State University, perhaps you could see if you could take other classes elsewhere and have those transferred to MSU, allowing you to graduate there. (I don't know if that is possible with what you have done there.) It may be something to talk to an adviser about.

 

IMO, it is much better to have the business credits in the major/concentration instead of wasting them on a liberal studies degree. That way, the OP could quickly and at no cost complete FEMAs for the free electives. COSC's business degree would have more room than TESC's for free electives. But even at TESC, if the OP managed to transfer 89 credits, he/she would not have many tests to complete. It makes much more sense to complete FEMAs for free to fill up the free electives instead of paying $100 per test to fill up a liberal studies major. A liberal studies degree should be a last resort. Even if the OP elected to do liberal studies or liberal arts, I doubt he/she has more than 30-something business credits. Those can still be used as free electives at TESC or COSC. TESC and COSC also offer the learner designed area of study and individualized studies programs, respectively. These allow a student to design his/her own degree program that can mix applied and liberal arts credits.

The last I heard, EC still accepts Information Literacy from Penn Foster, so only 3 credits have to be taken at EC.

The Big 3 are regionally-accredited, non-profit schools. Two of them are state schools. As far as online schools go, there is no "online school" with a better reputation than the Big 3. The Big 3 mostly have no reputation. People tend to be suspicious of "online schools" they know about. Truly online, regionally-accredited schools are rare. Are you talking about online degree programs? My pet peeve is when people use online degree and online university/college/school interchangeably. They are not the same thing. Thousands of brick and mortar schools offer online degree programs and courses. They should not be called "online schools" to eliminate confusion.

If the OP can manage to transfer around 89 credits, then very little of the degree will be tested out of. Even many traditional colleges will accept up to 30 non-traditional credits (CLEP, AP, DSST, etc.).

 

This is a cost breakdown of the Big 3 with TESC's new Per Credit Tuition Plan.

TESC
With Capstone
$476 (for capstone) X 3 = $1428
$36 (TECEP) X 21 (for a total of 24 credit hours for residency) = $756
$1428 + $756 = $2184

Without Capstone (business programs)
$36 X 24 = $864

You come out with 24 credits, so that's 24 credits worth of CLEP, DSST, etc. you don't have to pay for.

COSC
$240 (semester fee) X 2 = $480
$339 X 6 (for capstone and cornerstone) = $2034
$2034 + $480 = $2514

You've only earned 6 credits toward your degree, so that is 18 more credits worth of tests you have to pay for over TESC in addition to the higher tuition and fees.

Excelsior
Multi-Source Option
$1065 (for enrollment)
$425 X 3 (for capstone) = $1275
$1275 + $1065 = $2340

You've only earned 3 credits toward your degree, so that is 21 more credits worth of tests you have to pay for over TESC in addition to the higher tuition and fees.

 

Although the EC catalog defines the Liberal Studies option neither my diploma or transcript mentions "Liberal Studies." If one looks at my transcript the courses (including engineering, math, and business) they are listed by schools where I earned credits. So courses are listed from UC Berkeley, Lowell, UK schools, CSUDH, and several CCs (plus one CLEP).

Of course EC may not be doing diplomas/transcripts this way now.

 

It doesn't say a major on the transcript at all? That's even worse. It has to at least say bachelor of science or bachelor of arts. From recent graduates, I heard the diploma has the major, but I don't know if this is true for liberal studies. It's more common for schools to not put the major on the diploma, but to list it on the transcript.

 

Ooops - Checking my files I find that all these years what I thought was my transcript was in fact my EC Status Report. I found a sealed transcript and opened it and the transcript does indeed say BS Liberal Studies. The diploma does not list the major.

Still my transcript contained all the prerequisite courses required for admission into my two masters programs so it served me well.

 

Graduate schools thoroughly evaluate transcripts. HR often uses software to weed people out. You just have to pray that an actual human being will read your cover letter.