New guy on the block and a Gen ED question.

Hello all, I'm new to the forum and have a question. So, a little background. My plan is to get my associates at Penn foster and transfer into WGU or another RA university (WGU and a few others explicitly state they will accept NA credits) because a lot of my friends have told me even though they think NA isn't a bad thing some employers still do. I want to get back into the flow of school which is why I'm going to Penn foster then transferring. So with that out of the way, on to the question.. Will a Associates from Penn Foster satisfy the Gen ed credits required to transfer into a university that accepts the NA degrees? If not how would I go about getting credits to satisfy them? Thanks for reading! Hopefully this is in the right area if not mods please move to the appropriate area.

 

It depends on what you're majoring in now and what you want to major in later. An AA or AS degree will satisfy more of the general education requirements than an AAS, but you should also try to keep the degrees in the same area unless you're just getting a plan AA in general studies. There are cheaper alternatives to going to Penn Foster. You can test out of the gen ed requirements at WGU or take them at Straighterline, but you have to take these before enrolling. WGU does not accept transfer credits after enrollment.

Alternative Sources, Language and Communication
Alternative Sources, Quantitative Literacy
Alternative Sources, Humanities
Alternative Sources, Social Sciences
Alternative Sources, Natural Science

At the least, an associate's degree at Penn Foster is going to cost you from over $4k to just over $5k depending on the major you choose. Why not just start at WGU? It's self-paced like PF. You can complete as many credits as possible for $2,890 per 6 months. Patten University, which is RA, is self-paced and charges $1316 per 4 months for an unlimited number of credits. Northern Arizona University, which is also RA, has self-paced programs and charges $2,500 per 6 months for an unlimited number of credits. Patten and NAU accept CLEP and DSST, too. If your employer is a participant, Southern New Hampshire University (through a program called College for America and also RA), offers an AA in General Studies and BA in Communications. The programs are self-paced, and you can complete an unlimited number of credits for $1,250 per 6 months. Soon, they will be offering a BA in Healthcare Management in this format.

 

Thank you for your answer. After taking what you said it makes a lot more sense to just go straight through. My employer does in fact have tuition reimbursement. My only fear is that I've now been out of school for three years so I wanted to just get my feet wet again. But seeing as it might be a hassle to transfer stuff over, I might as well just go for it. Thank you very much.