Job opportunity: Need a degree plan FAST! Please help

Big Three, especially Excelsior!

CLEP and Dantes exams move along quickly and for everything else there are correspondence courses (old-style self paced, not regular online) and Ohio U, Excelsior and other school sponsored exams. The Big Three are the best, and Excelsior is the most flexible and cheapest for most students, unless you happen to live in CT or NJ where you'll get in-state tuition for the other two. Here is the fastest way to get a lawful degree in most cases:

1. Enroll in Excelsior's Bachelor of Liberal Studies program and try to transfer your existing credits.
2. Talk to your adviser and start studying for exams for credit. You can probably pass a bunch without much study. For example, I'm a cop and took CJ and a policing exams on the same day without having to study and passed without trouble.
3. Along the way, keep looking for fast, legal ways to earn credit and present them to your adviser, and some might get through (basically ACE approved and similar programs).

Just note that the adviser is your guide and you need their approval before earning credits. I really enjoyed this process and have a bunch of credits from everywhere that interested me. The important thing is that if you're in a rush, just enroll in one of the Big Three and start working with an adviser. That way you can earn credit while you make other plans, always moving forward with your eyes on the horizon!

 

Really appreciate all the help! I can't tell if AMU/APU are regionally accredited. Sorry for the ignorance but my brain is a bit overwhelmed right now.

Update on american art university:
So far they've accepted 15 credits and have my entire portfolio of artwork (of which I bet they will be very impressed by - since I've been at this so long) that doesn't necessarily mean it will translate into credits though know. But even if I get a whopping 40 credits, the school is 700 per credit hr for a BA illustration degree and requires 132 credits. Translation, small fortune.

I am kind of intrigued by the Juris Doctor program. What kind of career would a person go into with that?

 

Look here: Accreditation | American Public University System.

 

AMU/APU is regionally accredited. They held both RA and NA until recently dropping the NA. I have not heard if this means they will continue accepting NA Associates degree's.

For your daughter, SMU does accept 5 or 6 CLEP exams (top link here: Search Results: clep ). If I am reading correctly that the tuition is $1100/credit then adding these exams could knock over $15000 off the cost of her education. SMU: Bursar - Undergraduate Tuition I must be reading that tuition cost wrong though...is it really THAT high? I would choose another school...but I'm weird like that. Spending 2 years at a CC might be an option too...that's a lot of money for any school...It's not even an Ivy!

 

Sound advice.

The Excelsior BSLS is the most flexible degree in the world since you select all courses for each knowledge area. EC requires you to take 3 or 4 units in-house. It can include up to 59 semester units of professional credit (e.g. Business, engineering, education, architecture, criminal justice, and other professional fields). For my BSLS my electives were engineering and business. Although somewhat expensive you can also earn credit for lifelong learning through the portfolio process.

CLEP and DSST exams are low cost (Some DSST exams provide upper division credit).
For other low cost courses just ask here and you should get suggestions.

 

I think TESC LS is a better option in some ways than EC. FEMA credit gets imported for FREE and that can be around 20-30 credits (huge money saver). They are also the last of the Big3 that doesn't require a capstone (saves time and money).

With that said I chose COSC for my own reasons (primarily financial), and I know that EC is a great choice too.

 

Oh my gosh.... The FEMA comment got me looking around. I found this on another thread...


"Excelsior has not evluated the FEMA courses for credit. That is why we must first have them transcripted by an RA college that HAS evaluated them.

Otherwise, we could simply have FEMA mail Excelsior our raw course transcript directly. There would be no need to go through FCC or TESC etc.

Excelsior will accept the FEMA credits (as transfer credit) if another RA school is willing to first place them on their transcript. But they will not accept the raw courses directly from FEMA."

I'm holding my breath for someone to answer me this:
Two years i took a few classes from a local college that was affiliated with my school. Long story short, it would've been a Biblical Studies degree but my current employer stopped paying for it so i havent returned. Can I ask for the transcript from that school be sent to Thomas Edison (who I paid to examine my credits a few years ago and were rejected) and will they accept them now since this school did?
I hope I am asking this right...feels like credit laundering lol, but my credits were legitimately accepted.

 

Update. I'm glad you all kept pushing the school's accreditation. I finally got through to the dean. The school was accredited by SACS in 83 but lost it in 84 and regained it in 98. So they are going to send me a letter to send out when they send transcripts out until they can sort it out with SACS. So Excelsior would accept ALL regionally acquired credits regardless of subject or how old they are? If that's the case, I might get all 60 which would be incredible.

 

Thanks for the update. Not sure about Excelsior but COSC accepted my 1986 credits in 2003 and they were electronics credits which sometimes have a shorter "shelf life". If you do not like Excelsiors answer, check with COSC.

 

Good deal! :rambo:

 

Check out some programs like this BAAS: University of Houston-Victoria :: School of Arts and Sciences

Not putting down the Big 3. I have a degree from one of them, but local state schools open a few more doors....sometimes.

 

Thanks everyone, I'll send in the transcript and cross my fingers! btw: I need to clear the Art Insttute's reputation. Glad I wasn't "had". Feel kinda bad or all those after me though but surely they were alerted.
Btw, SMU would only be possible if they offered her a hefty scholarship. the campus is surreal down to every blade of grass. They seem to bend over backwards to help students. I have heard about parents hiring decorators for the dorms, lol. But their art dept is different. One of the best in the country if you don't want an "art school" experience.

 

Well shoot, may be back to square one. The SACS division that accredits trade schools says it wasn't. So back to my question that will at least give me 33 hours or so:

"Two years i took a few classes from a local college that was affiliated with my school. Long story short, it would've been a Biblical Studies degree but my current employer stopped paying for it so i havent returned. Can I ask for the transcript from that school be sent to Thomas Edison (who I paid to examine my credits a few years ago and were rejected) and will they accept them now since this school did?
I hope I am asking this right...feels like credit laundering lol, but my credits were legitimately accepted."

 

Talk eyeball to eyeball!

At the risk of sounding redundant, get yourself to a local state or respectable private B&M college advisors office and talk – eyeball to eyeball. Rules can be flexible when dealing with a potential adult degree completion student – in person. They almost all have distance education degree completion programs that are very flexible.

Best to you. :yup:
Bob

 

And......???? :arms:

 

Well I am asking dean of my school send over proof of accreditation to a state school. We were going to meet in person but I'll wait until they get that. I've contacted over 15 school! Guess if I have to start from scratch, so be it. Sure seems a shame though. Not sure I can actually do all of this

 

My son is being awarded a degree from a state school 5+ years after taking his last class with them. He is transferring in about 40 additional credit hours from LSU extension and others. I will not disclose school name just yet (maybe never) because I do not want to jeopardize the rule bending effort of the system, or his degree award.

You wouldn’t believe how many time I said ‘just ask if it’s possible’! :arms::arms::arms:

 

I do believe you can get a BA or BAAS then add classes to be certified in TX. Even some public TX community colleges offer these teacher certification courses last I looked. Playing your cards right and getting both done with same courses might be possible if you do proper major. Look at almost any TX State University System BAAS degree description for guidelines to BAAS and teacher certification. Also the BAAS is offered by some branches of the UH System, but specifically, I'd look at UH-Victoria BAAS for starters.
University of Houston-Victoria :: School of Arts and Sciences
Texas State University System
University of Houston System

 

Another option the OP might look into if currently residing in Texas is: Texas Online University - Texas Online Degrees - WGU Texas

They have teacher certification BA degrees and may be eligible for potential state cost breaks/assistance. Transfer may be a hang-up, but competency based work may allow for acceleration of coursework.