Besides COSC, EXCELSIOR and TESC are there any other schools that don't have the usual 30 credit residency requirement for a BS degree?
Do you mean actual physical residency, or the requirement to take 30+ hours through a specific university? Even if the courses are DL, most colleges will require that you complete a minimum amount of credit hours/quarter hours with them specifically, as opposed to transferring in the credits. Dave
Athabasca University has a zero-residency degree programme; the Bachelor of General Studies (90-credit hours). All coursework can be transferred into this degree provided the courses meet the requirements for the degree. Athabasca University is accredited by the Middles States Commission on Higher Education.
I believe that the (now) Big Four are called this because they are the only four RAs that allow 100% transfer of credit. Charter Oak (CT) Thomas Edison (NJ) Excelsior (NY) Athabasca (Canada) All of the SACS schools will require 25% residency because it's a SACS requirement - I don't know about others.
But they also charge an arm and a leg for enrollment/graduation fees compared to schools that have residency requirements. They have to make their money somewhere, right?
I don't know that the $1500 (more or less) that my wife and I payed for our BSc degrees from Excelsior College could be called "an arm and a leg". The roughly $32,000 we spent for our degrees from Coastal Carolina University was an "arm and a leg" and the $9,000 I've already payed Webster University (and I'm not done yet) is a bit more than one might call "cheap". I'm thinking Excelsior College is pretty cheap by comparison if you go the way I did. Just my opinion though.
Coach- The "arm and leg" reference is comparing the $1500 registration/graduation fee at Excelsior to the $25-50 registration fee and $75-150 graduation fee at most schools that require residency. At the schools I looked into attending their fees fell somewhere in that range. What were the registration fees at Coastal Carolina and Webster? I agree with you that Excelsior can be cheaper than other schools, but only if you are able to test out of most of the requirements. But if you'd spent $32,000 at Coastal Carolina to take clases, then transferred those credits to Excelsior, now that Excelsior degree just cost $33,500. I am biased against the big three because of the way my tuition assistance is paid. The government will pay tuition and student fees, but won't pay registration or graduation fees. So the school that costs $32,000 costs me less out-of-pocket then the big three.
I don't know if we can include Athabasca in that catergory yet. As far as I know, they have a residency requirement for ALL degrees except the Bachelors in General Studies.
Admittedly, Athabasca University only offers one (1) no-residency degree, Bachelor of General Studies (BGS) 3-year, 90-credit hours. AU also requires significantly more senior-level (300 and 400 series) courses than the traditional Big Three.