I was looking around for a Bachelor of General Studies degree program online and came across Texas Tech. Relatively cheap, especially when compared to other places. I live in Louisiana and have a rotating schedule at work, so taking classes physically in a classroom is out of the question. TTU seems to have a nice distance learning program that combines online and through-the-mail activities. Does anybody know any more about this program? Good idea, bad idea? I searched the forum and all I could find on TTU was a thread saying their accreditation was being questioned. Anyway, any help would be greatly appreciated.
Firstly, Texas Tech is not in trouble regarding its accreditation by SACS. "Reaffirmation of accreditation is on a ten-year schedule, and Texas Tech University was last reaccredited in 1994. Normally, the university would be planning for a 2004 reaffirmation, but the process was delayed by one year at the request of SACS." The reason for this postponement was due, in part, to changes made in the accreditation process. (http://www.irs.ttu.edu/sacs/index.asp) If you are concerned about Texas Tech, another school to consider for a Bachelor of General Studies degree is Athabasca University. The BGS at AU has no academic residency requirement.
Yeah, it was a minor paper work issue. A Tier 1 (in 09') institution does go from being a major university to being in trouble with accreditation by not having some paper work in order.
Texas Tech is a solid program, but a bit steep at $775 per course. Fort Hays State University also offers a BGS much more inexpensively at $483 per course; http://www.fhsu.edu/virtualcollege/degrees/bachelors/general/index.htm
Do you already have credits accumulated or are you starting from scratch? If you're starting from scratch or if you have only a few credits, I'd look at Clovis Community College (www.clovis.edu). They are regionally accredited and a 3-hour course is only $122. Clovis is a great place to get really cheap credit that you can use toward a BGS elsewhere. Pug
Bruce, I'm seeing $564.51 for this upper-level, undergrad TTU online course. I think, but could be wrong, that the course fee structure at TTU depends on whether or not it's offered by Outreach and Distance Ed. Augustus, you might also consider schools closer to home: University of Louisiana-Monroe online programs. ULM offers two BGS degrees. You're looking at around $590 per course if you take two courses during a semester. Northwestern State University of Louisiana also offers an online BGS. Tuition per 3-hour online course at NSULA goes for $412-$496, depending on number of credits taken.
It turns out I was looking at the graduate rate, but their tuition schedule is a train wreck; it appears that you could pay $1400+ for some DL courses and $534 for Independent Study courses. http://www.depts.ttu.edu/distancelearning/financial-information.php
The COSC BS and BA degrees are general studies degrees http://www.charteroak.edu/Prospective/Programs/degree.cfm
I appreciate all the responses. I was told by the University that a three-hour course at Texas Tech was between $650-750. So with 120 hours needed to graduate, I figured it would cost in the neighborhood of $30,000 for the degree. Does that sound about right? (I'm terrible at math so be gentle.) Thanks for the links to the other schools. I'll be looking into them as well. I didn't realize UL-Monroe had an online degree. The community college route sounds pretty solid, too. I was just making sure that if I did choose Texas Tech, it was a good program.
As mentioned earlier in this thread, Athabasca University (Canadian school with U.S. Regional Accreditation) offers a zero residency, BGS degree. This degree is only 90 credits, which means you could wrap things up faster. If you go this route, check with Athabasca to see if the courses you take (either through them or another school) will count towards their BGS degree. The requirements for this degree are a bit stringent. Good Luck with your search. Tom