I'm looking for colleges (besides Broward College) that offer AS or AAS degrees in IT that are: - self-paced, - fully online (but tests can be proctored at a B&M), - regionally accredited. Help is appreciated. Information overload has set in :Eyecrazy: And in case you're wondering, I have no formal IT experience, IT education or IT certs and I am only interested in an Associates degree right now, not a BS.
There are 5 programs I would recommend. Competency based & Big 3. Hodges is the one I would recommend as it's cheap/easy/fast and in Florida (better than Broward College). TESU or the other Big 3 would be next as all the 30 credits general education is practically the same. The remaining 30 credits Area of Study/Concentration can be pretty similar except the capstone/cornerstone. 1) Hodges University UPower - Associates, Comp Info Systems 2) Rasmussen College Flex - Associates, 4 IT options (more $) 3) Charter Oak - Associates of Science, just take all your CompSci/IT courses as the concentration 4) Excelsior College - Associates of Science, Comp Sci/IT - 4 options as well 5) TESU AS IT or ASAST CIT - Associates or Applied Associates IT.
AsianStew, thanks for the info. But 2 quick questions: - How do you know Hodges is better than Broward? - What do you mean by Hodges being easy?
Broward is not "better" than Hodges. Hodges' UPower programs are just cheaper and faster. By the way, I don't think Rasmussen's Flex programs are fully self-paced or competency-based. And, you can't choose an associate's concentration at COSC. You will have an AS or AA in General Studies. It you need an actual IT degree, then COSC is not going to work.
You know what, take your business to Hodges or WGU for their competency based degree offerings. WGU is much more popular than Hodges and has a better/larger Alumni network. The cost is roughly the same as well for 6 months of self paced learning. You just need to decide on which program would fit you better. If it was for an Associates, Hodges is my recommendation as WGU doesn't offer Associates. If this is a Bachelors, I would recommend applying to BOTH - WGU for "free application" and Hodges because of lesser requirements (their program is "cheap/easy/fast"). For a typical degree at the Bachelors level, it requires 120 or so credits (roughly 40 - 3 credit courses), but not at WGU or Hodges. Now let's do a little comparison - WGU BS IT requires 35 courses, not the 40 you would expect as some courses are 4 credits. They prepare you for industry certifications which you already have, so you should be able to get credit for those courses. Make sure to enroll AFTER you transfer the MAX amount of credits and try to finish the entire degree in 1 term. Hodges is a little different, they require 30 courses in total, each of their undergraduate courses are 4 credits. And the kicker here is, pretty much any 3 credit course you transfer over, they will allow it into your degree and transfer as a 4 credit course! You essentially need to complete their required 32 credits - 8 courses as residency requirements. And all 8 are required - 5 Core, 3 CIT requirements (Capstone included).
Thanks, AsianStew, but I think you misread my OP. I do NOT have any IT education, experience or certs. That's the main factor why I am not looking into WGU at this point. According to their site, I cannot be accepted into a WGU IT program (no IT work experience or high-level IT certs).
Repeating my post, keeping it in this thread. My advice to you, get the Associates at Hodges, continue onward to Bachelors too. I would do a bit of a comparison in price/time with your schedule and previous college credits. Even if you don't have any IT experience, Hodges gets your ready for several certifications such as A+, Network+, MOS etc. They are NS+DHS certified - meets CNSS standards. Anyways, this is how I see it by doing a quick calculation - starting from 0 credits. At Allen CC, it's $112/credit X 60 - $6720. At Hodges, you take 40 credits elsewhere (Saylor/Straighterline/Study.com) and finish the last 5 required courses at $3000/term. Example, I took 30 courses at Straighterline for 90 credits and it took me 6 months. That cost me $2370 ($59X30+600 membership) If you can finish 1 course in 1 month+1 week at Hodges, it will only cost you $3000+$2370=5370 total for your degree at Hodges.
