Engineering Degree from scratch!

Hi everyone,

I am trying to help my husband go from 0 credits to a bachelors in engineering. I have no clue what I am doing on the engineering front, but he works in the fuel industry (driver) and he is leaning towards petroleum, chemical, computer, or similar. Charter oak has a engineering studies degree, but he'll have to bring in all of the engineering credits. He needs 2 from courses outside specified area and 5 courses from specific focus in traditional engineering area. I was hoping that I can get some input from you all. I am also looking for cheap universities where he can take actual classwork online. Once he gets the degree he'll probably go to the master's level because charter oak isn't accredited and most petroleum degrees are in the master's level online. He is open to any suggestions though he just wants to go into the engineering field.

 

Hi Denaelesmom,

Welcome to DegreeInfo. I beg to differ on the accreditation of Charter Oak, it is 100% regionally accredited. That's the highest general accreditation over an entire school. Charter Oak Accreditation As far as programmatic accreditation for their engineering school, such as ABET, I don't know. But the school is definitely fully accredited, so you don't have to worry about that. The units earned and the degrees granted are legit.

 

That is a huge swing in engineering concentrations. It sounds like he really needs to figure out what type of engineer he wants to be before looking at programs. Granted, what's available online may sway his interests. As has already been said, for a lot of engineering fields ABET accreditation is just as important as regional accreditation. And outside of TESC's nuclear engineering program, I don't know of any others at the big 3 that have this. UND offers some ABET accredited engineering undergrad programs online but from what I understand they are not cheap.

 

I know that COSC is regionally accredited but doesn't an engineering program need to be ABET accredited as well? I guess a better question would be what is a good field to go into in engineering that offers a program online?

 

There are VERY few Bachelors degree programs in Engineering. This is largely due to the hands-on lab work that is required by these degree programs. Look at the University of North Dakota.

Online & Distance Education

 

Excelsior College has ABET-accredited engineering technology programs. I don't think this list is comprehensive, but ABET lists online, ABET-accredited programs. These are probably of no interest to your husband.
ABET - Online Programs

 

On petroleum engineering as a trade, see Cyber and CalDog in this 2011 thread. Further reading on boom and bust cycles in the field includes this and this. From the latter:

 

Engineering degree

Its good to hear your husband wants to pursue his engineering degree. It will be difficult but not impossible. I know because i am on that track now. I have a degree in business that I started 20 years ago but I do have a fascination with engineering that just won't go away. I too am hoping to get a position in the petroleum industry after my degree.

First, ABET is very important in the engineering field. Can you gt a job without it? Yes, but much more difficult. There are a number of schools that offer ABET industrial and computer engineering online. Unfortunately these won't work for your husband.

You could look at U. North Dakota, I have found that right now they will be your best opportunity for a complete Petroleum degree.

He should complete at least two courses of Calculus, Physics and as many of his engineering courses as possible before entering an engineering program (statics, dynamics, fluid mechanics, etc.). The courses after he enters a program are expensive and they often won't allow you to take courses outside of the program once you are in. Depending on where he decides to go he may need chemistry as well.

The best opportunity in terms of cost will be a local engineering school because there are not many offerings online. I don't like saying that but it is true. A state school may cost much less than online. Here in California, If he were to transfer to say Cal Poly Pomona, he would pay a fraction of the 40k he would pay at UND. But it is very difficult to work and take classes during the day, and most engineering courses are offered during the day. They also don't want you to work because the coursework is so rigorous.

So two year colleges would be the least expensive usually. Here in California again they are only about $42 per unit. But the schools are full. A trick I have found is if you apply the previous semester, even if you don't take a course, you will be placed higher on the list for enrollment than new applicants.

You will also need to make sure the courses will be accepted by the engineering department at the school he will transfer to.

I have also spoken to a number of people in the Petroleum engineering field. A strong recommendation is to go for mechanical engineering with some courses in Petrol. He will make nearly the same if not the same salary, and often doing the same job. The flexibility here lies in the versatility of the degree if he should choose to leave that industry or the industry hits a dry spot and jobs are not plentiful like they are now.

There are a number of places where you can find the first two courses of Calculus. However, keep in mind that schools like you to take a complete series of courses from one school. So try not to take Calc I from one school and Calc II from another. Also, he will most likely need Calc III (often called multi-variable Calculus) and they may want that as the same series (much harder to find online). Usually just I and II though. Same holds for the Physics and Chem and Bio courses. Also make sure the courses are accepted by the department and not just the school. It is the department that makes the final decision. Try LSU, and Coastline Community College. I don't think ACE courses will help you very much with the engineering degree.

Good luck