Getting ACE transcripts is maddening!

Have you read their catalogs and web sites? At least two of the big-3 offer courses. So you can earn your degree by taking these courses, takng the courses at other schools (that is what I did - I attended around a dozen schools in the UK and USA), or a combination.

Some nice things about the big-3 is that CLEP/DSST credits are unlimited, and that by delaying applying untill you are within a year of graduating you minimize overall degree costs. Also their residency requirements are very low (3 or 4 units last time I checked).

EC has a Bachelor program that limits degree costs to $10K.

 

I understand you can take ALL the "general ed" requirements outside the school from CLEP/DSST/straighterline/ECE but I need the real heart of that program, and while TESC offers some of them, they seem to want all the credits from outside the school. I'm just not following exactly what it is they do.
Here is what I mean. At Penn Foster my set of lessons are this electronics circuits, I read the text book, take tests, take exam, get credit for that portion. These schools do not seem to want to do this. Am i just not understanding what these schools do? If not, explain it to me, because it seems you need to be in the military, or in some industry to go to the schools. I am not, I need to actually learn these subject. Ya know, like you do at college, learn new skills through lessons. I have no problem learning on my own, but I need an actual course to follow.

 

All of the Big 3 offer a lot of courses. All of them offer all of the general education requirements you'll need even though it's cheaper to do them elsewhere. COSC and TESC offer a lot of programs where they don't offer all of the courses for flexibility. Most schools don't offer all of the undergraduate degrees that TESC offers because it would be impossible for them to cost effectively offer all of the required courses. TESC knows that it attracts adults with a wide array of transfer credits, so it offers a ton of programs where those courses could be utilized. Excelsior offers a more limited number of degrees, but it should have all or at least most of the required courses for the degrees it does offer.

The Big 3 also make it easier to take courses for much less elsewhere and transfer them in. That's what I did even though I could have taken all of my required courses at TESC. You don't need to be in the military or in the industry to complete most of their degrees. These schools do teach, but they can only teach so many courses. Their goal is flexibility for working adults.

 

TESC does offer many courses in exactly the way you described (guided learning with textbook and online exams), pfelectronicstech. Have you asked them what classes they offer in-house?

 

Yes, they do expire actually, but I don't think there is much danger of that for an active course/program.

 

No but I'm gonna straighten all this out Monday. In the degree I'm looking to get, as far as I can tell they only offer 4 or so. That tells me I need to get the training/credit somewhere else and transfer in. Thanks for the help.

 

I'm glad to see you're looking for workarounds and that you're not allowing this to get you down.

I checked out their Health Care Management degree, as well as their certificate/diploma options for medical billing and coding. I like the idea of paying as I go. If I were to do it, though, I'd probably do the standalone certificates at this point. Am I correct that the certificates are accredited? This might be a better deal than Gatlin, ProTrain or Condensed Curriculum offer (I'm a newbie who started a thread about certificates. It hasn't appeared yet, but I'll take any advice y'all might have on the subject.

I tried Ashworth years ago, but I didn't much like it. Of course, this is before Blackboard, Angel, Moodle and the like. I'm currently taking online classes (as well as attending some in-person) through my community college. I'm open to online learning, but I don't want to do anything that sets me back since it took me so long to return to school.

And here I thought the ACE process was pretty simple. Looks like I have lots more reading to do before I make further decisions.

 

Just testing. I answered pfelectronicstech, but my post disappeared. Is it because I'm new? Maybe I should wait awhile because I don't want to disrupt this discussion.

Okay this post showed up. Here's a paraphrased version of the post that got lost.

pfelectronicstech, I'm glad you haven't allowed this situation to get you down and that you're thinking about workarounds.

I'd considered enrolling for PF's Healthcare Management Associate degree before I went back to school. I'm now attending community college (both online and in-person). I've also looked at PF's medical billing/coding certificates/diplomas. Aren't these accredited? If so, they might be a better deal than Gatlin, HealthEdToday and ProTrain (I'm a newbie who started a thread about certificates, but it hasn't shown up yet). I'm always looking for certificates and CEUs. I attended Ashworth years ago but didn't like it much. This is before Blackboard, Angel, etc. I'm open to online learning, but it seems difficult sometimes to steer past the landmines.

 

Please report back what you find out & good luck!

 

Thanks, I'll let ya know. It looks like my best be is to get the Penn Foster A.S. degree and then I can transfer most of the credits into TESC if I still want to go that route. Industrial electricians/mechanics make real good bread.