Needed: BS, like, YESTERDAY

You might as well call Excelsior's School of Business and Technology which has a B.S. in Marketing.

 

Links, please.

 

You've got a lot of good info to work with from here.

 

I agree, there is a lot of good info, including schools I had not really considered before. As I said, what I'm looking for is a college where I can earn a BA this year. I'm starting with more than 80 credits, which are all mainly in journalism/broadcasting.

I have narrowed down my choices to Andrew Jackson University, Excelsior, Charter Oak State College and Fort Hays State University.

The time factor is of the most importance to me, followed by cost. I will likely go with the college that can help me achieve the BA in the shortest amount of time. If I don't qualify for a federal student loan, I will take out a private loan to pay for the degree. My employer does not offer tuition assistance (another reason for me to seek other employment...my benefits stink).

If anyone has info that may help me choose from the schools I've listed above, please let me know. I'll be contacting them all this week.

 

Just a thought, but if you are planning finishing in 1 year, make sure you enter a work at your own pace program or that you get a degree plan AND a schedule of classes that fit the confines of a year. This is a difficult challege but not impossible.

 

I know that Excelsior and COSC are essentially "work at your own pace". I'm not sure about Fort Hays or AJU, but that is one of the things I have to check this week.

 

AJU is, though they have a limit of how many assignments may be submitted at once. I looked into it and you might exceed the allowable limit with AJU if you spent 60+ hrs. a week working. Other than that, I think 3 assignments at a time submission is the limit, though how many times you can do it in a week I don't know.

Ft. Hayes, I have no earthly idea. I called them to talk about their MLS degree and left a messege with them to call back, neither time did I recieve a return call. At first Ft. Hayes seemed like a great deal, now I don't know.

 

Hi - You could check out National Univ. I know that you could easily (well if you could call one course every month easy!) complete 36 credits in a year. I don't know how many (or if any) ACE reviewed courses they would accept. However, you could enroll at National for the year and then transfer those credits (and your 80 credits from the military) into one of the "big 3." Of course, you would want to do your research here to make sure that all of the courses taken at National would transfer into one of the big 3.

http://www.national.edu

btw, tuition is a bit pricey at $1044/course, but they are RA.

Good luck!

- Tom

 

You already know this, but since XLCR and COSC will accept RA courses from anywhere, wouldn't that give you more flexibility, even if their requirements happened to be more stringent than the other alternatives?

For example, you could shop around for the school that's giving the prerequisite for the course you need this month instead of next semester?

 

I have to be honest: right now I'm heavily leaning toward Excelsior, just based on info I have found on the web sites of the four schools I'm considering. They have the communications "major" I'm seeking, are flexible with the credit they will take, and since I am a veteran, I get a break on the price of tuition. The first year of tuition will run me about $845, and I can split that into six monthly payments. I guess it all depends on what couses/tests Excelsior says I need to take.

 

the whole enchilada?

the whole year costs $845?

Wow.

 

Re: the whole enchilada?

Keep in mind that does not include any classes or exams. The $845 covers academic advisement and compilation of a transcript. I plan to take CLEP/DANTES where possible to cover the rest of the credits I may need. If I need to take courses, I know there are plenty of cheap one out there, including my local universities.

With that being said, I still have not made up my mind.

 

Excelsior

Get the $60 eval from excelsior and see where you stand ..... you might be closer than you think. If you don't have to declare a you should consider a bs or ba in liberal arts ...

 

** sorry delcare a Major

 

Re: Excelsior

Thats just it...I do need a degree with a major or emphasis in either journalism, public relations, communications or marketing. It is actually spelled out in the job descriptions of the positions I would be pursuing. A mimimum of a bachelors degree is required in one of those areas.

I do plan to get the $60 eval from Excelsior.

 

I spent some time going through Andrew Jackson University's online catalogue tonight and found the following info:

You can work at your own pace and transfer military, ACE-evaluated and CLEP credits into your own program. HOWEVER, AJU requires all students to spend a minimum of nine months in their program, no matter how many credits you bring into the program with you. You enroll for 30 credit hours at a time, and each 30 credit block costs $3,350, if you make monthly payments, so that works out to about $112 per credit hour. There is an enrollment fee and an application fee, and the tuition price does not include books.

I'm not sure how this might compare to a program such as Excelsior, as far as time and cost are concerned. I guess it all comes down to how many of my credits they will accept. Plus, Excelsior is RA, which may or may not be a big deal to my future employers.

I still have to check out COSC and Fort Hays.

 

Keep us posted.

 

TCord, I have a little experience here.

For my Associates, I took some CLEP and DSST tests. I challenged 5 or 6 programming courses at the community college. I took some other self-paced online courses, and the remainder was quarter-based online courses and military credit. I got the Associates in one year flat by working the system and playing to my strengths. I had already decided to attend Bellevue University (not too viable for you if you want communications), because, in part, I knew I didn't need an AAS. My Associates in Technology - General, would transfer in full. So the long and short was that I made connections at the friendly local community college where the rules were a little flexible and they wanted me to succeed.

Then at Bellevue I took the accelerated cohort program, and during a time when I had little trouble with the work, I took the (Bellevue) required Signature Series. So I went in knowing what the time frame would be. If you can be a little flexible in what your choice of major is (leadership?), Bellevue may have a program for you.

Good luck.

 

Unfortunately, Bellevue won't be of much use to me. The major has to be something related to communications, journalism or marketing. That one fact severely limits the number of DL schools from which to choose.

 

I emailed Andew Jackson University seeking some more information about their programs last night. I received a reply from them this afternoon (pretty timely for a DL school!). This was their response:

"Thank you for your interest in the BA in Communications at AJU. This
program provides students with a broad background into communications and
prepares students for various careers that require excellent communications
skills. You can earn up to 90 semester hours credit through a combination
of transfer credit, credit by examination (ACE, CLEP, etc.) and/or credit
through portfolio assessment for your life and work experience. Our
accrediting agency required that all students who receive a degree from AJU
must complete at least 30 hours of study through us. We will evaluate your
credits to place you at the most advanced point possible in your curriculum,
however, no more than 90 semester credit hours can be accepted. This is a
standard policy for most, if not all, accredited universities.

You can complete your studies on an accelerated schedule. Normal progress
requires students to complete one course every three months, submitting one
lesson per course every seven days. If you schedule permits you can go
faster. "


So, if I read this correctly, I will need to take 10 courses through AJU (assuming I transfer 90 credits into the program), and it will take more than two years to finish those courses (one course every three months = ten courses @ 3 months each = 30 months)

Like I said earlier in this thread, I'm looking to complete my BA this year. It looks like AJU may not work out for me.

I'm taking a closer look at Excelsior and Charter Oak, but leaning toward Excelsior.