Newbie - 40 and want degree..No cpost HS education

[darkon]

I have reading this forum for a while now and am ready to make the commitment to get my Bachelors.

I am 40 and have no post HS credits. I went to college to play sports and then had my first child, that was it after one year. I was young and stupid at the time but in all reality I don't regret it since I have such a great family and children. BUT right now I regret not getting degree or taking school seriously 20+ years ago. I moved up in my company but am at as far as I can go since I have no degree.

I would like to get my Bachelors Of Science in Business as quickly as possible and plan on "testing out" (hope that is the right term). I know I can do it with tests and learning course work quickly.

I have a few questions.

A. Will a degree from the "Big 3" look good to companies on a resume?
B. What are the average costs if you test out for your degree? Is Financial aid available? Is this tuition reimbursable?
C. How long does it usually take to get your degree?

Darrell

[sanantone]

A. The Big 3 aren't well known, but Charter Oak and Thomas Edison are state colleges and Excelsior is non-profit. It's not like having Devry or University Phoenix on your resume. I know a lot of people love those two schools, but some employers have negative, preconceived notions about them.

B. Someone else can chime in on testing costs since I didn't completely test out of my degree. The exams are around $100 including the testing center fee (with the exception of some ECEs which are $275). Straighterline costs $99 per month plus $39 per course. If you can knockout more than one course in a month, you can save money. Excelsior and Charter Oak are cheaper when you completely test out of your degree because the have lower fees, but TESC is cheaper when you need to take a lot courses. TESC's courses have a lower tuition rate and the Comprehensive Tuition Plan is a flat fee that covers up to 36 credits a year. TESC also accepts FEMA credits (which are free) directly unlike Charter Oak and Excelsior which make you pay $77 per credit at Frederick Community College.

You can only receive financial aid while taking at least 6 credits (as online or guided study courses) per semester (6 months for schools that don't have semesters). When you take 6 credits per term, you're only considered half-time, so you only get half of your financial aid award. You have to take at least 12 credits per term in order to get the full award. You don't have to take all of the 12 credits at once. For example, if a school has 16 week semesters and 8 week courses, you can take two courses at a time to add up to 12 credits in a semester. If you have any financial aid leftover, you'll get a refund which you can use to pay for tests.

Charter Oak requires that you take a cornerstone and capstone course with them. Excelsior requires that you take a capstone with them. Those two schools also require an Information Literacy course. If they still accept Penn Foster's Information Literacy course, then you can save money by taking it with them. If they don't accept Penn Foster's course, that's another course you'll have to take at Charter Oak or Excelsior. TESC does not require a capstone or a capstone that has to be taken with TESC for most programs. TESC only requires 18 upper level credits in the major while Charter Oak and Excelsior require 15 in the major plus 15 outside of the major for a total of 30. TESC accepts more DSSTs and CLEPs as upper level and TESC will even accept community college credits as upper level just as long as their course descriptions match those of UL courses at TESC.

C. It depends on how fast you can test. Some people only have to study for a couple of days and pass a test; others have to study for a couple of weeks. It can take from a couple of months to a couple of years. I think COSC and Excelsior have 8 week courses in addition to their 15 week courses while TESC only offers 12 week courses.

[burbuja0512]

Hi and welcome! It's better late than never to get your degree. I also let life, family, work, etc get in the way of finishing my undergrad and last year I did it! It took me about 9 months or so from start to finish, but I did start off with 24 credits. I began my pace very slowly, but once I felt more comfortable with testing and my own study habits, I got much quicker. However, it's not a race and slow and steady will win every time. You have to be 100% committed to it and KNOW that it will be difficult.

I see so many people come on the board gung-ho to test and then we never hear back from them once they realize that this is not a simple way to get a degree. Testing does sound easy and sometimes it is, but usually it's a lot of hard work and study. So, it's a faster way to the B.S., and you won't have to deal with homework, tests, group work, or professors. I've posted this before, but think of it like showing up on the last day of a semester, never having set foot in the classroom, but being able to pass the final and getting credit for the class.

You'll have to change your lifestyle a bit over the next few months and give up a hobby or some free time, or if you're really busy, maybe even sacrifice some sleep. You'll need to create a testing schedule and STICK TO IT!!! No one (except us ) will be watching you to see if you're progressing. Self-study is really rewarding and much less stressful than having college deadlines, but many people don't have the discipline. If you can do it, you'll be so pleased at your rapid progress. Trust me, there is almost nothing better than walking out of a testing center after passing a CLEP!

I have a couple of links in my signature about COSC. As Sanantone mentioned, you can't test out of 100% everything at COSC, but I would still consider it as an option anyhow. It's cheap and doesn't require a big lump-sum tuition payment like TESC does. Regardless of where you end up, if you are even remotely considering grad school, you should not get a degree without taking at least one class or it will be exceedingly difficult to succeed.

Please check out the links and feel free to ask as many questions as you can think of !

[darkon]

I just ordered the CLEP 2012 guide. I hope that helps in my start.

A. Do you sign up at the school first?
B. How do know what classes you need - both required like basic english , math , etc?
C. Will studying for the tests and hopefully passing them actually give you the knowledge in that particular area?

Darrell

[bawhitsett]

A. Do you sign up at the school first?

You could, and would have access to the school's advisors, but it would be very costly for the almost the same advice you could get on here for free. There are many people on here who have gone this route, and you could tap these resources and save at least a few grand in the process. What I would do is look at the school's programs, (TESC's are available here: Thomas Edison State College | What You Can Study) and see what programs interest you. Then start testing / earning credits. Eventually, enroll at the school and have an eval done to see where you officially stand, and then once you're within a year of finishing, enroll.

B. How do know what classes you need - both required like basic english , math , etc?

See above.

C. Will studying for the tests and hopefully passing them actually give you the knowledge in that particular area?

It will moreso in some than in others. But be honest, do you really need an in-depth knowledge if non-western literature in your day-to-day life? No, you just need enough to earn the credits and move on. Just like if you were attending a class at a university.

[ryoder]

Good luck on your path. You will get the support you need here.
There are many options for you to get started at this point but make up a degree plan filled out with CLEP/DSST/TECEP/ECE/StraighterLine.com and Penn Foster courses.
If you don't know what those are, just use the forum search.

Take a trip to your local library and find some CLEP guides from a company called REA. They are the best.

I would recommend reading your CLEP books straight through for hours. Go to a quiet place and try to read the entire book in one day. Make that your goal and you will get it done fast. After reading the book, do the practice tests. If you get a high enough grade, register for the exam.

You can finish the whole thing in about 6 months if you attack it like it is your job.

[darkon]

I thank you all for answering my questions so far. I have plenty more to come. This place is awesome with the amount of information I have have been reading.

Now I am trying to come up with my plan. This hasn't been easy looking at the programs since I am not familiar with actual course names and how they translate to the CLEP/DSST/TECEP/ECE/StraighterLine, etc..

What are the best or recommended books or sources to understand these tests and how they are ?

Darrell

[NAP]

......
Now I am trying to come up with my plan. This hasn't been easy looking at the programs since I am not familiar with actual course names and how they translate to the CLEP/DSST/TECEP/ECE/StraighterLine, etc..

......

Welcome to the forum!

These will get you started for comparing requirements to exam options at the Big 3.

For TESC: Undergraduate Ways to Earn Credit - Thomas Edison State College - acalog ACMS?

For EC - Download the Student Guide to Credit by Exam: School Catologs - excelsior.edu

For COSC - Keep the chart on this page and download the Master List of Exams: List of Exams at Charter Oak State College

[ryoder]

This is the source, my friend. You have hit the motherload. In this site you will find your answers. Please take some time to research.
It took me a while before it dawned on me exactly what it means to finish a degree. It is pretty much an exercise in checking off boxes.
You will learn a lot along the way, but I suggest a humble beginning. Take one CLEP test and after you do, you will understand a lot more about yourself, the process and how it all works.
The easiest business CLEP is the CLEP Marketing exam. Go grab the REA book on it, read it as fast as possible, and sign up for the test.
Do you have a local testing center? Do you know their hours, their fees, how to schedule an exam?
After marketing, do CLEP intro to management, and then DSST intro to supervision. At this point, you will be a pro, trust me.

[burbuja0512]

Darrell,

I would recommend having at least a relatively solid idea of where you will enroll before you get too far down the path. I agree that you don't have to enroll right away, but at least have a tentative plan and stick to it so that you don't end up wasting any time on unnecessary credit. IMHO, the biz degrees boil down to a few key differences, but the main question is how good are you at math? I have found out as an adult that I am not as bad as I had thought when I was a teenager, but that being said, I didn't want to do pre-calc or stats. COSC requires neither. So, if this is a factor at all, you may want to take a closer look at COSC. If you don't care, but want to test out of everything, TESC would be a better choice. EC is a bit of a mix; they do require a Capstone, but no Cornerstone, and their requirements are very similar to TESC.

I do want to say again that I REALLY recommend taking at least one actual class before you graduate. I already mentioned that it will help for grad school if you ever decide to do that. (Yes, I know that right now a grad degree sounds like a far-away dream rather than a possibility, but trust me, once you get testing, time does move quickly!) I would also add to that and say that even if you never hit the books after you finish the B.S, you will talk about college with other people who will never understand testing and it is really nice to be able to relate and have "real" college experience under your belt.

To answer another one of your questions from earlier in the thread, I do feel like the knowledge I have gained from study is as good as if I had gone to business school. Well... maybe not a top-tier business school, but at least as good as State U. Right now I am in a relatively difficult MBA program and I don't feel out of place at all. My grades are excellent and my contributions are on-par with my colleagues. I really did learn a lot from my CLEP/DSST study last year and I don't see a huge difference from my B&M experience other than the advantage that B&M has when you need to speak to a professor and the interaction with other students.