I have been looking at the benefit of the MITx micromaster for data science. It costs around $1350 ( only $135 with financial aids) 


https://www.edx.org/masters/micromasters...ta-science

https://micromasters.mit.edu/ds/

here are the benefits:

• An official Infinite Connection account on the MIT Alumni Association website
  
  
• Access to an online directory of fellow MicroMasters® program credential holders
  
  
• Access to some MIT Alumni Association events
  
  
• Access to the library journals available through JSTOR and EBSCO
  
  
• Eligible to receive 15% discount* off a verified track enrollment in any MITx course offered on edX.org and MITx Online. You can enroll in a course and learn at no cost, or aim to earn a verified certificate of completion for a low fee. Contact the MIT Alumni Association to learn more.
  
  
• Eligibility for 10% off all MIT Press publications (print books and e-books)
  
  
• Digital subscriptions to MIT Technology Review
  

Microsoft has cut down a lot on free vouchers, so this is pretty rare these days.

They are offering a free voucher for one of the following exams:

• AI-900 - Azure AI Fundamentals - 1 ACE credit
  
• AI-102 - Azure AI Engineer Associate - 3 ACE credits
  
• DP-100 - Data Scientist Associate - 3 ACE credits
  
• DP-600 - Fabric Analytics Engineer Associate
  

*Sorry for the novel that follows, just trying to be thorough*

Your Location: New Jersey
Your Age: 34
What kind of degree do you want?: Definitely BA or BS torn between Business or IT, I think business would have a more immediate impact on my career, but long term I know I should be working in the tech space.
Timeframe: Speed and cost are key for me, already working on some general Sophia credits. I would like to be finished with everything by the end of the year, but sooner is better.
Budget: As cheap as possible
Commitments: Work and family, have a 4 month old, but the wife is on board to allow me to fully commit. 
Preferences: 
-I learn well on my own through videos, reading
- Non-proctored would probably be preferred, but proctored is fine as well. I would just need to set up a space in my house to do so.
-I prefer a "learn at your own pace" and the ability to take as many credits as I can complete in a term, model for a college. 
Current Regional Accredited Credits: I think I have about 6 credits from a brief stint in a local CC when I was 18. Those would be free electives if anything.
Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: None
Any certifications? AZ-900
Google Sheet for tracking credits: I have looked over some degree plans here (UMPI BABA and a few others) and put together a quick spreadsheet for my own visualization purposes of the potential track for WGU BSIT degree. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1...ue&sd=true

Some extra info about me:
I graduated second in my class from HS in 2008 and was entered into a really amazing scholarship program in NJ, NJStars. Basically would have provided me with an associates for free minus costs of books and any extras, but tuition was all covered. I was young, stupid and not disciplined enough for college at 18 years old and completed only a single semester before dropping out to continue to work full time. Not sure it's even worth it to submit my transcript for CC to wherever I apply because of how undoubtedly abysmal my GPA is for that single semester. The idea of "Degree Hacking" is a concept I learned about within the last week and it has definitely consumed me for since. I feel like I finally have a fighting chance to be able to change life for my family.

I have self studied for several certifications in recent years, but due to financial restrictions I wasn't able to afford the certification exams. I have 6+ years as a project manager for small to midsized construction firms. While I do enjoy the tasks of being a project manager, I am not in love with working in the construction sector. I have a wife and 4 month old daughter and I want to provide a better life for them and allow my wife the freedom to be a SAHM. I feel that achieving a BA/BS would afford me the opportunity to give her that. She is on board with helping me and committing to "covering" for me while I take this journey and obtain my degree. I don't have much of a social life anymore, I suppose as is expected of a new parent. The majority of my free time is spent tinkering with my home lab and taking Udemy courses. I can comfortably commit to roughly 4-5 hours a day of studying M-F and 6-10 hours on weekends. 

I have looked into UMPI as it seems to be regarded as the quickest path to a Bachelors, but I have also heard they have been a little overwhelmed with an influx of students in the past year or so. WGU seems great, potentially a slightly higher cost upfront for a degree, but more time to complete courses. Plus the option to get extra certifications on top of the degree is very intriguing. Now obviously as a NJ resident TESU would be cheaper, but I have not looked into them as much as I have the other two. Primarily because UMPI and WGU are very Sophia friendly and that is how I plan to get the bulk of my transfer credits. I am not opposed to completing an UMPI BABA and then in the next year or 2 completing BSIT at WGU.



Additional Questions:
Regarding a BS vs a BA, does either of these degrees hold more weight than the other?
Does WGU have any flexibility in their courses? (For example I have a Microsoft AZ-900 cert, but the course in BSIT is for AWS. Is it possible to sub that course for the Azure track so that my cert would provide credits?)



Thank for coming to my TED talk haha.

But in all seriousness thank you for your time and any input that is given will be appreciated beyond words.

I know this is probably a silly question, but has anyone ever taken BUS 101 @ UMPI instead of transferring it in via Sophia? I ask because some of the 100 level courses at UMPI have incredibly heavy workloads. I'm looking for a single course to hit the 30 credit residency requirement and looking for the easiest/lightest workload course I can find.

Hi,
My previous thread: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...ience-ASAP

I wanted to update you on my current situation. I tried enrolling in TESU but was told that I needed 9 RA credits in English. Unfortunately, my IU credits were not evaluated because IUBH won't provide official transcripts unless you have completed half of your study program. (Note to everyone: they are predatory for profit and I wouldn't recommend them to anyone).

I did some extra courses before unenrolling, completing the ones I had enrolled in previously(failed all of them because the proctors want you to live in a void out of this universe).

I Tried starting on Metropolia to get the RA-equivalent credit, but, they discontinued the entire program for foreigners, Crashed and burned trying to do the Saylor Courses(you end up feeling you're spending more time fighting with the platform than actually learning), so I'm enrolling on the LSIB's Advanced Diploma in Computing and Information Technology, to make a top-up BSc Computing at Derby, additionally. I'm also going to enroll in the FREE PGCert. Computer Science at Woolf for the sake of self-fulfillment(they seem not to need a bachelor's degree if you already have work experience)

So, this is my current travel path. I will keep you updated on my progress.

Hello - my friend’s daughter needs one more upper level class to graduate. Has anyone has any luck completing a self paced class and transferring it into SUNY recently? They don’t accept Sophia.

Quote:I figured I would share this here because you all are the only folks I know who get excited about these things. lol

About 2 months ago, the Duke Fuqua PR/Global MarketingTeam reached out after a post I made on LinkedIn regarding achieving a lifelong goal of attending Duke. They asked if I’d liked to write a short 350-600 word blog post for the Fuqua website, so I did! If you have a couple of minutes, feel free to give it a read. 

https://blogs.fuqua.duke.edu/msqm/2024/03/01/joshua-duncan/attending-duke-accomplishing-a-lifelong-goal

For those who can get in contact with Best Buy mobile to ship this to you (or the nearest Best Buy to you), you can get this deal for $0 plus cost for X days of service. Previous best price was just $50, it's a very good budget to mid range phone. Amazing deal for a backup or second phone, you just buy, cancel once you get the phone, it's already unlocked... And yeah, there are 75+ pages on this deal since it started 3/1/2024.

Link: https://slickdeals.net/f/17327499-oneplu...best-buy-0

Has anyone else had any weird issues with the financial aid office at umpi? I had a name change in 2017 which was all done thru the courts, got a new social security card etc... I applied to both TESU and UMPI but ultimately went with UMPI. However they have not been able to get my financial aid awarded because they say 'there is a problem on the back end' with my social security number not matching my new name. They keep telling me to contact the social security office but give no further info. When I contact the social security office they have no idea what to tell me because my social security card literally has my new name on it from when it was reissued in 2017. Even my birth certificate was amended. So there's nothing else for them to do. When I tell this to umpi I'm sent in circles and told to contact the social security administration yet again. Meanwhile TESU had zero issues processing my financial aid when I initially applied... I even called to ask them if anything looked weird on their end and they said no. Soooo I have been having to pay cash for my classes yet again this next term.... which I did not anticipate having to do.   I'm not sure if my situation is unique or if anyone else has had issues or could offer advice to try to talk to the right person over there.

I am debating myself whether I should take Augustus Black GS course or the James Cody OL course. I work 2 jobs. I want to put in work but I also want to be able to secure an A. Is anyone else in similar situation or someone wants to share their experience?