Hi all,
The tl;dr is I'm looking to take the next step after experiencing some hardships and would like help putting together a plan to get a BACS from TESU.

I started a bachelor's degree at a regular 4-year school, but experienced a significant personal setback at the end of sophomore year and spent the next few years in and out of community college, trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I ended up earning an associate's in communications, then the pandemic hit. For the past few years, I've been putting time in working on myself, getting my head straight so to speak. I've been volunteering and teaching myself to code after spending way too much time neglecting taking care of myself. Now, I'm looking to get a bachelor's in computer science. The one wrinkle in this plan is due to current living arrangements I'm not permitted to be a full-time student. But I became very interested in Thomas Edison State University's BACS program after learning that it has a part-time option.

Your Location: New Jersey
Your Age: 35
What kind of degree do you want?: bachelor's, computer science
Current Regional Accredited Credits:

Emerson College - MA - 79 credits: 59 from institution, 20 transferred from AP tests
History of Jazz, A-, 4.00
History of Media Arts I, C, 4.00
Intro Visual & Med Arts Produc, A, 4.00
Research Writing, C, 4.00
Minds & Machines, C, 4.00
Fund of Speech Comm, C+, 4.00
Social Psychology, C+, 4.00
History of Media Arts II, B-, 4.00
Princ of Marketing, C-, 4.00
Narrative Ethics, D, 4.00
Media Criticism & Theory, C+, 4.00
Writing the Feature Film, C, 4.00
Brain and Human Comm, C, 4.00
Intro Studio Television Produc, D, 4.00


Mercer County Community College - NJ - 50 credits earned + 33 transferred (from AP tests + Emerson) = 83 total (received: AA, Communications)
Intro to Criminal Justice System, B, 3.00
Beginning Spanish I, B-, 3.00
Web Site Design, B, 3.00
Introduction to Radio, B, 3.00
Principles of Advertising, A, 3.00
Writing for Radio/Television, B+, 3.00
Intro to Digital Audio Production, A-, 3.00
Anthropology, C, 3.00
Role of the Paralegal, C, 3.00
Topics in Mathematics, B+, 3.00
Computer Concepts/Programming, B, 3.00
Concepts of Health/Fitness, A, 2.00
Literature into Film, A-, 3.00
Introduction to Psychology, B-, 3.00
Cinema, B+, 3.00
Communication and Gender, A, 3.00
Biological Science Concepts, C+, 3.00
Media Issues and Ethics, A, 3.00


Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: None
Any certifications or military experience? No
Budget: ~$8k, would prefer to minimize cost
Commitments: At the moment, very little
Dedicated time to study: 4-6 hours/day
Timeline: Flexible, however I am specifically looking for a part-time program as I am not allowed to be a full-time student due to living in low-income housing
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: None

I'm interested in how much it would cost to get a BACS from TESU, in addition to how long it would take. Thank you in advance.

Hello --

I'm newly re-enrolled at EU and wonder if anyone has experience working with Gina Medina, or general advice based on recent experience with EU Advising.  I've already planned out my remaining credits (and after Capstone I'll have 15 at EU), so all I really need is for Advising to cooperate. I sort of wonder if the average EU student needs the level of hand-holding implied by nearly every email EU sends .  Thanks for reading.

Phillip

I just spoke with an advisor at Excelsior College who informed me that starting March 31st, 2025, all Excelsior students will be required to complete at least 15 credits directly through Excelsior.
Here are the details:
- Mandatory Courses: Complete the Cornerstone, Capstone, and Information Literacy courses (7 credits total).
- Additional Courses /Credits: Complete 3 Additional Courses worth 9 credits.  Since Excelsior doesn't offer 1- or 2-credit courses, this really means completing a total of 16 credits in total.
- Partner Institutions: Partner students from institutions like Sophia receive a discount of $50 per credit hour.
- Cost: With the current rate of $460 per credit hour, (After the 50$ Partner discount) it will cost $7,360 to complete the degree at Excelsior (460 x 16 = 7,360).
Important Note: If accepted before March 31st and you have credits through a partner like Sophia, you will be grandfathered under the 7 credits policy However, ensure you do not state in your application that you are a partner student, or you will be required to complete the 15 credits,
Does anyone else know or have more info. about this change?

For those interested, in a criminal justice program at UMPI, my degree evaluation shows that SOC 100 Intro to Sociology takes the place of CRJ 130 Philosophy & Ethics of Social Control.

For anyone who may be interested because of long delays with Sophia and SDC all my assignments on Straighterline were graded typically within an hour of submission for all written assignments. The longest I had to wait was overnight where I submitted the assignment at 7-8 pm EST and it was graded by the time I woke up the following morning. 

Also, all essays written for English Comp II build on each other, so you're not starting from scratch each time.

While it may not be a first choice based on cost it's definitely the quickest turn around I've seen and fairly lenient grading procedures. I would highly recommend for anyone wanting to be done within 1 month for both Eng I and II it's easily doable, for the $99 subscription fee and the $79 per course, it's well worth it.

I'm looking to get more into the Apple Ecosystem, currently with a new Mac mini M4 as my main PC, and an older Mac Mini M2 as a family computer, this phone would be an upgrade from my old SE3 2022, since they've discontinued the SE and now in favor of 16e.  

Yes, the Apple 16e phone came out just a few days ago and on pre-order until the early part of March up to mid March.  The phone is at a good price point of $599USD.  Having said that, the features of the phone is lesser than the 16 (non pro), the main difference is the camera as it uses the same CPU/Ram and other configuration is very similar.

16e only has 1 camera lens, 16 has 2 cameras lenses and the 16 pro has 3 camera lenses. You can make a comparison on the Apple website if you need the extra details.  There are a few pre-paid cell MVNOs Mobile Virtual Network Operators available that will provide a discount on the phone and on the pre-paid plans on a cell network.

Here's an example from Slickdeals.net: Straighttalk.com has a deal for $365, $299 for the phone and $65 for a month plan, you can cancel the plan anytime, and in 2 months (60 days) your phone will be unlocked to be used on any carrier of your choice.  In brief, you're getting a discount on the phone, but need to wait 2 months for it to unlock.  People use it as an ipod music player or wifi device, ipad mini replacement, whatever may work in your scenario.  You're paying "half price" for this phone.

On the flip side, there are other options such as this example: 1 year service of unlimited calls/text and X gigs of data for $599.  So, it's like getting the phone for free, but using their post paid cell service plan.  Or, the other way of looking at it is, buying the phone for $599 and getting their cell service free, it's the same pricing either way you look at it!

Toms Hardware has a few examples of cheap post paid options: https://www.tomsguide.com/sales-events/i...e-for-free

Your Location: Ohio, USA
Your Age: 38
What kind of degree do you want?: Psychology (maybe also Business)
Current Regional Accredited Credits:19

School Name Total Credits: (an Ohio) Community College #19
Class Name, Credits, Grade
(Past credits)
Intro to Psych, 3, A
Effective Public Speaking, 3, B
Intro to Humanities, 3, A
Introductory Biology (with lab), 4, A
Statistics, 3, A
Health & Nutrition, 3, A

Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits:

Provider Total Credits: CLEP #14*
Class Name, Credits, Grade
CLEP College Composition, 4, score: 74
CLEP Natural Sciences, 6, score: 68
CLEP Marketing, 4, score: 64
*I calculated these based on my current target school (Franklin), applied to other schools, the 4s would be 3s.

Any certifications or military experience? Nope.
Budget: As cheap as humanly possible. My degree is considered completely optional for my family. I desire to do this with as little burden to them as possible and I need to prioritize my kids' education.
Commitments: Stay at home mom, homeschooling 3 kids, lead an educational co-op, hustle a little on the side
Dedicated time to study: I study every Tuesday night, at minimum. For each of my CLEPs, I did Modern States on Tuesday night, read REA Friday afternoon, and took the test that night. Generally, I pick things up very quickly.
Timeline: Flexible, but I would like to utilize my ability to learn quickly. CLEPs are ideal for me because I can study when I have time and learn the way my brain works best and apply it immediately to a test. College has been a struggle in the past because of the need for long-term commitment. 
Tuition assistance/reimbursement:
None.

Basically, I have high capacity to learn, turn, and apply to testing. I have often been told by friends with Masters or Doctorates that I could easily be a PhD candidate. But I have always prioritized my family. I have twice attempted to go to college, but life situations backed me out (health, caring for dying family members, etc). I have only just recently learned about flexible options, and am trying once again. I'm trying to not get my hopes up.

I'm currently looking at Franklin University. I am a little hazy on the details for how the Big 3 work now and am hesitant to put much effort toward them. I have written off COSC entirely. I'm a little confused about TESU and EU.

I am planning to take the CLEP for Analyzing Literature this week.
I am planning to take the CLEP for Management, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Business Law, Sociology, Intro to Educational Psych, Human Growth & Development, and Western Civ 1 in the coming weeks.
Some of that may seem strange or unnecessary, but the reason is three-fold: 1. Yes, I'm taking them for myself and degree progression, but, 2. I'm taking the ones that my son plans to take (the business ones) to know how best to help him (he's in 8th grade, enrolled at Franklin) and, 3. I'm taking some that support our homeschool co-op to help shape the classes to "teach to the CLEP" for our older students.


I'm essentially using the time it takes me to complete a bunch of CLEPs to figure out the best path for me.

The Psych degree is for me. The Business degree add-on is kind of like...."Well, if I can add it in as a dual-major, may as well...". But it isn't a high priority.

So this is what I'm looking to figure out:

• Cost comparison between Franklin, TESU, and EU
  

1. Franklin has a lower per-credit rate, I believe
   
2. I'm not sure how low residency requirements are for TESU and EU now
   
3. Psych seems to tend to require more credits through target school than other, more general degrees
   
4. I've heard something about $300 per transcript EU has to examine? If I'm doing a lot of CLEP and ACE, that seems expensive???
   

• If I stay with Franklin...
  

1. Is there a viable way to combine Business with Psych while keeping it to just 30 credits or so through Franklin?
   
2. I found some ACE courses (Coopersmith and study.com) that look like they might fit some of the UL Psych courses at Franklin but they aren't on the Transfer Tool they have available. Will they be able to tell me in advance is those would be acceptable so I don't waste time?
   
3. Also considering Nationally accredited sources like People's University for cheap credits that can transfer in (cheaper than community college).
   

I stumbled onto this the other day: https://www.familymedacademy.com

It's UK-based and I see that the courses are accredited by the CPD Certification Service in the UK, but there is no institutional accreditation which makes me wary of them offering Master's degrees. Seems like the PG Diploma should be the ceiling. To me, once you start offering degrees you're in a different territory. The UK government (at least from what I can tell) doesn't appear to do much if anything about these sorts of things.

Any thoughts on this program?

Hi everyone, 
I’m new here, and I’ve been lurking for a few months, learning as much as I can about college hacking. I am currently 33 and decided to work through WGU. So far, I have earned about 32 credits through Sophia. However, the more I learn about TESU, the more it seems I can accelerate my progress faster via TESU than WGU. I initially considered pursuing a Software Engineering degree, but now I’m thinking of earning a computer science degree through TESU and then pursuing a master’s degree at WGU. The main issue is the RA credits required. At first I let the idea go. However, I do recall taking college classes for only one semester. (Technically, I had 2 semesters, but I never attended one class and didn’t drop out of it, so it was a big fat F). I did pass three classes though. Algebra, geometry, and Japanese. I got a D in English and an F in another Japanese class(In the class I didn't attend).I know I was young/dumb and didn’t take it seriously. Can I still transfer these classes in? I think that gives me 9 credits out of the 3 I passed, right? I believe I’ll need 6 more credits, which I think I can complete by taking some TECEP classes and then enrolling in 15 RA classes via their 3-month flat rate term. The rest, I was going to take through ACE credits. If I'm able to qualify for TESU now I’m heavily considering double majoring; I was thinking of the business administration-finance degree. Is there a limit on how many ACE credits I can transfer in? Can I still do the majority of the ACE credits for both bachelor’s degrees? Additionally, will the two failed classes affect my GPA, or can they simply not be used as credits? It’s also like 10 years ago, so I don’t know if they’ll allow old credit. I appreciate everything this forum offers and apologize for the lengthy post and multiple questions; it has been a huge help so far.

I just finished my Information Literacy course with a 100
My mentor was Dr. Phillip Wagner.  If you have the opportunity to take the course with him I would do so.  He graded the work very quick and was very lenient.  He gave good feedback, and if you just submit all your work, it should be an easy course to complete.