I found my community college's very helpful and progressive admin staff SHOCKINGLY uninformed when it came to advising on anything outside the box. If cookderosa sees this she can tell you all about it if your interested. I believe she works at a community college. Your story of $25K in student loans and no degree is heartbreaking. You know, the Big Three have ALL been around doing basically the SAME THING since the early 1970's. The military uses them liberally but otherwise I don't think they spend much, if anything, on advertising (not like University of Phoenix) and since most people go to their local college for advice and get steered into 12 year plans for an associate's degree, there are a lot or people in your predicament. Now at least you have the opportunity to be one less. Good luck.

__________________
Michael

CLEP - ISCA 68, Sociology 72, Psych 73, A&I Lit 61, HG&D 65, Ed Psych 70, Marketing 72, Management 69, Macroeconomics 63, Microeconomics 67
DSST - Intro to Comp 66, MIS 61, Supervision 67, Counseling 58 - no study!, Personal Finance 67, Statistics 60, Criminal Justice 57, Ethics 58, Finance 63 (All A's at EC)
COC - 2007 (Community College) - Acctg I&II 10c, Work/Study 4c, Intro to Research (Info Lit req) 1c, Society and Rock & Roll 3c, Fund of Music 3c, Guitar I & II 4c, Bass Guitar I 2c
ECE - Ethics (A), HRM (B), Organizational Behavior (B) | CSU - Operations Mgmt. (A) | TECEP - Business Policy 80 (CR)

My Excelsior Degree Journey

Bachelor of Science in General Business, cum laude
Excelsior College
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Wow, You just missed a spirited discussion. (Do a search- jake.fl.87) asked the same question innocently enough. You need to read the overwhelming response.
In essence (short!) An accredited degree is an accredited degree. A "Big Three" is as good as any - And A WHOLE lot better than a degree that never comes because you can't make your life fit around someone elses schedule.

I went to Excelsior because with my job (rotational assignments/ different shifts/ forced overtime/ etc) it would have been near impossible to get a traditional degree. If I had to go the traditonal degree my graduation date would be 2047. Instead I'm (hopefully) starting the process on Thursday and will likely be starting a masters program this summer.

Please don't think that these degrees carry less weight or are inferior to their trditional counterpart. The biggest difference is they wrap around YOUR schedule. You don't wrap around theirs. If you play it right you can save a lot of money!

As far as the Community college automatically accepting CLEP because they test on site... (Oh dear...) Most advisors are oblivious to such tests. I have a friend at FSU and she tried to clep out and the advisors didn't even know of CLEP, despite the fact that they have a dedicated testing center. When she ran into the advisor in the hallway she had him physically go inside the testing center to see. Two weeks later he said that FSU doesn't accept those units. In essence he was still clueless. Don't assume ANYTHING when it comes to advisors and for the love of God, from now until graduation GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING!!!- That last bit of advise will save you some serious headaches- trust me!

__________________
The best things in life aren't things.
~Brandon

Yes I actually know someone that has been at the same community college for over 10 years and has over 40K in loans, I was shocked and I don't want that to be me! With all the changes in programs, prereq's and bad advising this is unfortunately what happens sometimes. Since the adults that work never receive a dime in aid, we are forced to take out loans because of not having an "extra" money to spend because any money we have must be spent on our children and bills. ARGH.

So I thought I would check this thread before I stepped out to my school. Of course I still don't know what to do. My class at OSU starts today! Now I am REALLY leaning towards going to Excelsior or TESC...I think at this point it really is the best option for me. It justs plain makes sense. So maybe I will just drop the class at OSU, and at my community college for this semester, and end up owing them my aid back. UNLESS either Excelsior or TESC has classes for this semester that haven't started that I could do a corsortian with? Oh lord, I am I glad I found this forum but at the same time, my plans I thought I had set may now be changed once again, HAHA! I just want to study for a goal NOW.

I am defiantely still interested in taking online classes, which both Excelsior and TESC offer right? I have to go on their sites now and see what's up.

Thank you everyone, I will keep you posted on my latest decision, HAHA!

As for not being fresh out of high school...I took my first CLEP 30 years after my high school graduation! You can do it!

__________________
Pattie
CLEP:
English Comp 101 & 102 - Analysis & Interpretation of Literature 130 & 131 - Intro to Marketing
TECEP:
Marketing Comm - PR Thought & Practice - Intro to News Reporting - Sales Management - Operations Management - Marketing Research - Business in Society
DSST:
Intro to Computers
FEMA:
12 FREE Credits!

Associate of Science in Management, TESC - 9/17/04
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, TESC - 6/6/08

Well you guys were yet right again. I go to my advisor, what a joke. I tell him I need his approval to take a class at OSU for credit here. He doesn't even bother to look at the course description, and signs the paper. Then I bring up some CLEP questions, he has NO CLUE what they were. Oh lord.

SO I go to the Registrar's office, when the testing center IS, and hmm the counselor there has no answers for me either. So finally I see a student working and he fills me in on EVERYTHING I needed to know!

Now off to financial aid, well no hope there once again either. That story in itself is way too long and boring to tell.

So for the rest of the semester I am taking one OSU class for now, and I am still waiting to see if I can drop the rest, because I really don't "need" them for anything.

The bottom line and decision I have made is...I am NOT going to attend OSU. I am now leaning toward Empire State College (because I live in NY and could get VERY goof financial aid) or TESC. I know Excelsior has really good reviews, but I NEED to take online classes (for the structure) and they charge almost $300/credit...are they crazy?
I am also going to decide what CLEP's I could study for this summer when classes end. So that is my plan, I am off to investigate Empire State a bit more....THANKS EVERYONE!

[quote=barcotta]I found my community college's very helpful and progressive admin staff SHOCKINGLY uninformed when it came to advising on anything outside the box. If cookderosa sees this she can tell you all about it if your interested. I believe she works at a community college. >>

The first three years (1991-1993) that I worked at my community college, I was the primary program adviser for culinary arts department (I only advise as a fill-in since then) but I never heard of a CLEP exam until last year. Good thing I wasn't your adviser! Countless students dropped out before graduating since they couldn't find time away from work to meet their gen eds. Oh, but wait, I told the CURRENT adviser about CLEPs last year- he never heard of them. Now he knows about them, but when a student asks (once) he called me to help them. My testing center proctor said "we don't do many CLEPs, it's mostly the pre-chiro students, but not too many of them pass." She was blown away when I started taking (and passing) exams. I know this is only 1 school and 1 person's experience- but just to let you know that you may have to ask more than one person or be very diligent about the exams- it can be hard to get real information.

P.S. It's interesting to note that our community college accepts tons of CLEP exams up to 36 credits- and all of the gen ed in my department can be filled with CLEP. There is no mention of CLEP on our college's web site, and there is one tiny brochure located INSIDE the testing center (not in advising or registration). I strongly suggest the exams to my students who strongly resist the opportunity. Go figure!?!?

__________________
Jennifer
ALM, Master of Liberal Arts, Harvard University, 2099 or sometime sooner
AA & BA, Social Sciences, Thomas Edison State College, 2008
AOS, Culinary Arts, Culinary Institute of America, 1990

How to do your own Unofficial Evaluation http://www.degreeforum.net/general-e...ighlight=alpha

InstantCert WORKS! http://www.degreeforum.net/general-e...g-members.html

"Brick walls are there for a reason....They’re there to stop the other people.” Randy Pausch

My class at OSU starts today! Now I am REALLY leaning towards going to Excelsior or TESC...I think at this point it really is the best option for me. It justs plain makes sense. So maybe I will just drop the class at OSU, and at my community college for this semester, and end up owing them my aid back. UNLESS either Excelsior or TESC has classes for this semester that haven't started that I could do a corsortian with? Oh lord, I am I glad I found this forum but at the same time, my plans I thought I had set may now be changed once again, HAHA! I just want to study for a goal NOW.
>>

Don't drop- you already paid and have the books- take the classes and use this time to develop a game plan for the possibility of how it would work for you at a school like TESC or EC. You can use the next 16 weeks as your "research" time. TESC and EC will allow you to transfer these classes in- so if nothing else you ARE earning credits. Keep moving forward, even if it's baby steps!!

__________________
Jennifer
ALM, Master of Liberal Arts, Harvard University, 2099 or sometime sooner
AA & BA, Social Sciences, Thomas Edison State College, 2008
AOS, Culinary Arts, Culinary Institute of America, 1990

How to do your own Unofficial Evaluation http://www.degreeforum.net/general-e...ighlight=alpha

InstantCert WORKS! http://www.degreeforum.net/general-e...g-members.html

"Brick walls are there for a reason....They’re there to stop the other people.” Randy Pausch