A few TESC questions. Please help!

[Daithi]

I'm looking at enrolling in TESC, and I will be starting with no college credits. My goal is simply to earn a bachelors degree, and I'd like to do so by testing out of as many courses as possible. A second consideration is a desire to take advantage of FEMA courses (free is good). As a result I'm leaning towards a BA in Liberal Studies.

I have a few questions to which I hope I can get some answers.

1) TESC has two different tuition plans, one for full-time students ($7,837) and one for part-time students ($2,858). Can I use the cheaper tuition plan if I am using primarily CLEP, DTTS, and FEMA?

2) The web page on tuitions mentions "up to 36 credits" each year for full-time students, while the part-time student tuition mentions "less than 24 credits" each year. How does CLEP and DTTS testing fit into this? I'm assuming that I can earn more than these thresholds per year through CLEP, DTTS, and FEMA, but I wanted to confirm it.

3) I've heard others indicate that you should hold off on enrolling until after you have already taken most of your CLEP and DTTS tests. I'm assuming the reason for this is to help ensure that you can complete your remaining testing in less than a year. Is this correct?

4) TESC's website mentions an 80 credit transfer limit for Community Colleges with 2 year programs, and 120 for Community Colleges with 4 year programs. Do these transfer limits not apply to credits acquired through CLEP, DTTS, and FEMA?

[Storyteller]

Transfer limits do not apply to Clep, Dsst. -I was told 90 for Clep, 90 for Dsst - Fema credits were 27 but I think the new is 31 (check that)
I applied for the annual tuition ($2858) after I had gotten 90+ credits - I wanted to make sure I could finish within the one year tuition period.
Do a search for TESC BA Liberal Arts degrees on this website - this degree allows for lots of testing credits.
Good luck.

[LaterBloomer]

Recommend that in addition to searching this forum, you go to Dcan's wiki. It combines lots of the info from this forum in an organized manner. Search "wiki" in this forum, and you'll find a link.

[sanantone]

The only real transfer limit is on community college credits. You only need 120 credits to complete a bachelor's, so that is all that will be applied from 4-year schools. The 32 FEMA credit limit is an artificial one. With the exception of two degree programs, FEMAs can only be used as free electives. 27 credits is the most room you'll have for free electives.

TESC has a Comprehensive Tuition Plan. This plan is cheapest for students taking more than 24 credits in TESC courses per year. It covers up to 36 credits per year in TESC TECEPs and guided study, online, e-Pack, and PLA courses. I'm not sure if they still have FlashTracks. For financial aid purposes, you need to take at least 24 credits a year in guided study and online courses in order to be considered a full-time student. The 36 credit limit is for TESC sources of credit only because this is the tuition you're paying for the courses. The amount of money you spend out of pocket for CLEP, DSST, ECE, etc has nothing to do with how much TESC is going to charge you. TESC just doesn't want to lose money on people taking an excessive number of TESC courses on the flat rate of the Comprehensive Tuition Plan.

Then, there is the Enrolled Options Plan. This is cheapest for students taking less than 24 credits in TESC courses. Basically, you're just paying the enrollment fee plus $212 per credit hour taken. If you take no TESC courses, then you pay nothing beyond the various fees. The Comprehensive Tuition Plan is a flat rate while the Enrolled Options Plan is more a la carte. This is a better explanation than full-time vs. part-time. Most of the members of this forum have chosen the Enrolled Options Plan because they tested out of or transferred in most of the requirements as opposed to taking TESC courses. Yes, most people recommend that you complete most of your tests before enrolling because the enrollment fee under the Enrolled Options Plan is only good for one year. You don't want to pay for more than one year if you aren't even taking any TESC courses.