Another person who needs help deciding on schools <advice please>!

[Mamasaphire]

Trying to figure out the best (ie fastest and least expensive) school choice at this point in my life to get me to graduation.

I have read & reread as many posts as I can explaining all the pros & cons of the Big 3, TESC's different enrollment options etc... and I think I've just confused myself more. :confused:

I was on the TESC Military (spouse) plan with a planned BA in Liberal Studies (and was just helped to see that I could also very easily do a Social Science or Humanities degree). But because I applied 2008/9, I will need to reapply, pay to re-send all my various transcripts, etc. If I am going to have to do all of that I guess it would behoove me to see if another school (like COSC) might be a better option for me at this point.

At the end of this semester I will have 120 usable credits (and 17 FEMA) -- I could use about 9 more UL credits for TESC. I really do not want to take TECEPs, or closed-book tests of any kind at this point. Classes based on writing papers would be fine.

I was planning to do the TESC Enrolled Options Plan and try to go for 21 PLA credits & Capstone for residency sake... but then I was rereading and wondered if residency really is required for Enrolled Options, or if I can just do a Capstone and be done ?

And then I started to wonder if COSC (which I haven't considered until recently) would be a cheaper route now that I have 120 credits?

Edited to add: I do have at least a full year of Pell Grant credit coverage if I can utilize it somehow. It works great at the CC as it covers the tuition (about $500/ 3 cr class), but where my life is currently I really don't want to take loans if I can help it.

Aargh. :ack:

[Prloko]

If you do NOT want to do TECEPs, than most likely COSC will be your cheapest option. You will have to do the Cornerstone and capstone courses. Are you still a military spouse? If yes, COSC is military friendly and your costs will be real low. I attached the table below straight from COSC's website. COSC will also still accept your FEMA credits. The question now is if you have the right credit distribution. You can apply to the college and see where you stand. Have you posted your credits here before? I know you PM'd me something, but you gave TESC's codes which some can be meaningless (like "special topics").

Military spouses are eligible for our in-state tuition fees regardless of their geographic location.
[TABLE]
[TR]
[TD]Application Fee (credit evaluation included)[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]$75[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]College Semester Fee (per semester)[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]$184 [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Tuition per Credit[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]$263 [/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
Students will be subject to the College Semester Fee each semester until degree completion.

[Mamasaphire]

Thank you! No, I haven't posted all my credits to the forum yet. I feel a little awkward letting everyone and his brother see the list (maybe it's my age?!).

Husband was Honorably Discharged about 15 years ago. TESC said that I still qualified for their plan in 2009, but I guess I should look more closely into COSC's guidelines.

[Prloko]

The discount at COSC is for spouses of active members I believe

Still, it will be fairly cheap if you have a good distribution of UL credit. COSC requires you to graduate with 30 UL credits regardless of the degree/concentration. If you want, you can go ahead and PM me your credits again, but try to include the description from the original source. I have a little template, it's not the greatest, but it was one i had made when I was considering COSC for my business degree.

[Mamasaphire]

After some helpful df member advice to stick with TESC over COSC due to not having much UL outside of SL, I've had a couple phone meetings with TESC advisors about rearranging & pinning courses to the categories I wanted them in.

It appears as though I am now pretty close to the finish line:

if I go with the Liberal Arts BA option, I will need 2 GE Electives and the Capstone. If I do the Social Science BA it would be 3 UL in SOS, and the Capstone.

I've been going over past posts like http://www.degreeforum.net/excelsior-tho...ement.html and http://www.degreeforum.net/general-educa...least.html and am getting more & more confused which is totally not the fault of those posts as they were very helpful. I tend to just over think and confuse myself with details :confused:. So would someone please tell me if my reasoning below is correct?

With only 3/4 courses left for either major, if I did the BA.LIBST I could probably just SL those last 2 GEs and do the EOP for the Capstone and be done, correct? No residency requirement, but a hefty annual enrollment fee and $1230/Capstone? (I'd very likely not go over that 1st year of fees b/c I'd only have to take the Capstone)

Or for the BA.SS I could choose the PCP w/ 7 TECEPs (which will bump 4 of my Elective courses down to "Other", but that's no biggie) or try to PLA, and then take the Capstone? So 21 credit requirement (approx. $840) plus $1560/Capstone? (this will likely take two years at the rate I am going)

Are there details or major costs I am missing? Sorry to be so dense about this! :o banghead

[dfrecore]

I'm a little confused as to why you think that if you do one degree, you have to go with the Enrolled Options Tuition Plan (EOTP) but if you take the other degree, you have to go with the Per-Credit Tuition Plan (PCTP).

You decide which tuition plan you're going to do, and then fit your degree plan to that, no matter which degree it is. If you want to do PCTP to save money, then you need to take the Capstone and 7 TECEP's. If you don't need/want any of the TECEP's offered to specifically fit your degree plan, you can take the easiest 7 and they will replace what you already have. For instance, if you take Sociology, and you've already taken a Sociology 101 course, the TECEP will just replace it, and the original Soc 101 course will go to the "Other courses" section as a Duplicated course. If you take the Environmental Ethics TECEP, and you already took an Ethics course that is in your Ethics slot, then the TECEP will go in there, and the other Ethics course will go to "Other courses" as an extra course.

So, if I were you, I would decide which plan I was going to do, and then fit the degree to the plan.
- If it's the PCTP, see which courses you still need to take, and see if any TECEP's will fit (there are plenty of GE's there, but only 1 UL SOS course: Abnormal Psych). If not, then decide which TECEP's you're going to take and just take them.
- If it's the EOTP, then take your remaining courses however you'd like, enroll and pay the $3000, take your final Capstone, and you're done.

I personally would just take as many TECEP's as I could repeating courses you've already taken (I'm assuming those would be the easiest to pass). I would also look at the exam descriptions and choose all-multiple choice exams, as opposed to ones with essays. But that's me.

[Mamasaphire]

I'm a little confused as to why you think that if you do one degree, you have to go with the Enrolled Options Tuition Plan (EOTP) but if you take the other degree, you have to go with the Per-Credit Tuition Plan (PCTP)....

I personally would just take as many TECEP's as I could repeating courses you've already taken (I'm assuming those would be the easiest to pass). I would also look at the exam descriptions and choose all-multiple choice exams, as opposed to ones with essays. But that's me.

Thank you! I guess I just thought those options were the most logical choice for each one so that's why I listed them, lol. I guess my other option would be to take actual courses online from TESC. I see what you are saying about the TECEPs and I appreciate your advice!! So basically, at this point just pick one plan and stick to it