Ashworth College - $1299-$1399 Associate Degrees + Sophia

[Mint Berry Crunch]

Looking around for something to fill in the gap for the Pierpont BOG degree, the cheapest I could come up with was Ashworth College.

Ashworth College allows you to transfer 75% of the courses for their Associate Degrees (45 out of 60 credits). This means only 5 courses (15 credits) or one semester would need to be taken at Ashworth which costs only $1299 (A.A. General Studies) of $1399 (A.S. General Business) and you have 12 months to complete them.

Using Sophia, some of their Associate Degrees should be easy and cheap to complete:

A.A. General Studies
A.S. General Business

Granted this is a NA schools so transfer options are more limited for the 15 Ashworth credits but Excelsior should take them and regardless the 45 Sophia credits are widely accepted. UMPI also accepts some courses from Ashworth.

From the Ashworth Degree Catalog 2024.

To enroll as an associate degree candidate, students must have successfully completed a high school diploma program, earned a GED or equivalent, or completed at least 12 semester credit hours of college coursework. [...]

In the associate degree program, students may receive credit for 15 courses out of 20 (45 credit hours out of 60) as a combination of transfer credits, prior learning assessment, and credit by exam. Credit by exam is limited to a maximum of 3 courses (9 credit hours). [...]

Ashworth degree programs are self-paced, and students are encouraged to set their own schedules for completing coursework. [...]

An associate degree program can be completed in approximately two years (no more than 12 months for one semester); however, students are allowed a maximum of six (6) years from the date of enrollment to complete their program. [...]

To earn an Ashworth College associate degree, a student must complete 60 credit hours with a minimum GPA of 1.00. [...]

At the end of each semester, students are required to take a proctored, online semester exam. [...] Students may use their textbooks, online and printed course materials, and notes during the exam, but may not use the Internet or previously saved electronic files. If applicable, students may access eBooks within their courses. [...] 

Semester exams are graded on a pass/fail basis and the semester exam scores are not factored into the individual course percentages or letter grades. The student must pass each section of the semester exam, earning no less than the applicable passing score of 70 percent for undergraduate semester exams to continue in the program. Students who fail the first attempt will be given one retake opportunity for each section in order to obtain the passing score. Students who fail a semester exam on their second attempt will be placed on academic review. Certain factors will be considered in determining whether the student will be permitted to remain in the program or be permanently dismissed. These factors include, but are not limited to, the student’s grade point average for the semester, the number of semesters completed, and the scores earned on the first and second attempts. [...]

The semester exam consists of five sections that cover the five courses taken in a particular semester; each section consists of ten (10) multiple-choice questions. Students are given three (3) hours to complete the semester exam.

Thoughts?

There is also a cheaper alternative to Ashworth for those looking for an associate. With Pierpont not being a viable option anymore – unfortunately – students can still work with getting a BOG at West Virginia University (WVU) at Parkersburg:

https://catalog.wvup.edu/ProgramPage/BOG_AAS/8

For this degree plan, it requires 60 credits, of which, 40 credits can be from alternative sources, 12 credits must be from a regionally accredited institution, and 3 credits must be done at WVUP. Therefore, it is possible to obtain an associate from here at a reduced cost using the following: TECEPS (RA credits) or Eerie County Community College (RA credits), Sophia (ACE credits), and WVUP (RA credits). Additionally, the degree plan requires that students complete 15 credits of gen ed under the following: Communications (3 credits), Mathematics/Natural Sciences (6 credits), Social Sciences/Humanities (3 credits), Computer Science (3 Credits).

Costs:

Sophia: Costs $99 for a 1-month membership, though discounts could make it $76. A good portion of credits can be done through this.

TECEPS: Offered through Thomas Edison, these are regionally accredited and are recorded as CR (credit) or NC (no credit). Upon completion of the exam, official transcripts will show that it was successfully completed and show credits awarded. 1000 – 2000 level courses cost $52 per credit and 3000 – 4000 level courses cost $77 per credit.

Eerie County Community College: For the past couple years now, ECCC offers tuition free semesters during the summer time for students to capitalize on.

WVUP: You must complete a 3-credit course here, but whichever of your choosing.

Degree Plan:

Sophia (45 credits):
Communications (3 credits) – Visual Communication (3)
Math/Science (6 credits) – Intro to College Math (3) and Statistic (3)
Social Sciences/Humanities (3 credits) – Intro to Psychology (3)
Computer Science (3 credits) – Intro to Web Development (3)
Additional Courses (30 credits) – Choose any courses you like

TECEPS (12 credits):
Writing for Success [ENC-1010] (3 credits)
Writing for Success II [ENC-1020] (3 credits)
Intro to Political Science [PS-1010] (3 credits)
Marriage and the Family [SOC-2100] (3 credits)

Eerie Community College (12 credits):
You choose

WVUP (3 Credits):
You choose

Total Cost:
Sophia = $99 (Varies on speed)
TECEP = $624
or
ECCC = refer to link: https://www.ec3pa.org/tuition-and-fees
WVUP = $540

Which Eerie County Community College?

I saw 2 of them.

Sorry for the late reply. But this one is located in Pennsylvania. I was actually talking with their admissions staff this spring/summer about if they offer online degrees; They don't unfortunately. However, you can do a lot of courses online with them. Keep an eye on them this upcoming year. If you do take any of their courses, let us know! I'd be interested in hearing how well everything turns out for you.

Here's a link to their site: https://www.ec3pa.org/

[Jonathan Whatley]

Erie County Community College in Pennsylvania was founded in 2021 and is not yet accredited as of this writing. It did announce today that it was awarded Candidacy status with its regional accreditator. Check with your target school as to whether credits from this school would be transferred.

[Mint Berry Crunch]

Erie County Community College in Pennsylvania was founded in 2021 and is not yet accredited as of this writing. It did announce today that it was awarded Candidacy status with its regional accreditator. Check with your target school as to whether credits from this school would be transferred.

Great catch! I did not know this, which is my fault. Thanks.

[bjcheung77]

Which Eerie County Community College?

I saw 2 of them.

It's in the message that you quoted... last couple of lines has the info you're looking for...

Erie County Community College in Pennsylvania was founded in 2021 and is not yet accredited as of this writing. It did announce today that it was awarded Candidacy status with its regional accreditator. Check with your target school as to whether credits from this school would be transferred.

Great catch! I did not know this, which is my fault. Thanks.

No worries, we can always look into this further, such as using these credits for PLA or something like challenge exams at the institution people want to transfer to... There are always options to look into for alternative credit to max the transfer...

[Mint Berry Crunch]

Which Eerie County Community College?

I saw 2 of them.

It's in the message that you quoted... last couple of lines has the info you're looking for...

Erie County Community College in Pennsylvania was founded in 2021 and is not yet accredited as of this writing. It did announce today that it was awarded Candidacy status with its regional accreditator. Check with your target school as to whether credits from this school would be transferred.

Great catch! I did not know this, which is my fault. Thanks.

No worries, we can always look into this further, such as using these credits for PLA or something like challenge exams at the institution people want to transfer to... There are always options to look into for alternative credit to max the transfer...

Hmm... I did not think of that. I suppose with the transcript that they would provide (given that they are unaccredited at this time) other colleges would evaluate their courses to see if they are satisfactory enough to waive other courses? I wonder if students could use that at TESU.

[bjcheung77]

Hmm... I did not think of that. I suppose with the transcript that they would provide (given that they are unaccredited at this time) other colleges would evaluate their courses to see if they are satisfactory enough to waive other courses? I wonder if students could use that at TESU.

Yes, there are a slew of different options, TESU and other institutions will look at them case-by-case basis. It's somewhat easier now as most institutions have a conditional acceptance policy and will try to accommodate as much as they can to get the student towards that finish line. Finding the institutions that allow the most flexible transfer is the hard part...

[Vle045]

Erie County Community College in Pennsylvania was founded in 2021 and is not yet accredited as of this writing. It did announce today that it was awarded Candidacy status with its regional accreditator. Check with your target school as to whether credits from this school would be transferred.

Hold up…. This new little community college is offering some free credits and getting RA?  This is significant news. This is my hometown and we still have family there. I’ll have to see if anyone could use this info.  I see it is free only to permanent residents of Erie County

[Ares]

Being limited to that county makes that school effectively useless for almost everyone else.

[ReyMysterioso]

Passing is passing.

No lies detected.