Best path for a Computer Science Bachelors

[jaybee]

Hey y'all, was wondering if any of you can help me chart an efficient plan to obtain an computer science bachelors. I was looking at WGU initially but I've been curious about other institutions like TESU and possibly UMPI later this year?

Your Location: New York City
Your Age: 32
What kind of degree do you want?: Bachelors in Computer Science.
Current Regional Accredited Credits: 0
Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: 0
Any certifications or military experience?: 0
Budget: Ideally as cheap as possible, but open to other more expensive options if they provide a better path
Commitments: Single, no kids, work 8-3 weekdays only
Dedicated time to study: 4-5 hours on weekdays, unlimited on weekends
Timeline: 1-1.5 years, if it can be achieved faster that would be nice!
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: None at the moment, will be applying for FAFSA

Let me know if you need/or if I'm missing any important information about myself. Thank you in advance!

[natshar]

Something else to consider. Do you have previous computer science experience? Do you have any IT certifications? If so that could affect your plans or speed things up if you have experience vs no experience.

[bluebooger]

keep this in mind

https://www.hesc.ny.gov/find-aid/nys-gra...rship-faqs

I don't believe there is an age limit

this is not for the school named Excelsior

this is for the schools that make up the State University of New York and the City University of New York

[jaybee]

Something else to consider. Do you have previous computer science experience? Do you have any IT certifications? If so that could affect your plans or speed things up if you have experience vs no experience.

Unfortunately no to both, most experience I have with coding is dabbling a little into Harvards free CS50 course.

[bjcheung77]

Welcome to the board, great intro post with the addendum and template. I recommend the TESU BACS by transferring 90 ACE/NCCRS credits into the degree and completing 30 RA from TECEPs & Cornerstone plus Capstone. Note: You need 30 RA credits, I suggest TECEPs for 24 credits, plus the capstone/cornerstone, and the Accelerate Fee. Or you can do 15 credits worth with TECEPs and flat rate for 15 credits, total is 30 RA.

Use the TESU WIKI plans as a reference, I would start getting credits using the Study.com College Starter at $95/month (click the link on my signature), when prompted to select a class, select any lower level class (it doesn't matter which one, like Accounting or something). Once your general education and electives are completed, you can change your Study.com to College Saver to get the upper level CS classes completed.

[davewill]

The main issue with TESU is that I think our "DIY" path using ACE credit is not ideal for someone with no CS experience. It's a little too easy to cram for the tests and get through without really mastering the material. It works wonderfully for someone who has experience and just needs to work throught the courses to get their degree.

That's not to say that someone couldn't really apply themselves to the ACE coursework, and master the material, but they would have to make that extra effort.

[zadaea]

SNHU is cheaper than TESU. Per credit hour is cheaper. If you desire you can transfer in up to 90 credits and finish in 10 months. I don't really see the benefit of recommending TESU when it costs nearly double ($556 vs $330), is a BA instead of a BS (less math), and the curriculum honestly does not look good. It only makes sense if someone has 114 credits and a lot of experience.

Anyhow, you're really rushing things with a 1 year timeline, especially with no experience. I'd aim for 2 years. You're going to need at least a year or 2 of projects, learning pseudocode, UML design, system architecture, experience with several languages, etc. It's not something you can really rush. Each course builds upon the previous.

And then you also have to start on doing sophia/study.com classes if you want 90 credits or any amount that at least covers the gen ed.

You should think hard about whether or not to transfer in any comp sci courses, only if money is a concern should you do that. Sophia.org/study.com course quality is very low.

So, going over school options for CS:

• WGU: I graduated with my CS degree from WGU. I would not recommend it without experience in the industry or at least a year of progressing to the intermediate level. If you feel like you can motivate yourself without deadlines to work 20 hours a week on school then go for it.
  

• SNHU: 8 week courses, several projects & assignments per class. Looks like a decent enough education & curriculum.
  

• University of the people: Probably the cheapest option? I don't know much about it. Recently became regionally accredited.
  

• UMPI: Who knows what the quality will be like. It follows the same format as WGU though, accelerated. If the courses are thorough and require multiple projects, then I'd recommend it.
  

My overall opinion is that an 8 week format for classes is better suited to anyone that needs motivation or is a beginner and not in the industry already. You need time for the material to stick, time to experiment with different languages, etc.

[Tomas]

UoPeople doesn't participate in Federal Student Aid.

[origamishuttle]

SNHU is cheaper than TESU. Per credit hour is cheaper. If you desire you can transfer in up to 90 credits and finish in 10 months. I don't really see the benefit of recommending TESU when it costs nearly double ($556 vs $330), is a BA instead of a BS (less math), and the curriculum honestly does not look good. It only makes sense if someone has 114 credits and a lot of experience.

You've missed some important details about the BACS at TESU:

• Up to 117 credits can be transferred, if you include the edX course, so per-credit cost is much less important as the number of TESU courses decreases.
  
• The flat-rate tuition is $4,428 or $3,419 (for in-state students) for 15 credits, so per-credit tuition can be $295 or $228 at TESU if you want/need to take that many courses.
  
• Coursework at TESU can be completed in 12 weeks, so it's potentially much faster than the 40+ weeks at SNHU.
  

[natshar]

Rushing through a computer science degree with no experience doesn’t make a lot of sense and even if you worked fast you might have to plan for it to take longer to learn everything. I personally don’t think TESUs comp science curriculum is very robust. I kind of agree with other poster that probably a BS from SNHU would probably be better.
I guess it all depends what you want to with this degree after you graduate. And what your goals are and how advanced you want to go.