Should COSC Lose Stand Alone Category Here?

[davewill]

While it's true that transfer students bring less revenue, they still pay significant fees, and they require MUCH less resources.

This all started when COSC insisted that each provider engage with them, instead of simply accepting ACE recommendations. I think they thought this would create opportunities to strike up partnerships that would bring some revenue, but it hasn't worked out that way.

[rachel83az]

The really sad thing is, credits at COSC aren't that expensive. If they went the TESU route and simply required 30 RA credits, while still accepting SDC/Sophia/etc., I think there is a substantial portion of students who would simply take most of them with COSC. $329 x 30 = $9870. That's still incredibly affordable for many and they do have a couple of degree options that not even Excelsior or TESU offer. But they had to get greedy.

[Old Guy]

It wasn't that long ago that you could get a degree at the big three based 100% on alternative credit without taking a single course from them. Excelsior's predecessor Regent's College of the University of the State of New York offered no courses to take. I think greed hit them and they can't build an empire based on nominal fees to review transcripts and issue a degree. They have turned themselves into something nobody needs, another overpriced online school. At Regent's College USNY you could get a 30 credit second degree from a GRE single subject exam and the degree had the name University.

[bjcheung77]

Oh yeah, that was pre-2012 when they instituted the Capstone courses... Then along the road they added the cornerstone, etc, changes are constant, but I don't believe they did it for a cash grab or a money making idea, they did it for accreditation purposes as the USDOE/CHEA were looking at things more critically. A few years after they instituted the this, the competency based degree provider WGU was also investigated for accreditation as they felt a need to check the quality of instruction, a few CBE providers closed their CBE options just because of that... Ultimately, nothing happened with WGU and they're still going strong, others have joined the CBE bandwagon and enjoying the ride...