Can someone help me find the fastest way to a degree?

[Likiro]

I have been lurking here on and off for the last couple of years. I have looked at the Wiki and at all of the websites for the "big 3" and I can't quite seem to figure out where to start.

I have been a stay at home mom for the last 10 years and my youngest is almost ready to start school. I'm almost 40 and still trying to figure out what I want to do when I grow up.:o I have always regretted not finishing college and I think just getting a degree would feel like a nice achievement. I worked for a number of years pre-kids in the travel industry and I don't think I'll return to that field when I go back to work. I'm not really sure what field I will eventually go into, but I think I'm just looking to get the easiest and fastest Bachelor's degree. I feel like having a degree will make more job opportunities available to me as well as the possibility of graduate school in the future if I want to do that. Can anyone help with some suggestions for a degree plan for me? Which school should I focus on? I'm thinking a general degree like liberal studies, but I'm really open to anything. Here are the credits I have so far....

Thanks in advance for any guidance anyone can provide!


Community College Credits

The following credits were all from a community college that was on the two semester system. Not sure if that would affect how many credits these classes are worth?

MTH150 - College Algebra - 3.00
BUS100 - Intro to Business - 3.00
HDE190 - Career Exploration - 2.00
SPA110 - Elementary Spanish I - 4.00
WRT101 - Writing I - 3.00
FSN114 - Nutrition - 3.00
PSY101 - Intro to Psychology - 4.00
SPA111 - Elementary Spanish II - 4.00

The following credits were from community colleges on a 3 term system.

Medical Terminology - 4.00
Health & Wellness - 3.00

CLEP Exams Passed

Introductory Sociology - Score 60
Human Growth & Development - Score 70

[clep3705]

Best to get an associate's degree first on your way to a bachelor's degree. If you choose your courses wisely, everything in your associate's degree will count toward a bachelor's degree.

Always start at home - your local community college. Your local community college accepts many CLEP tests: University Transfer: College Level Exam Program | PCC

However, CLEP tests and nontraditional credits can't be more than 25% of your degree. Student Records: Transferring Credits to PCC | PCC

If you want to mostly test out of your degree, you should look elsewhere because Portland Community College isn't all that test friendly.

[Life Long Learning]

Clackamas community college just to the south is way better for the non-traditional student than PCC. Clackamas Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) is great and transferable. PCC does not do CPL credits below the line. Lane community college two hours South does CBA and it's second only to Clackamas. Lane is harder to deal with than Clackamas in general in too many areas.

I agree...start with your local CC. The AGS degrees in Oregon is easy. The Transfer AOT degrees are the the reason so few folks from Oregon graduate from a CC.:willynilly:

Best to get an associate's degree first on your way to a bachelor's degree. If you choose your courses wisely, everything in your associate's degree will count toward a bachelor's degree.

Always start at home - your local community college. Your local community college accepts many CLEP tests: University Transfer: College Level Exam Program | PCC

However, CLEP tests and nontraditional credits can't be more than 25% of your degree. Student Records: Transferring Credits to PCC | PCC

If you want to mostly test out of your degree, you should look elsewhere because Portland Community College isn't all that test friendly.

[Likiro]

The bulk of my credits come from an out of state community college. I looked at the local community colleges and the associate's degrees require 24ish of the credits come from that college. Does that still seem like the best route?

[clep3705]

Are there any community colleges that are very test friendly? Some community colleges allow up to 70% of the credits to come from testing and other nontraditional sources such as, for example, Straighterline. The remaining credits will have to be from courses at the college.

[Life Long Learning]

Vincennes University (Indiana's oldest University and CC) is and only requires 6 SH with them for military folks for an AS degree. Sadly, not true for others. If other B&M CC's allow 70% I would also like to know.

Are there any community colleges that are very test friendly? Some community colleges allow up to 70% of the credits to come from testing and other nontraditional sources such as, for example, Straighterline. The remaining credits will have to be from courses at the college.

[Life Long Learning]

Most colleges require 25% resident credits with them. CC's here also require 24 credits.

The bulk of my credits come from an out of state community college. I looked at the local community colleges and the associate's degrees require 24ish of the credits come from that college. Does that still seem like the best route?

[dfrecore]

For some reason everyone is telling you to go to a CC and get an AA, but I'm not really certain why, since that's not normally what people on this forum do - most (not all) want a bachelor's degree, and that's what you're looking for. I wouldn't bother getting an AA on the way to a Bachelor's if I didn't need one. There's no real benefit to it, and at your local 4-yr state college, no one is getting an AA when they're on the path to a BA. Not that they can't or shouldn't, but it's not what's normally done.

When looking at the Big 3, and a Liberal Studies degree, at this point, I think it's best to either look at TESU or COSC. I will attach a TESU BALS degree tomorrow for you to look at. Everything can be tested out of for it, except the 1cr cornerstone and the 3-cr capstone. COSC also has a similar thing - 3cr cornerstone and 3cr capstone.

There are pros and cons of TESU vs. COSC, but ultimately I think it doesn't matter much which one you choose - the price is very close to the same for the BALS degree.

Start with the Beginner's Guide (I think the first 8 posts are probably the most helpful): http://www.degreeforum.net/general-educa...llege.html

Good luck!

[TrailRunr]

Actually, I see a lot of AA threads on this board (the recent talk about the West Virginia 3 credit residency Board of Governor AAS and the ASBA at TESU comes up a lot).
For all I know, the majority of the lurkers may want AA degrees.

I also don't think AA are worth it for most folks too. Just because you get past the very rare HR checkbox with an AA doesn't mean you'll beat the many other candidates that have BA or higher degrees.

Then again, I have a friend that is making terribly slow progress towards a BA (only 45 credits after 10 years). I'm about to suggest that he grab the AA since he just failed a brick and mortar class last month with a professor that got 4.5 on RMP with many ratings. That was his only class. He would never do well with testing or competency degrees.

[dfrecore]

Actually, I see a lot of AA threads on this board (the recent talk about the West Virginia 3 credit residency Board of Governor AAS and the ASBA at TESU comes up a lot).
For all I know, the majority of the lurkers may want AA degrees.

I also don't think AA are worth it for most folks too. Just because you get past the very rare HR checkbox with an AA doesn't mean you'll beat the many other candidates that have BA or higher degrees.

Then again, I have a friend that is making terribly slow progress towards a BA (only 45 credits after 10 years). I'm about to suggest that he grab the AA since he just failed a brick and mortar class last month with a professor that got 4.5 on RMP with many ratings. That was his only class. He would never do well with testing or competency degrees.

I think it was more that the OP was specifically asking about a BA rather than an AA. She said " I'm just looking to get the easiest and fastest Bachelor's degree"

I'm not against AA's, and some people here are looking for that, but in the 4+ years I've been on here, the majority of people want a BA.