Hello everyone. My name is Oliver, and I have a Question that im sure one of you can answer. Here is my problem. I finally decided to quit stalling and just go for something. I have decided on an AA to get my foot in the door. Besides, from what i understand I can CLEP out of half that. I am leaning towards Thomas Edison State. So my question is has anybody here Got there AA through one of the big three. And if so could you tell me if which of the big three would be least expensive. Can anybody make sense of this MY question is what on this chart can i CLEP out of. Or how do I speak to. to figure that out. Thanks, sorry about the messy post. I had to copy and past alot.
Associate in Arts Credit Distribution
Subject/Category Credits
I. General Education 48
A. English Composition 6
B. Humanities (must include two subject areas) 12
C. Social Sciences (must include two subject areas) 12
D. Natural Sciences 9
One college-level mathematics course (required) (3)
One computer science course (strongly recommended) (3)
Other natural sciences/mathematics (3)
Must include at least two subject areas
E. General Education Electives 9
So far I have the REA testing Booklet for English Composition. Humanities. College Mathematics. Natural Sciences/ Social Sciences & History.
I was also thinking of signing of with instantcert.com. How do I figure out. What I can Clep out of. And one more question, is Thomas Edison worth it? What i mean by that is. For example i live in minnesota and plan on getting a job with future degree here. So would an AA degree from a New Jersey school. Be recognized over here in the midwest. Thank you everyone.
I will be attending Thomas Edison State College later this year. If you choose to go to TESC and live in Minnesota it doesn't matter. If the college you choose is "accredited" then you won't have a problem. TESC and Excelsior are both accredited schools.
As far as your degree plan goes it will be difficult to help you with your degree plan until I know what you plan on majoring in. As far as what you can CLEP out of, the answer is just about everything except of course for a few exceptions. For example...I am majoring in Business Administration with a concentration in Public Administration. You can check out the MS WORD attachment at the bottom of this post to view mine.
The only courses I cannot clep out of are managerial accounting, managerial/business communications and the 6 courses I'll need to fulfill my Area of Study. That's a total of just 8 courses that I cannot CLEP/DANTES/TECEP/ECE my way out of!!! Not bad.
For your free electives, I would suggest you take the Free FEMA courses online. They count as 1 credit each except for one course which is a 2 credit course, and TESC will accept them as Free Electives for free. You would just have to have FEMA send a transcript to TESC.
As far as cost goes, TESC is $2,397 for out-of-state tuition, and they are $165 per credit hour. The also charge $225 for a graduation fee. Excelsior college is $895 to enroll. They charge $495 for a grad fee, and are $290 per credit hour.
I am planning on choosing TESC for the following reasons:
(1) Excelsior has a WER (written english requirement-they won't accept a CLEP or DANTES), meaning that I will have to take the course at a community college or through Penn Foster. TESC will accept the English Composition w/ essay for 6 credits.
(2) Excelsior will only accept FEMA credits if they're transcribed through either Clackamus or Frederick Community College, and then they will only accept a maximum of 15 credits. TESC will accept up to 27 for free. (I have 25 raw FEMA credits)
(3) Excelsior requires you to take "their" exams for a few courses such as Business Policy and a few others. Excelsior is $290 per credit hour. TESC will accept their equivalents (Business Policy, et cetera) from other accredited institutions. TESC is $165 per credit hour.
(4) Excelsior only gives upper level credits for courses (300) and up & will not award alot of Upper Level Credit for Dantes exams. TESC gives upper level credits for courses (200) and up and gives upper-level credit for all Dantes exams (w/probably a few exceptions).
Any more questions....I will love to further assist you because that's what we are all here for. Hope this post is valuable to you.
From a loyal degree seeker,
Marshall
Thomas Edison State University (TESU) Enrolled in BA in Liberal Studies - 105/120 Completed
Thank you mlwilliamsiv you have been very helpful. I was wondering if you or anyone else can answer a few questions then.
First how do i figure out for my specific degree what clep is excepted for example. I need 6 credits in english composition. how do i figure out if tesc takes the clep english composition. And second i guess i am a little bit confused about what i pay. so i pay an enrollment few to affliate with the college. lets just say i for some reason wanted to take one course. so i would have to pay 2,397 to take one course. that doesnt make sense to me. and third you talked about a graduation fee. would i have to pay a graduation fee on a AA degree. fourth you said they charge 290 dollars for credit does that include clep credit transfer. So if i had six clep credits to transfer. I would have to pay 1,740 dollars to transfer english clep credits in. I guess i am alittle confused. Thank you very much for your post. it was very helpful.
With Thomas Edison as an out-of-state student, you pay $2300 for your first year of enrollment. Thomas Edison operated differently from just about every other college out there:
You do not have to take a single class with them.
Your $2300 means that you enroll in one of their degree programs. To be eligible for graduation, you must meet all the requirements of that degree program. You can do this through CLEP tests, transfer credits, or courses taken with Thomas Edison. They DO NOT CARE how you earn the credit, only that you actually earn it.
There are no fees to transfer credit into Thomas Edison. You are not required to take a single course with them. They earn a profit by the $2300 enrollment fee and the $230(something) graduation fee. If you had 120 credits from various colleges, you could theoretically enroll at Thomas Edison then pay them the graduation fee 5 minutes later and get your B.A.
AdrianPeterson Wrote:Thank you mlwilliamsiv you have been very helpful. I was wondering if you or anyone else can answer a few questions then.
First how do i figure out for my specific degree what clep is excepted for example. I need 6 credits in english composition. how do i figure out if tesc takes the clep english composition. And second i guess i am a little bit confused about what i pay. so i pay an enrollment few to affliate with the college. lets just say i for some reason wanted to take one course. so i would have to pay 2,397 to take one course. that doesnt make sense to me. and third you talked about a graduation fee. would i have to pay a graduation fee on a AA degree. fourth you said they charge 290 dollars for credit does that include clep credit transfer. So if i had six clep credits to transfer. I would have to pay 1,740 dollars to transfer english clep credits in. I guess i am alittle confused. Thank you very much for your post. it was very helpful.
(1)Like OldRustyPipe stated...they do except CLEP English Composition with essay for 6 credits.
(2)Yes you do have to pay a grad fee for your AA. I was trying to save some money so I was just going to go ahead and enroll in the BA program. But I read in the Program Planning Book that you must get an AA before you earn your BA...therefore, I must pay 2 grad fees.
(3) No....Excelsior College charges $290 per credit hour tuition rate. TESC's is $165 per credit hour tuition rate.
(4) You DO NOT have to pay to transfer credits to TESC.
From a loyal degree seeker,
Marshall
Thomas Edison State University (TESU) Enrolled in BA in Liberal Studies - 105/120 Completed
Thank you Old Rusty Pipe. That made perfect sense. 1 question and im off to the books. my AA credit requirement sheet says i need 12 free electives. Could i just do that all through FEMA
From what I understand about TESC and FEMA, yes you can simply do the FEMA Independent Study Courses and they will all go towards Free Electives. They would take care of the 12 Free Electives for an AA.
Mind the difference between General Education Electives and Free Electives however. FEMA will not count towards General Education Electives.
Also keep this in mind once you settle in on FEMA mode, they will also apply to a B.A. as Free Electives. With Thomas Edison's Bachelor of the Arts, there is a 27 Free Elective pool.
You can use FEMA to completely fill up all 27 Free Electives for the B.A.
Yes...TESC will accept FEMA as FREE ELECTIVES ONLY if your going for anything other than an Emergency Managment Degree. I would highly suggest you take 12 of the following because these are the only ones to my knowledge that they will give you credit for:
FEMA COURSES
· IS – 1
· IS – 3 · IS – 5 · IS – 7 · IS – 8 · IS – 10 · IS – 11 · IS – 111 · IS – 139 · IS – 208 · IS – 230 · IS – 235 · IS – 240 · IS – 241 · IS – 242 · IS – 244 · IS – 275 · IS – 279 · IS – 288 · IS – 292 · IS – 301 · IS – 346 · IS – 393 · IS – 394 · IS – 630
Thank you everyone very much for your information. I think I am going to start off with FEMA. Does anybody know the difficulity or how i should approach them. second the having to pay tesc for both the AA and the BA sounds like alot of money but hey thats life. Just factoring in that CLEP tests cost 80.00 dollars a pop sounds expensive. But hey its worth it. With a degree i will atleast make more then 11.00 dollars in a hour. so its worth it. Thank you everybody. I am at square one. but atleast im moving forward now.
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