Can that be right? Excelsior College MPA

[Leherself]

So as a hopefully soon-to-be graduate from a Bachelor's degree program, I've been digging around the interwebs looking at grad school programs (because finishing one educational goal just means inflicting a new one on myself... because I'm a glutton for punishment, apparently) and I stumbled upon Excelsior's new Masters of Public Administration.

Now, not sure that an MPA really interests me, even as a federal employee, but the degree itself isn't what got me to raise my eyebrows when I looked at the program description: Excelsior College | Masters Degrees | Master in Public Administration (MPA)

What intrigued me was one little sentence: "Generous graduate credit-transfer - up to 33 credits from other accredited graduate schools provided that the credits meet the needs of the MPA program. This allows you build on your existing knowledge and earn your MPA more quickly."

33 transfer credits?! At the grad level? Is that even legal? And it's a 36 credit program, so you could theoretically transfer in all but one class and still graduate, assuming your classes line up with the degree requirements, and also assuming that that's not just a typo on the description page .

It's particularly intriguing for me, personally, since I have access to a boatload of free online ACE evaluated graduate level classes through work (CDSE / Education Courses) but before now I thought that the best case scenario for transferring credit would be 15 credits, or 5 classes. I've been thinking about sending an inquiry to Excelsior asking about how many of those courses they might accept (if any) toward this program. Really, the big attraction is that not only are they free, but I can legitimately spend my work hours doing the course work since it's considered professional development specific to my career field, which means that I might be able to further my education *and* have some free time once in a while, lol

Anyone have any thoughts?

[videogamesrock]

Looks amazing!! Take advantage of that.

[Exfactor]

They are also offering scholarships exclusive to this program/degree.

$4,500 scholarship will be awarded to the first 20 eligible students to enroll in this program.

[alleycat]

As you said the classes have to line up with their classes. If you have access to courses at work that are public administration course that fit than I say do it. Especially if you can sit at work and get your classes done.

[alleycat]

Just looked at the courses you supplied from work. Not sure if any of those will fit in the MPA degree.

[Leherself]

Little blurb from the response I got from one of Excelsior's graduate admissions counselors.

"Yes, it is accurate! We will accept up to 33 credits in transfer into our MPA program providing the credits/courses match our course content by 80% and were taken within the last 10 years and you received a grade of B or better."

The director of the program is investigating the courses themselves and will get back to me (I don't expect that to be an instant process!). Honestly, the longer it takes for me to hear back, the more hopeful I'll be.

I wouldn't expect all the courses to transfer by any means - some of these are pretty niche courses. But there are a few - Human Resource Management for DoD Security ED506.10 is recommended for 3 graduate credits in human resource management OR public personnel administration. Budgeting and Financial Management for Security Programs ED505.10 is recommended for 3 graduate credits in Budgeting or Finance, and might fill that block. They've got other analogs for leadership, ethics, research methods, communication... Even if they took just 6 or 7 classes out of the whole list (18 or 21 credits) that would still be a better deal than any other school I've found. 33 would be pie in the sky and I don't expect it - I don't think the course content lines up *that* well. Best case scenario is that they would accept them for all 9 credits of electives, and at least 3 core classes. Worst case scenario, they don't take any at all.

Honestly, I pretty much have to take at least a few of them for work anyway, to maintain my professional certification. It would just be nice if that effort carried over into an actual degree program too

[KittenMittens]

Little blurb from the response I got from one of Excelsior's graduate admissions counselors.

"Yes, it is accurate! We will accept up to 33 credits in transfer into our MPA program providing the credits/courses match our course content by 80% and were taken within the last 10 years and you received a grade of B or better."

The director of the program is investigating the courses themselves and will get back to me (I don't expect that to be an instant process!). Honestly, the longer it takes for me to hear back, the more hopeful I'll be.

I wouldn't expect all the courses to transfer by any means - some of these are pretty niche courses. But there are a few - Human Resource Management for DoD Security ED506.10 is recommended for 3 graduate credits in human resource management OR public personnel administration. Budgeting and Financial Management for Security Programs ED505.10 is recommended for 3 graduate credits in Budgeting or Finance, and might fill that block. They've got other analogs for leadership, ethics, research methods, communication... Even if they took just 6 or 7 classes out of the whole list (18 or 21 credits) that would still be a better deal than any other school I've found. 33 would be pie in the sky and I don't expect it - I don't think the course content lines up *that* well. Best case scenario is that they would accept them for all 9 credits of electives, and at least 3 core classes. Worst case scenario, they don't take any at all.

Honestly, I pretty much have to take at least a few of them for work anyway, to maintain my professional certification. It would just be nice if that effort carried over into an actual degree program too

It states in your links that those courses are offered to government and military members only. Does state government count? Also, these courses are free right? I'd be eager to know what courses transfer in and where/how you've taken them. And what are these courses like? Are they anything like the FEMAs or are they academically very rigorous i.e. do they feel like they're at the intensity of graduate level work?

[Leherself]

It states in your links that those courses are offered to government and military members only. Does state government count? Also, these courses are free right? I'd be eager to know what courses transfer in and where/how you've taken them. And what are these courses like? Are they anything like the FEMAs or are they academically very rigorous i.e. do they feel like they're at the intensity of graduate level work?

You know, I can't tell if state government counts. Everything I can find on the website just says "government employee" or "U.S. government employee". You could try to create a STEPP account? STEPP Security Training, Education and Professionalization Portal You have to have an approved STEPP account before you can enroll anyway.

I'm in the target audience for the courses (dual military & civilian - National Guard part time and DoD civilian full time, and working in the security field), so I don't have a lot of knowledge for folks who are outside of the DoD system getting to use the courses.

The courses are free, except for books (some offices reimburse, mine doesn't). Not all the courses require books though. Workload-wise, these are full blown online college courses with instructors and discussions and papers (but, afaik, no proctors required. All online). Each course is 16 weeks - which is kind of nice since that means the workload is spread out a bit. I'm so used to 8-week courses that the extended deadlines feel like a cake walk. 12 weeks to come up with a research topic? You're on! Lol. But no, they're nothing like fema courses - not self paced at all, and there's lots of interaction required. I feel like they're at a graduate level - but they're also military/government oriented, rather than completely academic, so *for me* that makes it seem easier. For people who don't have experience in the DoD I imagine that would make things harder. There's a certain level of assumed knowledge, since these are aimed at management-level DoD security officials.

It's not a quick or easy route to a Masters, necessarily. It's just *free*, and happens to dovetail perfectly with my particular career field. The government has other free grad schools - National Intelligence University, etc - but as far as I'm aware, this is the only free *online* program that leads to graduate credit. I'm not a military officer, or a very senior government employee, so I wouldn't qualify for any residential courses (particularly not in this budget environment!). Granted, I also have access to tuition assistance, but that's limited to $250 a credit, 16 credits a year, and 39 graduate credits *total* so for the vast majority of grad programs I'm looking at money out of pocket even with tuition assistance.

Excelsior's program is doubly attractive if they accept quite of few of these free classes, since for military their graduate tuition is only $275 a credit.

I have some other options in mind if this doesn't pan out. I just figured it was worth investigating just in case it does .

[KittenMittens]

You know, I can't tell if state government counts. Everything I can find on the website just says "government employee" or "U.S. government employee". You could try to create a STEPP account? STEPP Security Training, Education and Professionalization Portal You have to have an approved STEPP account before you can enroll anyway.

I'm in the target audience for the courses (dual military & civilian - National Guard part time and DoD civilian full time, and working in the security field), so I don't have a lot of knowledge for folks who are outside of the DoD system getting to use the courses.

The courses are free, except for books (some offices reimburse, mine doesn't). Not all the courses require books though. Workload-wise, these are full blown online college courses with instructors and discussions and papers (but, afaik, no proctors required. All online). Each course is 16 weeks - which is kind of nice since that means the workload is spread out a bit. I'm so used to 8-week courses that the extended deadlines feel like a cake walk. 12 weeks to come up with a research topic? You're on! Lol. But no, they're nothing like fema courses - not self paced at all, and there's lots of interaction required. I feel like they're at a graduate level - but they're also military/government oriented, rather than completely academic, so *for me* that makes it seem easier. For people who don't have experience in the DoD I imagine that would make things harder. There's a certain level of assumed knowledge, since these are aimed at management-level DoD security officials.

It's not a quick or easy route to a Masters, necessarily. It's just *free*, and happens to dovetail perfectly with my particular career field. The government has other free grad schools - National Intelligence University, etc - but as far as I'm aware, this is the only free *online* program that leads to graduate credit. I'm not a military officer, or a very senior government employee, so I wouldn't qualify for any residential courses (particularly not in this budget environment!). Granted, I also have access to tuition assistance, but that's limited to $250 a credit, 16 credits a year, and 39 graduate credits *total* so for the vast majority of grad programs I'm looking at money out of pocket even with tuition assistance.

Excelsior's program is doubly attractive if they accept quite of few of these free classes, since for military their graduate tuition is only $275 a credit.

I have some other options in mind if this doesn't pan out. I just figured it was worth investigating just in case it does .

Sounds good. I actually created an account and it didn't seem to cause any problems, though when I registered for a course it needed approval.

I actually spoke to Excelsior College a few moments ago and found that you need to have the college degree before you can enroll.

[Leherself]

I actually spoke to Excelsior College a few moments ago and found that you need to have the college degree before you can enroll.

Oh, sure. I just have my capstone left. I wasn't trying to enroll myself immediately - just investigating options . You don't need a degree to take the CDSE courses, is all.