Cheapest Bachelors, any degree..CBE preferable

[Jonathan Whatley]

The best practice is generally not to subscribe to Sophia and another subscription provider like Study at the same time. It’s to maximally accelerate from one provider at a time, then cancel and move on to another. Some courses that may fit your program at UMPI are only available from one provider or the other.

Every minor available in the BAS is also available in the BLS. The only real difference between the BAS and BLS is the admission requirement for the BAS that jg_nuy notes, and the title of the degree.

[bjcheung77]

If you have plenty of transfer credits, up to 90 credits, I would select the BLS with a minor of your choice. If you're starting off and have a few credits, then the BA with a major or concentration would be recommended. Any way you go, you want to max the transfer credits into the degree, then finish off the residency requirements.

[Edriveless]

She’s planning to begin with Sophia.org, then continue with Study.com, and eventually UMPI for the YourPace program. She officially enrolled yesterday, so we’re excited to get things rolling.

I wanted to check if you happen to know the specific Sophia and Study.com courses she should complete for a BA in Business Administration with a concentration in Project Management and Management Information Systems? She’s also open to the Tourism or Hospitality concentration as a transfer option within YourPace, depending on how it all aligns.

She does have a college transcript from the Philippines with credits in Tourism, but unless there’s a very low-cost evaluation option (ideally under $100) that UMPI accepts and doesn’t delay her fall start, we may skip that route just to keep things efficient and affordable.

Would you be able to help us map out the best path forward and recommend which courses she should take through Sophia and Study.com? We’d like to maximize those platforms and reserve only the most essential 10 UMPI courses you typically recommend.

I’m trying to keep everything as cost-effective as possible since I’ll be covering her expenses starting now.

Thanks so much again!

[Jonathan Whatley]

I expect courses within the first two years of her Cebu Tech program have fulfilled about half of the UMPI General Education Curriculum.

Purposive Communication — 1A, 1D
Ethics — 3A, 2B, 4C, 5D
Life and Works of Rizal — 2E
Mathematics in the Modern World — 3A, 3B
Gender and Society with Peace Studies — 5A
Philippine Indigenous Communities or The Contemporary World or Readings in Philippine History (lattermost is year 3 semester 1) — 5B
Non-English Language (year 3 semester 1) — 5C

If she will not have completed a non-English language course, take Sophia Spanish I or French I, or if she’s strong in another language with an ACTFL online exam UMPI accepts for credit, which includes Tagalog, that may be a good alternative.

3D might be fulfilled by Ecotourism Management or Agri-Tourism (latter year 3 semester 1), else take Sophia Environmental Science.

She still likely needs these gen eds:

1B, 2C, 4B — take Sophia Workplace Writing II
1C, 5E — take Sophia U.S. Government
2D — take Sophia Visual Communication
3C, 3E — take Sophia Human Biology plus Human Biology Lab
4A — fulfilled by a short YourPace orientation taking about an hour or two

I’ll be back to this thread later with more about the major!

[Jonathan Whatley]

YourPace Business Administration Major
BUS 101 — Sophia Introduction to Business
BUS 150 — CTU Fundamentals of Accounting likely
BUS 200 — UMPI likely, unless she’s lucky on a CTU course coming in here
BUS 220 — Straighterline Managerial Accounting, else UMPI
BUS 244 — Study Management Information Systems
BUS 325 — CTU Business Finance hopefully, else UMPI
BUS 353 — CTU Professional Development and Applied Ethics
BUS 440 — Coursera IBM Data Analyst Professional, else UMPI likely; Sophia Business Data Analytics is new and whether it places here is unknown
BUS 469 — UMPI
ECO 207 — CTU Applied Economics
MAT 131 or MAT 140 — Study Business Math (easier) or Sophia Calculus I
COM 210 — CTU Organization and Management landing here would be nice, else Straighterline Organizational Communication, else UMPI

Project Management and Management Information Systems Concentration
BUS 141 — UMPI
BUS 240 — UMPI
BUS 343 — UMPI
BUS 345 — Coursera IBM Data Analysis and Visualization Foundations Specialization, else UMPI
BUS 400 — Coursera Google Project Management Certificate, else UMPI
BUS 415 — UMPI likely; Sophia Operations Management is new and my guess is it won’t place here
one course among BUS 401 or BUS 359 or BUS 245 — Coursera Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate, else UMPI
second course among the three just above — UMPI

Tourism Concentration
12 credit hours of tourism coursework — CTU

Hospitality Concentration
12 credit hours of hospitality coursework — ask for 12 credit hours of CTU coursework to go here related to hospitality and where at least 9 credits are distinct from credits used in the Tourism concentration

She will need a minimum of 30 credits (10 courses typically) in UMPI coursework to fulfill the academic residency requirement. Twelve credits of those must be in the major, and nine of those twelve must be upper level, meaning numbered 300 or higher.

She will need a minimum of 40 credits in the General Education Curriculum. That will include the courses that meet specific gen ed requirements listed above, plus other courses on gen ed topics, several of which she’ll bring in from CTU, like Literatures for Development and Science, Technology and Society.

She will need a minimum of 120 credits total. Eyeballing it, she may well have that from CTU plus the courses to take listed above. Some Coursera certifications deliver more than three credits each. An ACTFL language exam would likely deliver more than three credits. Conversely, a few CTU credits might be lost. Physical activity credit is liable to fall off in a foreign credential evaluation or a transfer evaluation.

If ultimately she’s short of 120 credits, she can easily add the rest through Sophia or Study courses of her choice that UMPI accepts, as long as their subjects do not duplicate credit brought in elsewhere. For example, Sophia Introduction to Ethics would likely duplicate CTU Ethics. New transfer credit can be sent in to UMPI at any time.

As a young student in a lower-middle income country, she might receive a discount from Coursera. Additionally, Coursera has big seasonal discounts for new subscribers that seem to occur twice each year, once around January 1 and once in the summer, with windows of a few weeks to take the offer.

[ss20ts]

Hospitality and Tourism are not minors available in YourPace. All of the courses would have to be transferred into UMPI. Get the transcripts evaluated from the Philippines. There's no way to know for sure what UMPI will accept without an evaluation.

[Edriveless]

YourPace Business Administration Major
BUS 101 — Sophia Introduction to Business
BUS 150 — CTU Fundamentals of Accounting likely, else Sophia Financial Accounting
BUS 200 — UMPI likely, unless she’s lucky on a CTU course coming in here
BUS 220 — Straighterline Managerial Accounting, else UMPI
BUS 244 — Study Management Information Systems
BUS 325 — CTU Business Finance hopefully, else UMPI
BUS 353 — CTU Professional Development and Applied Ethics
BUS 440 — Coursera IBM Data Analyst Professional, else UMPI likely; Sophia Business Data Analytics is new and whether it places here is unknown
BUS 469 — UMPI
ECO 207 — CTU Applied Economics
MAT 131 or MAT 140 — Study Business Math (easier) or Sophia Calculus I
COM 210 — CTU Organization and Management landing here would be nice, else Straighterline Organizational Communication, else UMPI

Project Management and Management Information Systems Concentration
BUS 141 — UMPI
BUS 240 — UMPI
BUS 343 — UMPI
BUS 345 — Coursera IBM Data Analysis and Visualization Foundations Specialization, else UMPI
BUS 400 — Coursera Google Project Management Certificate, else UMPI
BUS 415 — UMPI likely; Sophia Operations Management is new and my guess is it won’t place here
one course among BUS 401 or BUS 359 or BUS 245 — Coursera Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate, else UMPI
second course among the three just above — UMPI

Tourism Concentration
12 credit hours of tourism coursework — CTU

Hospitality Concentration
12 credit hours of hospitality coursework — ask for 12 credit hours of CTU coursework to go here related to hospitality and where at least 9 credits are distinct from credits used in the Tourism concentration

She will need a minimum of 30 credits (10 courses typically) in UMPI coursework to fulfill the academic residency requirement. Twelve credits of those must be in the major, and nine of those twelve must be upper level, meaning numbered 300 or higher.

She will need a minimum of 40 credits in the General Education Curriculum. That will include the courses that meet specific gen ed requirements listed above, plus other courses on gen ed topics, several of which she’ll bring in from CTU, like Literatures for Development and Science, Technology and Society.

She will need a minimum of 120 credits total. Eyeballing it, she may well have that from CTU plus the courses to take listed above. Some Coursera certifications deliver more than three credits each. An ACTFL language exam would likely deliver more than three credits. Conversely, a few CTU credits might be lost. Physical activity credit is liable to fall off in a foreign credential evaluation or a transfer evaluation.

If ultimately she’s short of 120 credits, she can easily add the rest through Sophia or Study courses of her choice that UMPI accepts, as long as their subjects do not duplicate credit brought in elsewhere. For example, Sophia Introduction to Ethics would likely duplicate CTU Ethics. New transfer credit can be sent in to UMPI at any time.

As a young student in a lower-middle income country, she might receive a discount from Coursera. Additionally, Coursera has big seasonal discounts for new subscribers that seem to occur twice each year, once around January 1 and once in the summer, with windows of a few weeks to take the offer.

Thanks for this! I appreciate it so much. I wanted to share our updated plan for her UMPI BABA program with a concentration in Project Management and MIS.

We’re preparing as if her Cebu Tourism credits will not transfer, just to avoid delays. She’s highly motivated and has all of August available to focus on coursework full-time. The goal is to complete as much as possible through Sophia.org and Study.com before enrolling in the Fall term.

We’re trying to stay cost-efficient, so we’d like to use just two platforms, Sophia and Study.com, and not add Coursera to the mix. Budget wise, adding a 3rd subscription would be difficult at this time.

Here is the plan we’ve outlined

Sophia.org – Planned Courses

General Education
• English Composition I and II
• Workplace Communication
• U.S. Government
• Visual Communications
• Human Biology with Lab
• Environmental Science
• Introduction to Ethics
• College Algebra or Calculus I
• Spanish I or French I (or ACTFL Tagalog if needed)
• Intro to Sociology, Psychology, Biology, or Humanities

Business Core and Electives
• Introduction to Business
• Financial Accounting
• Business Law
• Principles of Finance
• Business Data Analytics (optional)
• Operations Management (optional)
• Project Management (optional)
• Principles of Management (optional)

Study.com – Planned Courses

• Managerial Accounting
• Management Information Systems
• Business Finance
• Principles of Economics
• Business Math
• Organizational Communication
• Business Statistics or another elective if needed

No Coursera if possible? 

To stay within our budget, we hope to avoid Coursera completely. If any of the Sophia or Study.com options listed above cannot fulfill the course requirements that are typically met with Coursera, please let us know so we can make adjustments before enrollment.

Transcript Evaluation

At this time, I cannot afford an expensive foreign transcript evaluation unless you guys can recommend  an option that is affordable, ideally under $100. If such a service exists, we are open to it, but we are otherwise planning as if her Cebu coursework will not count toward the degree for now to be safe. The school isn’t even responding to her to email UMPI proof she went there. We already applied at UMPI for her. Thanks!

[Jonathan Whatley]

Thanks for this! I appreciate it so much. I wanted to share our updated plan for her UMPI BABA program with a concentration in Project Management and MIS.

We’re preparing as if her Cebu Tourism credits will not transfer, just to avoid delays. She’s highly motivated and has all of August available to focus on coursework full-time. The goal is to complete as much as possible through Sophia.org and Study.com before enrolling in the Fall term.

We’re trying to stay cost-efficient, so we’d like to use just two platforms, Sophia and Study.com, and not add Coursera to the mix. Budget wise, adding a 3rd subscription would be difficult at this time.

Here is the plan we’ve outlined

Sophia.org – Planned Courses

General Education
• English Composition I and II
• Workplace Communication
• U.S. Government
• Visual Communications
• Human Biology with Lab
• Environmental Science
• Introduction to Ethics
• College Algebra or Calculus I
• Spanish I or French I (or ACTFL Tagalog if needed)
• Intro to Sociology, Psychology, Biology, or Humanities

Looks good!

Business Core and Electives
• Introduction to Business
• Financial Accounting
• Business Law
• Principles of Finance
• Business Data Analytics (optional)
• Operations Management (optional)
• Project Management (optional)
• Principles of Management (optional)

Note that UMPI recently busted down a set of Sophia and Study courses that used to apply toward the business core and now no longer do.

Sophia Principles of Finance is definitely not accepted by UMPI toward the business core. Principles of Management alone would satisfy BUS 101 but you’ve already listed Introduction to Business, which satisfies BUS 101 and is easier.

Business Data Analytics, Business Law, and Operations Management are doubtful, and Business Data Analytics looks like a beast of a course, the hardest I’ve seen from Sophia.

Project Management concentrators are traditionally recommended to take BUS 141 Introduction to Project Management at UMPI rather than Sophia Project Management, because the next two UMPI courses in the project management concentration build on work completed during UMPI’s own BUS 141.

Sophia Financial Accounting is also now a question mark.

Taking both Microeconomics and Macroeconomics from Sophia, completing the two discrete courses, will satisfy the UMPI ECO 207 Macro & Micro Economics requirement.

Study.com – Planned Courses

• Managerial Accounting
• Management Information Systems
• Business Finance
• Principles of Economics
• Business Math
• Organizational Communication
• Business Statistics or another elective if needed

Study Financial Accounting should work whereas Sophia is now a question mark.

No Study course will satisfy the UMPI BUS 220 Managerial Accounting, BUS 325 Financial Management, or ECO 207 Macro & Micro Economics requirements.

No Coursera if possible? 

To stay within our budget, we hope to avoid Coursera completely. If any of the Sophia or Study.com options listed above cannot fulfill the course requirements that are typically met with Coursera, please let us know so we can make adjustments before enrollment.

Getting Coursera discounted for under $300 could significantly decrease the chance of having to take a second UMPI session for $1800. Keep it in mind. No Coursera course above can be matched from Sophia or Study, unless Business Data Analytics comes in as BUS 440.

Transcript Evaluation

At this time, I cannot afford an expensive foreign transcript evaluation unless you guys can recommend  an option that is affordable, ideally under $100. If such a service exists, we are open to it, but we are otherwise planning as if her Cebu coursework will not count toward the degree for now to be safe. The school isn’t even responding to her to email UMPI proof she went there. We already applied at UMPI for her. Thanks!

I don’t know FCE pricing. I hope you can find something that works for you!

Thank you for helping someone out.

[ss20ts]

Transcript Evaluation

At this time, I cannot afford an expensive foreign transcript evaluation unless you guys can recommend  an option that is affordable, ideally under $100. If such a service exists, we are open to it, but we are otherwise planning as if her Cebu coursework will not count toward the degree for now to be safe. The school isn’t even responding to her to email UMPI proof she went there. We already applied at UMPI for her. Thanks!

If the college from the Philippines was included on the application then UMPI won't process the application until the transcript evaluation is received.

[Kelly4altcreds]

These units are likely to transfer about one to one!

Maybe the best option is completing on-campus at Cebu Technological University, a large brick-and-mortar public university.

If you rule out all options over about 1000 USD, you’re left with about two or three startup online schools in the US named above, only one RA. UoPeople is not very accelerable and it’s heavy on group projects and proctored exams.

Tourism and hospitality management is a specialized field. There seem to be many jobs that hire preferentially for tourism and hospitality degrees in North America. Maybe there are also in the Philippines, and she would lose that advantage if she switched to a generic management or general studies degree. IT would help with some specialized jobs. The Cebu Tech tourism management degree is likely transferable to a job seeking any business degree.

Perhaps you could save the online degree budget to apply later towards a master’s degree, maybe an Elmwood Master of Leadership and Management or a UoPeople or Nexford MBA, or maybe from the Philippines.

Thanks, Jonathan. That’s really helpful.

The thing is, she’s hoping to finish her degree as soon as possible so she can start working, ideally in something stable and remote. She’s currently doing very well at her university and is actually a scholar, so she’s not paying tuition, which is a huge plus. But the program will still take another two years to complete, and the daily commute has been pretty exhausting.

She also occasionally helps out remotely with a friend’s business, so the idea of switching to an online program that would allow her to study and work from home is appealing. Given her strong academic performance and motivation, I’m wondering if a competency-based model might be a good fit, especially if there’s flexibility around proctoring (like the option to nominate a proctor instead of using ProctorU). Her goal is to finish within a few months if possible, definitely under a year.

Do you think her current school being a respected, brick-and-mortar public university gives her degree added value in the long run? Or would a faster online degree still hold up well, especially if she later follows up with a master’s, maybe through Elmwood, Nexford, or UoPeople?

As for the program choice, she mentioned she only picked tourism because her current school didn’t offer many other options. She felt tourism could still be practical, whether by land, sea, or air….but lately she’s been shedding interest in it and leaning more toward IT or business.

This might help.  Straighterline is launching a "Finish Your Degree" promo tomorrow (Weds. Aug 6), and new students to Straighterline can enroll in any of the courses below for free, and have 4 months FREE to complete them.  So no course cost or monthly fee.  Here's the URL:  https://www.straighterline.com/finish-your-degree/

I clicked on "Claim Your Free Semester" and got an email that said I'll get login details for my account tomorrow.  No credit card needed.

Anatomy & Physiology I, Anatomy & Physiology II, Business Communication, English Composition I

English Composition II, General Chemistry I, Introduction to Biology, Introduction to Communication, Introduction to Nutrition, Introduction to Psychology, Introduction to Sociology, Introduction to Statistics, Life-Span Development, Medical Terminology, Microbiology, and Student Success.  

I left out the courses with labs because that's extra money. Straighterline is also removing proctoring, so that's double good news.  I know English Comp I&II, Psych, Soc, Business Comm, Student Success, Biology, and Nutrition don't have proctoring.  Just check the syllabi to make sure, there's probably more.   

Good luck!