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Need a plan for an Associates Degree in Criminal Justice (Big 3)
#1
Hello, I'm sorry if I'm posting this in the complete wrong area but I'm new to this forum and saw a link from the CLEP reddit community to come to this thread and ask questions on my degree plan for 1 of the big 3. My job requires me to have at least an Associates degree and preferably in Criminal Justice. I have been leaning towards Excelsior for the credits but whichever one would be easier and faster I'm fine with. I would be okay if it's not in Criminal Justice even though I would really like it to be since it would create more opportunity for me, the most essential point of this is to get an Associates Degree and eventually a Bachelors Degree as soon as possible. Over the past 2 or 3 months I have been taking CLEP and DSST exams, the following are the credits I have so far:

Analyzing and Interpreting Literature
American Literature
College Composition 
College Composition Modular
English Literature
Intro to Psychology
Intro to Sociology 
Untied States History 1
United States History 2
American Government 
Principles of Marketing
Principles of Management 
College Mathematics 
Intro to Criminal Justice
Intro to Law Enforcement 

If I were able to get close to a complete degree in Criminal Justice and take a capstone course or take any left over courses for Criminal Justice I would do that. My goal is to finish by the end of the year, if it would take much longer vs a different degree plan I would probably take that route instead. Again not sure if this is the right place but thank you for the help.
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#2
Another option which is not the big 3 but check your local community college. At associates level it might be a quicker and cheaper option than the big 3 espically if you get finicanal aid and they take clep. Most community colleges accept 45 credits as transfer and only require 15 in residence. Although, for example, two CC's near me both allow 45 credits transferred for an associate one only allowed 30 of it to be credit by exam (clep,dsst, etc.) vs actual transfer classes while the other CC allowed up all 45 be credit by exam.

Say you found a CC that allowed 45 credits to be transferred by CLEP. Then you could get an associates in just a single semester. Many CC's offer online, 7-week and self-paced and other options so it could be even quicker.

Associates degrees aren't usually the best bang for your buck at the big 3 and will set you back a minimum for 4k I believe.

I'm just going with my CC that accepts 45 credit by exam as an example here. They are around 100/credit, plus fees, so it would be 2k or which is half the cost and that is assuming you have no scholarships or grants.

I got my third associate's degree I got from a different CC than where the other 2 associates were earned at. For this I only earned 16 credits at the CC, the rest were all prior transfer credits. And of those 16 credits: 9 credits were self-paced online courses through the CC and 2 credits were a weekend seminar at the CC. And the total cost after financial aid for everything was they paid me about $100. Although I did use my previous B&M coursework many general associates it is entirely possible to do to 45 credits of it all via clep, including the AGS I earned was possible this way. Also more and more CC's are starting to take ACE as well you just need to your research.

Also union members of certain unions can get a free associates degree: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...e-s-Degree

You could transfer all your clep credits to gateway and do a semester there for free.

Just letting you know to do some research if an associate is your goal the big 3 might not be the quickest or cheapest option. Plus a local degree could provide an edge and more validity.

And if you are part of a union and do the eastern gateway they have a criminal justice degree and accept clep.

As far as the big 3 is concerned TESU and Excelsior both have criminal justice associates. COSC only has a general one
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#3
(10-15-2019, 02:02 PM)Gojira5400 Wrote: Hello, I'm sorry if I'm posting this in the complete wrong area but I'm new to this forum and saw a link from the CLEP reddit community to come to this thread and ask questions on my degree plan for 1 of the big 3. My job requires me to have at least an Associates degree and preferably in Criminal Justice. I have been leaning towards Excelsior for the credits but whichever one would be easier and faster I'm fine with. I would be okay if it's not in Criminal Justice even though I would really like it to be since it would create more opportunity for me, the most essential point of this is to get an Associates Degree and eventually a Bachelors Degree as soon as possible. Over the past 2 or 3 months I have been taking CLEP and DSST exams, the following are the credits I have so far:

Analyzing and Interpreting Literature
American Literature
College Composition 
College Composition Modular
English Literature
Intro to Psychology
Intro to Sociology 
Untied States History 1
United States History 2
American Government 
Principles of Marketing
Principles of Management 
College Mathematics 
Intro to Criminal Justice
Intro to Law Enforcement 

If I were able to get close to a complete degree in Criminal Justice and take a capstone course or take any left over courses for Criminal Justice I would do that. My goal is to finish by the end of the year, if it would take much longer vs a different degree plan I would probably take that route instead. Again not sure if this is the right place but thank you for the help.

1. AAS in Criminal Justice.  https://www.tesu.edu/heavin/aas/index
2. You would only need to take one course at TESU for AAS in Criminal Justice. Course: Information LiteracySOS-110: Critical Information Literacy
3. Criminal Justice requires specific courses. SDC (study.com) has the most credit courses for criminal justice using alternative credit methods. https://study.com/directory/school/Thoma...ransferTab (note: Please verify with TESU before taking the courses to ensure a accurate transfer of credit)
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#4
TESU has an AAS in CJ, COSC only has an AA in General Studies, and EC has an AS in CJ.

If you just want the cheapest possible AA, then COSC is your best bet ($2450, 7 courses) - then, you could actually go to APU/AMU and get a BA in CJ with their competency-based Momentum program ($2500/16-week term).

Second is probably EC with the AS in CJ ($4369, 8 courses) - and also then available to go through Momentum to finish.

I think TESU is ok, a bit on the expensive side, but it's an AAS, which I don't think APU will take.  I think you'd have to get an AA in General Studies in addition to the AAS, but it wouldn't cost any additional to do so.

Anyway, the reason I say to finish with APU is because there aren't enough UL CJ courses to complete a BS in CJ at any of the Big 3 that I know of.  So it's your best bet for the bachelor's.


Attached Files
.xlsx   Gojira5400 EC AS in Criminal Justice.xlsx (Size: 37.21 KB / Downloads: 24)
.xlsx   Gojira5400 COSC AA.xlsx (Size: 66.76 KB / Downloads: 13)
TESU BSBA/HR 2018 - WVNCC BOG AAS 2017 - GGU Cert in Mgmt 2000
EXAMS: TECEP Tech Wrtg, Comp II, LA Math, PR, Computers  DSST Computers, Pers Fin  CLEP Mgmt, Mktg
COURSES: TESU Capstone  Study.com Pers Fin, Microecon, Stats  Ed4Credit Acct 2  PF Fin Mgmt  ALEKS Int & Coll Alg  Sophia Proj Mgmt The Institutes - Ins Ethics  Kaplan PLA
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#5
(10-15-2019, 10:38 PM)dfrecore Wrote: TESU has an AAS in CJ, COSC only has an AA in General Studies, and EC has an AS in CJ.

If you just want the cheapest possible AA, then COSC is your best bet ($2450, 7 courses) - then, you could actually go to APU/AMU and get a BA in CJ with their competency-based Momentum program ($2500/16-week term).

Second is probably EC with the AS in CJ ($4369, 8 courses) - and also then available to go through Momentum to finish.

I think TESU is ok, a bit on the expensive side, but it's an AAS, which I don't think APU will take.  I think you'd have to get an AA in General Studies in addition to the AAS, but it wouldn't cost any additional to do so.

Anyway, the reason I say to finish with APU is because there aren't enough UL CJ courses to complete a BS in CJ at any of the Big 3 that I know of.  So it's your best bet for the bachelor's.

Thanks for information, after looking into the AAS it seems like you said it's not transferableand probably want to stay away from that. Personally I've never even heard of an AAS, just an AA or AS. Also sorry but I don't know what APU or AMU are, I'm guessing universities? Are you saying that I could get my AA from COSC and transfer into one of them though? Given the credits I have now how long do you think it would take to get an AA from COSC? And after that if I were to transfer into APU or AMU for the BS in CJ how long would that take? I'm guessing the competency momentum program is like CLEP as well? I'm sorry for the long list of questions but like I said time is the biggest factor for me in getting this done above money. It doesn't really matter which college it's from and like I said I don't really have a preference, the quickest would be the best. Seriously though thanks for all of your information, it's been very helpful!
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#6
Are you a certified peace officer by chance? If so you have some options for quick CJ credits.

Rio Salado has agreements with certain states to offer x amount of credits at a reduced rate.

And recently a member mentioned this option though personally I'm not familiar with it https://justice.highline.edu/programs/pr...ssessment/.
BALS Social Sciences - TESU 2020
ASNSM Computer Science - TESU 2020
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#7
(10-16-2019, 08:32 AM)darthweezy Wrote: Are you a certified peace officer by chance?  If so you have some options for quick CJ credits.

Rio Salado has agreements with certain states to offer x amount of credits at a reduced rate.

And recently a member mentioned this option though personally I'm not familiar with it https://justice.highline.edu/programs/pr...ssessment/.
Unfortunately I'm not, would probably make it a lot faster I'm sure.
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#8
(10-16-2019, 05:41 AM)Gojira5400 Wrote: Thanks for information, after looking into the AAS it seems like you said it's not transferableand probably want to stay away from that. Personally I've never even heard of an AAS, just an AA or AS. Also sorry but I don't know what APU or AMU are, I'm guessing universities? Are you saying that I could get my AA from COSC and transfer into one of them though? Given the credits I have now how long do you think it would take to get an AA from COSC? And after that if I were to transfer into APU or AMU for the BS in CJ how long would that take? I'm guessing the competency momentum program is like CLEP as well? I'm sorry for the long list of questions but like I said time is the biggest factor for me in getting this done above money. It doesn't really matter which college it's from and like I said I don't really have a preference, the quickest would be the best. Seriously though thanks for all of your information, it's been very helpful!

First, did you look at my spreadsheets I attached?  Those give you the info you need.

The AAS (Associate in Applied Science) IS transferable, but the Momentum program says you need an AA or AS to get into the program: https://catalog.apus.edu/undergraduate/a...ntum/#text.  So there is nothing wrong with an AAS, it just won't work as a block transfer, which is why you'd want to get the AA in General Studies at the same time, for zero additional cost (you already have most of the credits for the AA, so you're just getting the CJ courses required for the AAS anyway).

APU/AMU is American Public University/American Military University, an RA college.  It's the only competency-based (read: fast) CJ program that I'm aware of.  If you want to know more about competency-based, you can read here on the forum about WGU, which is the most-well-known CB school we discuss.

So to reiterate:

COSC would just be an AA in General Studies, you're about 7 courses and $2450 away - you could probably get the 6 courses you need while you do the cornerstone at COSC, and graduate in a short amount of time.

TESU would be an AA in General Studies AND an AAS in CJ for about $5200 and 8 courses.  Again you could complete the 7 courses while you do the cornerstone.  When you did the AAS, you would have all of the requirements for the AA already completed, so you could get that for "free" with the AAS.

EC would be an AS in CJ, with 8 courses in $4400.  You would probably not be allowed to take the CJ capstone until after you completed most/all of the CJ courses, so it might take a bit longer.

So, you need to decide: 1) would you prefer an AS in CJ before starting the Bachelor's program, in which case EC would probably be your best bet; or 2) would you prefer to get a general AA, in which case COSC would be your best bet.

Also, just an aside, if you don't get an AA/AS/AAS in CJ, it might actually take you longer to complete the BA in CJ, since you won't have any of the material completed in advance.  So while the CJ associates degree is more expensive than the general AA, it might do you better in the long run.

It's also good to think that an AA/AS/AAS in CJ might be more useful to you now at your job, so even if you didn't end up getting your BA in CJ at all (or postponed for a while), you'd still have the more useful associates degree.  Only you know if the CJ Associates degree is going to be a better choice for your career now.
TESU BSBA/HR 2018 - WVNCC BOG AAS 2017 - GGU Cert in Mgmt 2000
EXAMS: TECEP Tech Wrtg, Comp II, LA Math, PR, Computers  DSST Computers, Pers Fin  CLEP Mgmt, Mktg
COURSES: TESU Capstone  Study.com Pers Fin, Microecon, Stats  Ed4Credit Acct 2  PF Fin Mgmt  ALEKS Int & Coll Alg  Sophia Proj Mgmt The Institutes - Ins Ethics  Kaplan PLA
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#9
Also. Dfrecore is awesome. Just sayin. Wink
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