Fafsa, Pell grant, financial aid

[MNomadic]

ASU online tuition is roughly equivalent to az resident on campus tuition

https://asuonline.asu.edu/what-it-costs

[dfrecore]

How about finding a less expensive 4-yr school to do your Bio courses, and then transfer to TESU to finish up?

If you put your credits here, I can give you a degree plan for TESU's BA in Biology. Then it's up to you to figure out how to get the UL credits you need for the program. I'm sure there are people on here who can give you some advice on specific courses, rather than an entire program.

[Tennesseegirl87]

How about finding a less expensive 4-yr school to do your Bio courses, and then transfer to TESU to finish up?

If you put your credits here, I can give you a degree plan for TESU's BA in Biology.  Then it's up to you to figure out how to get the UL credits you need for the program.  I'm sure there are people on here who can give you some advice on specific courses, rather than an entire program.

   I could do that. Do you know if TESU is cheaper than other schools? Like ASU and UF online?

[dfrecore]

How about finding a less expensive 4-yr school to do your Bio courses, and then transfer to TESU to finish up?

If you put your credits here, I can give you a degree plan for TESU's BA in Biology.  Then it's up to you to figure out how to get the UL credits you need for the program.  I'm sure there are people on here who can give you some advice on specific courses, rather than an entire program.

   I could do that. Do you know if TESU is cheaper than other schools? Like ASU and UF online?

I don't know prices.  For TESU though, I know that they'll take 117cr of transfer including ACE/NCCRS.  So that's why I'm thinking if you can figure out an inexpensive (relatively) way to get the UL courses you need, then you can transfer everything to TESU and finish your last semester there and pay the tuition for the capstone, and the residency waiver, through them (plus a final couple of courses to make you full time or whatever you need to do for that).

I honestly don't know how financial aid works though, so you'll have to get help elsewhere on that.  I have zero knowledge, and no reason to learn about it - so I'm about the worst person to ask.

[MNomadic]

TESU is an option but I'm not sure how that would work using fin aid. If you get the Pell at TESU, it's spread between 4 quarters but you have to take at least 6 credits per semester to use it(I got ~$4000 so that's $1k a semester which would only cover 1 course). Since the TESU ba biology will require most of the aos course to come from outside tesu. You can jump through some hoops to get them to approve your finaid to be used at a different school. TESU will ONLY approve that if it's a course that they don't offer. It gets pretty complicated, honestly. And they don't seem willing to make it easy for you to do that(I tried).
It may require some serious research to find some cheaper online programs or cheap courses to transfer.

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Some potential options:
-apply for as many scholarships as possible (I think you mentioned before that you are a single mother, lots of scholarships and programs for someone in your situation)
-inquire if your work(or another job) will pay for your school
-drop to part time at your current job and take a part time job at Starbucks to pay for an asu degree
- look for other online or local colleges that are more affordable than ASU
- stick with asu and your current financial aid package but take on the loans to cover the difference

None of these options will necessarily be easy and may require some sacrifices for the next few years while you live that fulltime working mother fulltime student Life.

[dfrecore]

TESU is an option but I'm not sure how that would work using fin aid. If you get the Pell at TESU, it's spread between 4 quarters but you have to take at least 6 credits per semester to use it(I got ~$4000 so that's $1k a semester which would only cover 1 course). Since the TESU ba biology will require most of the aos course to come from outside tesu. You can jump through some hoops to get them to approve your finaid to be used at a different school. TESU will ONLY approve that if it's a course that they don't offer. It gets pretty complicated, honestly. And they don't seem willing to make it easy for you to do that(I tried).
It may require some serious research to find some cheaper online programs or cheap courses to transfer.

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I was thinking that you should use your financial aid somewhere else completely before transferring to TESU - not trying to use your financial aid at TESU and still take the course elsewhere.  That seems like more trouble than it's worth honestly.

[sanantone]

If you can find a cheaper school with enough online biology courses, then you might as well get your degree there. If you take the piecemeal approach, then you won't be able to use financial aid. That means no Pell Grant and paying thousands of dollars out of pocket. You might be able to figure out a way to complete a BS in Natural Science with a concentration in Biology at Excelsior for much less, but that's not really a biology degree. It's an interdisciplinary program with fewer math and physical science requirements.

[allvia]

Since you already have an Associates, ASU should be only two more years - and with the Pell Grant (works as a tuition discount) is not a bad cost for a RA BS in Biology from a respected university.  Also, with your career plans a BS (vs a BA) is the way to go.

[sanantone]

Since you already have an Associates, ASU should be only two more years - and with the Pell Grant (works as a tuition discount) is not a bad cost for a RA BS in Biology from a respected university.  Also, with your career plans a BS (vs a BA) is the way to go.

BS vs. BA makes no difference.

Speaking of BA vs. BS, I would recommend University of Florida's online BA over ASU's online BS because UF has a much better reputation in biology at the undergraduate level and a much better reputation overall. UF does have an online BS in Microbiology that might be more relevant to the work you want to do.

[allvia]

Since you already have an Associates, ASU should be only two more years - and with the Pell Grant (works as a tuition discount) is not a bad cost for a RA BS in Biology from a respected university.  Also, with your career plans a BS (vs a BA) is the way to go.

BS vs. BA makes no difference.

Speaking of BA vs. BS, I would recommend University of Florida's online BA over ASU's online BS because UF has a much better reputation in biology at the undergraduate level and a much better reputation overall. UF does have an online BS in Microbiology that might be more relevant to the work you want to do.

The OP is concerned about cost, the UF program you are speaking of is far more expensive at a $552 Per Credit cost https://ufonline.ufl.edu/tuition

Where I'm located a BS vs BA could matter in a STEM major, such as biology; it is possible in the southern US it would not impact one professionally.