I’m Finishing My TESU Degree Without Debt or Burnout : Here’s Exactly How I’m Doing..

[bjcheung77]

That's so true, it's a very good thing to see that you've done a class at a time, building that foundation until you reach the 40th class or 120 credits or so. Having a spreadsheet is one of the ways to view each completed class as you can either color code or cross the class off... I use it for reference and tracking purposes, if I need to make changes, etc...

[katannshaw]

OP - Original Poster seems to be taking classes towards the general education, electives, etc...  Basically, create a degree plan spreadsheet for reference and tracking purposes, using the WIKI as a guide, take the 90+ credits using ACE sources, transfer them to Credly, and then transfer them to TESU when you apply.  TESU classes are the last on the list to finish off the degree requirements.

Thanks for that info. That makes more sense. I think one of the problems with this approach in my case is that I need them to do a portfolio review to see what professional experience and certifications can count towards college credit. Unfortunately they only do it if you take their 12-week "Prior Learning Assessment" course beforehand, which you have to pay for.

I have 43 regular college credits, and I know that I need to finish some gen end requirements. Professionally I have 26+ years of web development experience and 20+ years of digital accessibility experience. I'm needing to know how much of that can count towards college credit *before* I start attending classes. Taking an "Intro to frontend development" course doesn't seem very valuable in my case, so that's what I need to know.

So I'm at a stalemate at this point.

[tesu-acct-student]

 I need them to do a portfolio review to see what professional experience and certifications can count towards college credit. Unfortunately they only do it if you take their 12-week "Prior Learning Assessment" course beforehand, which you have to pay for.

Keep in mind that what I am about to say is based on my own experiences with portfolio evaluations which are almost 10 years old by now. 

 PLA-100 will teach you how to evaluate your own past experiences to see if you have enough experience in a certain subject to receive credit for it. One of the nice benefits of taking this course is that you can have up to 12 credits evaluated, which translates into four courses, for no additional tuition cost besides the cost of the PLA course.

It's possible I don't quite understand what you said in the quote above. But I'm wondering if you're putting the cart before the horse. You're not going to sit down with an advisor and have them say "oh yeah you have enough experience to write portfolios, go ahead and do it and we'll will give you credit."  you will decide if you have enough experience, and if you can gather enough evidence. Have you looked through the portfolio database? https://www2.tesu.edu/plasearch.php

This has all of the courses that are eligible for portfolio reviews. You might want to start there to see if there are courses that correspond to your experience, that will also work in your degree plan. Then you can decide if you want to take the PLA course and write up to 4 portfolios to receive credit for four courses. 

There's a link in my bio that takes you to my portfolio tips. In a nutshell, you need to collect evidence of your past experiences that corresponds to a course that you find in the database. You will also need to write an essay about those experiences. 

I'm a huge fan of portfolios because they work very well for the right type of person. Let me know if you have any questions about them. Wishing you the best of luck!