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I have a plan... I think
#1
Well, after reading this site and a few others the last few weeks, I've formulated a plan that I think might work to get me on the road (and done) with my degree by next Oct, but I have a few questions that some of the wonderful people around here might be able to help with.

I'm looking at testing out most of the way through a BSLA at Excelsior. I've got a list of my CLEPs & DSSTs that I'm going to need to slog through, have begun lining up my resources for them, and am determining a logical progression through them.

I've opened an ALEKs account, and I've completed the first of the four total courses that I can get credit for through them, I'm just waiting on the ACE Approval to be final before moving on to the next.

I'm planning on hitting Straighterline and xfering the credits to Fort Hayes for the English I, Econ I & II, and Accounting I & II.. (Well, maybe the Accounting I&II, I tried accounting before in a B&M school, and loathed it so much, I withdrew...)

And in April, I'm planning to do the Computer Science GRE Subject test. (Though I'm going to review the material a bit more and decided in December if I'm really comfortable with trying the CompSci, or if I'll switch gears and go Psychology and study doubletime for that)

I do have about 36 B&M school credits, but they're all computer related with system design & programming, and from 18 years ago, so Excelsior will not accept them towards the degree... I'm pretty much starting fresh.

What I'm wondering is when exactly I should put my application in to Excelsior and how to handle the credits.
  • Should I wait until next August/September, when I plan to have almost all of my credits done?
  • Do I have to enroll right after I apply?
  • If I've applied but don't have to enroll right away, should I have my CLEP & DSST scores sent directly to them, or should I just save them all and have a final transcript sent to Excelsior when I'm done with all my tests?
  • And for those of you with experience of Financial Aid & Excelsior, if I take 3 upper level classes through Excelsior, will my the amount for my enrollment fee and the graduation fee be covered by my loan as well?

I've considered sending these questions off to Excelsior, but the overwhelming opinion seems to be that they won't talk to you much until you put the $75 application fee in their hands. With the economy being the way it is, I have to be very strategic about the way I handle all the costs and I'm limited in my expenditures. (He says while having almost $3000 in tests planned in the next year... I know, I know... I want my degree, but I want to do it in a way that impact's my family's budget as little as possible.)

Thanks for your help.

-T
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Wile E. Coyote, genius. I am not selling anything nor am I working my way through college, so let's get down to basics: you are a rabbit and I am going to eat you for supper. Now don't try to get away, I am more muscular, more cunning, faster and larger than you are, and I am a genius, while you could hardly pass the entrance examinations to kindergarten, so I'll give you the customary two minutes to say your prayers.

Bachelor of Science in PsychoRabbitology degree
Master of Education with a specialty in Rabbit-specific destructive munitions (or eLearning & Technology, I forget which)
Doctor of Philosophy in Wile E. Leadership with an area of specialty in Acme Mind Expansion - 2017 Hopefully
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#2
And.. I just posted this in the wrong forum... Sigh... I meant to post tin the Excelsior/TESC/CO Specific one... Can an admin please punt this over to the right forum? Sorry about that.... Its been one of those days.. Sad
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Wile E. Coyote, genius. I am not selling anything nor am I working my way through college, so let's get down to basics: you are a rabbit and I am going to eat you for supper. Now don't try to get away, I am more muscular, more cunning, faster and larger than you are, and I am a genius, while you could hardly pass the entrance examinations to kindergarten, so I'll give you the customary two minutes to say your prayers.

Bachelor of Science in PsychoRabbitology degree
Master of Education with a specialty in Rabbit-specific destructive munitions (or eLearning & Technology, I forget which)
Doctor of Philosophy in Wile E. Leadership with an area of specialty in Acme Mind Expansion - 2017 Hopefully
Reply
#3
Quote:Should I wait until next August/September, when I plan to have almost all of my credits done?
You don't have to. I would suggest enrolling at whatever time you have the money for it and you are sure that you can finish within one year so you don't have to renew.

Quote:Do I have to enroll right after I apply?
Nope. After your $75 eval, you can wait to enroll.

Quote:should I have my CLEP & DSST scores sent directly to them, or should I just save them all and have a final transcript sent to Excelsior when I'm done with all my tests?
If you don't enroll, you can open a credit bank account (I believe it is free) and then have your CLEP and DSST scores sent there as you take them. That will save you the money and trouble to send transcripts.

I'm afraid I don't know much about EC financial aid. I've been paying out of pocket with plans to be reimbursed by the VA later.

Do you really need accounting for your degree? If not, I would suggest something else. As a matter of fact, my advice is avoid Straighterline entirely unless you need it; CLEPs are far easier, less time consuming, and possibly less expensive if you have to go for more than 1 month.
[SIZE="1"]BS General Business, March 2010

CLEP College Algebra 51
CLEP Natural Sciences 63
CLEP Social Sciences and History 59
CLEP A&I Lit. 74
CLEP Intro to Sociology 67
CLEP Info Systems and Computer App. 58
CLEP Intro to Psychology 66
CLEP Intro to Business Law 64
CLEP Principles of Management 73
CLEP Principles of Marketing 63
CLEP Principles of Macroeconomics 61
CLEP Principles of Microeconomics 62
DSST Fundamentals of Counseling 49
DSST Principles of Supervision 61
DSST Substance Abuse 441 (Pass)
DSST Business Law II 67
DSST Management Information Systems 436
DSST Principles of Statistics 466
DSST Principles of Finance 435
DSST Civil War and Reconstruction 57
DSST Criminal Justice 431
ECE English Comp C :mad:
ECE World Population A
ECE Ethics, Theory and Practice A
ECE Organizational Behavior A
ECE Human Resource Management B
EC Business Policy B
Straighterline Accounting I B
Straighterline Accounting II B
CSU Pueblo Ops Management A
[/SIZE]
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#4
TMW2010 Wrote:
  • Should I wait until next August/September, when I plan to have almost all of my credits done?
  • Do I have to enroll right after I apply?
  • If I've applied but don't have to enroll right away, should I have my CLEP & DSST scores sent directly to them, or should I just save them all and have a final transcript sent to Excelsior when I'm done with all my tests?
  • And for those of you with experience of Financial Aid & Excelsior, if I take 3 upper level classes through Excelsior, will my the amount for my enrollment fee and the graduation fee be covered by my loan as well?

I've considered sending these questions off to Excelsior, but the overwhelming opinion seems to be that they won't talk to you much until you put the $75 application fee in their hands. With the economy being the way it is, I have to be very strategic about the way I handle all the costs and I'm limited in my expenditures. (He says while having almost $3000 in tests planned in the next year... I know, I know... I want my degree, but I want to do it in a way that impact's my family's budget as little as possible.)

Thanks for your help.

-T

Congratulations on your drive and commitment to see this through. You look like a perfect candidate for one of EC's partner programs. If you search on POAG, you'll come across the info you need to join the Peace Officers Association of Georgia. I believe it costs $25 and as of last year provides the following benefits:

Application Fee still $75
Enrollment Fee is $150 instead of $895 (pending the 12 credits otherwise they charge you the difference at graduation)
Tuition is $250 per credit instead of $290
Student Services Annual Fee is $70 instead of $440 if you are enrolled for longer than a year but the catch is you have to have complete 6 hours of credits at EC durring the previous year
Gradution Fee is $150 instead of $495 again with the assumption you earned at least 12 credits at EC.

As you can see, since you already need to take a few classes with EC, you can save A LOT of money this way. Since you have us, I would get through all of the CLEP and DSST exams that you can tell for certain that you will need and do not duplicate. Once you've done that you'll be more than half way along and then you can apply and enroll--and send them your results. I've heard that if you send them results by entering the Excelsior code when taking the exams--they will just hang on to them until you apply. Even if that is not true--it doesn't cost anything to try.

Basically, I would wait until you knew you were within a year of graduation to apply and enroll. I wouldn't wait till the end because their terms do change from time to time--sometimes twice in one year--and enrollment protects you from the new requirements.

I don't know how long you have between the application and enrollment--but I would guess you have time since the app doesn't do all that much. That could help you confirm your plan.

I know the POAG things sounds a little crazy--but if you can support the police in Georgia and save money at EC--why not? I know one person personally that lives in CA that did this with no problem.

Others will chime in with more info so sit tight--but I wanted to get a few things out there for you to think about. Good luck!
My Excelsior Journey
Bachelor of Science in General Business, cum laude
Excelsior College
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#5
Thanks for the advice and encouragement.

I'll definitely check out the POAG, those are some nice benifits.

As far as
Quote:Do you really need accounting for your degree? If not, I would suggest something else. As a matter of fact, my advice is avoid Straighterline entirely unless you need it; CLEPs are far easier, less time consuming, and possibly less expensive if you have to go for more than 1 month.

The way I was looking at it was 5 courses that I can plow through in 2 months at $99/month. Which is 15 credits for basically the price of 2 CLEPS... Or if I forget Accounting and just do English and Econ I & II, and push that through in the 28 days, that's 9 credits for $99 compared to CLEPing Micro & Macro Econ at $92 ($72 for the test and $20 for the testing fee) each and then taking a Freshman Comp/English class online or even at the local CC for $200+. The two accounting classes were just filler credits. Is there a good/better deal for getting the English out of the way since EC doesn't accept the English Comp CLEP?

Also, there were two main reasons I was looking at the possibility of taking a few classes through Excelsior themselves. The first was to fill in the blanks of any upper level credits I'd need to get to the 30 required UL Credits, and the second was the fact (if I remember correctly) that I would need to take at least 9 credit hours to qualify for getting the student loan.* If I did so, and all the costs fell under the umbrella of the student loan, that would make things a lot easier all the way around as far as coming up with the cash to do everything.

Thanks again Janus & Barcotta

[SIZE="1"]* I've had enough fun dealing with the Federal level stuff as it is... I filled out my forms back in September and was initially told that I didn't qualify for a student loan because I didn't file for selective service when I turned 18. This was interesting because I'd already received a Stafford loan for my prior college experience and that was paid off years ago. So an hour and a half long call to Selective Service netted the result that they had screwed up my SSN in the system. And that it would take about 3 weeks to rectify. [/SIZE]
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Wile E. Coyote, genius. I am not selling anything nor am I working my way through college, so let's get down to basics: you are a rabbit and I am going to eat you for supper. Now don't try to get away, I am more muscular, more cunning, faster and larger than you are, and I am a genius, while you could hardly pass the entrance examinations to kindergarten, so I'll give you the customary two minutes to say your prayers.

Bachelor of Science in PsychoRabbitology degree
Master of Education with a specialty in Rabbit-specific destructive munitions (or eLearning & Technology, I forget which)
Doctor of Philosophy in Wile E. Leadership with an area of specialty in Acme Mind Expansion - 2017 Hopefully
Reply
#6
TMW2010 Wrote:The way I was looking at it was 5 courses that I can plow through in 2 months at $99/month.

I'm not going to tell you that it can't be done, since some members on this board have reported finishing both Accounting 1 and 2 in something like a week, but this part of your plan is extremely ambitious. I personally spent 1 month going balls to the wall on Accounting 1 and 2, finished both with a B, and was completely drained afterwards. I am not the smartest guy in the world, especially with math, and I have no experience in finance or accounting whatsoever, so doing both in such a short amount of time is beyond me. You may have an easier time than me, and that's up for you to decide. That said, if you're looking for filler credits, I think you should look into easier avenues unless you know the material already. I can't speak to the English at SL, since I never took it. If EC accepts it, it is definitely worth checking out; the English ECE is a bear, and expensive to boot.

Good luck, and study hard.
[SIZE="1"]BS General Business, March 2010

CLEP College Algebra 51
CLEP Natural Sciences 63
CLEP Social Sciences and History 59
CLEP A&I Lit. 74
CLEP Intro to Sociology 67
CLEP Info Systems and Computer App. 58
CLEP Intro to Psychology 66
CLEP Intro to Business Law 64
CLEP Principles of Management 73
CLEP Principles of Marketing 63
CLEP Principles of Macroeconomics 61
CLEP Principles of Microeconomics 62
DSST Fundamentals of Counseling 49
DSST Principles of Supervision 61
DSST Substance Abuse 441 (Pass)
DSST Business Law II 67
DSST Management Information Systems 436
DSST Principles of Statistics 466
DSST Principles of Finance 435
DSST Civil War and Reconstruction 57
DSST Criminal Justice 431
ECE English Comp C :mad:
ECE World Population A
ECE Ethics, Theory and Practice A
ECE Organizational Behavior A
ECE Human Resource Management B
EC Business Policy B
Straighterline Accounting I B
Straighterline Accounting II B
CSU Pueblo Ops Management A
[/SIZE]
Reply
#7
Quote:That said, if you're looking for filler credits, I think you should look into easier avenues unless you know the material already.

The more I think about it, the more I'm inclined to agree. I do have some good econ resources at my disposal (since I was planning on taking those 2 as CLEPs anyway, so I think I'm just going to punt the accounting out the window. As things are right now, they were additional credits in a worst case scenario for my GRE subject test outcome.
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Wile E. Coyote, genius. I am not selling anything nor am I working my way through college, so let's get down to basics: you are a rabbit and I am going to eat you for supper. Now don't try to get away, I am more muscular, more cunning, faster and larger than you are, and I am a genius, while you could hardly pass the entrance examinations to kindergarten, so I'll give you the customary two minutes to say your prayers.

Bachelor of Science in PsychoRabbitology degree
Master of Education with a specialty in Rabbit-specific destructive munitions (or eLearning & Technology, I forget which)
Doctor of Philosophy in Wile E. Leadership with an area of specialty in Acme Mind Expansion - 2017 Hopefully
Reply
#8
Is the credit bank free for members of the military? I thought there was a fee for civilians.
AS in 2010 and BS in 2013 at Excelsior College - Transcripts and Costs
MS Biostatistics in 2019 at Texas A&M University - Graduate School

Sharing Credit-by-Exam* and Help for Veterans
Resources Used - 20+ Exams Passed & General GRE
Practice Tests - Available for CLEP and DSST

* Link posted with permission from forum admin; thank you!
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