I need your help please. Went to Penn Foster

[dino]

Hello everyone,

First I want to say thanks so much for all the info already posted. I can say my head is spinning now . I spent 2 years at Penn Foster and was planning to transfer to another college / university to get a 4 year from regionally accredited school. All my classes are in ACE now and I have been accepted to some colleges / universities. I was thinking to continue with Penn until I can get to 90 credits and join CSU - Global or Upper Iowa and get the other 30 credits (10 classes) and be done with it. As you all know that's $10K+ for 30 credits. I see lots of information here on how some are just taking classes at different places and applying to one of the 3 most popular online with colleges and getting degrees with low cost classes and much faster.

How do I know which class can apply outside of Penn Foster or with in Penn to a specific degree with example: Excelsior College for their Bachelor of Science in Business (General)

I have attached a spreadsheet with details on what I have.

I would need help to identifying what's missing and where to take it. How do you map this list with a degree at specific college? Are academic advisors willing to work with someone like me knowing most of credits are coming from outside?
I know that Excelsior charges yearly fee if you are not taking 12 credits with them. I am assuming many wait until they have all of the classes ready and inside ACE or other institution and just apply with all credit pay the fees (or take a class or two) and graduate?

What does UL or SL stand for?

Thanks so much for your help.
Dino

[dfrecore]

I don't do much with Excelsior, so this is a guestimate. I think more of your credits will fit into their plan, but it’s more expensive options because of their tuition & fees ($2155), and the 6cr Business Capstone (which is $3,060 just by itself). Add the courses you need ($1300) and their BS in Business Management is $6500.

I can give you some info on TESU. You have what looks to be about 55cr that can be applied to the BSBA in General Management. It could be more, but I show that the following courses were ACE-expired as of now; but you might have taken them prior to the expiration date:
Econ II (Micro) - Exp 9/30/15
Intro to Computers - Exp 5/31/11
Math for Business & Finance - Exp 9/30/12
Music Appreciation - Exp 10/31/15
Prin of Marketing - Exp 2/29/12
Readings in World Civilization - Exp 2/28/11
Survey of Mathematics - Exp 5/31/11

Not all PF courses are ACE-approved, and they are a Nationally Accredited, rather than Regionally Accredited school; which means TESU will only accept the ACE-approved courses. So if you took any of these prior to expiration, that will make a difference of maybe $500.

Anyway, for the BSBA, you are about halfway there. For about $1500 in courses/exams from ALEKS, CLEP, SL, Saylor, DSST & TECEP - plus the cornerstone at TESU - you would be done with the degree. Adding in the application fee, the residency waiver fee, and the graduation fee, I show that you're about $4000 from the BSBA at TESU – a few hundred less if you can get those courses in, a few hundred more if you can’t.

Another good option is WGU. They will accept NA courses as well as ACE-approved ones. With the courses you already have, plus about $625 for some additional ones, then adding in the tuition for 1 term (6 months), you could do the BS in Business Management for about the same price ($4,000). One thing to remember with WGU is that you can't transfer courses after you enroll - so if you apply, see what they will accept, and then figure out some inexpensive alternatives for some more than you can do, you need to take those courses BEFORE you enroll. Don't let them talk you into enrolling first. Because if you can take a decent amount of courses inexpensively, and then enroll, it will cut down on the amount of time you have to enroll for. If you don't take any additional courses, and it takes you longer than 6 months to do what's left, that's another $3000 in tuition you will have to pay. This is one of those cases where you need to figure out the best plan to get courses that won't cost too much - you don't want to take so many courses that it would have been cheaper just to enroll in WGU and finish there. But you don't want to take so few that you can't finish in 6 months.

Anyway, I would look at WGU as they have a waiver for the application fee right now. And TESU if you're interested, because you're almost halfway done there.

Last but not least, Charter Oak is an option, but at this point in time, it’s expensive to apply; they charge $75 for the application, but another $150 for an evaluation. If you end up going with them, then it’s credited towards a course which you have to take there, but if you don’t end up going there, then you lose that money.

[dino]

Thanks for your input dfrecore. I am open to other universities. I was looking at TESU, but it had $2000 residency waiver + their other fees I wasn't sure if it will get expensive. Based your analysis doesn't seem to be bad at all.
All the classes I took at Penn are already in ACE and those are listed in attachment. Once that didn't apply I didn't add. Also all were done before they expired. I want to continue to take classes, tests I am just not sure which once will be needed for TESU? If I apply to TESU will they work with me to tell me what to take outside of their program until I am ready to graduate? I feel like they don't have the obligation to put all the work in for me to go and take the test or course some place else.
Penn Foster is a great option for me when it comes to time. I can do it in a week or a month depending on how everything else goes around me like family and work. It's $300, but worth for my sanity and being able to work independently with no hard weekly deadlines. I would test out out of some if I can specially free once.

I am sorry I know I am all over the place. So since you are in TESU would you recommend I just apply to be there and don't enroll in any class just continue to work with Academic Adviser and complete classes/tests until I am close to graduate? What I really need is help with filling in the gaps on what's needed once that's done identify where to take them.

Thanks

[davewill]

If you're interested in TESU and the $75 application fee isn't a problem for you, then yes, would go ahead and apply and send them your transcripts. That will give you an academic evaluation that shows all your transfer credits and what you need to do.

[dfrecore]

TESU is not easy to work with to have them guide you on which courses to take to finish your degree outside of their own courses. BUT, luckily, this forum is here, and we know which courses you can take, especially for the BSBA.

Apply, see what they do with your credits, and then come back with your evaluation and we will help you figure out the rest.

[dino]

Thank you both for your help. I can apply and pay the $75. Looks like if I don't enroll into one of their classes within 12 months I will have to apply again which is ok as long as I get the list of classes needed.

Do you send them transcripts as you finish each class or do you send few at the time?

I was accepted into Upper Iowa University already and they said I need 52 credits to finish. Was thinking to work with them to get to 90 credits outside of UIU and finish 10 classes with them for 30 credits, but it's a lot of money. If TESU is better route I will go that way. Wondering if they can disqualify some of the classes I would be taking if they are not confirmed by them?

[dino]

Just submitted my application and paid $75 I guess I should order transcripts now or wait for acceptance? This is program I selected: BSBA in General Management Degree Program

[bjcheung77]

Just submitted my application and paid $75 I guess I should order transcripts now or wait for acceptance? This is program I selected: BSBA in General Management Degree Program

You should wait for acceptance, finish a few more courses and then send in your transcripts to TESU for an evaluation.
Once you know your evaluation, you'll know what courses are missing (especially your UL - upper level ones).
Then, finish your courses off with Penn Foster (PF), Saylor Academy, Straighterline (SL), Study.com and/or through TECEPS.

[dino]

Which once should I take? That's the question since I am not sure how they will map my current courses. I don't want to do same thing over or something that's not needed.

Unless there something you can point out that I need for sure that's not listed in my spreadsheet and what they need. I am trying to map my current classes with theirs and see what's missing. Also need to identify where to take what's missing.

[dfrecore]

If I were you, I would take:

Insurance Ethics (The Institutes) - FREE
Intermediate Algebra & College Algebra (ALEKS)
English Comp II (CLEP, SL)
Sociology (CLEP, SL)
American Government (CLEP, SL)
Intro to Western Political Thought (Saylor)
Intro to Comparative Politics (Saylor)
International Management (study.com)
HRM (DSST, study.com)
Business Communications (Saylor)
MIS (DSST)