No Prior Credits / Study.com

[outdoorlife777]

No prior college credits here. Is it possible to come up with a degree plan using only study.com courses? Any Bachelor's degree major is fine.

[openair]

You could certainly come up with a degree plan that uitilizes study.com courses. But schools typically have a limit for transfers from a single course provider, so you should split it up. I would go with sophia.org for the majority of courses, as it is cheaper, and then potentially add study.com for major courses and upper levels.

[rachel83az]

The most generous university (as far as course acceptance goes) is usually going to be TESU. Even then, they only accept 90 credits from a single source. What this means is that you're first going to want to sign up for Sophia and complete everything they offer, with the exception of the foundations courses and college readiness (these particular ones do not transfer to TESU). Sophia is $79/mo. Unlike SDC, you are allowed to finish as many of their courses as you are able to while you are a member. This will bring you up to around 84 credits, finish off most of your general education requirements, and cost you less than $400.

Now go to InstantCert.com and take American Government. This costs $35 ($20 for the month + $15 proctoring fee). This should finish off your general ed requirements and may also give you a few electives, depending on what degree you're going for. Are you wanting to use SDC because of its low cost, because you like the format, or for some other reason?

A BALS would maybe be the easiest to complete with just SDC courses. But it's usually more useful if you can get a more specific degree. Computer Science can be done with just SDC and one TECEP. I think a BSBA can also be done (almost) entirely with SDC but perhaps with a TECEP or two? Psychology, maybe?

English and International Studies: No. Math: No. I think History requires a Coopersmith.

[ss20ts]

No prior college credits here. Is it possible to come up with a degree plan using only study.com courses? Any Bachelor's degree major is fine.

I would start with Sophia. It's $79 a month and you can complete as many courses as you want during that month. You're limited on how many exams you can take in a month at Study.com and it costs more.

[bjcheung77]

@outdoorlife777 - from one 77 to another 77, oh wait, you have an extra 7, I'm jealous! how could you!
Anyways... Since several members have something helpful to say, I'll add mine too!
You should keep your options open to the Big 3 and also the Competency Based Degree providers such as Brandman/WGU.

1) Tip: Get a second monitor (I have a laptop + small monitor), it's so much easier navigating the course work with the online textbooks.
2) Focus solely on your Sophia.org courses until you get them done, take your time, don't rush, note these do not provide letter grades.
3) Once done, decide on your BALS (Area of Study), there are several options, I recommend the basic general concentration option.
4) Choose your ACE provider for these AOS courses, maybe Coopersmith, Davar, InstantCertCredit, Study.com, TEEX, etc
5) Regularly update this thread with questions, create your own spreadsheet with your degree plan paste it in a reply

Note: I understand cost maybe a factor, but you should also look at ease and speed to finish, I rarely recommend Saylor now because of the way their courses are made,
I would recommend a mix of cheap/easy/fast to get you the best value. I mean, paying slightly more for a Davar course may be easier/faster and thus a little less headache.

You may wan to view my signature for an example template, but change the courses around so they don't use StraighterLine but mainly Sophia.org/Study.com, etc.
I highly suggest getting the CSM Learn for math, TEEX Cybersecurity for free electives and Death Investigation courses as it's a non proctored Upper Level course.

[ss20ts]

Why do people say Sophia courses don't provide a letter grade? They give you a numerical score. That score is on the transcript. I have transferred courses from them to a few colleges and every college shows the grade on my transcript. It's not calculated in my GPA, but the grade is on the transcript at the colleges I applied to.

[allvia]

People are directly you towards Sophia right now because of the low cost (it is a wise move).  Study.com (SDC) will be ideal for meeting the balance including the UL credits you will need. Excluding the two required TESU courses you could do all you need with Sophia and SDC. COSC now has some RA requirements, so that will likely not be your best bet having no credits to start. I'm not sure how EC works at all so I can't begin to provide guidance with them. Personally I recommend TESU - it is usually the easiest to plan for, although a bit higher in cost because of the residency waiver.

Also "the grade doesn't matter" with Sophia (& most ACE courses) because as long as you get over a 70 (the required to pass) it gets transcribed on the ACE transcript as only a PASSED (no grade) which is what ends up posted to your school official transcript.  I believe with one of the providers (SL?) you have the option to have the grade post to COSC if you send the transcript directly from them to COSC.

These threads are recent and are a good reference for how the Sophia credits can be maximized at the three Big3 schools.

https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...es-at-COSC
https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...es-at-TESU
https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...rses-at-EC

[rachel83az]

Why do people say Sophia courses don't provide a letter grade? They give you a numerical score. That score is on the transcript. I have transferred courses from them to a few colleges and every college shows the grade on my transcript. It's not calculated in my GPA, but the grade is on the transcript at the colleges I applied to.

TESU does NOT show the grade on the transcript. You passed it. The end. You cannot send a Parchment transcript to TESU; all they get is the ACE and they don't transcribe a grade from ACE. COSC shows a letter grade, IIRC, but is not a good choice for someone who has no prior credits unless they are interested in a specific COSC degree. Since OP doesn't care about which degree and does not have any credits already, TESU is going to be miles cheaper.

[ss20ts]

People are directly you towards Sophia right now because of the low cost (it is a wise move).  Study.com (SDC) will be ideal for meeting the balance including the UL credits you will need. Excluding the two required TESU courses you could do all you need with Sophia and SDC. COSC now has some RA requirements, so that will likely not be your best bet having no credits to start. I'm not sure how EC works at all so I can't begin to provide guidance with them. Personally I recommend TESU - it is usually the easiest to plan for, although a bit higher in cost because of the residency waiver.

Also "the grade doesn't matter" with Sophia (& most ACE courses) because as long as you get over a 70 (the required to pass) it gets transcribed on the ACE transcript as only a PASSED (no grade) which is what ends up posted to your school official transcript.  I believe with one of the providers (SL?) you have the option to have the grade post to COSC if you send the transcript directly from them to COSC.

These threads are recent and are a good reference for how the Sophia credits can be maximized at the three Big3 schools.

https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...es-at-COSC
https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...es-at-TESU
https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...rses-at-EC

My Parchment transcript for Sophia does not say PASSED. It says the numeric score I received in the class.

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Why do people say Sophia courses don't provide a letter grade? They give you a numerical score. That score is on the transcript. I have transferred courses from them to a few colleges and every college shows the grade on my transcript. It's not calculated in my GPA, but the grade is on the transcript at the colleges I applied to.

TESU does NOT show the grade on the transcript. You passed it. The end. You cannot send a Parchment transcript to TESU; all they get is the ACE and they don't transcribe a grade from ACE. COSC shows a letter grade, IIRC, but is not a good choice for someone who has no prior credits unless they are interested in a specific COSC degree. Since OP doesn't care about which degree and does not have any credits already, TESU is going to be miles cheaper.

I didn't say anything about TESU! Read what I said. This isn't the TESU forum.

[rachel83az]

I didn't say anything about TESU! Read what I said. This isn't the TESU forum.

No, but people are recommending TESU because TESU is going to be cheaper for someone with no credits. If you are looking for planning advice for TESU it doesn't make any sense to get advice that only applies to other colleges and not TESU.