Please Advise the Fastest Path to a Bachelor Degree

[bioscienceguy]

The 4 year degree has been a thorn in my side for far too long. I am fortunate to have a great union government job that compensates me modestly, owing in a large part to my military background. But I am now hard stuck salary wise absent a bachelor degree. I work as a laboratory technician for an environmental laboratory on the government side and would like to promote up to either a Microbiologist or Chemist. I need a degree that says Biological Science or Environmental Science ... I might be able to squeeze by with a degree with a major in 'Environmental Studies'.

I tried going back to retake the beginning Biology courses last semester in person, I did well in them but honestly ... I don't think I want to take the pre-med curriculum. I'm 35 years old, I don't want to go to graduate school or medical school. It's a waste of money to take the premed curriculum which is typically required for a biological science major, and way too time consuming. I just want a piece of paper from a not-for-profit college to slap on my resume, as fast as possible and without a big price tag. Time is of the essence as my workplace is a very comfy place to retire with our pension and we are paid quite well for our field. If I miss someone's retirement it could be 5-10 years until the next time someone retires and their position opens.

Right now I'm leaning towards TESU Environmental Studies bachelor online ... but I'm not sure how the transfer work since it requires so much transferred courses. If I could transfer all my old CC credits and get credit for work + military credits ... that would be awesome!

Your Location: USA
Your Age: 35
Work Experience: Army Reserve 6 years water treatment specialist, 18 months water treatment operator trainee, 6 months laboratory sample control tech, 3 years laboratory technician
What kind of degree do you want?: Bachelor
Current Regional Accredited Credits: 60+ 

(2007-2010) Community College
- 9 credits community college first year sequence of English Composition
- 15 credits community college first year sequence of for major General Biology
- 4 credit - Elementary Statistics
- 12 credit - General Psychology, Social Anthropology, Eastern Religion, Western Religion
- 6 credit - Political science, American History 
- 3 credit - Public Speaking
*More credits totaling over 60+ but i did not apply for an associates degree at the time

*4cr Human Anatomy (recently taken 2024)
*5cr General Biology I (recently taken 2024)

Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: 0
Any certifications or military experience?: 6 years Army Reserve, 92W Water Treatment Specialist - Honorable Discharge
Budget: Current salary is $118,000 a year. Prefer not to take out any loan. $4500 a semester is doable. I can just put it on a credit card and pay $1,000 a month.
Commitments: Plenty of downtime at work, work is supportive of education. No children or spouse, plenty of time to commit at work.
Dedicated time to study: 4 hours a day after work on weekdays, 8 hours a day on Saturday and Sunday. Can squeeze in hours during work time.
Timeline: 1-2 years
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: $3,500 per fiscal year employer tuition reimbursement

[Jonathan Whatley]

I work as a laboratory technician for an environmental laboratory on the government side and would like to promote up to either a Microbiologist or Chemist. I need a degree that says Biological Science or Environmental Science ... I might be able to squeeze by with a degree with a major in 'Environmental Studies'.

Is Health Science or Public Health an option?

[Heartstrings]

Have you tried American Military University/American Public University? They have a bachelor's degree in Environmental Science and you can take 4 or 5 classes in each class term. I completed their MA in Human Resource Management in less than a year. I also got a military family discount. But they have discounts for veterans.

[bjcheung77]

What institutions have you looked at? Even the University of Phoenix has a BS Environmental Sciences... You should list what you've already researched and create a shortlist of what you have found out there. We can then give you recommendations on which ones would be better for your scenario... Would a Masters degree be better? I would recommend to get yourself a Bachelors, if you don't already have one, and then ladder to a Masters with a related or similar degree...