Please help with TESC BA Psychology degree plan. Thanks!

[GradSchool1234]

Hello everyone! I would hugely appreciate it if someone familiar with TESC would help critique my Psychology BA degree plan. I've already contacted TESC, but the information I received only addressed several of my questions. They said I would need to begin the application process before I could find out if my degree plan was adequate. Thus I'm turning to you guys for help, so any relevant input would be so appreciated!

Here's the degree I plan on earning: Thomas Edison State College: Psychology
And here's my plan:

1. General Education Requirements (60 credits needed)

1-A. Intellectual and Practical Skills (15 credits needed)
- ENC-101/102 College Composition (CLEP, 6 credits)
- MAT-102/103 College Mathematics (CLEP, 6 credits)
note: I would use 3 credits from this class to apply to the "College-Level Math Course" and 3 credits to apply to the "Intellectual and Practical Skills"
- COS-101 Introduction to Computing (DSST, 3 credits)

1-B. Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World (18 credits needed)
- HUM-101/102 Humanities (General) (CLEP, 6 credits)
- SOC-101 Introductory Sociology (DSST, 3 credits)
- NAS-101/102 Natural Sciences (CLEP, 6 credits)
- MAT-121 College Algebra (CLEP, 3 credits)
note: This math course would apply to the "Interdisciplinary" section of the credit qualifications

1-C. Personal and Social Responsibility (9 credits needed)
- REL-405 Introduction to World Religions (DSST, 3 credits)
- PHI-287 Ethics in America (DSST, 3 credits)
- BUS-302 Business Ethics and Society (DSST, 3 credits)
note: These class categories were more vague, so would these three courses satisfy TESC's requirements? If not, which (preferably within the DSST or CLEP test list) would apply here?

1-D. General Electives (18 credits needed)
- BIO-111/112 Biology (CLEP, 6 credits)
- AOJ-101 Introduction to Law Enforcement (DSST, 3 credits)
- HEA-103 Here's to Your Health (DSST, 3 credits)
- LIT-292/293 Analyzing and Interpreting Literature (CLEP, 6 credits)

2. Area of Study: Psychology

2-A. Required courses (9 credits needed)
- PSY-101 Introductory Psychology (CLEP, 3 credits)
- STA-201 Principles of Statistics (DSST, 3 credits)
- SOS-305 Substance Abuse (DSST, 3 credits)

2-B. Capstone (3 credits needed)
- I would take this course at TESC

3-C. Psychology Electives (21 credits needed)
- I would take these courses at TESC

3. Free Electives (27 credits needed)

- COUS-262 Fundamentals of Counseling (DSST, 3 credits)
- EDU-102 Foundations of Educations (DSST, 3 credits)
- PSY-230 Introduction to Educational Psychology (CLEP, 3 credits)
- MAN-201 Principles of Supervision (DSST, 3 credits)
- BUS-101 Introduction to Business (DSST, 3 credits)
- PSY-211 Lifespan Developmental Psychology (DSST, 3 credits)
- PSY-361 Organizational Behavior (DSST, 3 credits)
- MAN-301 Principles of Management (CLEP, 3 credits)
- MAR-301 Principles of Marketing (CLEP, 3 credits)


So, assuming all the above credits work in the places I've put them, that leaves 24 credits left in order to obtain a BA. The Capstone course (3 credits), and the Psychology Electives (21 credits). Is there anything else I'd have to do, or additional classes I would have to take, in order to obtain a BA?

I'm looking at taking all of the above tests in the next four months, and enroll at TESC in late April or early May. I want to earn my BA in psychology as cheap and fast as possible to allow as much time as possible to apply to grad school. Preferably, I want to begin grad school in the Fall of 2016.

So what is the cheapest and fastest way of completing the remaining 24 credits at TESC. Is it the comprehensive tuition plan, pay-by-credit, or some other method? I live in TN, so I don't have the in-state benefits offered by TESC.

Lastly, is there any finial feedback you'd give? Any areas of TESC's BA program I'm overlooking? Any further comments or critiques?

Thanks!

[sanantone]

Despite what TESC's website says, the registrar always evaluates the Fundamentals of Counseling DSST as an UL psychology course. I don't know why you put the other psychology tests in free electives when they can be used as psychology electives: Organizational Behavior, Intro to Educational Psychology, and Lifespan Developmental Psychology. Substance Abuse Counseling will not count as Experimental Psychology, but it will count as a psychology elective. Research Methods in Psychology will meet the Experimental Psychology requirement. You can take it as a Uexcel if you don't want to take the course. The TESC course is called Research in Experimental Psychology.

You will need 18 UL credits. The liberal arts capstone, experimental psychology, organizational behavior, fundamentals of counseling, and substance abuse counseling will account for 15 of those UL credits. Abnormal Psychology is offered as a TECEP, Uexcel, and TESC course. If you're going to choose the Per Credit Tuition Plan, it would be best not to take any TESC courses other than the required liberal arts capstone. Tuition for e-Packs and online and guided study courses under this plan are $491 per credit hour for non-residents.

There are ways to earn free electives for free:

TEEX Cybersecurity - 6 credits
NFA - 3 credits
Kaplan PLA - 3 credits

The Kaplan PLA should also be allowed as gen ed and an intellectual and practical skills elective. Here's to Your Health is a free elective only; it cannot be used for gen ed. If you're concerned about cost, ALEKS is a cheaper way to complete math and statistics credits. You can complete as many credits as you can for $20 per month. You should also look into Saylor's NCCRS and ACE-approved courses. They are free, but you have to pay a $25 ProctorU fee.

[GradSchool1234]

Thanks sanantone for the quick response! When I looked at TESC's website it informed me that I have to take at least 24 credit hours at their facility (online classes, TECEP tests, ect.) to earn a bachelor's degree. So I would like to test out of as much as possible, but understand 24 credits have to be earned through their school. I think your suggestion to wait on the Psyc courses is wise, I just enjoy those subjects and don't know what else I'd take to fill the void.

Though as far as the courses go for the bulk of my schedule, does everything but the Health (HEA-103) and Substance abuse (SOS-305) class work where I put it? I just want to double check that I understood the requirements correctly.

The reason I don't want to test out of my Psychology electives is because then I'd have nothing to take next year, right? Am I misunderstanding the "24 credits needed at TESC to earn a degree" thing?

Also, what's the difference between general education electives and just free electives? I think I'm starting to over-think this. Am I at least ALMOST correct in my outline of classes?

I didn't see the ALEKS test option on the TESC's approved test-by-credit exams: Thomas Edison State College: Other Exam Programs . But I'll definitely look into that, it'd be nice to save money where I can.

[GradSchool1234]

Also, as far as money is concerned: If I took 24 credits at TESC, all of which I tested out of via TECEP, would I still have to pay the 491/credit price? For example, you gave this outline in another thread.

Application Fee ~ $75
TECEP ~ $37/credit
Course Fee ~ $491/credit
Course Registration Fee ~ $58
Transcript Fee ~ $15

So, excluding the small fees, would that mean for one 3-credit class it would be the price of the class (491 x 3) plus the price of the TECEP (37 x 3) to end up at 1,584$ per every 3 credits?! And if I have to do 8 of those to complete the degree (1,584 x 8), the total would be 12,672$. Wouldn't it be a good bit cheaper to just enroll under the comprehensive tuition plan at something like 9,000$? I HOPE I'm misunderstanding the financial side of things, because either way that's a ton of money. I would expect just testing out of a class would make it much cheaper, but it seems they're the same price.

Are there any loopholes, or less known paths to cut down the price a bit? Or is this just the way it is?

Haha, it seems the more I research this, I'm becoming increasingly lost. Please help!
Also, I'm terribly curious about my earlier response, so please try to address both. Thank you so much.

[sanantone]

TESC has no residency requirement under the Comprehensive and Enrolled Options Tuition Plans. There is a 24-credit residency requirement for bachelor's degrees under the Per Credit Tuition Plan. That means you need to complete 24 credits at TESC before you graduate. The residency requirement can be met by taking TECEPs (TESC's in-house credit-by-exam at $111 each), portfolio assessments (AKA PLAs at $363 for the first 12-credit portfolio and $206 for every 6-credit portfolio thereafter), e-Packs ($491 per credit hour), and online and guided study courses ($491 per credit hour).

The cheapest way to complete a degree at TESC, in most cases, is to choose the Per Credit Tuition Plan and meet the residency requirements by taking TECEPs or completing portfolios for credit (this is more time consuming though). For the psychology degree and other BA degrees, the liberal arts capstone has to be taken at TESC and will count toward the residency requirement. In order to stay enrolled under the Per Credit Tuition Plan, all one has to do is take one TECEP, complete a portfolio assessment, or take an e-Pack or course every rolling 12 months.

This plan is for liberal studies, but it'll give you an idea of how this works.
http://www.degreeforum.net/excelsior-tho...post172163

These plans might also help you.
Sanantone's General Education Options - Degree Forum Wiki
Sanantone's BA in Psychology - Degree Forum Wiki
Free Sources of Credit - Degree Forum Wiki

If you need to rely on financial aid, then you should choose the Comprehensive or Enrolled Options Plan depending on how many credits you want to take per year. Financial aid only covers online and guided study courses.

[GradSchool1234]

Wow that cleared up a lot of things! Thank you. So let me get this straight, the 491$/credit does NOT apply when doing TECEPs? For example, I could take 6 TECEPs at 111$ each (666$) plus the capstone course (491 x 3 = 1473) and get a BA for 2,139$ plus the small additional fees? Would there be an enrollment fee on top of this, or would that be it?

This is why you suggested I apply those CLEP and DSST psyc courses towards the Psychology electives, that way I wouldn't run out of classes to take via the TECEPs. Wow, I think things are starting to come together for me.

So this just came to mind: if everything (minus the capstone course) is able to be tested out of, then one could theoretically finish the BA program in under a year, or just as fast as one could learn and test-out. In other words, they don't HAVE to be enrolled at TESC for a full year to earn their degree, right?

If this is correct, then the smallest amount of time one would have to be enrolled is the length of that capstone course, or just a semester. Interesting.

Also, thanks for those links, they are very helpful! In fact everything is starting make A LOT more sense. You're amazing

[PaintTheSunset]

[quote=GradSchool1234]Wow that cleared up a lot of things! Thank you. So let me get this straight, the 491$/credit does NOT apply when doing TECEPs? For example, I could take 6 TECEPs at 111$ each (666$) plus the capstone course (491 x 3 = 1473) and get a BA for 2,139$ plus the small additional fees? Would there be an enrollment fee on top of this, or would that be it?

This is why you suggested I apply those CLEP and DSST psyc courses towards the Psychology electives, that way I wouldn't run out of classes to take via the TECEPs. Wow, I think things are starting to come together for me.

So this just came to mind: if everything (minus the capstone course) is able to be tested out of, then one could theoretically finish the BA program in under a year, or just as fast as one could learn and test-out. In other words, they don't HAVE to be enrolled at TESC for a full year to earn their degree, right? /QUOTE]


You'd need 7 TECEP's plus the Capstone Course to total the 24 credit hour residency requirements, not 6 TECEP's. And yes, you can complete is as fast as you wish, subject to the time requirement of the capstone course. Also, the degree is not immediately conferred upon completion. There's the graduation application (which has its own fee), and then a time delay until the graduation date. Despite this, it's possible to get the degree within the one year period. The Pay-Per-Credit tuition plan (the one with the residency requirement) has no enrollment fee.

[dfrecore]

It's actually quite possible to get your degree in a LOT less than a year, if you want. The key is to wait to enroll until you've taken all of your CLEP/DSST/ALEKS/Straighterline/Saylor/TEEX/etc. exams/courses. At that point, you can enroll and sign up for your TECEP's.

I wouldn't necessarily wait until you thought you only had the 8 TESC courses/TECEP's to finish, and get a surprise when they look at your transcripts. But especially for the really common degrees here on the forum (like the BSBA), there's normally several people who have taken exams and can tell you exactly where they were applied for them.

For instance, I applied last year, just to see what my transcripts would look like under TESC's system. They took my D in Chemistry from a prior life (Yay), but didn't take one of my business courses because it was past the 10-year mark (a requirement in the BSBA degree is that you can only have 10 credits older than 10 years in the specialization area). I knew then that I would NOT have to take a science (thank GOD), but I would have to take 3 management courses instead of the 2 I'd planned on.

[sanantone]

It's actually quite possible to get your degree in a LOT less than a year, if you want. The key is to wait to enroll until you've taken all of your CLEP/DSST/ALEKS/Straighterline/Saylor/TEEX/etc. exams/courses. At that point, you can enroll and sign up for your TECEP's.

I think it would better to get the one TECEP out of the way to become enrolled and then start worrying about CLEP, ALEKS, Straighterline, etc. The student will have access to advisors that way and the current catalog locked in. After getting an evaluation, an applicant only has 6 months to enroll before TESC will make the applicant apply and send all transcripts again. I just don't see a reason why someone would be able to finish faster by waiting to enroll. Just being enrolled shouldn't slow the student down.

[GradSchool1234]

Thank you everyone for your feedback! I think I'm starting to figure this whole process out.

Take a look at my updated plan and see what you think:

1. General Education Requirements (60 credits needed)

1-A. Intellectual and Practical Skills (15 credits needed)
- ENC-101/102 College Composition (CLEP, 6 credits)
- MAT-105 Applied Liberal Arts Mathematics (TECEP (1), 3 credits)
- COS-101 Introduction to Computing (DSST, 3 credits)
- MAT-121 College Alegra (TECEP (2), 3 credits)

1-B. Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World (18 credits needed)
- HUM-101/102 Humanities (General) (CLEP, 6 credits)
- AOJ-101 Introduction to Law Enforcement (DSST, 3 credits)
- NAS-101/102 Natural Sciences (CLEP, 6 credits)
- ALEKS Trigonometry (ALEKS, 3 credits) or Pre-Calculus (CLEP, 3 credits)

1-C. Personal and Social Responsibility (9 credits needed)
- REL-405 Introduction to World Religions (DSST, 3 credits)
- PHI-287 Ethics in America (DSST, 3 credits)
- BUS-302 Business Ethics and Society (DSST, 3 credits)

1-D. General Electives (18 credits needed)
- BIO-111/112 Biology (CLEP, 6 credits)
- BUS-101 Introduction to Business (DSST, 3 credits)
- MAR-301 Principles of Marketing (CLEP, 3 credits)
- LIT-292/293 Analyzing and Interpreting Literature (CLEP, 6 credits)

2. Area of Study: Psychology

2-A. Required courses (9 credits needed)
- PSY-101 Introductory Psychology (CLEP, 3 credits)
- STA-201 Principles of Statistics (TECEP (3), 3 credits)
- PSY-350 Abnormal Psychology (TECEP (4), 3 credits)

2-B. Capstone (3 credits needed)
- LIB-495 Liberal Arts Capstone ( Upper-Level (1) ) (TESC online class)

3-C. Psychology Electives (21 credits needed)
- PSY-361 Organizational Behavior ( Upper-Level (2) ) (DSST, 3 credits)
- COUS-262 Fundamentals of Counseling (translated as PSY-331, Upper-Level (3) ) (DSST, 3 credits)
- SOS-305 Substance Abuse ( Upper-Level (4) ) (DSST, 3 credits)
- PSY-211 Lifespan Development Psychology (DSST, 3 credits)
- Uexcel ECEP Social Psychology ( Upper-Level (5) )
- Uexcel ECEP Psychology of Adulthood & Aging ( Upper-Level (6) )
- PSY-230 Introduction to Educational Psychology (CLEP, 3 credits)

3. Free Electives (27 credits needed)

- ETH-210 Environmental Ethics (TECEP (5), 3 credits)
- ENG-201 Technical Writing (TECEP (6), 3 credits)
- PHI-130 Introduction to Critical Reasoning (TECEP (7), 3 credits)
- MAN-201 Principles of Supervision (DSST, 3 credits)
- EDU-102 Foundations of Education (DSST, 3 credits)
- HEA-103 Here's to Your Health (DSST, 3 credits)
- MAN-301 Principles of Management (CLEP, 3 credits)
- SOS-101 Introduction to Sociology (CLEP, 3 credits)
- HIS-113 History of United States 1: Early Colonization (CLEP, 3 credits)


With this schedule I have the 7 TECEP courses, and the one TESC online class thus completing my 24-hour residency requirement for a degree. Then I also have the required 18 credit hours in Upper-Level courses to complete the Psychology BA requirement.

I have a few questions though:
- What are the requirements to begin taking TECEP courses? I have to apply to TESC, right? Then do local universities provide the actual tests, or how do I go about taking a TECEP?
- Can I take the Liberal-Arts Capstone course before I've completed any of the other requirements for my degree? I'd love to get that class out of the way and then just compile the remaining credits through various tests.
- How long is the process to actually graduate from TESC once all the credits and classes are completed? Do they only graduate students every Winter/Summer?
- I've navigated the Uexcel webpage, but am slightly confused. They do not show me how expensive these tests end up costing. So how much should I expect to pay for these Uexcel tests?
- I've also navigated the ALEKS webpage, and am also left confused. This service is free? And there's no 'finial test' just a set of lessons to complete?

Any other thoughts or critiques to my plan? I'm new to all this so I'm sure I could have misunderstood some requirement, or overlooked something important.

Thank you everyone for your thoughtful and quick responses, it really means a lot to me!