SDC and TESU American Gov't

[P226mem]

Can you direct me to the equivalency page?  I am just starting to plan and have no idea where to find this stuff "officially" outside of this forum.

I have also read that all the Sophia/SDC stuff needs to be done BEFORE starting TESU courses?  Does this mean I need not apply until I have done everything else?  Because I am getting mixed info.  Some say to apply so they can evaluate what I have, others say I need it all in place first or they won't take the transfers after that initial eval.  Thanks for any info you can provide.

SDC to TESU equivalency page:  go to this link and you have to open where it says to "view credit eligible courses and degrees" https://study.com/college/school/thomas-...rsity.html
(however, TESU gets the final decision in how a course is applied to a specific degree. but the list gives you a really good idea of what it will transfer as in terms of course number)


I did not have to finish all of the sophia, SDC or coopersmith before applying to TESU.  I applied with what I had.  You get 2 evaluations while you are an applicant.  

To get additional evaluations, you need to be enrolled as a student.  Many of us enroll in a TECEP to become enrolled for purpose of getting more evals before starting online courses at tesu.


personal story details?
I did that route.  I applied.  Got my first two evals.And it wasn't even all of my evals from my application (my community college courses were delayed on arrival due to covid issues and mailing... so those did not show up on either of the 2 evals)

Enrolled in a tecep that I never took.  It does not impact my GPA that I never took it. It shows up as NT (not taken). more about that on their website. I considered it a small extra fee to buy time to get everything done.  

I continued with my sophia courses, and SDC.  Here's a little weird thing. Because of the timing of when I enrolled in the TECEP at tesu, I had to wait several weeks so that I was in the 10th day of the term so that I could get more evaluations.
I got my sophia done. I got my TEEX done.  I finished SDC.  I got my coopersmith courses done.  Sent those in and got evaluations. So yes, you can continue to have transfer courses evaluations after you are enrolled. There's even information on the graduation page that you can still be having outside courses coming in and meet a deadline to still graduated.

There are advantages to having it all done before you apply.  There are advantages to not doing that.

[rachel83az]

Can you direct me to the equivalency page?  I am just starting to plan and have no idea where to find this stuff "officially" outside of this forum.

I have also read that all the Sophia/SDC stuff needs to be done BEFORE starting TESU courses?  Does this mean I need not apply until I have done everything else?  Because I am getting mixed info.  Some say to apply so they can evaluate what I have, others say I need it all in place first or they won't take the transfers after that initial eval.  Thanks for any info you can provide.

There are two. They are formatted differently but contain the same information.

This one is good if you need a course in a particular AOS but you don't know exactly what it's called: https://study.com/directory/school/Thoma...ransferTab

This one is good if you think you know what SDC course you want but you don't know how it transfers to TESU: https://study.com/college/school/thomas-...rsity.html

You don't HAVE to finish Sophia/SDC stuff before applying to TESU, it's just good practice to finish at least some stuff because the clock starts as soon as you apply. (But if you already have credits from a CC or another university, it's a good idea to apply immediately so that you're not duplicating credits by taking Sophia/SDC courses unnecessarily.) When you are in application status, TESU only does 2 transcript evaluations before you have to become fully enrolled. However, at the end of the year like it is now, it's also a good idea to apply to lock in the current year's catalog so that you don't have to worry about changes affecting your degree plans. If you run out of degree evaluations, you can then become fully enrolled by paying for the $50 Medical Terminology TECEP (which you don't have to actually take).

Also, things are complicated by the shenanigans going on with the ACE transcripts. Do you have ACE credits from October or before? If so, APPLY NOW and send in your ACE transcript immediately! Do you have CC college credits? If so, apply and send in your transcript as soon as possible so you know what's left to take. Are you starting from 0? If so, you can wait a couple of weeks but apply by mid-December at the latest.

[LevelUP]

Yes I've reached out to them. I'm BSBA Gen Mgmt. This was for Civic Engagement POS110. I had that, ENC-102 (just passed the DSST) and SOS-110 remaining for LL.

I have an email in to get it straightened out. On the "borked" side of things, I was just reacting to my previous 89 credits and the new 90 credits after this addition where I expected to be at 92 and 95 after the ENC102 hits.

I'll let you know what they say. I'm fine with doing the Instant Cert or just testing out CLEP but the SDC POS102 course took quite a while, I could've spent the time on one of the more involved UL classes. I should've checked on it since the Study.com equivalence page for TESU doesn't have POS110 listed.

Can you direct me to the equivalency page?  I am just starting to plan and have no idea where to find this stuff "officially" outside of this forum.

I have also read that all the Sophia/SDC stuff needs to be done BEFORE starting TESU courses?  Does this mean I need not apply until I have done everything else?  Because I am getting mixed info.  Some say to apply so they can evaluate what I have, others say I need it all in place first or they won't take the transfers after that initial eval.  Thanks for any info you can provide.

You get 2 free transcript evaluations after you pay the TESU $50 application fee.  You can take a 1 credit TECEP and get unlimited evaluations and be officially enrolled by then.

The only way is to get an official answer on what courses work for what degree plan is to ask academic evaluation after you apply to TESU.  They will only answer questions for courses that are a part of your degree plan.

My recommendation is to sign up when you are 50/50 sure that you plan to go for your degree.  This is usually after you complete a couple of online courses you have a feel if you want to move forward with this.

[elledee2020]

Thank you all.  That helps tremendously.  I only have prior CC credits right now.  49 in total.  I am more than 50/50 on this.  I NEED to get my degree completed so I have a plan in place for me and my kids to have a solid income moving forward.  Not sure if it was this thread that I mentioned I have 2 special needs kids.  But with my situation like it is, this is really the only "doable" route I see happening.  I have talked to local universities who offer fully online programs, but I'd like to be able to finish this faster than those would allow.  And I need some flexibility that those programs won't offer.  I work 3 jobs...2 from home, 1 at a school.  One of the at-home jobs will be replaced with school from a timing perspective.  But I have to be able to do this from home because of my kids.  And I def can't drop a job to do school AND pay for childcare.  

So thanks for all the info.  I would never have had time to research all this without your help.

[oldTESUstudent]

Thank you all.  That helps tremendously.  I only have prior CC credits right now.  49 in total.  I am more than 50/50 on this.  I NEED to get my degree completed so I have a plan in place for me and my kids to have a solid income moving forward.  Not sure if it was this thread that I mentioned I have 2 special needs kids.  But with my situation like it is, this is really the only "doable" route I see happening.  I have talked to local universities who offer fully online programs, but I'd like to be able to finish this faster than those would allow.  And I need some flexibility that those programs won't offer.  I work 3 jobs...2 from home, 1 at a school.  One of the at-home jobs will be replaced with school from a timing perspective.  But I have to be able to do this from home because of my kids.  And I def can't drop a job to do school AND pay for childcare.  

So thanks for all the info.  I would never have had time to research all this without your help.

elledee2020,

My suggestion would be to apply to TESU and have a academic evaluation created.  From there you will be able to see what classes remain for you to complete in order to graduate.  TESU accepts credits from > 100 providers, which you can review here:
 https://www.tesu.edu/academics/catalog/p...-directory

It is advisable to consult with your Academic Advisor before taking a course from an external provider.  ACE credit recommendations change/expire and are not always kept up to date on the TESU and providers websites.  I experienced an issue with a course where the ACE recommendation had changed but since I had emails from my advisor I was eventually granted credit.

There are 2 required classes that must be taken at TESU, 1. Information Literacy and 2. Capstone.  The remaining credits can be transferred in.  One thing to consider is the Residency Fee, which is an additional charge if you have not completed 16 graded credits at TESU.  This is currently $3200. 

Best of luck.

[rachel83az]

It is advisable to consult with your Academic Advisor before taking a course from an external provider.  ACE credit recommendations change/expire and are not always kept up to date on the TESU and providers websites.  I experienced an issue with a course where the ACE recommendation had changed but since I had emails from my advisor I was eventually granted credit.

For the most part, no, it's not advisable to consult with your advisor. They are extremely unhelpful when it comes to non-TESU courses. It's always a good idea to look up ACE recommendations yourself before attempting a course, however. This is also why people here post warnings about expiring courses. If you finish a course before it expires, you should still be good.

[AZDan]

I had to end up taking this course through TESU this term.

Are you going for the 16 credits and not paying the residency waiver fee?

No, I had to take two courses to be eligible for financial aid so I decided to take Am Gov't and the SOS-110 for the November term. I will still have to pay the waiver fee since it is an "all or nothing fee". Meaning even if you take 15 credits from TESU, they will still charge you the full waiver fee.

[bjcheung77]

Yes, I'm hoping that's a typo of 15 credits... if you take 16 credits at TESU, you get to skip the waiver fee.  You've taken 6, plus the Capstone will be 3 more for 9 credits total... if you need the financial aid for the second term for Capstone, you can take a simple course as well to hit 12 credits.  That would just leave you with 4 credits...

BTW, are you referring to Pell Grant or just the financial aid package with a small grant, subsidized amount and non-subsidized amounts?  Depending on each persons financial situation, there are ways to maximize the grant/financial aid, and see if you can waive the residency fee.

[AZDan]

When I called TESU to ask about the waiver, they told me I need to take all 16 credits or pay the $3,192 fee. And it is not pro-rated, so if you take 16 then you don't need to pay the fee but if you take 1 or 15, then you need to pay the full fee. This is what they told me.

I only qualified for a loan for financial aid. I just found out a few weeks ago that I will be losing my job at the end of the year so I tried to reapply with a "salary reduction form" but was declined since I haven't actually lost my job yet. So much for trying to be proactive!

Right now on my remaining BSBA course plan I have:
American Gov't - TESU - Currently taking
SOS-110 - TESU - Currently taking
Intro to Stats - Sophia - Currently taking
Globalization & Int'l Mgt - SDC - to complete Business/Society Core rqrmt for MAN-372 (I really don't want to take this course)
Managerial Communications - SDC - to complete Communications core rqrmt for MAN-373 (I really don't want to take this course either)
Federal Income Taxation - TECEP
Capstone - I hope to sign up for this in December term.

I need to get all of this done by the end of January.

[dfrecore]

When I called TESU to ask about the waiver, they told me I need to take all 16 credits or pay the $3,192 fee. And it is not pro-rated, so if you take 16 then you don't need to pay the fee but if you take 1 or 15, then you need to pay the full fee. This is what they told me.

This is correct - you need to take 16cr to get the waiver - so 15cr doesn't do it for you.

But if you were at 15cr, you'd be silly not to take a 1cr course for $519, and then get $3192 waived.  That's a very good trade off.