Honor Societies for Non Traditional Students?

[jsd]

Here on this forum we don't agree on the value of an associate's degree. I'm one of the people who thinks getting an associate's degree on the way to a bachelor's degree is a good idea.

I don't think anyone actually thinks an Associates is a bad idea, I just think some people don't see the cost of something like TESU's residency waiver as worth the potential value of an AA.

I don't think anyone would advise against the WV BOG AAS degrees, for example, or other cheap paths to an AA/AS.

[dfrecore]

Here on this forum we don't agree on the value of an associate's degree. I'm one of the people who thinks getting an associate's degree on the way to a bachelor's degree is a good idea. Phi Theta Kappa is the national honor society for community colleges. It's legitimate and nationally recognized. It takes 12 hours with a 3.5 GPA to qualify. You don't have to get an associate's degree to qualify for PTK. You just need 12 hours from your community college.

If you use the Texas common application to apply to a public university as a community college transfer student, the application specifically asks if you are a member of Phi Theta Kappa.

I don't think this is true.  I personally think an AA is fine - but I don't think that you should spend a lot of money for one.  I recently advised against someone getting a specific AA at TESU because it was going to be very expensive.  Not worth the money in my opinion, because you could get a similar BA/BS at TESU or elsewhere for less or the same amount.

I also don't think people should pay the residency waiver at TESU for an AA, if they don't have something in writing from TESU that says it will cover the BA/BS as well.  It would really suck to have to pay the residency waiver TWICE because they wouldn't apply the one for the AA to the BA.

Sometimes, an AA is worth it (need it for work reasons, promotion, etc.).  But it's almost never worth it to pay a LOT for an AA.  You can find ways to get an inexpensive AA.

[Life Long Learning]

Here on this forum we don't agree on the value of an associate's degree. I'm one of the people who thinks getting an associate's degree on the way to a bachelor's degree is a good idea. Phi Theta Kappa is the national honor society for community colleges. It's legitimate and nationally recognized. It takes 12 hours with a 3.5 GPA to qualify. You don't have to get an associate's degree to qualify for PTK. You just need 12 hours from your community college.

If you use the Texas common application to apply to a public university as a community college transfer student, the application specifically asks if you are a member of Phi Theta Kappa.

You are correct that 12 hours from your community college for PTK is easy if they are going to a CC.  I would recommend it if one is.

[EI2HCB]

Here on this forum we don't agree on the value of an associate's degree. I'm one of the people who thinks getting an associate's degree on the way to a bachelor's degree is a good idea. Phi Theta Kappa is the national honor society for community colleges. It's legitimate and nationally recognized. It takes 12 hours with a 3.5 GPA to qualify. You don't have to get an associate's degree to qualify for PTK. You just need 12 hours from your community college.

If you use the Texas common application to apply to a public university as a community college transfer student, the application specifically asks if you are a member of Phi Theta Kappa.

PTK of which I'm a recent member has a lot of scholarship money available if you intend to transfer to a B&M college or University.  Excelsior has a scholarship for PTK members, it's not much money, it covers two credits but better than nothing.