Still no cheap Associates anymore, right?

[Imbanewbie]

University of the People...

Which state is he in?

Washington, but just recently moved there and might not qualify for in state tuition yet

It'll be a year before he qualifies for in-state tuition. Does he need the degree right now?

These are three options I know of that will be below $4,000.

Central Texas College: Associate in computer science. Will need to complete 15 credits at school to meet 25% residency requirement. School accepts CLEP, DSST, ACE, and Uexcels. $235 per credit hour.

South Texas College: Associate in computer science. Will need 16 credits to meet residency requirement. $200 per credit hour.

Clovis Community College: Associate in computer information systems. Don't know residency requirement, but it's probably at least 25%. $111 per credit hour plus fees.

I don't know if the Dallas Community College District has an online associate's in computer science, but the cost per credit hour is $229 with the distance learning fee.

Do your friend need to be online or on campus? Which state he is living ?

[posabsolute]

TESU won't be cheap but it would be crazy fast to do compare to any other options, if the 4k qualify for the residency waiver then it would be not too bad IMO

[topdog98]

I think an associates degree (even in a different field for a career change) after a masters would be a waste of time and money and would look strange to prospective employers. Certifications, another masters, or a graduate certificate would be better (probably stating the obvious here).

[armstrongsubero]

With a masters in GIS looking for a Comp Sci AS!? If he's working in the field not necessary. He's better off getting a second masters or starting doctoral level work.

Or he could just do certs....

[dfrecore]

I agree with topdog98, I don't think an AA is a great idea. I've not heard of companies where an AA in CS trumps certs, especially when you already have a degree (which is the checkbox in this case).

[MNomadic]

I wonder if this might be a good instance for someone to utilize the relatively cheap specializations or other certs from the likes of edx or Coursera? Rather than knocking out a handful of intro 1st and 2nd year CS courses to get an AA/AS/AAS/ASNSM to stack on top of a bachelor's and a masters, your friend could find something a little more at his/her level intermediate or advanced in the specific skill set they have/need/want.

[bjcheung77]

For testing out the waters (making sure your friend likes online learning) and getting some type of extra certification/experience, I would also recommend the edx micromasters / masters programs or the coursera offerings, if they've got the prerequisites to them. They might be interested in getting some experience under their belt with these first and then move up to the real deal.

https://www.edx.org/micromasters
https://www.edx.org/masters

[posabsolute]

He wants to change career, so I'm not so sure it's really just a check in a box, or signalling he now is into another field or even looking for some type of credentials. Professional Certs when you are outside of the IT domain, are often useless in terms of credentials.

It's not explicit which CS fields he is looking into. As a possible alternative, what I would say is that some people I know had success changing field with Udacity nanodegrees, we even hired some in my company.

[jsd]

Thanks folks, I agree that the associates is probably not the best route. I'll bounce some of these ideas off of him.