Planning Ahead

[bjcheung77]

That's right, there are so many options right now for her to decide, so, I also suggest taking some time to learn subject matter that may interest her. You usually want to take as many community college credits that you want to take as those ladder up to university better than say ACE options such as Sophia.org or exams options such as CLEP/MS. Even though Sophia.org has a few courses for 'career/college readiness prep', it may be easier to take it at college since she's already taking classes there... otherwise, I would take whatever is available at college and what's not available using CLEP/MS and Sophia.org

[Florida_Gal]

Thank you, everyone, for your thoughts! I understand the concerns about financial aid once you have completed a Bachelors program if she decides to study something else later. I also realize a liberal arts degree has its limitations as far as career applications. She's completed a career exploration course and has studied a wide variety of subjects at the community college. She just knows she doesn't want to do anything that requires math (even statistics) or science. She loves the humanities and social sciences and so we arrived at liberal arts since she can explore both of those areas while avoiding STEM.

While I can't predict the future, I'm thinking she might end up accidentally stumbling into something she loves as a career later in life, but for now we're looking at completing a Bachelors program more like checking a box so that she isn't precluded from career opportunities for which that is a minimum requirement. We're thinking office jobs at the university, with the State, etc., once she's an adult. Or, if all else fails, she's excited to work at Publix supermarket because her friends do. She might not ever need a degree but it's something we want her to have. She knows she wants to get married and be a homeschooling mom, and while she currently lacks career aspirations, I want to be able to make sure she can reasonably support herself and that family she dreams of if necessary. She'll legally be required to be enrolled in an educational program for another year in some capacity, and at that point will only be a year away from completing a BA/BS at 17, so why not? If she has an epiphany and realizes what she wants to do prior to that, we'll set course for that new goal. But if not, I just want her to finish her degree before she spreads her wings; I feel that on the not so distant horizon. I got married at 19 and finished my BA with children and a fulltime job in my early 20s. She reminds me so much of myself at her age and precisely because she loves school so much, I want her to enjoy completing her degree in whatever she studies without the added challenges of a grown up life. She's worked very hard to get where she is and it would be tragedy for her to be so close and not cross the finish line.

[bjcheung77]

That's great, exactly what we were thinking, again, what you can do is create a plan for the Excelsior BSLA or the TESU BALS (with or without a concentration) and complete as many dual enrollment/community college classes as possible to transfer the max of 90 credits, you can then take the upper level requirements through ACE/NCCRS options to max the credits, then to finish off the degree, complete the 7 Excelsior or 15 TESU credits for residency purposes.