TESU AA (Associate in Arts) Degree Plan Help

[AwardTour]

Before I begin (any maybe I should start separate thread for this question) but on TESU's CLEP equivalency page: https://www.tesu.edu/academics/catalog/c...am-program
I see "College Composition Modular" and in the right most column "Expires on 11/30/2018"...   What is up with that? I know things can come and go (I missed out on Aleks math). Is this about to go bye-bye at TESU or am I misinterpreting something?

Now to the main point of this thread:

Please provide feedback/advice on my TESU Associate in Arts plan (rough draft). My main goal is "easiness" over "cost". I know "easiness" is subjective but I still welcome your personal opinions. 

{Intellectual and Practical Skills}
ENC-101 WRITTEN COMM - College Composition Modular 3(CLEP) (selected to avoid writing essays)
ENC-102 WRITTEN COMM - Principles of Advanced English Composition 3(DSST) (selected to avoid writing essays)
COM-209 ORAL COMM - Oral Communication/Public Speaking 3(SL)
MAT-102 & 103 QUANTITATIVE LITERACY - College Mathematics [6 credits?] (CLEP) (selected because it appears easier than taking SL College Algebra)
(also listed as easier for Math-phobic folks on free-clep-prep).
REL-405 INFO LITERACY - Intro to Religion 3(SL)


{Civic and Global Learning} 
PHI-286 CONTEMP ETHICS - Insurance Ethics 312 2(The Institutes) 
ANT-101 DIVERSITY - Cultural Anthropology 3(SL)
POS-110 CIVIC ENGAGEMENT - American Government 3(SL)

{Knowledge of Human Cultures}
AOJ-102 Criminal Justice 3(SL)
SOC-101 Sociology 3(SL)
PSY-101 Psychology 3(SL)

{Understanding the Physical and Natural World}
BIO-208 Introduction to Nutrition 3(SL) 
(I think I am 1 credit short here?)

{Electives} 
Cornerstone - 1(TESU) is this required? I don't see anything about it on https://www.tesu.edu/heavin/aa
(Would TEEX Cybersecurity count here???)
(I really need 18 to 20 credits here so I am open to suggestions. I value easiness/time saving above cost but Free Sources of Credit wouldn't be bad. I have no idea what to select.).

Thank you to all who reply! 

[dfrecore]

So in looking at your plan, this will work; however, I question your using SL for everything, and also for going through TESU for an AA - they are certainly not the school I would recommend for an AA, since they're quite expensive for that purpose ($2132 in fees plus the costs of courses). The price will be going up after 6/30/18, so after that date, you're probably looking at closer to $3000 in fees.

For what TESU says for "Electives", I want to clarify that these are FREE ELECTIVES, and so just about any college-level course will work. So TEEX, and a bunch of other stuff.

Also, for 4 credits of science, you can either do 2 science courses (and/or computer science), or you can do a science with a lab.

- Study.com has BIO101L: Bio+Lab and you pay an additional $40 for the Labster online virtual lab component of the course. So it's basically $140 for the 4cr course.

- Ed4Credit has a lab for $65, and then you pay for an additional lab kit for $98 (and there's a $25 off coupon right now, so it would be $138 for the 1cr lab). TESU will take a mix-and-match of your science and labs (meaning it doesn't have to be Bio + Bio Lab).

- Rio Salado CC has a 1cr Nutrition Lab, which is supposed to be extremely easy - and it should run you about $215 including lab kit.


If I were you, I would look into Patten for the AA, they have several choices, and will also take ACE/NCCRS courses for transfer. You could easily get the maximum number of inexpensive credits to transfer, and do the remaining courses through them for $1300.

You should also look into COSC. Their prices are going to be $1600 + the cost of courses, and they'll take all the ACE/NCCRS that TESU will take, plus free FEMA courses as well.

[AwardTour]

So in looking at your plan, this will work; however, I question your using SL for everything, and also for going through TESU for an AA - they are certainly not the school I would recommend for an AA, since they're quite expensive for that purpose ($2132 in fees plus the costs of courses).  The price will be going up after 6/30/18, so after that date, you're probably looking at closer to $3000 in fees.

For what TESU says for "Electives", I want to clarify that these are FREE ELECTIVES, and so just about any college-level course will work.  So TEEX, and a bunch of other stuff.

Also, for 4 credits of science, you can either do 2 science courses (and/or computer science), or you can do a science with a lab.  

- Study.com has BIO101L: Bio+Lab and you pay an additional $40 for the Labster online virtual lab component of the course.  So it's basically $140 for the 4cr course.

- Ed4Credit has a lab for $65, and then you pay for an additional lab kit for $98 (and there's a $25 off coupon right now, so it would be $138 for the 1cr lab).  TESU will take a mix-and-match of your science and labs (meaning it doesn't have to be Bio + Bio Lab).

- Rio Salado CC has a 1cr Nutrition Lab, which is supposed to be extremely easy - and it should run you about $215 including lab kit.


If I were you, I would look into Patten for the AA, they have several choices, and will also take ACE/NCCRS courses for transfer.  You could easily get the maximum number of inexpensive credits to transfer, and do the remaining courses through them for $1300.

You should also look into COSC.  Their prices are going to be $1600 + the cost of courses, and they'll take all the ACE/NCCRS that TESU will take, plus free FEMA courses as well.

Thanks dfrecore,

I will take the Study.com Bio+Lab. I like the idea of a virtual lab. I chose SL because there seems to be less assignments than Study.com and the some of the Final Exams at SL make up less of a % of the grade. 

So the College Composition Modular Exam "expires" on 11/30/2018?? Is this when ACE will review it and then hopefully re-accept it for a new 3 to 5 year period?

[dfrecore]

Thanks dfrecore,

I will take the Study.com Bio+Lab. I like the idea of a virtual lab. I chose SL because there seems to be less assignments than Study.com and the some of the Final Exams at SL make up less of a % of the grade. 

So the College Composition Modular Exam "expires" on 11/30/2018?? Is this when ACE will review it and then hopefully re-accept it for a new 3 to 5 year period?

All ACE courses expire (I think the term is normally 3 years), so if CLEP re-submits the exam for approval, then ACE will look at it.  I'm pretty sure they will since CLEP exams normally stick around for years and years.

But, even if it were to expire and not get renewed, if you pass the exam before 11/30, then it will always be yours to claim.  You can put it on your ACE transcript if you want, but CLEP will keep your passing score going forward, and you can ask for it to be sent to any school that you want in the future.

[AwardTour]

- Study.com has BIO101L: Bio+Lab and you pay an additional $40 for the Labster online virtual lab component of the course.  So it's basically $140 for the 4cr course.

I just took a look at study.com and their TESU transfer page. They are listing BIO101l Bio+Lab as 3cr and not 4cr. 

https://study.com/directory/school/Thoma...ransferTab

It says it transfers as "BIO-113 : Biology I with Lab" to TESU but TESU does not even have a course labeled "BIO-113"  from what I can see.

[allvia]

- Study.com has BIO101L: Bio+Lab and you pay an additional $40 for the Labster online virtual lab component of the course.  So it's basically $140 for the 4cr course.

I just took a look at study.com and their TESU transfer page. They are listing BIO101l Bio+Lab as 3cr and not 4cr. 

https://study.com/directory/school/Thoma...ransferTab

It says it transfers as "BIO-113 : Biology I with Lab" to TESU but TESU does not even have a course labeled "BIO-113"  from what I can see.

This is a recent change - someone just posted about this very unexpected downgraded surprise when it hit their evaluation.