TESU BSBA Computer Information Systems / General Management

[boondami]

This forum has been an amazing and inspiring source of information for me this past year. I knew there was a better way and I have a lot of respect for everyone here. Little background info: I went to community college for a year after high school for computer science doing prerequisites. Then last summer I tried programming and enjoyed it, so dropped school and studied to become a web developer at Udacity doing the Front-End Web Developer Nanodegree. Started my full-time job last month and now I want to get my degree(piece of paper)

I'm aiming to graduate by March 2017, but most likely June of 2017. So for speed I've decided on going through TESU to finish the BSBA in Computer Information Systems, or General Management. If I end up liking the business courses I'll do General Management.

Essentially starting from scratch I have approximately 6-12 transferable credits depending on what TESU will give me credit for, and I'm left with 108-114 credits to go. Here is my degree plan I been putting together for a few weeks. I would greatly appreciate any feedback on what I could do better, things I should do now, and for the future.

Few questions for clarification:
1. When should I apply or sign up at TESU. I would need to lock in this catalog by taking a TECEP every 6 months or a year to keep my catalog rolling?
2. Do I still need 8 TECEPs to meet the residency requirement when I take the Penn Foster Strategic Business Management as my capstone, or only 7 TECEPs?
3. Little confused on the cost of tuition as I would be taking 8 TECEPs. Being out of state I would pick the Per Credit Tuition plan for 3 credits?

Attached my plan

[johnjaxs]

"1. When should I apply or sign up at TESU. I would need to lock in this catalog by taking a TECEP every 6 months or a year to keep my catalog rolling?"

From experience they usually change the catalog in July. So anytime before July should lock you into 2016's catalog.

"2. Do I still need 8 TECEPs to meet the residency requirement when I take the Penn Foster Strategic Business Management as my capstone, or only 7 TECEPs?"

Yes you will still need eight. You need 24 credits from TESU to meet the residency requirement.

"3. Little confused on the cost of tuition as I would be taking 8 TECEPs. Being out of state I would pick the Per Credit Tuition plan for 3 credits?"

Application Fee $75
Graduation Fee $312
Full 8 TECEP Cost $888
Technology Fee $131

Total Cost to TESU should be = $1406

I am not 100% sure how your out of state status will affect the cost of TECEPs, if it affects it at all.

[boondami]

Thank you very much johnjaxs for the clarification. From their website What Does it Cost to take a TECEP?, it seems it would cost $111 or $150. If it is a little more then so be it. I'm very glad to hear I don't have to pay any tuition at all now! :hurray: This makes it very fast and cheaper than I expected.

[dfrecore]

First, I want to say Hi! as I live in Escondido and am familiar with Palomar College. Your courses you've taken are all transferrable; the only question I have is on Power Reading, which may not be a GenEd course, but a Free Elective. I would put it down there just in case, so you don't take a Free elective, and then end up needing another Gen Ed course.

You should enroll by June 30th to lock in the 2016 catalog, as they change things on July 1 of each year. I would probably not wait until that date though - give yourself a few extra days to make sure it all goes through ok.

Once you enroll (don't pay anything to do so, and they will automatically put you in the Per-Credit Tuition Plan), you will pay $111 per TECEP. Then you need to take and pass a TECEP within the first 6 months, and then 12 months after that, and so on; there is a rolling 12-month period, so let's say you enroll in June, pass a TECEP in September, you then have until the next September to take another.

Out-of-state does not matter for TECEP's.

Here are some issues with your plan:
1) Macroecon & Microecon are requirements in your Area of Study, so you cannot have them up in Knowledge of Human Cultures; you'll need 2 courses for that area instead
2) Instead of Business Ethics, you can take the free 2cr Insurance Ethics course (you can't beat FREE): Preserve the trust on which insurance transactions are based with an understanding of ethics
3) You can take the Kaplan PLA course (quizzes only) for 3cr free as well, in Gen Ed: https://opencollege.kaplan.com/opencollege/LRC100/
4) I'm not certain that the TEEX courses will count in your Area of Study; you may want to check with others on that, as TESU has been changing their policies lately; I would think about just putting those in Free Electives and planning something else until you hear otherwise (and you only have 3cr open there after the Reading course is moved there)
5) Management Info Systems will fit into the Area of Study
6) If you're going to use ALEKS for Stats, you should also go get Intermediate Algebra too; it's a free (at that point) 3cr that will work in Gen Ed.

Also, just my 2cents, but if you're taking SL for a lot of courses, you should probably think about taking them for ALL of the courses you can; the more courses you can take in a month, the less it costs per credit. Also, there are quite a few courses you're taking as CLEP or SL that you could take as Saylor, if you want to save some money (Financial Accounting, Marketing, Business Law, Management). I only say this because you do have a Saylor course already on your plan, and because I'm cheap!

If you want to add Saylor's Intro to Western Political Thought and Intro to Comparative Politics as your Human Cultures section (to replace your Econ courses), I think it's the cheapest way to do that.

Good luck!

[boondami]

Hello dfrecore, great to meet another Socal resident on here. I'm relieved that my community college credits transfer. Thank you for the clearing up how enrolling and applying works.

I amended my plan with your suggestions in each area specified.

1) Replaced Micro and Macro econ with Western Civilization I, and Western Civilization II. Or Intro to Western Political thought and Intro to Comparative Politics.
2) Replaced Business Ethics with Insurance Ethics (free is indeed nice).
3) Is the Kaplan PLA for those with a lot of work experience? Or do I just study and take quizzes?
4) Removed TEEX from Area of Study and moved them into Free Electives along with my Power Reading course.
5) Moved Management Info Systems (UL) to Area of Study
6) Add Intermediate Algebra - ALEKS, to Gen. Ed. Electives

I preferred the Straighterline courses after discovering they are open book here Online Exam Proctoring Details by Course | StraighterLine. If they were closed book I picked the CLEP/DSST equivalent. I picked courses that I could get a e-book to ctrl-f through for speed.

[jsd]

Nothing to add to your degree talk, but another Southern Californian checking in. Sounds like I'm about two hours north of you two.

[dfrecore]

For Kaplan PLA, just pass the 7 quizzes and you're done!

I wouldn't necessarily choose only open-book SL courses, just because when you think about it, the CLEP's are closed-book as well!

Also, the Technical Writing TECEP was very easy, I passed without studying, and found the handbook they allow during the test at my local library. It counts as your Info Lit requirement if you want to switch out A&I Lit CLEP (although that's an easy one too I've heard). I just like to make sure that I'm taking the easiest possible TECEP's that I can, in case I don't pass a harder one later. I preferred ones without essays, but that's just me. :-P

Good luck on everything. Keep us posted.

[boondami]

I'll be taking the Kaplan PLA for sure now. Having as many open book tests through Straighterline that fit into my plan was the idea, but I'll do some more research and compare each CLEP/DSST/Saylor. I was wanting to take as many easy TECEPs as well. Which of the textbooks do you suggest I use for the Technical Writing TECEP, as I saw 3 different ones in the test description pdf.

[ajs1976]

Which of the textbooks do you suggest I use for the Technical Writing TECEP, as I saw 3 different ones in the test description pdf.

I rented one from Amazon but barely looked at it.
Technical English: Writing, Reading and Speaking (8th Edition)
ISBN-10: 0321003527

[dfrecore]

Which of the textbooks do you suggest I use for the Technical Writing TECEP, as I saw 3 different ones in the test description pdf.

I just got one from the library, but really they are all just handbooks, and not very useful for the test. I really wouldn't bother. If you can write a decent sentence, you can pass this exam.