TESU Degree planning

[wxcooper]

Question for you wxcooper, are you going to be paying the residency waiver fee or would you rather take some courses at TESU?  You have the cornerstone covered, the only course needed would be the Capstone and the hefty residency waiver fee.  I would recommend a mix of providers to get your general education courses completed, I would work on the science courses LAST (before or along with Capstone).

I would actually do the science courses right away, as you're going to have to take at least the 2nd course AFTER the 1st one, no matter which way you go. Since you're close to being done, it makes sense to start on the science sequence right away (or in conjunction with your other courses).

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The "residency" waiver here has to do with TESU and not with NJ. If you do not take at least 16 credits at TESU, you have to pay a fee of $3125. If you take 16 or more TESU credits, you do not have to pay this fee.

This is separate from in-state and out-of-state tuition rates.

Just to explain further, TESU makes you pay for your degree by either taking courses through them (16cr worth) or via a residency waiver (with residency pertaining to taking courses there, rather than it being about where you live).  Since you're in-state, your fees are less than normal, so that's good.

You have 3 options - take the cornerstone and capstone there, and then pay the residency waiver (so $5586 + cost of 1 or 2 science courses).  Or take 16cr in a single term (a lot, I wouldn't suggest it) and pay the flat rate tuition of $3579.  Or take 9cr in 1 term and 9cr in the next term, and pay $7158.  Your science courses would be taken at TESU.

It's just up to you how you want to do it, and what you think you can handle.

Again, Thanks for all your input and clarification. I think its time for me to set up an advising call with TESU and get this ball rolling !!!

[bjcheung77]

Wait, hold up, why are we calling TESU Advising? BTW, do you have tuition assistance or reimbursement from work? You wouldn't happen to be working for the DOD would you? Depending on your situation, there are other options available. As I was asking earlier, would you prefer to take courses or prefer to pay the residency waiver?

[wxcooper]

I opened a ticket with TESU to ask about transfer of credit and my status as inactive.. The reply basically said I would have to register for a course with them before I would be active again and they would accept transfer credit ?
See below:

Good afternoon.
Generally speaking, there are a number of Study.com and/or Sophia Learning courses applicable for credit. Although we do not refer students to third-party vendors for course alternatives, students wishing to pursue said options may supply the course title and vendor via email ('academicadvising@tesu.edu') for evaluation of applicability/external course approval. An advisor will verify whether or not transcripts from the National College Credit Recommendation Service (NCCRS) or the American Council on Education (ACE) are required for credit transfer. Please note, received transcripts will not be evaluated during account inactivity. In order to re-activate your account, you are required to register for a TESU course and remain active in said course for 10 days into the registered term.

So I should pay the full cost of one of TESU courses first, before I join sophia.org ?
Is this what most are doing ?

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Wait, hold up, why are we calling TESU Advising?  BTW, do you have tuition assistance or reimbursement from work?  You wouldn't happen to be working for the DOD would you? Depending on your situation, there are other options available.  As I was asking earlier, would you prefer to take courses or prefer to pay the residency waiver?

I am calling TESU advising because my status is currently inactive and want to verify the courses will be accepted towards the GE requirement.

No I do not have any tuition assistance or reimbursement.

[bjcheung77]

No. You don't have to take a course just yet. You're inactive as you let the enrollment expire, you've taken the cornerstone already when it was just 1 credit.  However, that lapsed, you will still get to keep the catalog year you have which is great!  Now, dfrecore has a pretty good plan above, and it depends if you can handle the course load.  

Having said that, there are other options to get the most bang for the buck, since you're missing mainly general education courses.  This is what I suggest you do, if you want to be enrolled, just register for the 1 credit Medical Terminology TECEP at $50 and leave it, you'll be enrolled for the next year.  See my last update post here: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...o-Withdraw

Do you have Vet Benefits or other Tuition Assistance/Reimbursement?  I ask because it maybe beneficial to do your Sciences at TESU along with 1 course, example: Chem I & Lab, plus another course you require.  The next term, take Chem II & Lab, plus a second course.  That already adds up to 14 credits, you just need to take the Capstone and the Residency Waiver fee of $3192 is removed!

Do you have a specific or limited budget/fund? If you don't have Pell Grant or Tuition Assistance, review these previous posts I made:  I know you have an Associates already, you may want to review your options. Link: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...ng-Courses?

[wxcooper]

No. You don't have to take a course just yet. You're inactive as you let the enrollment expire, you've taken the cornerstone already when it was just 1 credit.  However, that lapsed, you will still get to keep the catalog year you have which is great!  Now, dfrecore has a pretty good plan above, and it depends if you can handle the course load.  

Answer: I really don't think I'll be able to keep up with that course load. What does it mean to keep the catalog year ?

Having said that, there are other options to get the most bang for the buck, since you're missing mainly general education courses.  This is what I suggest you do, if you want to be enrolled, just register for the 1 credit Medical Terminology TECEP at $50 and leave it, you'll be enrolled for the next year.  See my last update post here: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...o-Withdraw

Answer: I will most likely be going going with this option, will do further research over the weekend.

Do you have Vet Benefits or other Tuition Assistance/Reimbursement?  I ask because it maybe beneficial to do your Sciences at TESU along with 1 course, example: Chem I & Lab, plus another course you require.  The next term, take Chem II & Lab, plus a second course.  That already adds up to 14 credits, you just need to take the Capstone and the Residency Waiver fee of $3192 is removed!

Answer: I am a veteran but used all of that initial GI Bill money at DeVry. No Assistance or Reimbursement at my gig

Do you have a specific or limited budget/fund? If you don't have Pell Grant or Tuition Assistance, review these previous posts I made:  I know you have an Associates already, you may want to review your options. Link: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...ng-Courses?

Answer: I am trying to complete this degree as cheap as possible, I currently have 2 kids in college 

[rachel83az]

If you update to the new catalog year, you have to take the 3-credit capstone instead of the 1-credit capstone that you've already completed. This makes the degree significantly more expensive than it is for the current year.

Also, contacting TESU Advising is rarely recommended. They are apt to make suggestions that are in TESU's best interests but not your own. There are times that you need to contact them; this is not one of those times.

[bjcheung77]

No. You don't have to take a course just yet. You're inactive as you let the enrollment expire, you've taken the cornerstone already when it was just 1 credit.  However, that lapsed, you will still get to keep the catalog year you have which is great!  Now, dfrecore has a pretty good plan above, and it depends if you can handle the course load.  

Answer: I really don't think I'll be able to keep up with that course load. What does it mean to keep the catalog year ?

Having said that, there are other options to get the most bang for the buck, since you're missing mainly general education courses.  This is what I suggest you do, if you want to be enrolled, just register for the 1 credit Medical Terminology TECEP at $50 and leave it, you'll be enrolled for the next year.  See my last update post here: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...o-Withdraw

Answer: I will most likely be going going with this option, will do further research over the weekend.

Do you have Vet Benefits or other Tuition Assistance/Reimbursement?  I ask because it maybe beneficial to do your Sciences at TESU along with 1 course, example: Chem I & Lab, plus another course you require.  The next term, take Chem II & Lab, plus a second course.  That already adds up to 14 credits, you just need to take the Capstone and the Residency Waiver fee of $3192 is removed!

Answer: I am a veteran but used all of that initial GI Bill money at DeVry. No Assistance or Reimbursement at my gig

Do you have a specific or limited budget/fund? If you don't have Pell Grant or Tuition Assistance, review these previous posts I made:  I know you have an Associates already, you may want to review your options. Link: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...ng-Courses?

Answer: I am trying to complete this degree as cheap as possible, I currently have 2 kids in college 

My first advice is to invest in a second monitor, take your time to read some posts to get the hang of things, and to be more familiar with what is needed for degrees at TESU.  You can view the wiki for sample degree plans that rachel83az has created, such as the Generic BALS or BSBA General Management, all the general education course recommendations are there...

1) Just as I thought, doing so many credits a months is going to be killer.  As I mentioned an few other threads, I rather save my neurons for use later in life than cram so many credits into one term to save cash.  I would slay the degree a different way.  Keeping a catalog year means to keep the requirements of the degree plan you currently have, so no surprises later. 

Example, you have done the 1 credit cornerstone, if you didn't complete it and are moving to a new catalog year, that requirement now would be the 3 credit cornerstone, that would have made your degree $1000 more expensive if you didn't keep the catalog year.  Another example is, way back prior to 2012, there were no capstones.  After 2012, there are, so... it's now required for any catalog year after 2012.

2) Yes, signing up for the Medical Terminology TECEP and forgetting it would be your best option for enrolment and keeping your catalog year.  Sign up and Leave it alone (forget taking it).
3) Devry is an expensive school, they are a for-profit, but what's done is done... if you qualify for Pell Grant (you should since you don't have a Bachelors yet). If not, we can find a way to get this cheap/easy/fast, and have that ROI/Value I always look for.

4) That's great! The two college students can help YOU with payments! You're off to a good start right there baby!  Don't tell me they're going to an expensive for profit, tell me they're taking community college and transferring to a public state university. <if not, that's what I recommend>

I've said this a few times, I'll say it again, most people just look for two of: Cheap/Easy/Fast.  I add to that with Value/ROI as I am crazy frugal and want the most for the least amount of cost.  In other words, I like a deal, I don't like paying "retail" (too much Slickdeals.net surfing for deals, I know)...  This is what I would do, as I am a life long learner that likes to get as much credit for as cheap as possible: 

Pretend you need 5 months of Sophia.org to get your general education credits = $395
You then need to find a place to get the two Science courses + Lab.  Pretend they're $1000 each = $2000
This is if you don't need any extra courses at all, if you do, you can take them from Sophia or another provider.
You need the capstone + residency waiver fee at the least, that will be:

Application fee: $50
Graduation fee: $298
3 credit tuition: $399x3 = $1197
Residency Waiver: $3192
TESU Total: $4737 + $2395 = $7132

Now if we use the credits towards another degree instead (doing another Bachelors capstone), we will get this:
Pretend you need 5 months of Sophia.org to get your general education credits = $395
For the second degree, such as a BSBA, you would need to take some extra with Sophia.org and another provider.
Let's pretend you need a few more business courses, take them at Davar/InstantCertCredit.  Let's just say it's $400

Application fee: $50
Graduation fee: $298
17 Credits split up into different terms: $6783
Total TESU: $7526 + $400 (cost of courses at Davar/InstantCertCredit)
So, for $7926, you get a second degree in Business Administration - a BSBA degree that is roughly $800 extra!! WOW EH?

I created the following spreadsheet for someone, here's a link, it's not your degree plan, but you can get the idea... 2 Associates/2 Bachelors, for a little more than the cost of one extra course - the extra capstone.  The weirdest part of this degree is, it doesn't use CLEP/DSST nor my usual recommendations of StraighterLine, thus eliminating the use of problem proctors from ProctorU!  It's also test-out friendly and has courses with very less writing assignments or none at all.  I'm going to update the Beginner's Guide with this Link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1...sp=sharing

[dfrecore]

Unfortunately, I don't think you'll be able to keep your old catalog due to it having lapsed; but I would check to see if it's possible. Contact them next week and ask if you can re-enroll based on your old catalog.

Also, if you want cheaper, you can always look at COSC and EC. Both will be less expensive than TESU if you're in the new catalog.

I would apply at both and see where your credits fall before deciding. Both COSC and EC have a BS in Liberal Arts/Liberal Studies degree, and both will let you choose a technical concentration, and won't have the funky expensive physics/chem requirement. Instead, it will be a build-your-own degree plan.

For EC, it's the BSLA degree, and you'd want the Area of Focus in Electronics or Technical Studies or something like that.

For COSC, it's the BSLS degree, and you'd need 2 concentrations; 1 will be your current credits, and the other will have to be something that will fit in a Liberal Arts area; then you need to choose something that will be easy to get enough UL credits for, and you'll have to make the concentrations "fit" together somehow. It's a bit quirky how they do it, but with the number of credits you have and the number of UL, it's worth a shot.

[Seagull]

Unfortunately, I don't think you'll be able to keep your old catalog due to it having lapsed; but I would check to see if it's possible.  Contact them next week and ask if you can re-enroll based on your old catalog.

Also, if you want cheaper, you can always look at COSC and EC.  Both will be less expensive than TESU if you're in the new catalog.

I would apply at both and see where your credits fall before deciding.  Both COSC and EC have a BS in Liberal Arts/Liberal Studies degree, and both will let you choose a technical concentration, and won't have the funky expensive physics/chem requirement.  Instead, it will be a build-your-own degree plan.

For EC, it's the BSLA degree, and you'd want the Area of Focus in Electronics or Technical Studies or something like that.

For COSC, it's the BSLS degree, and you'd need 2 concentrations; 1 will be your current credits, and the other will have to be something that will fit in a Liberal Arts area; then you need to choose something that will be easy to get enough UL credits for, and you'll have to make the concentrations "fit" together somehow.  It's a bit quirky how they do it, but with the number of credits you have and the number of UL, it's worth 

How much is the cost with COSC for a BALS?
Are the semester fees high?

[rachel83az]

The problem with COSC is that they only accept a small number of alternate sources. This might or might not matter for you but it is important to keep in mind that you wouldn't be able to use, for instance, anything from Coopersmith. Semester fees are $295 + $75 technology fee.

The problem with EC is that they accept a wide number of sources but they may not accept as many courses as TESU does. For instance, they don't accept ANY Study.com Computer Science courses (this is just an example, I don't recall what else they don't accept). They are also not very transparent when it comes to planning and that can make the process more difficult. Again, this may or may not matter to you. If you have taken at least 2 Sophia or StraighterLine courses, they have a discount where it's winds up being only slightly more expensive to take 2 extra classes with them rather than the absolute minimum of 7.

For Excelsior, the minimum fees are roughly $5200. COSC, the minimum fees are roughly $4k. TESU is roughly $6500 in fees. Again, keep in mind that at least some of the monetary savings for going to a different college can be wiped out if it turns out that you can't use an alternate provider the way you had hoped.