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+--- Thread: Soon to be single mom (/Thread-Soon-to-be-single-mom)
Soon to be single mom - MommalovesMambo - 05-28-2016
Howdy all!
I am a military spouse and have been a stay at home mom to 3 for the past 9 years. With all of this upcoming change I need to be a le to support my kids on my own. Which means I need to finish my degree. I would like to get my degree as soon as possible and then try to join the air force or get a federal/government job.
I have 12 credits from a 4 year college and 16 from a community college. I was an Eng Lit major previously. Any advice? Plan? Thank you
Soon to be single mom - Life Long Learning - 05-28-2016
Can you join the AF as a single mom of 3?
Soon to be single mom - KayV - 05-28-2016
We could help you better by finding out a little bit more. Do you want to start with an associate degree and do a bachelors later? Are you still set on English Lit or would a business degree be a better choice? Which credits do you already have?
And welcome to the forum, although I'm sorry you're in such a tough situation.
Soon to be single mom - bjcheung77 - 05-28-2016
Life Long Learning Wrote:Can you join the AF as a single mom of 3?
:iagree: Who's going to be taking care of the 3 when you go back to school/work? Do you have your previous transcripts?
If you have someone available or your parents can help out, that's another story and will allow you more time for studies/exams.
Your best bet is to list your education/completed courses from your transcripts, or create a spreadsheet and insert it to a reply post.
Someone can then point you into a possible option to completing your degree cheaper/easier/faster...
Furthermore, you may want to spend a bit of time reading through the forum threads by searching what you need.
I've also created a beginners guide that gives you some ideas that you can work on while you decide what to do...
http://www.degreeforum.net/general-education-testing-discussion/26144-beginners-guide-getting-cheap-fast-college.html
Soon to be single mom - MommalovesMambo - 05-28-2016
If I go in as an officer,I can go In as single with 3 kids. I have already spoken to a recruiter. As long as I have a degree and score well enough on the officer qualifying test it shouldn't be a problem. I do have support to help while I study and test. All my kids will be in school next year which will also free up a lot of time. I am not stuck on the Lit degree. I need something I can use even if I don't join a branch of service.
I do not have transcripts from the 4 year school but from the CC:
Intro to Philosophy 3 cr.
Freshman Eng 1. 3cr.
English 2. 3cr
Intro to computers. 3cr
Early Am. History. 3cr
Earth Science & lab. 4cd
I am pretty sure I have
Am. Gov.
Liberal Arts Math
Intro to psych
From the 4 year college.
I need something that will support my kids and that is probably not an English Lit degree.....
Soon to be single mom - Life Long Learning - 05-28-2016
Interesting. The Army requires a "Family Care Plan" (official written directions of where kids go when you deploy) to even stay in. I did not know any branch would allow a single person with kids in these days as I though they were all downsizing.
I hope you the best of luck and thank you for your married service time.:patriot:
MommalovesMambo Wrote:If I go in as an officer,I can go In as single with 3 kids. I have already spoken to a recruiter. As long as I have a degree and score well enough on the officer qualifying test it shouldn't be a problem. I do have support to help while I study and test. All my kids will be in school next year which will also free up a lot of time. I am not stuck on the Lit degree. I need something I can use even if I don't join a branch of service.
I do not have transcripts from the 4 year school but from the CC:
Intro to Philosophy 3 cr.
Freshman Eng 1. 3cr.
English 2. 3cr
Intro to computers. 3cr
Early Am. History. 3cr
Earth Science & lab. 4cd
I am pretty sure I have
Am. Gov.
Liberal Arts Math
Intro to psych
From the 4 year college.
I need something that will support my kids and that is probably not an English Lit degree.....
Soon to be single mom - bjcheung77 - 05-28-2016
The courses that you've entered in would be great for the general education requirements for any TESU BSBA Degree you choose.
If you have access to free CLEP and DSST testing as you're still a military spouse, do so right away and review the freeclepprep website.
My suggestion is to follow the link I provided you earlier and work on the free courses first either way to get your electives done.
You'll then need to take some math courses and you can use ALEKS for cheap/fast credits in the courses you need.
Review the spreadsheet and enter in what you have completed and courses you still require, and set your plan up to finish it.
You can use a combination of Saylor/Straighterline/Study.com and Penn Foster courses for completing your degree.
Soon to be single mom - MommalovesMambo - 05-28-2016
I have looked at the link you provided. I guess I am confused as to what CLEP tests I should be taking. I don't want to waste time studying and testing for something I won't need. Where do I start?
Soon to be single mom - dfrecore - 05-28-2016
MommalovesMambo Wrote:I have looked at the link you provided. I guess I am confused as to what CLEP tests I should be taking. I don't want to waste time studying and testing for something I won't need. Where do I start?
I made 2 different spreadsheets - one for the BSBA in General Management and the other for the BA in Liberal Studies. It's up to you which way you go, or if you want to go differently than those, you can probably just change a few things around to make it work.
I would start with ALEKS math, and do at least Intermediate Algebra if you want the BALS, and continue on through College Algebra and Statistics if you want the BSBA - those 2 are required. You can continue on with Precalculus if you'd like. It's only $20/mo.
I would also do the free courses - Insurance Ethics for sure, the NFA courses, and TEEX if you can get through (I couldn't). If you are doing the BSBA, don't bother with the Fire Supervision NFA course since it will be a duplicate of the HRM course you'll want to take.
Last, I would work on the CLEP and DSST exams while they're free. There is a deal right now through the 31st of May, where if you take a DSST and don't pass, you can retake for free. You may want to take a bunch of DSST's in the next few days (if you can find an open testing center) just to get that deal.
Then, go ahead and start studying for the CLEP and DSST's while they're still free for you to take. I would take as many as possible, and group them together to study (like all the history courses together, or all the Psych courses together, or all the Lit courses together).
For the BALS, I threw in everything I could find easily for the Area of Study, but there are other options, especially in the Lower Level. Just decide which way you'd like to go and knock out a bunch. Like, if you'd rather do History than Comm, do those.
These spreadsheets are just a start, and can be changed, but they give you a rough estimate of what you need to take, and can give you the beginning steps. Take a look, give it some thought, and then come back and give us some more guidance on what you want. Also take a look at the wiki to see Sanantone's plans, they are very helpful for being able to swap out courses.
Soon to be single mom - bjcheung77 - 05-29-2016
MommalovesMambo Wrote:I have looked at the link you provided. I guess I am confused as to what CLEP tests I should be taking. I don't want to waste time studying and testing for something I won't need. Where do I start?
You can review the info dfrecore has below, it's great. It's exactly what I would recommend, is to complete your general education requirements and anything else that maybe missing from what the spreadsheet shows. If there are no corresponding courses from CLEP/DSST exams, your best bet for taking those courses are from the ones I mentioned earlier, Penn Foster (for ACE approved Business Courses), Saylor, Straighterline and Study.com