Western Governors University

[sanantone]

If I have to take an actual poli-sci course, assuming that PF won't work, than I'm thinking about just taking 1 at the graduate level so I can use it later on. After all, an undergraduate level course does nothing for me other than satisfy a prerequisite and I'll have to spend the time doing the coursework regardless of what level the course is at. If I have to go that route than yes I'll be looking to use financial aid.



Unfortunately the "career switcher program" in Virginia isn't eligible for financial aid. There are a couple of possibilities through Regent U or Shenandoah U, but they require more time and only the former is eligible for aid. The only other one I could do is at George Mason U, but the cost is approx. $10,000 from what I can tell (21 grad credits times approx. $500/cr). I'd like to get this done soon so I can get a better job. WGU fits the bill from what I can see and even though it has the potential of taking a year to finish, I might be able to decrease that time if I'm able to put more work into the program. If you know of anything else please tell me.

The reason why I decided against WGU was because it requires a traditional, full-time, unpaid internship. I can't afford to quit my job and my work schedule can't be modified to accommodate school hours. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Virginia offers Career Switcher programs outside of the traditional college system. Texas has a bunch of for-profit and even some non-profit companies running self-paced, online teacher certification programs with low upfront costs.