Done and Done!! Success story time!!

[seanmathews]

My Turn!! eeya:

The day I joined these forums, after reading the many success stories of everyone else, I looked forward to that day where I would get to post my own. The day has come! I am pleased to announce I have just received my degrees in the mail from TESC for the March 2014 graduation. I acquired my BSBA in General Management and my AAS in Environmental Safety & Security Technologies, and for a little icing on the cake, my transcripts show a 4.0 GPA (But we all know how that works haha).

It has been a long road with A LOT of testing. After spending my first 3 years as a full time student at a CC, I knew I needed a different approach. I was working at a hardware store, on an ambulance, and also volunteering at a local fire department... so spending 8+ hours a day, 4 days a week sitting in a classroom, only to complete 15-18 credits a semester, was not doing it for me. Not to mention I was unable to get financial aid so the thousands of dollars spent on schooling was making my bank account go in only one direction… down, a lot faster than I was able to bring it back up. I couldn’t be happier about the switch I made to online/distant learning, especially the opportunity to test out of many many classes. For the past few years I have been able to work as a seasonal firefighter and continue to pursue my bachelors, which would not have been possible at a brick & mortar type of school. I completed my AS from my CC at the end of 2012 and compiled an outline for my BSBA from TESC (Many thanks to those who helped with my Degree Outline) and from that moment on, I went “turbo speed” to finish my bachelors. On average I was completing 1 Clep/Dsst every week. Sometimes the more difficult tests took 2 weeks. All together through Clep/Dsst/SL/Aleks/TECEP I completed 27 courses, and also 21 FEMA courses. Unfortunately but luckily, I only lost once, which was a failed Business Law Clep. From the completion of my AS to my BSBA/AAS I took just a little over 1 year, which 6 of those months I was gone for the fire season, narrowing it down to only 8 months of schooling/testing. :willynilly:

I am the first in my family to graduate from a college, both 2 & 4 year, which is a huge accomplishment for me and my family. I just turned 23 a few weeks ago and have my BSBA/AAS/AS which is another accomplishment of mine, setting me aside from everyone I know my age that is spending year after year after year at a CC or B&M school. But most importantly and my biggest accomplishment is that I was able to achieve and pay for all of these degrees without acquiring a single amount of student debt or student loans. All together I would calculate my schooling costs to about $7,000-$8,000. While others I know are paying off $30,000+ of students loans for their Bachelors. Along with the past 4 years of educational experience, I was simultaneously able to get the same 4 years of work, life, and volunteer experience, making my resume look like rarely anyone else’s, close to my age. :coolgleam:

I also believe I lucked out by being able to register and enroll with TESC before all the major changes were made, I know that complicated many peoples degree plan on here.

Right now my next step is, besides taking a small break, is to find a Masters Program that would work with my schedule as a seasonal firefighter (which gives me 4-5 months a year to really focus on schooling). I have been a bit inactive here for the past few months due to my unfriendly work, school, and training schedule, especially with this years fire season starting way sooner than expected. But I will continue to check these forums to not only get information on potential masters programs, but I look forward to helping many new comers with questions as they start down their degree path. The same kind of help I received from this very friendly and helpful community when I started.

I cannot thank this community enough for the help, direction, feedback, motivation, support, and advice you all provided me as I continued along my path. I COULT NOT have done this without you! cheersmate

Thank you all and I will see you around!