[New][Help needed] Need some insight/help planning BACS/BSCS

[TalentlessOlympian]

The plan I laid out was only for Hodges, that is going to be your cheapest option, because they are so loosey-goosey in what they accept in the general ed area.

TESU is going to have more structure, and you will have more classes to take in Gen Ed (Speech, Religion, Sociology, American Government, 2 additional gen ed electives), and then your additional requirements for the CS degree (Calc I & II, Data Structures, Discrete Math or Linear Algebra, and 5 CS courses from different places). Those are going to take longer and cost more. I have a Data Structures course at a distance learning school for $944. Linear Algebra is $609. Discrete Math is $784. And you can't do those courses until you take Calc I & II (and some don't recommend you take them at Straighterline because they won't prepare you for higher level math, which means you need to take those 2 courses at a CC or somewhere else, and that's 2 semesters right there).

With Hodges, I think it will be the fastest and cheapest route for you. And with competency-based courses, the length of time it takes is totally up to you. If you are really dedicated and work like crazy, you can probably finish in 1 term. If you don't think you want to go that hard at it, you could do it in 2. You just need to look at all of the courses and see what you think you want to do. But like I said, they will be the easiest to do, because after the 5 CLEP/DSST exams, you can start right in.

Welp, that solves that problem for me faster than I would have ever imagined. With those 5 CLEP/DSST exams which should I start off with? Is there a site that analyzes their difficulty? I'm ready to deadlift these courses and slam them to the ground! I would love it if I could finish my degree in less than 10months. Hell, at the rate of this discussion I feel like 8 months is long enough.
My only issue then is financing it. What are my loan options? I'm probably in the wrong forum when it comes to that advice, but perhaps you, dfrecore, or someone else here has a good idea for which loan to take out.
I'm seriously thinking I should find a loan for $13,000 to $15,000. The CLEP/DSST will set me back probably $700 because I did pass history with Ds. So, I would need to take those CLEP/DSST exams to make up for my crappy grades. But that's just two more tests on top of the 5 you told me earlier. All manageable. *thumbs up*
And again, I repeat my question out of desperation, which study tools online can I use to best increase my success rate with these DSST/CLEP exams like instacert?
As for the Hodge's term(s). I'm still not sure I fully understand their setup. Does it generally only take 6 months to finish their degree track for ~$3,000? And is this what I am looking at to take?

Code:

[U][B]CIT CORE[/B][/U]
Hardware Support Essentials (4cr)
Hardware and Operating Systems (4cr)
Introduction to Web Design (4cr)
Introduction to Database Management Systems (4cr)
Program Design & Problem Solving (4cr)
[U][B]CIT Track (select one)[/B][/U]
*From what you used as a layout for me*
[I][B][U]Business Core[/U][/B][/I][color=#FF0000]To Be CLEP/DSST Examed Out[/color]
Introduction to Business (4cr)
Advanced Computer Applications (4cr)
Principles of Accounting I (4cr) OR
Personal Finance (4cr)
[U][B]Liberal Arts Component[/B][/U]
32 Semester hours of liberal arts/gen education
From my understanding, this is already filled from my previous credits.
[U][B]Approved Elective Component[/B][/U]
From my understanding, this is already filled from my previous credits.