Interested in mentoring a Newbie?

[dfrecore]

This is just my perspective, others will jump in with their own.

1) I don't necessarily think it's important to grab all free credits first.  If a course doesn't interest you, and is going to take a long time, it's not worth it IMO.  So, for instance, TEEX wouldn't be one that I would personally do.  But if you're very computer-literate, it might be a great free 6cr in a short amount of time.  If you're a good test-taker and there is a CLEP testing center near you, ModernStates/CLEP exams are worth doing (free); and you should sign up with OnlineDegree.com, as they have 15 free courses coming online soon.  Those both would be worth doing sooner rather than later (you never know when they will run out of money, or go down the tubes).  But again, I'm not one to panic, as there's always other ways to get credit.

2) Biggest issue at this time is trying to transfer Shmoop courses to TESU, so I wouldn't take any of those at this point.
TEEX - current end date is 5/31, so I would not do those unless you could finish by that date (and there are multiple courses within each course, so it may take a while)
Saylor ACP - some courses will expire on 5/31, so I would either take them now, or not worry about them (there are 8 of them)

3) 90 credits from a single source - so 90 from CLEP, 90 from DSST, 90 from Study.com, etc.  So if you have a preferred provider, you would have to branch out a bit to take 24-27 credits elsewhere - not a problem for most people.

I would wait a month or two to apply for the Study.com scholarship.  I wish I'd known ahead of time to plan it out, because I got it before Thanksgiving, and I was crazy busy during Thanksgiving and Christmas with home stuff, plus right in the middle of my capstone course.  If I knew then what I know now, I would have applied in February, when my capstone was completed, and I could spend the time I wanted on the courses I needed.  Instead, I wasted 2 months and 4 courses because I couldn't get to them right then.  Luckily I only needed 2 courses to complete my degree.  So, wait until you are actually ready to buckle down and do the courses before applying for the scholarship, and I would say that it would be nice to have some courses under your belt so you know how to plan your time before starting.

The other thing you need to do is determine which course providers/exams you do best at.  Some people are great at testing, some are better at courses, and others can do any of it (I've done a mix of both).  It takes some time to figure out what works for you.  So I started with testing out of courses I knew I could pass, then did courses for the rest (I'm terrible at creating study plan for testing - I'm just not that disciplined).  Others are great and can study for and knock out tests like crazy.  Figure out what you're good at and then do as much of that as possible.  When you find a course provider you like, stick with it and do as much as you can that way.  Work WITH yourself, not against.

Here are degree plans for the TESU BALS, and the COSC AA (I don't know enough about COSC to create a plan for the BA).  Good luck!