Looks like Harvard Extension School increased their tuition cost

[Stoic]

Can you tell us more about those strict limits on the Poetry credits with regards to an ALB or ALM if taken for graduate credit?

"Finish Your Coursework in Under Five Years

You have five years to complete your degree requirements. The five-year timeline begins at the end of the term in which you complete any three degree applicable courses, regardless of whether or not you have been admitted to a degree program. Moreover, courses over 5 years old at the point of admission will not count toward the degree."

https://www.extension.harvard.edu/academ...quirements

This is the requirement for an ALM English degree. Its roughly the same language used in other programs. You should really only take the courses for credit if you plan on applying for admission in the near future.

That makes sense.

In general have you found graduate credits to be normally accepted at undergrad institutions? I took the Poetry courses for graduate credit and I'm having a hard time getting them accepted to other schools for undergrad outside of the big 3. This is pushing me to just go for the ALB since I'm already 20 residence credits in + the transfer credits allowed which is 64.

It's likely that you're having difficulties because you took it for graduate credit instead of undergrad credit. HES is regionally accredited. If you had taken them for undergrad credit, you would probably have gotten at least 20 elective credits. At most colleges, this would only fill your elective credits anyway. I wouldn't let this issue be the deciding factor on which college you attend for undergrad. An ALB is incredibly expensive. Even if you get the HES Grant, you're still looking at 18-22k and 3 years of study for your degree. For a similar price, you could get an undergrad at one of the big three (or WGU) and an ALM from HES.

I wonder how the HES Grant is distributed. They vaguely touch on its ability if you're not enrolled.  Though, I think if someone can get the Pell Grant and the HES Grant they should be able to come out with minimal debt. It seems that way when looking at things from the outside, considering a 4 credit course is $1,840 without the HES grant? But also I think the Poetry courses have skewed up our perception of the difficulty of HES. To be honest they were easy for me, but looking at some other courses like for example one Philosophy course I looked at a few days ago,  that course had 12 papers and required like 8 books via undergrad. So I could see how taking more than a few courses will turn anyone into a full time student at HES which can be an issue if you need to keep the lights on and put food in the table.

Also, another issue I guess would be the residency requirement since even a bunk bed in a dorm (just throwing this out there as an example) is $800+ a month in Boston metropolitan area. In comparison the ALM cuts down the spending in residency considerably and it does seem like the smart approach to take since a graduate degree buries your undergrad and gives you a more specific skill set. Do you know if the HES grant is available for the ALM as well?