No Credits - Lots of Experience

[rachel83az]

Competency based would be exams at completion of each course while accelerated is taking the courses via Sophia and SDC for transfer credit if I am following?

Yes, something like that. Competency-based is the WGU model: pay per unit of time and take as many classes as you can within that time period. This can be very good for some people, especially experienced persons. Sophia also does this now. The upside of this is being able to finish quickly, sometimes in as short as one term. The downside is that if life gets in the way and you're not able to do as much then you need to keep paying.

Accelerated, at least in the case of Peirce, would mean bringing in credits/certificates from various sources to put towards the degree. It may or may not be as fast as competency-based but, if life gets in the way, you can put things on pause slightly more easily and either not lose money or lose less money.

Neither option is better than the other. Both WGU and Purdue do also let you bring in various courses/certificates. It mainly depends on your goals and how much time you have to devote to studies.