BS in Liberal Arts

[chayafrim]

Has anyone gotten their BS in Liberal Studies through Excellsior College?
I am in the midst of figuring out my best route, and would like to see how others did it, to see my best bet.

THanks in advance...

[highlanderburial]

I haven't gotten it yet but VERY soon!
I held off on signing up for Excelsior until I was within 20 credits of graduating. I looked over their course guides and simply tested out of the courses. The big thing is that Excelsior charges you per semester that you are enrolled there. So by doing this I am able to keep my bill with them slightly lower. If your just looking for a degree and don't care in what, than Liberal Studies is the way to go.
-HB

[chayafrim]

The first year is an annual fee.
after the first 12 months, it's a monthly fee.

[chayafrim]

No, it's not for the military option.
It's the regular students annual fee.
I forgot the amount-- but yes, it's not an outrageous number.

[joel66]

There is no there fees. I have read the student manual several times, as well as the updated 2007-2008 Undergraduate Fee Schedule.

Besides the initial enrollment fee, you have the Student Service Annual fee, and once you graduate the fee for that. I know you have the option to use their payment plan system for courses and service fee, but you don't pay monthly additional to paying entire service fee with annual payment of 440.00

[Basket Weaver]

I went through EC for my Liberal Studies degree and tested out of the whole thing in 7 months. It is very doable and all you should need is IC and the internet for additional research, should you need it.

EC is very fond of charging their student out the kazoo but it does allow one to quickly finish their degree without limiting the number of CLEP/Dantes, ECE exams they accept. Most universities limit you to 30 hours so they make money off you paying for their classes, books & tuition; college is a business.

The military option with EC sounds like a good thing but in reality it is not. I am in the military and chose to pay out of my pocket instead of taking that route. It forces the military member to take four of EC's online classes in exchange for a lower fee. What they don't tell you is those classes are 16 weeks long! I would have gone that route if they were shorter but in the time it would have taken to do those four classes, I was already done with my entire degree.

Anyways, that's how I went about it, feel free to PM me if you need more info; I'll help however I can, Lee

[BELLA]

Can you give us a breakdown of the tests you took. I have read the BAin4WEEKs but have wondered how practical it is.

[Basket Weaver]

Here is the list of classes I tested out of using IC; these were taken straight off my EC transcripts. (I started with 67 credits from my AA)

ETHICS: THEORY & PRACTICE
INFORMATION LITERACY
WORLD POPULATION
PSYCHOLOGY OF ADULTHOOD
& AGING
FOUNDATIONS OF
GERONTOLOGY
HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT
ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY
RESEARCH METHODS IN
PSYCHOLOGY
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
PRINCIPLES OF PUBLIC
SPEAKING
ETHICS IN AMERICA
DRUG AND ALCOHOL ABUSE
MANAGEMENT INFORMATION
SYSTEMS
COLLEGE MATHEMATICS
FRESHMAN COLLEGE
COMPOSITION
INTRODUCTORY SOCIOLOGY
ANALYZING AND INTERPRETING
LIT

The rest were military classes.

I have yet to meet, nor hear of anyone who actually did what BAin4weeks suggests. I think it could be done...in theory...but it's not very practical in the real world. Anyone else have an opinion on it?

[Chebasaz]

I believe it's perfectly doable, but it's aimed at a military member due to the sheer monetary charges we're talking about. I knocked out 18 credits last week, but at a cost of 500+ dollars (4 cleps and an ECE). I've found myself often wishing that I had taken more of these things while I was active duty. I'd be surprised, and quite frankly amazed, if Lawrie had completed his degree plan while paying for all those tests out of pocket.

[Chebasaz]

Hi Cinderly,

I wasn't arguing that it wasn't possible for a civilian to do it, (I am now a civilian as well), but the emphasis on that site seems to be all about the speed in which one can accomplish a degree. The unspoken aspect of his plan though is price. I figured it out once, and a typical week following his plan (depending on testing center costs ect) was anywhere from 1200-2500 dollars.

Would I pay that for a years worth of credits in one week? Absolutely, but that's still a hard punch to the bank account if you're paying for them yourself.

Still, the site gave me the motivation and information to actually go out and take my first CLEP, so it served its self-proposed purpose. I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for it and IC.