Online AA or BA degree - please share your experience

amother

Firebrick

Thu, Aug 20 2015, 9:15 am

Where did you get yours?

Why did you choose that particular option?

Is there any point in getting an Associates before the Bachelors?

How long did it take?

How much did it cost?

How many hours did you devote to school per day?

Did you enjoy the process?

Was there anything you would do differently?

mille

Thu, Aug 20 2015, 6:10 pm

Your best bet is to look at local colleges that offer online classes and take as much as possible online. This way your diploma will still say "University of Pennsylvania" (Or whatever LOL

) rather than "Online College of Success!" or a name that isn't highly regarded. The diploma doesn't talk about what type of classes you took, and most universities offer a wide range of classes these days.

An associate's will be cheaper than just going for a bachelor's. I went to community college and then state school, and I saved $12,000 in tuition money by doing so to ultimately get my 4 year degree.

I also caution you that online classes are often a lot harder than in person classes, there's usually a lot more work because they need to grade you on something, and they can't grade you on attendance... In my experience, many have discussion questions that must be answered multiple times a week, a lot of quizzes and papers, and sometimes even online designated meetings. They are also self-paced or at least you have to be VERY motivated and keep to a schedule so you don't fall behind. Expect to devote the same amount of time, or a little more, than face-to-face classes INCLUDING the time spent for homework. So depending on the credit hours, if it's a 3 credit course, spend 3 hours per week on the material itself and another probably 3-ish hours on homework, and probably additional time studying depending on the type of course. I think they recommend 3xcredits in hours per week time spent on a class including the class itself, in general. More or less depending on the person.

I took a LOT of online classes during my undergrad simply because it worked for my schedule, but I worked much much harder for a good grade in those classes than the face-to-face ones.

amother

Firebrick

Thu, Aug 20 2015, 6:18 pm

Thank you so much for your detailed reply. Did I understand correctly that associates as a stepping stone to a bachelors adds up to a cheaper total?

And which online university would you recomend? I'm looking into touro just because that was the first one that came to mind. A friend told me about USU.

If anyone did research on best prices that would be helpful too.

mille

Fri, Aug 21 2015, 6:07 pm

amother wrote:

Touro is not a bad option because they have a real university. I would look at CUNY/SUNY schools if you are in new york. Yes, doing an associate's first as a stepping stone to a bachelor's is cheaper. My biggest advice there is just to make sure you ONLY take required classes so you don't take extra credits!

You can do research yourself on prices. Universities don't "hide" tuition, they spell it out very blatantly on the websites. There's just in state vs out of state tuition (which you should be able to figure out!), and in New Jersey, community college has in county vs out of county (but in that case, you should really just go to the community college in your county).

If you go the AA/AS to BA/BS route, I highly recommend meeting with a counselor before you register to make sure you can really take everything online. You can also see how much you'd have to take face-to-face to make sure it works for your schedule.

Good luck!