Thomas Edison State College - BA in Social Sciences/History

Great bargain for the money

By: marti_lil (Graduate) on September 8, 2007

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When I enrolled at Thomas Edison State College (TESC), I needed fifty or sixty credits in order to receive my degree.  TESC is very flexible when it comes to earning those credits for this particular degree program.  Some people transfer credits from other colleges.  Some people earn credits via portfolio assessment.  Others take Guided Study courses, correspondence courses from other colleges, PONSI/ACE recommended training, inexpensive FEMA courses, or credit by examination programs to earn college credits.

When I enrolled, I immediately realized the benefits of earning credits for my bachelors degree program through credit by examination.  TESC allows its students to take and pass an unlimited number of college courses this way.  TESC is also flexible with its distribution of upper level credits.  Did you know that TESC will accept 200 level courses as upper level credits in their concentration or specialization?  At the time, these considerations were important since money was an issue for me; and credit by examination was the cheapest method to earn credits through TESC.  In addition to the 63 to 67 credits that I transferred to TESC for another regionally accredited college, I  earned 48 college credits by examination through TESC and took 2 correspondence courses in order to receive my degree. 

However, TESC does have its weaknesses.  Sometimes, their recordkeeping and organizational skills aren't great. They misplaced a copy of my passing test results or neglected to include a passing class on my transcript.  I wasn't pleased; however, I decided to call the college and politely address the issue with one of the staff members.  They found my CLEP transcript on top of a dusty cabinet, apologized for the mistake, and took care of the problem.  Another time, the college staff misplaced tests on a Saturday test date. I had driven an hour to get to the college only to discover the administration didn't have our tests ready or misplaced them.  The college staff knew students were angry, so they sent us a letter of apology and allowed us to take two additional TESC tests at no charge.  At least, they made amends.  

TESC is a great place for a person who is flexible, well motivated, and disciplined in his or her studies.  However, the biggest drawback about the college is its recording keeping and organization skills.  Sometimes they do misplace student grades, or they are slow with transcribing a student's grades; therefore, if you or someone you know know is interested in enrolling at TESC, please keep good records of all of your correspondence from TESC before, during, and after you enroll.  If you experience a problem, address it politely with college staff and you should have no problems.