online degree

[t-cart]

After all the back and forth about having the degree or not,I have decided to look into getting a degree.First,I am forty eight years old,so i dont know if i would ever make it to a major,Just might like to have it. Couple of questions,,,Have any of you done yours at Utah Valley? How much do the courses run? How long,realistically,does it take,if you could devote a lot of time to it,and,I seem to have heard some of you saying that you can get credit for ratings,and experience in the business.I appreciate any replys. This would be done online. Thanks for any replys,I looked at their site but really didnt get the answers to my questions. ,,,T.C.

[MQAAord]

I'm actually curious to hear about the specifics of time & cost too!

(Been considering the Aviation Administration program myself, if I can convince the other half that it would be money well-spent )

[kellwolf]

Can't speak on UVSC, but I'm getting mine through ERAU on-line. I got something in the realm of 36 credits for my flight ratings, and I took about 5 CLEP tests to get out of more. They cost me about $50 a pop, but that's 10% of what a class would cost me. They also accepted pretty much every class I took at my previous college as transfer credit.

Cost wise, it's not the cheapest out there, but the transfer credit, credit for the ratings and the CLEP tests made it cheaper to stick with ERAU than start over with something else.

[mojo6911]

I second the above. I just finished my degree from ERAU's extended campus in Fort Worth. Take any CLEP or DANTES test you can get your hands on. instantcert.com has flashcards that help you prepare for the test, and it only costs $20 a month. You can take 1-2 tests a week and knock out a lot of credit.

[surreal1221]

Does ERAU offer a Political Science degree. . .?

[ZachH]

Originally Posted by surreal1221

Does ERAU offer a Political Science degree. . .?

I'll sell ya one for the low, PM me for info....

[bdhill1979]

Originally Posted by t-cart

Have any of you done yours at Utah Valley?

I will graduate this semester

Originally Posted by t-cart

How much do the courses run?

It is different for Utah Residents versus out of state students; out of state is almost double. I think my total tuition (resident) and fees for this semester came to approx $1800 for 12 credits

Originally Posted by t-cart

How long,realistically,does it take,if you could devote a lot of time to it,

I started in summer 2005 and I already had the general ed requirements met. I did not take classes in summer 2006 or 2007.
I have averaged 16 credits per semester.

Originally Posted by t-cart

and,I seem to have heard some of you saying that you can get credit for ratings,and experience in the business.

Yes you can get up to 32 credits for your ratings, but what a lot of people don't understand is that PPL, IR, CSEL, CMEL, CFI, and CFII are required for the degree. They are not just "free credits", you have to either challenge them or take the semester long classes. I have not challenged any credits, but my understanding is that they cost a little more than registering for the semester class.

If you already have the certificates and ratings it would probably be the easiest degree any person could get.

[ATC Vector]

Hi,

There are a couple of websites I strongly suggest you visit as you conduct your research into Distance Learning programs. Both of these sites have forums similar to this one devoted to Distance Learning.

Those sites are especially useful to search for schools (either by name or by degree), and see what people have to say on them.

In addition, make sure to learn about the two types of accreditation (National vs Regional). Regional accreditation being more widely accepted when it comes to transferring credits from one institution to another.

www.degreeinfo.com

www.degreediscussion.com

Originally Posted by t-cart

After all the back and forth about having the degree or not,I have decided to look into getting a degree.First,I am forty eight years old,so i dont know if i would ever make it to a major,Just might like to have it. Couple of questions,,,Have any of you done yours at Utah Valley? How much do the courses run? How long,realistically,does it take,if you could devote a lot of time to it,and,I seem to have heard some of you saying that you can get credit for ratings,and experience in the business.I appreciate any replys. This would be done online. Thanks for any replys,I looked at their site but really didnt get the answers to my questions. ,,,T.C.

[bLizZuE]

Originally Posted by kellwolf

Can't speak on UVSC, but I'm getting mine through ERAU on-line. I got something in the realm of 36 credits for my flight ratings, and I took about 5 CLEP tests to get out of more. They cost me about $50 a pop, but that's 10% of what a class would cost me. They also accepted pretty much every class I took at my previous college as transfer credit.

Cost wise, it's not the cheapest out there, but the transfer credit, credit for the ratings and the CLEP tests made it cheaper to stick with ERAU than start over with something else.

I'm curious about the training credits- how far would they get you towards an associates degree?

[athomeinthesky]

UVSC is $160/credit hr for aviation class's, $172/credit hr for general ed class's.

For the associates degree you have two options get one in applied science which you only need only 18 gen ed class's and the rest are all aviation (i think somewhere around 30-34 for your ratings and the rest are aviation class's like management, atc, etc.)

The other option for the associates degree is if your planning on getting a bachelors later, that has 35 credits for general ed and rest are for your ratings.

The bachelors degrees are just same as any other college 35 general ed class's, the 30-34 credits for your ratings, and the rest are made up of aviation class's like atc, turbine, etc. You can get a bachelors degree in professional pilot or administration.

I think its not that bad of a school, the staff are friendly and the most of the professors seem to understand that people going to online college have jobs, etc and a lot of the class's just want you to have everything done by the end of the semester. The tests you can take with a proctor (library, local college, etc) they send them to your proctor with a envelope to return the test.

[scramjet]

If you're interested in a degree other than aviation, Fort Hays State College offers some good degrees online for about $140/credit regardless of where you live.

[killbilly]

Interesting stuff...thanks....

Y'know...15 years ago my Dad did offer to pay for college...wonder if that offer is still good...

[MQAAord]

Originally Posted by killbilly

Y'know...15 years ago my Dad did offer to pay for college...wonder if that offer is still good...

Statutes of limitations may apply

[Duck_Twacy]

Originally Posted by kellwolf

I got something in the realm of 36 credits for my flight ratings

Kell, you got credit for all of your ratings? I got some credit when I first enrolled, but I feel like when I got my commercial I asked about credit for it and was told no. Now that I have the CFI as well I would think that's worth something.

Could have been a credit-at-time-of-transfer-only thing...guess I'll have to call.

[grnclvrs]

I have 2 classes left at Riddle. You can do the whole thing online. They gave me 36 credits for ATP, CFI, CFII, and a type rating. They also gave me about 15 for my A&P and for classes I had taken at Delta and received ACE credit for. They accepted all 36 of my transfer credits. They have a minimum of 25% required in residence. I ended up having to take 11 classes. Currently, they are at $221 per credit hour for online classes. It turned out that it would be the cheapest bachelor's degree for me due to all the credit for the ratings.

If you have a lot of classes to take you should look at Thomas Edison State College in NJ. They are a good deal and will take credit from anywhere at any time.

[srleslie]

This is more of a rant than anything else but I just spend 6 hours in classes and labs today, and I'm totally drained. I mean college is really exhausting to me, both physically and mentally. I'm taking 17 upper-level biology hours to graduate in August. If I'd known when I started out in college that I'd be pursuing a career in aviation, I'd have done a degree that is a lot more fun. But I'm too far into it now to change. I think the online degree option is a great thing and traditional college is probably not for everyone. I think it's ALL than its cracked up to be. But then again I am an introvert and somewhat antisocial so I'm not big on a lot of the college activities and stuff that goes on outside of class. I'm just here to get my degree and move on. I guess that was more of a rant than anything and I don't know if I'm saying anything meaningful lol. It's just one week into the semester and I'm already drained.

[kellwolf]

Originally Posted by Duck_Twacy

Kell, you got credit for all of your ratings? I got some credit when I first enrolled, but I feel like when I got my commercial I asked about credit for it and was told no. Now that I have the CFI as well I would think that's worth something.

Could have been a credit-at-time-of-transfer-only thing...guess I'll have to call.

I had to bug the hell out of them. When I started, I just had my PPL and IR. They had to do some shifting around, but I got credit for everything. Something in the realm of 36 hours. I'll have to check the transcript to be sure, though. <checks>. Okay, I see what it was. I was under the old 2002 catalog that said you needed 1000 PIC to get credit for everything. Then I had them switch me to the 2006 catalog. I lost my English AP credit, but got the credit for the ratings. So, I just took the English Comp CLEP test and got the credit back.

[Toonces]

Is there a limit at Riddle as to how many classes you can CLEP out of?

[kellwolf]

Nope. You just have to take the minimum number of credits required to get a degree from Riddle. Honestly, though. You'll run out of classes to CLEP out of before you drop below that. There's plenty of electives you have to take along with other core classes that don't have a CLEP or DANTES exam. I CLEPed out of College Algebra, Microecon, Business Management, Computer Science, and English Comp. By that point, I had either taken the class at Mississippi State or a CLEP test didn't exist for remaining classes. If you didn't have prior college, you could probably CLEP out of some science or foreign language classes for more credit.

[Hypersonic_Wings]

I can relate in some ways to you srleslie, haha. Well you're almost done with college so it wont be long until you start your career as a commercial pilot. You can do it. Which school are you attending?