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n5wd wrote:PaJ mentioned, and I want to amplify, the course cross-walk that exists, and are public documents. These detail the equivalent courses on four-year and community colleges, and should give you a very good start at determining which courses, at a junior college, should be transferable to a four-year school.

Some problems exist with courses in a particular major, and four-year schools often require a certain (some even used to require all) number of courses in a major be taken at the four-year school ... no idea of how prevalent that is nowadays.

The best way to go about it is to decide on what major you want, at what four-year school. Visit with the faculty counselors at the school in which the major is contained (i.e. don't talk to the College of Engineering about an art degree's pre-reqs and transferability of junior college courses), and see what courses they'll accept from the junior college the student is considering going to. Have all the coursewalks decided, with a signed degree plan, before ever starting at the junior college, and as long as the kiddoh doesn't change their mind and decide on something else, they should be good to go.

Lone Star has offices of state universities on campus (at least at the campus my son attends) where they can meet with that university's advisor to ensure transferability. It makes the course selection process way less confusing. We had pretty well figured it out but good to know he isn't taking classes that don't apply to his major.

As a holder of 3 in-resident university degrees, I have pros and cons about "online" courses. In particular:

1. IF the courses are offered by an accredited university as part of their outreach program, then OK. And, you are formally accepted & registered to take in-residence courses, then OK.
2. IF the courses (see #1) are transferrable to another university and/or accepted by one's major, then OK.
3. "Core Courses" (e.g., English, history, social studies, and related) that do not have a one-on-one interaction with other students and do NOT have a "Lab" requirement, then OK.
4. Community colleges (aka Junior Colleges) offering a 2 year Associate Degree that is transferrable to a fully accredited major University, then OK.
5. Correspondence Courses (see #4) are offered by a major University, then OK.

On a sidebar... I personally have taught at the university level (both undergraduate and graduate level courses). Yes, I am biased, but have no sympathy for the "fake" degrees...

NOT OK, IMO:

1. "Degree Mills"
2. Any On-Line course that traditionally would require some hands-on-experience and/or Lab experiences.
3. Any on-line "school" that promises success and/or job opportunities or success.

A Caveat:

NO on-line "school" can verify that YOU are the participant to earn you credit. You could very well hire someone to complete the assignments & tests for you with you getting the credit. NO on-line program to the exclusion of balance between in-residence and on-line work is as quality of an education as resident study...IMO.

Side "benefits" of on-line courses:

1. Taking the course on your schedule, on your own time.
2. Not having to travel to the school.
3. Possibly cheaper than paying the university for "Fees" that you don't need or use.

well as a person that has done both
my first degree was easy, i took tests for 85% of the course work required for a AS. the remainder was life skills credits. At the time i held the equivalent to a masters in aeronautical science and education, based on my time served in the Navy, my jobs, schools and qualifications within. I wish the military would catch up and focus this upfront so folks putting it on the line can earn an advanced degree based on the REAL capstone projects they must complete to move up in pay grade and responsibility.
my AS is from excelsior, they are accredited and darn good school .
my bull is from embry riddle aeronautical university . I did 6 out of ten classes required online, the other four, after work one day a week for four hours. again ERAU is highly accredited and very much a desired in my field of post naval work.

my MS of science is moving slowly now through A&M and its all online...i slacked off last year for health reasons...



so your chosen field should be mirroring your current job to make it easier, but not mandatory....

use an ACCREDITED college, not itt tech for example. unless your just looking for a qualification, like many computer tech certifications.

cons of ONLINE...classroom and classmate discussions are limited to emails or chat rooms
test time....loosing power to the computer right in the middle of the test yes it happened a few times
also I feel the online class research papers/projects are ten times harder than those of in class research, so are the weekly classwork assignments. online professors have to account for your time "in class" so they tend to be a bit more work intensive

pros.....
i can do class work anytime day or night, this was a plus when i was working 40-50 hrs per week
research is easier, as the distractions are less.
you don't have to look at the idiots during discussions '
text books....many classes you can do without buying them. all online professor put out NOTES and thats the test material. I had one that did 100 yes 100 powerpoint NOTEs for the class. Test time took over three hours to get through.
you can download them at day one...and read them till they are automatic.

other
online help sites are easy for both avenues
professors so far have all been wonderful except for one, but she had so many drops, she changed her left leaning views
professors tend to think they KNOW ALL....and can be very defensive of their views on the world, even when they are wrong.
A&M has SUPER online professors, really great. they answer emails fast and offer sincere guidance absent of one sided views. ERAU does as well, but they tend to be anywhere in the world so time zones tend to slow the roll. They have classes on many military bases as well as online.

if you do online
have two laptops or computers up and running it makes research and everything so much easier. especially at test time...yes they are all open notes...so having one screen with the professor notes up, makes testing a gas.
all online professor know your using notes...so their tests are hard as crap...use the notes provided, not the textbook...which you hardly ever use online.

LABS....sometime you have to go to the college and do the lab in person....
unless your going to be a doctor, this is not the norm.. last lab i had to GO IN for was application of the test specimens and PROOF the outcome.

http://www.tvc.texas.gov/Hazlewood-Act.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
if your a texas veteran...you could also receive up to 150 credit hours free