Charter Oak State College

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Overview[edit]

Charter Oak State College (also called COSC) is one of "The Big Three" schools (the other two being Excelsior College and Thomas Edison State University) that offer generous credit transfer policies with very low residency requirements (and no physical, on-campus requirement). COSC is a regionally accredited public state school in Connecticut. From Wikipedia:

Charter Oak State College is a public liberal arts college in New Britain, Connecticut and is named for Connecticut's famous Charter Oak. The college is located across Paul Manafort Drive from Central Connecticut State University. The college was founded in 1973 by the Connecticut Legislature to provide an alternative way for working students to earn Baccalaureate and Associate degrees.

General Education Requirements[edit]

All degrees at COSC require a science course with a lab component as part of their Gen Ed requirements. They will not accept two 3-credit science courses (for instance, human biology and environmental science from Sophia) as a substitute. Nor will they accept a lab that does not match the science course (for instance, a chemistry lab and a biology course). The lab and course do not necessarily have to be taken at the same institution but it is easier to do so. Recommended sources are ASU EA, Study.com, and TEL Learning.

Credit Requirements/Limits[edit]

New for 2020, Charter Oak limits students seeking a bachelor's degree to 90 credits from approved partner ACE or NCCRS sources. Approved partner institutions can be found on this page. 24 of the remaining 30 credits can be either taken from Charter Oak itself or be brought in from regionally accredited sources. TECEPs and UExcel Exams are counted as regionally accredited sources. The remaining 6 credits must be taken at COSC in the form of the cornerstone and capstone courses.

For more information on courses to take and how to meet both the general education and RA credit requirements, check out the COSC general education requirements roadmap.

Warning to potential students[edit]

Although Charter Oak still allows students to transfer in up to 114 out of 120 credits needed for a degree, changes in 2022 made it nearly impossible to obtain a degree via alternate means. COSC students are required to have at least 30 upper level credits to complete a degree. However, they no longer accept most sources of alternate credit that do provide upper level credits. They do accept Study.com credits, but only 3 of these (9 credits) are upper level.

Students who already have 21+ UL credits from somewhere, such as from duel enrollment during high school, may be able to obtain a COSC degree. Otherwise, students are advised to consider a different degree-granting institution.

Resources[edit]

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