Sweep transfer credit first, TESU accepts up to 80 credits from two-year schools and up to 117 from four-year schools by its published maxima, with pages differing enough that your own evaluation is the only number that binds. Then test out through TECEP where your knowledge is real, fifty-plus exams graded Credit/No Credit at a fraction of course tuition. Then argue lived experience through a PLA portfolio at $252 per credit attempted. What remains is the graded residual: at least 15 TESU credits on the Per-Credit plan, 24 for a military bachelor's, including the university's two required courses, and that residual is where the writing desks earn their keep, because with so few graded courses, every letter is load-bearing.
The four accounts, honestly compared
| Account | What it costs | What to route through it |
|---|---|---|
| Transfer | Evaluation only | Everything you ever passed anywhere: colleges, military training, evaluated certificates. Run the sweep before registering for anything. |
| TECEP | A per-exam fee, far under course rates | Subjects you genuinely own from work or prior study. Credit/No Credit grading means a pass banks credit and never touches GPA. Prep desk here. |
| PLA portfolio | $252 per credit attempted | Learning you can document and demonstrate but never sat a class for. Strongest for long careers with paper trails. Portfolio desk here. |
| Graded courses | Full per-credit or flat-rate tuition | The residency requirement, the two required TESU courses, and material where structure and mentor feedback genuinely pay. |
The maxima, with the honest hedge
TESU's own pages state the transfer ceilings slightly differently in different places, up to 80 from two-year institutions, up to 117 from four-year institutions, with at least one page citing 90 from community colleges, and nursing's RN to BSN accepting up to 63 credits through the NCLEX route. The direction of every version is identical, this is the most transfer-generous posture in the network, but the binding number for you is the one on your own evaluation, which is free to request and the correct first move before spending anything on exams, portfolios, or terms.
The calendar the bank runs on
- Undergraduate terms run 12 weeks and start every month, twelve doors a year, so a plan never waits long for its next opening
- Graduate terms run 8 weeks with up to six starts a year, sprint clocks with no slack
- The DNP admits six times a year; the DBA and Ed.D. enter in January and July
- TECEP sits schedule on your calendar, not a term's, which is what makes test-outs the flexible account
Sequencing, the part people get wrong
The expensive mistake is registering for courses first and discovering afterward that half of them could have transferred, tested, or portfolioed in. The correct order is bureaucratic and unglamorous: evaluation first, then the TECEP and PLA map drawn against what remains, then graded registration for only the true residual. The expedite page prices what this ordering saves in months and dollars; the free consult reads your record and draws the map before you commit to any of it.
Draw your bank map free
Send your transcript list and career sketch. The transfer-TECEP-PLA-courses split comes back same-day.
Sources and verification
Facts on this page come from official sources, and anything that matters is worth checking against the originals:
- www.tesu.edu/why-tesu/generous-credit-transfer.php: the transfer-credit posture and ceilings
- www.tesu.edu/admissions/faqs/credit-hour-residency.php: the residency requirement by plan
- www.tesu.edu · TECEP: the credit-by-exam program, primary source
- www.tesu.edu · Prior Learning Assessment: the PLA program and per-credit fee
- www.tesu.edu · Undergraduate academic calendar: the monthly term starts