In the CBE tracks, the CBE MBA, RN to BSN, MHA, and MIS, and the Direct Assessment programs, pace is assessment throughput: self-paced authentic assessments, up to five concurrent courses, and the CBE MBA marketed as finishable inside a year. There, our 24-to-48-hour drafting genuinely compresses calendars. In the letter-graded majority, courses run one at a time on fixed five-to-six-week blocks, so the honest levers are transfer credit deleting blocks, gapless Tuesday-to-Tuesday stacking, and first-attempt clearance so no block is ever bought twice. We run both playbooks and we will tell you plainly which one your program permits.
The CBE and DA playbook: real compression
Sweep credit into the model
Transfer and prior-learning credit convert directly, in Direct Assessment as competency units, shrinking the assessment count before anything drafts.
Run concurrent courses on a dated map
Up to five CBE courses at once, each decomposed into dated assessments; the map is what separates five-way progress from five-way drift.
Draft to Mastered on the 24-to-48 clock
Assessments grounded in your real context, first submissions built to be final, attempts held in reserve. Throughput is the entire pace variable, and it is purchasable.
Clear floors early where terms exist
Direct Assessment's six-CU Regular floor lands in the term's first half by design, per the DA desk.
The letter-stack playbook: zero waste
- Transfer sweep first: every deleted course is five to six weeks and $1,364 to $2,635 gone from the stack
- Gapless Tuesdays: the next start booked before the current course ends, twenty bachelor's windows a year making drift a choice
- First-attempt clearance: retake blocks are the only true schedule killers, and the letter desk exists to prevent them
- The ARA wire kept: no W-grade months, ever
- Capstones landed with margin, per the capstone desk, because the last block is the worst one to repeat
The two-speed math, side by side
| Track | Pace variable | Managed outcome |
|---|---|---|
| CBE MBA | Assessment throughput | Inside a year is the program's own design target, and supported clients hit it |
| RN to BSN (CBE) | Assessment throughput + 90 clinical hours | Didactics compress hard around the fixed clinical component |
| Direct Assessment programs | CUs per term | Floors cleared early, cushion terms banked |
| Letter-graded degrees | Blocks × block length | Calendar speed, zero wasted blocks, which is faster than most realize |
What we refuse to promise
No compressed block lengths in the letter stack, five weeks is five weeks. No concurrent letter courses the model does not offer. No invented shortcuts through residencies: the five-day Phoenix residency stays a fixed point we schedule around. The FNP's 600 supervised hours run virtually through our practicum desk on their own honest calendar. The honest claim is the one that survives contact with your registrar: the CBE tracks compress on throughput, the letter stack compresses on discipline, and both respond to a team that delivers in 24 to 48 hours.
Which speed does your program run?
Send your program and remaining courses. The honest pace map comes back same-day, free.
Sources and verification
Facts on this page come from official and independent sources, and anything that matters is worth checking against the originals:
- www.phoenix.edu: the University of Phoenix official site, the primary source for program, tuition, and policy facts
- www.hlcommission.org: Higher Learning Commission, the institutional accreditor
- www.ccneaccreditation.org: Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, the nursing accreditor
- apastyle.apa.org: APA Style, the official style authority behind the formatting rules