Trinity

I received a degree from Trinity College University February 2000. Can anyone help me with information as to the validity of this College. They claim accreditation from Online Distance Learning, and approved by Association of Private Colleges and Universities. I am at a loss as to why on previous posts this institution has gotten some negative posts. I received 128 credit hours from a SUNY school (NY), however my GPA was not suffiecient enough to receive my Bachelors (.10 points off!!) My concern is, of course, employers recognizing this university as acceptable. PLEASE HELP!! I had no idea that this would be such a concern. They show their course curriculum, does anyone have any updated information or GOOD news to report??

 

I'm having some trouble believing this (naive or disingenuous?), but....

The good news is your credits are still good. Take them to Charter Oak (www.cosc.eud), Excelsior (www.excelsior.edu), or Thomas Edison State (www.tesc.edu) and trade up. You may have to do some more work and earn some more credits, but at least you'll have a usable degree.

The bad news is....how could you possibly get so far as to buy a degree from them and THEN ask your questions? Surely by even asking them you know the answers. The degree is worthless except to fool people with; the accreditation is fake.

Rich Douglas

 

Thanks for your reply. I wasn't looking for bashing of my integrity, my credits were honored, courses were taken and completed online. Obviously I must be naive, online courses presented in the format they were, I reasonably beleived that they were legitimate. Just looking for some help, if I've made a mistake trusting an instituition that claims to be legitimate, then I'll have to learn and move on. Just looking for a little compassion and options from those who spend time studying the legitimacy of these institutions.

 

MPW:

Are you referring to Trinity College and University, formerly of South Dakota, then Louisiana, now who knows where? If so, there is no good news to report, except that you realize your mistake (if indeed the post is legitimate).

I can hardly imagine that after completing over 120 hours at a SUNY school, with a GPA only .10 below requirement, that you could not have completed some remedial work and graduated from SUNY.

If, however, your post is legitimate, you have options. Transfer all those hours to a regionally accredited school, complete the additional work, and earn the RA degree. Then, mail the Trinity degree back to them (if you can find them) and never mention it again.

Russell,
Who did indeed complete a RA BA after earning an unaccredited Th.B., then mailed the unaccredited back to its source.

 

I'm really serious about taking your credits to one of those three schools. All of them offer the widest possible flexibility regarding accepting transfer credits. Also, they each have unique degree programs, one of which might meet your needs (at a pretty low cost, BTW).

You won't find many kind words about Trinity around here. You've jumped into the middle of one subject that seems to have no controversy: everyone thinks that "school" is bad. However, making a bad decision doesn't make you a bad person. Sorry if I came on too strong, but the kinds of questions you asked needed to be asked prior to, not after, sending them your money.

Rich Douglas

 

Thanks guys for offering suggestions. My credits were earned at the SUNY school in 1994, the school was contacted several times as to options, unfortunately at the time, I was working and didn't take the time to transfer whatever credits would transfer to colleges in my area. I haven't investiagted options to actual legitimate accredited institutions, since I am not knowledgeable in the areas of distance learning (obviously). However, the SUNY school would not budge on the tenth of a percentage point in earning my degree, even though there were extenuating circumsatnces involved when I attend the school. What, in your opinion are my BEST alternatives as to accredited institutions that will ofer the LEAST amount of resistance and will put me in a position to elimiante concern? 128 credit hours are alot of hours without actually earning a degree. I feel bad that I put trust naively in this institution, but, I obviously can't go back, unless Trinity is actually pursuing accreditation?? Can you guys offer me a list of recognized institutions again please. Thank you both for your replies.

 

MPW:

I too made an unwise choice with an unaccredited degree, and was fortunately able to correct it by earning a legitimate credential. You can do the same, and I commend your effort for wanting to do so.

A number of sites exist with lists of good solid schools. Try the following:
www.degree.net , then click on schools, then on bachelor's.

Hope this helps,
Russell

 

As Rich said you won't find anything positive here regarding Trinity. (I guess I could say that I'm positive that your Trinity diploma could hurt your reputation if you tried to use it. ) SUNY credits without a degree would be worth more than claiming a degree from Trinity, IMO. Rich provided some excellent options to pursue.

 

This is a keen observation: someone who took almost 4 years of legitimate collegiate study and obscured it for a worthless--and potentially harmful--diploma. Even if the college credits didn't add up to a degree, at least they were legitimate. But the Trinity "credential" discolors them all.

Rich Douglas, who would suggest Excelsior's A.A./A.S. program for an instant associate's while pursuing a bachelor's. At least it will appear the holder finished something.

 

If you look at two later posts, there is a sting operation commencing for those using Trinity C & U credentials...it is that bad.

So, if your feathers got a bit ruffled, thank your lucky stars.

See the threads: "Good Morning America degree mill story set for Wednesday morning" and "Good Morning America asks for help for the next degree mill segment."

I'm not sure yours is a legitmate post BTW, since you claim 128 credits "were earned at the SUNY school in 1994"...that's 64 credits per semester (using RA math). Perhaps you meant, "ending in 1994."

 

My opinion is that you should follow the advice given. Take your credits to TESC for instance and see how short you are of a B.A.
You may be shocked, recover, take a CLEP or two and have a B.A. you can actually go on to use for graduate school.

North

 

The Holy Trinity of regionally accredited, flexible, unlimited-transfer-credit bachelor's programs:

Charter Oak State College
Excelsior College
Thomas Edison State College

I earned my B.A. from Excelsior (then known as the Regents College program of NYSED/USNY) in 1996 using a mix of standardized examinations (114 semester hours worth) and correspondence courses (9 hours worth).

Peace,

------------------
Tom Head
www.tomhead.net

 

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. I've ordered an info packet from Thomas Edison State.......Anyone have experience as to the number of credits that can be transferred? I realize these vary depending on the institution, however, does anyone have info to share? Thanks!

 

I love your choice of words in light of the thread topic, Tom.

The "Holy Trinity" of RA programs! Too bad Trinity C&U isn't in the Holy Trinity!!!

 

Gee Bill, that's correct. One would assume 128 credits earned logically within a four (4) year span. Are you sure you're not part of the Trinity gang!

As I said before, I'm not interested in analysis of the situation, an error in judgement was made on my part (yes, a bad one), but the goal here is to gain advice from thos with similar experiences, not to continually (over) analyze what is going on with this institution.

 

Hello people

How can Trinity be approved by the Board of Education in the state of LA and offer courses online if they're not legit? Forgive my being so naive with respect to being accredited vs non-accredited, just looking for some valuable input.

Trinity College & University, a private institution, is the legally registered trade name of Degree Consultants, Inc., a corporation filed in Louisiana, USA, in full compliance with all laws and regulations in Louisiana, and all regulations, rules and laws governing private institutions and the authority of the Board of Education and the Board of Regents of Louisiana. TCU specializes in delivery of on-line educational opportunities without regard to country of residence. We currently offer nearly 400 courses on line...........

 

mpw, what is the source of the material you are apparently quoting?

------------------
Bill Gossett

 

Directly from Trinity.

 

Because the state of Louisiana isn't "legit." At least not when it comes to licensing unaccredited schools. In fact, their licensure does not involve a review and approval process, just a registration procedure. Still, they've come a long way, but at least one major loophole remains.

For many years, Louisiana was a haven for unaccredited schools, some of which were legitimate attempts (Gulf States University, for example), while others were degree mills.

The state has tightened up a bit by requiring that all unaccredited schools be on an accreditation track with a recognized accrediting agency. However, there is no such thing officially; it is a matter of judgment. This gives schools plenty of leeway to continue operating by announcing their intentions to become accredited, even if the reality is that they can't.

It doesn't take a crystal ball to predict that Trinity will eventually wear out their welcome in Louisiana and move on to friendlier climes. But they'll do so without accreditation. And Louisiana's permission for them to operate will have had no academic validity.

Rich Douglas

 

Rich:

In your estimation, wouldn't you expect Trinity to pursue nationla or regional accreditation?? If not, why? I mean there are many distance learning institutions that do not have actual classroom settings. Again, I am unfamiliar with the accreditation process, other than that it is voluntary. Maybe I'm trying to find some sort of silver lining here, but, has anyone had an experience with Trinity directly that would lead them to believe that they are not what they claim. They don't claim accreditation nationally or regionally for that matter. But, neither do alot of institutions. Is it possible that Trinity could grow to a level where they would pursue such recognized accreditations?