Peru doesn't accept RA school credits (AIU) ANy advice?

I have an Associates in Bus from AIU which is regionally accredited. I was planning on doing my bachelors in criminal justice at Peru state college, I found tons of good info on them, but just found out Peru state college which is NA doesn't accept RA's.

So does anyone know of a good school that will accept my credits from AIU? Also hoping to find something a bit cheaper Peru was only 113. So if it's a little more than that fine. Prefierably advice from people recommending a school they attend for their Bachelors in CJ, but all advice is welcome thanks!

 

Also what is the big difference between RA and NA? I never knew they both existed until I started reading this DB.

 

Hi Melissa,

I think you might need to give the University Registrar a lesson on accreditation. What valid reasons did they give you for not accepting RA credits?

Cheers,

George

 

If you mean this Peru State College, it's regionally accredited (RA)

Peru State College
P.O. Box 10
Peru, NE 68421
United States
Phone: (402) 872-2239
Fax: (402) 872-2375
Web: www.peru.edu

Institutional Accreditation by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA-HLC), The Higher Learning Commission.

If they won't accept AIU credits in transfer, it's a school decision. You may want to try elsewhere, or Gregg DesElms could help you figure out if you're talking to the right school representative, and whom to speak to if you're not.

 

I emailed her quite a few question on friday and I told her I had a degree from AIU and wanted to know what the chances were most of my credits would be accepted and here is what she wrote:
"We accept credits from any Nationally Accredited Institution. If you
want us to consider those credits, we do need an official copy of your
transcript.'

So she didn't give me a reason. What is the huge difference being NA or RA? Does it mean AIU is only regionally good enough but nationally it's not?

 

Robb yes that is the same school, but someone from admissions emailed me saying "We accept credits from any Nationally Accredited Institution. If you
want us to consider those credits, we do need an official copy of your
transcript."

So should I email them back and be like what the heck??

 

Let me start off by stating I know nothing of the two schools you speak of. That said, I find that incredibly strange. Most of the the time, an NA school (Nationally Accredited) WILL accept RA (Regionally Accredited) credits. Often times, RA schools WILL NOT accept NA earned credits.

The differances are:

DETC (Distance Education Training Council)/Nationally Accreditation
This is an agency appproved by the US Dept. of Education. These degrees
are much better than unaccredited or state accredited but still aren't widely recognized
especially in academic environments. This is the silver standard of
accreditation. These degrees will be challenging and require coursework that is
expected of someone earning a college degree. Most schools won't accept
these for admission to a regionally accredited graduate program but there are some that do. It's the exception to find one
that does but it seems to be getting easier over time.

Regional Accreditation
This is the gold standard of accreditation. All the top schools you hear
of are appproved by these 6 seperate acreditation bodies. They are:

* Middle States, Association of Colleges and Schools
* New England Association of Schools and Colleges
* North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
* Northwest Association of School and Colleges
* Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
* Western Association of Schools and Colleges

Usually courses at schools accredited by these folks are able to be transferred anywhere.

Maybe someone can add to this thread, but I've never heard of an RA school not accepting RA credits.

 

So when applying for a job does coming from a NA school make it look not as good? Does it matter really as long as its accredited?

 

Is that all Peru wrote back to you? If, so I'm reading it as "Well, of course we accept RA credits because we are also RA, BUT we also will accept NA credits which many RA schools do not. If you want to use NA credits, then we need a transcript."

Like I said, it would be very strange for them to accept NA credit but not RA. I think someone there is confused or that email wasn't detailed enough. Specifically ask them if they accept RA credits and I bet they will say yes.

 

It sounds like this is a misunderstanding in which someone at Peru has confused the definitions of NA and RA. My guess is that if you applied to Peru and sent your official transcripts the school registrar would accept those credits.

 

Thats not ALL she wrote back to me but I did ask about 15 questions. Here is what she wrote...

"Hello Melissa

We accept credits from any Nationally Accredited Institution. If you
want us to consider those credits, we do need an official copy of your
transcript.

You can apply online, there is no application fee. There is a one time
$10.00 matriculation fee once you sign up for classes. Our next
session begins January 9, so you should apply and order your transcripts
soon."

and the rest goes on about classes and stuff answering the quesiotn I had.

 

It depends on the employer as to acceptance. Until recentlly, a NA degree was not good enough to qualify as a college degree for Air Force Officer Training School. They have since changed this requirement. I think most govt. agencies etc. accept NA degrees. I know that to teach college or K-12, it's almost required that you have an RA degree.

Frankly, most average employers don't have a clue about all this accreditation. All they see is that you have a degree. This is why people can get away with buying a degree without any work and not get caught. At least for a while. Eventually the time bomb will go off.

 

Bozankers~

I think I get what you are saying about them being RA and automatically accepting them but then saying they may accpet NA with transcripts. I will email them to see if they can clarify it. thanks!

 

como?

Odd, my english is not 100% but I don't read the registrar as saying they won't accept "those" credits. It seems to me the registrar may not be familiar right off the top of his/her head with the school you are transfering from.

The registrar might have meant:

Gee, I dunno about your school (Melissa) but send me the transcripts for an official position.

I need some "mate" ...........later.

 

Melissa, apply and submit your transcripts then you will know for sure what they will accept. There is no application fee so that should not be an issue and for some insurance apply elsewhere, the worst case scenario you have two acceptances that will take most or all of your credits. That being said switching from business to criminal justice means you may have to take more classes to graduate; then again you may not depending on the amount of general education requirements taken at AIU. You will find all this information out once you apply, but for now relax.

 

Sounds like there is some confusion in the interpretation.

Sounds like Peru is saying they will accept NA credits and that they may think AIU is NA, not RA and they want to view the AIU transcript.

 

Re: Re: Peru doesn't accept RA school credits (AIU) ANy advice?

I think you've hit it right on the nose, anthonym. Fixing it will require an understanding of both accreditation, and how people who should know better actually don't understand it. The "flying short course" that I provide, below, should help.

A FLYING-SHORT-COURSE/PRIMER ON ACCREDITATION
(including how to not get jerked around by a registar)

As most everyone around here should know, the word "accredited" typically refers to educational institutions and their programs which are accredited by agencies approved by the US Department of Education (USDE) and/or its Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). By their use of the word "accredited," some people also mean institutions that are accredited by agencies recognized by the US Secretary of Education (which both USDE and CHEA are). The latter way of saying it is simply less technically specific than is the former, but either way is accurate; and the two ways of saying it are more or less interchangeable.

Most everyone around here should also know that there are six (actually, technically, eight) USDE- and/or CHEA-approved "regional" accreditors (or what we, around here, refer to as "RA"); and a whole bunch of USDE- and/or CHEA-approved "national" accreditors (or what we, around here, refer to as "NA"), and/or "specialized/professional" accreditors (or what we, around here, refer to as "SA"). There's another abbreviaton we use around here: "UA" which refers to unaccredited schools... but we're not discussing those here.

The regional accreditors (RA) are called "regional" because each of them is only allowed by USDE/CHEA to accredited schools in certain states. Each accreditor's assigned states are said to be its "region." As an aside, some folks, it's worthy of note, think the "R" in "RA" means "recognized" (rather than "regional"), but that's not the case... at least not around here. One should try not to make that mistake.

The regional accreditors are the ones that accredit most public grade schools, high schools and state college/university systems (and lots of other types of non-profit and for-profit insitutions as well). Therefore, they (the regional accreditors, and the terms "regional accreditation" and/or "regionally-accredited") tend to be best known, and get the most respect; and regionally-accredited degrees tend to have the most utility as employment credentials, and tend to be more easily transferable into other degree programs.

That said, nationally-accredited (NA), and specialized/professionally-accredited (SA) degrees can be pretty darned useful and transferable, too! Make no mistake about that. But RA degrees are thought more highly of by many... that's just a fact. Whether there's actually any rational basis for that is another matter (and an oft-made argument around here) altogether. It's quite likely not that RA standards are inherently better than are NA or SA standards (although, depending on the NA or SA accreditor in question, they might be); rather, because RA is so much more commonly known to the general public (i.e., because it accredits most of the institutions that most people have ever attended, or have ever even heard of) RA is the defacto so-called "gold standard." In actuality, as long as an institution (and its degrees) is (are) accredited by at least some agency that's USDE- and/or CHEA-approved, then said institution should be thought of as legitimate, and its degrees considered rigorous and legal for use in all places. Sadly, it is RA degrees, and not NA or SA degrees, that are viewed by many as most useful and utilitarian, just generally... whether or not they actually deserve to be. RA is arguably the safest kind of accreditation that someone thinking about entering a postsecondary or graduate degree program should seek, but arguing those points is not really the purpose of this piece.

The reader is warned that many people -- sometimes even registrars and their staff at regionally-accredited colleges/universities -- don't really understand accreditation, and will sometimes use the terms "accredited" and "regionally accredited" interchangeably, not even realizing that "regional" accreditation is merely one type of USDE- and/or CHEA-approved accreditation. Some of them have never even heard terms like "nationally-accredited" or "specialized/professional accreditation"; or, if they have, they think such accreditation types are not USDE- and/or CHEA-approved... that is, if they even know what USDE and/or CHEA are. Still others deduce, incorrectly, that "national" is bigger than "regional," so, therefore, the former must be the better of the two accreditations. The errors made by those who should know better just boggle the mind!


How to Not Get Jerked Around by an RA Registrar

Because of the above-described ignorance of accreditation, generally, a degree-seeker can sometimes call the registrar's office of an RA institution and ask if his/her NA or SA degree will be acceptable as requisite to an RA degree program there; and said RA registrar's office staffer, having not heard the magic word "regionally" in front of the word "accredited" in the caller's question, will just answer "no"... and will wrongly believing it to be the correct answer, and will expect said degree seeker to just be satisfied... and may get irritated if s/he's not. But if said caller will simply push said staffer, politely, to actually look-up the institution in question in said staffer's official directory of USDE- and/or CHEA-approved schools (or in her directory of "Schools Recognized by the US Secretary of Education," if that's how the directory is titled), then, after the sound of some page turning on the other end of the phone line, said registrar's office staffer will sometimes exclaim, with surprise in her voice, "Oh, wait a minute. Your degree must be regionally-accredited, because here it is in our directory! So, yes, we'll accept your degree after all." Of course she meant "accredited," not "regionally-accredited"; but that little example helps to illustrate the problem. The scenario can take other similar forms.

Sometimes the answer really is "no." There are plenty of registrars out there who understand accreditation just fine, thankyouverymuch; and whose RA institutions have an intentional (and some would say discriminatory) policy of only accepting RA degrees/coursework in transfer. Period. In such cases, the caller's NA or SA degree really won't be acceptable and, if so, then s/he must simply move on to yet another RA institution to ask if it will accept his/her NA or SA degree in transfer. It's sad when that's the case but, sadly, that is the case more often than not. That said, the caller shouldn't have to look too awfully far before s/he finally finds an RA institution that will accept his/her NA or SA degree.

In any case, from our little example we learn at least one thing: That we should never take "no" for an answer until we're absolutely certain that we and the person on the other end of the phone line are on the same page. Being irritatingly anally-retentive when it's truly called for can have its charms... and big payoffs, sometimes.

Oh... and by the way: Much the same sort of thing can happen with the HR departments at potential employers. It's more common, in fact, to find HR people at potential employers who know even less about accreditation than college/university registrars office staffers. It's true that some employers actually have policies which specifically exclude job applicants whose degrees are not "regionally" (and not "nationally" or "specialized/professionally") accredited. Microsoft comes to mind as an just one example... and there are others. But most employers have no such requirement. To keep from being suckered by bogus diploma mill credentials, most employers only require that the degree be accredited by an agency that's USDE- and/or CHEA-approved. The problem is that some HR people think "accredited" and "regionally accredited" mean the same thing, as discussed earlier herein. When that's the case, they may think your NA or SA degree is unaccredited, and they may have to be prodded to actually look it up in their little directory so they can see that your NA or SA degree really is accredited and, therefore, just as acceptable as an RA degree.

Knowing the above should better arm someone like the thread-starter to "do battle" with ignorant registrars office staffers. Hope it helps!

 

It sounds to me that the Peru State person thinks that AIU is NA, not RA.

 

I agree, Bruce. I think that is exactly what is going on here.

Peru is RA, so I can't imagine they would not accept credits from an RA school I think this person at Peru was under the impression AIU is an NA school. After all, AIU (much like Peru) is not exactly a household name in the world of academia.

That being said, I think this is great new for those earning an NA degree (like me) who are looking for an RA school to transfer to for further studies. You have to admit, the price is right at Peru.

 

Re: Re: Re: Peru doesn't accept RA school credits (AIU) ANy advice?

Thanks for your long and detailed reply I really appreciate it. Helps me understand the accredidations clearly!! I am assuming the lady I talked to thought AIU was NA. So who knows I did email her back and I did fill out the free application!!!