Excelsior Policy Changes as of 1/1/08

Recently, President Ebersole has shared some exciting news with you. As of January 1, 2008, students meeting eligibility requirements can qualify to receive federal financial aid benefits. Some of our academic policies and procedures will be changing as of that date. We would like to highlight some of these important changes because they may impact your academic record.

Policy Changes as of January 1, 2008

Transcripts issued by the College will reflect two Grade Point Averages (GPA): one for credits earned through Excelsior College courses and examinations (ECGPA indicated as "Institutional" GPA) and an overall GPA that will reflect the combination of credits earned through Excelsior College courses and examinations, and any credits accepted in transfer.


“D” grades from other institutions will no longer be accepted in transfer on or after January 1, 2008.


All grades, including “D,” “F” and “W” grades, earned in an Excelsior course or on an Excelsior College Examination will be posted on Excelsior College transcripts after January 1, 2008.


Credits in excess of what is needed to complete your degree requirements will no longer be listed on your Excelsior College status report or transcript as of January 1, 2008. Excess credits that are already listed on your status report or transcript will remain; however, if you are considering removing credits to improve your GPA, you must do so in writing prior to January 1, 2008. Please contact us soon if you are considering this option.
Contacting your advisor by phone (toll free):

Business 1 (888) 647-2388; 1-3-3
Health Sciences 1 (888) 647-2388; 1-3-7
Liberal Arts 1 (888) 647-2388; 1-3-2-1
Nursing 1 (888) 647-2388; 1-3-1-4
Technology 1 (888) 647-2388; 1-3-4

Contacting your advisor by email:

Business [email protected]
Health Sciences [email protected]
Liberal Arts [email protected]
Nursing [email protected]
Technology [email protected]


Start to Finish,

Your Academic Advisors

 

How is this supposed to work with the credit bank? Is it going away? Isn't the point of a credit bank to consolidate all college credit in one place?

 

What if you are already an EC graduate and you are taking a couple of additional courses? Do those not show up on your transcript?

 

I suspect that part of the reason for limiting credit on the transcript is for people like me who graduate with a bachelor's that has very near 200 hours on it. Since the credit is listed on the transcript, it makes it very hard to determine what was a requirement for the degree and what was simply excess credit. Then, when we want to get another bachelor's, we argue that all of that credit "didn't count" and make for an administrative nightmare for someone. I think it may look a little "millish" to outsiders looking at the transcript as well - my 196 hour BS looks like something you might have seen on Van Wilder or Old School.

I also suspect that this new rule won't apply to the credit bank service since there is no "degree requirements" in the credit bank.

I don't like the idea of listing all tests whether pass or fail; when I was in the Army and they were free, a friend and I took three random exams a week just as a hobby. There were many that we were woefully unprepared for but some we surprisingly passed. I have a large collection of "almost passed" CLEP/DANTES/ECE exam scores.

 

wont this then fall under the excess credit category? I do not like this at all, I too was in the taking exams for something to do on base, so i have like 4 ece exams that i got Ds on. if i would have never taken them if i knew it would have mattered if i didnt pass.

 

I think this is a matter of Excelsior being forced by prevailing standards to act like others do with regard to courses (exams) taken at their school. I've been to plenty of schools that will leave off whatever you want as long as you took it somewhere else but Excelsior is the only one I've known that didn't list their own failing grades on the transcript and a failed ECE is a failed Excelsior grade.

Just wish they wouldn't make it a retro policy since we hobby-testers didn't know before we took them. Maybe if a few of us send a well written argument for not listing failed tests taken before January 08...

 

This is the letter I wrote to them today

I recently read your schools new policy regarding including all exam scores on transcripts, even those that's score was not high enough to qualify for credit. I am upset about this decision and would like my previous exam scores that I did not qualify for credit removed from my record. Because of my military status I was taking exams as a hobby under the pretense that there was no penalty for failure. This new policy changes the dynamic of the test taking process for military personnel and I personally would not have taken many of test that I did not think I would pass. I do not object to the new policy but I do think it should on affect the tests taken after the implementation of the new policy only not tests taken before the change.
Thank you
AEAN James McPherson

 

James,

Currently, we do not list failing grades on your record. They are part of your permenant record and will remain as such, but they are not factored into your GPA and will not be listed on your Excelsior College transcript as you took them before January 1, 2008. Any Excelsior College course or exam you take after January 1, 2008 will negatively impact your GPA and will be listed on your status report and Excelsior College transcript.

Please review your status report from our website under MYEC. These are all the courses that were accepted, applied toward the degree and will appear on your official Excelsior College transcirpt. If you wish to have any courses removed, you will need to state the specific courses you wish deleted and we will remove them from your record. You must do this before January 1, 2008.

I hope this information is helpful. If you have any additional questions, please contact us.

Darlene Legault
Advising Assistant

 

That's what I was hoping for. Thanks for posting the info.