Transferring Foreign Credits that have U.S. Accreditation - TRANSFER DENIED

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by pugbelly, Apr 7, 2008.

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  1. pugbelly

    pugbelly New Member

    Bellevue University refused to accept transfer credits from Briercrest College (a Canadian school that is NA) in direct transfer because it is a foreign institution. They're making me pay for a foreign transcript evaluation! I argued with them and tried to explain that even though Briercrest was a foreign school, the fact that they are accredited by a U.S. accreditor that is recognized by USDE and CHEA should be adequate. In essence, the U.S. accreditation serves as the transcript/equivalancy review. I even brought up foreign ton of other foreign schools that are NA, and several that are RA like Athabasca, AIU-London, Les Roches Marbella in Spain, etc. According to Bellevue, all of those schools would be denied transfer credit without a foreign transcript evaluation.

    What??? Has anyone else had this experience?

    Pug
     
  2. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    Very surprising, considering the national accreditor (ATS) is one of the most respected around.

    Was this the decision of someone in charge, or is there an appeals process?
     
  3. pugbelly

    pugbelly New Member

    First a clarificaton - Briercrest is accredited by ABHE at the undergrad level, ATS at the grad level. Either way, both are very well respected.

    The transfer credit was initially denied by someone on the evaluation team. I then appealed on the basis of Briercrest's U.S. accreditation as stated in my initial post. That appeal went to the head of the department and was denied again, this time with the added explanation that all foreign schools, regardless of NA or RA status, are denied credit transfer unless the transcripts have been evaluated by an approved agency (WES in this case).

    I just found this bizarre because I successfuly transferred credits to Bellevue from Eugene Bible College, which is accredited by the same agency as Briercrest (the ABHE), but is located in Oregon, which made it okay. ?????

    Pug
     
  4. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    Not making excuses for Bellevue, but I think Americans are easily confused by other education systems in regards to credit hours and degrees. Eugene most likely has the same system in place as Bellevue, so calculating the transfer would be simple.
     
  5. pugbelly

    pugbelly New Member

    I just know that the level of ignorance that I continually find in the offices of university registrars is amazing. You would think that these people would understand accreditation, but I repeatedly see otherwise.
     
  6. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    If people understood accreditation, this website would have about half the traffic it does! ;)
     
  7. sentinel

    sentinel New Member

    Actually, I have noticed a dramatic decrease in questions about accreditation, specifically, the oft debated national accreditation versus regional accreditation. This might be a sign that awareness of the issue of accreditation is becoming more mainstream. Fortunately, there are institutions which accept nationally accredited credit hours in transfer and/or degrees as prerequisites to further study.

    It would be interesting to know the number of postings, by year, about accreditation over the years of existence of this forum.
     
  8. pugbelly

    pugbelly New Member

    I tend to think that the issue of accreditation might be more understood by the users of this board, but not by registrars and certainly not by the evaluators. I can't begin to tell you how many times I've run into evaluators that don't even know that there is a difference between RA and NA, let alone the names of the various agencies.

    Pug
     
  9. TCord1964

    TCord1964 New Member

    I agree that the decision is ridiculous, considering the college essentially has U.S. accreditation and Bellevue is known as a "NA-friendly" school.

    If Bellevue is giving you this much grief over this issue, do you really want to go to this school? I'm sure you could probably find a school with a similar program which would be more than willing to consider your transfer credits.
     
  10. sentinel

    sentinel New Member

    Suggestion

    Have the school in Canada send your transcript along with a copy of their national accreditation statement and a listing from the CHEA web site showing Briercrest College.
     
  11. pugbelly

    pugbelly New Member

    Bellevue has received an official transcript and they have acknowledged Briercrest's accreditation. Their position on the matter is that while Briercrest is properly accredited by a recognized, US accrediting agency, it is still a foreign institution and therefore still subject to a transcript evaluation by WES.

    Pug
     
  12. Arch23

    Arch23 New Member

    Do you think it's possible that the issue is not about accreditation, but about whether the program or courses/units you took are the U.S. equivalent? I raise this because I earned a degree from a school outside the U.S. and one university I applied to for my master's asked for a foreign credential evaluation, telling me that they wanted to verify not the legitimacy of my school but whether my program was essentially the same program offered in the U.S.
     
  13. Arch23

    Arch23 New Member

    Oh, I guess you posted while I was typing...
     
  14. sentinel

    sentinel New Member

    I suppose this makes sense in a way at least since regional / national accreditation is for the institution not the particular degree or programme.
     
  15. pugbelly

    pugbelly New Member

    Then what would be the benefit of a foreign institution having their courses/programs accredited in the states? I have to believe that Bellevue is in the minority here, and that most other colleges would accept the transfer credit without the hassles.
     
  16. sentinel

    sentinel New Member

    Athabasca University in Alberta, Canada, is regionally accredited (WASC) and Thomas Edison State College accepts transfer credits without evaluation by a third-party educational evaluation service.

    I suspect Bellevue University is not fully cognizant of the facts regarding accreditation of foreign schools by US accreditors.
     
  17. aldrin

    aldrin New Member

    The accreditation is used to determine whether the school is legit or not (i.e., a degree mill). Based on how I understand these things, transfer credit is always at the discretion of the institution.
     
  18. aldrin

    aldrin New Member

    While it makes it easier for the U.S. institution to check whether a school is legit or not if the foreign school is already U.S.-accredited, I personally find it useless for a foreign school to receive U.S. accreditation since a foreign school that is appropriately accredited/recognized in its own country would be given the same treatment as accredited schools here in the U.S. anyway under GAAP principles. If I were a foreign school, I would seek U.S. accreditation only if this allows U.S. enrollees in my foreign school to receive U.S. financial aid, which would make my foreign school more appealing to U.S. students (and which would translate to more $$$ for my school).
     
  19. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Actually, Athabasca is accredited by the Middle States Association.
     
  20. sentinel

    sentinel New Member

    Yes, I stand corrected. There is a reason I do not memorize anything; sometimes I forget or get confused. ;-)
     

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