Penn Foster AGAIN!!

I recently enrolled at the Penn Foster Computer Information System programme for an Associate Degree. My reason for this is because I want to pursue a career in IT even though all my life, I have been into journalism and Law. Today, I found out (am still not sure if I was dreaming or not) that, unlike the career school courses and high school, the CIS and other college courses are not regionally accredited. They (especially CIS) are nationally accredited. Can someone prove me wrong please. I do not live in the USA. I am African but resident in Europe. I am a student at the University of London International programmes where I am taking the LL.B law programme.

 

There are better choices. Look at Clovis Community College for a start.

 

Stay away from Penn Foster. Most of their IT courses lost ACE accreditation as well. Penn Foster was dishonest with me and cost me $300! There are much better options out there. Just do some searching in the forums.

 

Jam that is horrible to hear. I was going to sign up for Penn Foster, until you brighten the light on me that they lost many ACE accreditation courses. I'm browsing right now to see which ones are still up for approval. I am new to the website btw, however I'm learning more and more everyday. Thanks for the tip Jam!

 

Thank you guys. It is a pity I did not check well enough before I went into their programme. Actually, on this same forum I read some people advising that Penn Foster is better than Ashworth as they are regionally accredited.
Since I already paid $50 as down payment and have agreed for a monthly deduction from my credit card, what do you guys advise me to do should I want to withdraw from their course. Do you know of any other online school with regional accreditation and ACE accreditation where I can enrol? Please I need urgent help on this. Thanks all. I like guys on this forum- everyone is mad about education.

 

Let's all just take a deep breath here shall we. I don't think it's any new news that Penn Foster is NA and not RA, in regards to their college courses. Also they have many college courses that are ACE evaluated (I just got off the ACE website-www.acenet.edu) and many still remain. I don't know about the IT courses because I haven't researched those, even though there appears to be some computer courses that are ACE evaluated. However, there still seem to be plenty of business and CJ courses that are still ACE evaluated.

 

Just to build on what sideman said, nothing at Penn Foster College has ever been regionally accredited, the High School is a separate program. For an international student, I am not sure that that would matter.....

 

When researching Penn Foster on ACE you must closely examine the course dates. For example, the Structured Systems Analysis course which many people used as ACE credit for IT degrees is only ACE accredited if you took it 4/1/1991 - 5/31/2011. Starting 6/1/2011 and thereafter it is not accredited anymore. It still appears on the ACE website but you have to check the dates.

Here are IT courses that recently lost ACE accreditation:

Introduction to Computers
System Design
Structured Systems Analysis
Visual Basic
Visual C#/C++


Here are IT courses that still have ACE accreditation (verify yourself):

Computer Applications
Computer-Based Crime
Introduction to Computer Programming

 

Jam we're you able to get a refund of $300? Just wondering.

 

Thank you guys for all the advises. Please does anyone have an idea of an online school (VERY CHEAP) where I can pursue such IT courses that are ACE reviewed. I am an international student of course but I would like to further my education in another US school after the Associate degrees hence my resolve to have a RA college.

 

Nope. I was told over the phone by a Penn Foster employee that a class was ACE accredited. This was last year and I was new to ACE so my knowledge was limited. I took Penn Foster's word (mistake!). I took class. Tried to transfer to a school and found out it was not ACE accredited. Penn Foster would not give money back. I even asked for just a 50% discount if I took another class at Penn Foster (generous on my part I thought) that was ACE accredited. They said no. Who knows how many people they have screwed. As you can tell they are not my favorite "school."

 

I would check out Clovis (as someone else mentioned). Do your research and do not rush into anything. Does it have to be an RA school?

 

I don't think your Associate from Penn Foster will transfer to a RA school. You better check now otherwise you are wasting time and money.

You can take the ACE accredited courses at Penn Foster. Just triple check with ACE and don't rely on Penn Foster.

Checkout JavaOnline.org as they have Java classes approved via nationalccrs.org which many schools take. You can possibly get 2 lower and 10 upper level credits from 5 classes for $50-80 per credit. The classes are either 1 month or 2 months long. You must take a proctored final to get college credit.

There may be some Microsoft certifications you could try. The MCTS: Windows Server 2008 R2, Virtualization is easy if you study and worth 2 upper level via ACE for $150 exam plus study material.

Search the forums as I have seen other posts by people asking your question.

 

I think ACE accreditation should be checked with ACE regardless. I took two classes with Penn Foster and never once asked them about it. I found the courses through ACE and went that way to complete them.

 

I don't know about the experience of others here, but all I can do is speak to my own experience with Penn Foster College, which was great. My courses were reviewed by ACE, and all of the courses I took at Penn Foster transferred to Excelsior College. The courses were rigorous and I learned a lot at Penn Foster.

As always, it is up to the student to do their homework before selecting a school, instead of just taking the word of an enrollment counselor, no matter which college you choose to attend.

Also, it is blatantly false that an associate degree from Penn Foster will not transfer to an RA school. I can think of a handful off the top of my head that will accept it: University of Wisconsin-Madison, Peru State College, American Public University, Western Governors University, Liberty University and Bellevue University, to name a few.

 

At the moment, haven sent in the originals of my high school certificates and previous university transcripts to Penn Foster for verification and possibly credit and haven paid a down payment of $50 for the Associate degree in Computer Info System, I think it will be unwise of me to write to request for withdrawal from the program. Maybe I should await their decision as regards originals of my documents sent to them. I wouldn't want someone to feel like SINCE THIS GUYS IS WITHDRAWING FROM THIS PROGRAM, WE DON'T NEED TO PROCESS HIS DOCS. I fear they may not return my documents to me... Nevertheless, I will keep searching for a college or university that is within same price range with Penn Foster and Ashworth for continuation of my programme or any other related degree that can give one peace of mind. All suggestions of colleges and or universities are welcomed.

 

Just for clarification - here is a link to the Penn Foster web page regarding transfer credits.

Transferability of Credits - Penn Foster College

For the most part, all feedback in the this forum has been accurate. Penn Foster suggests checking with colleges of interest directly for their policy on acceptance of Penn Foster College credits. They will always make the final decision. Thank you.

 

Does anyone know if Thomas Edison will take non-ACE Penn Foster credits? Specifically the IT classes like Visual C#, etc.

 

They will only accept courses from PF on an ACE transcript. That was my experience as of 2010 graduation.

I had an email chain that went like this:

Me: Can I take two courses at PF and transfer them in?
TESC: 1st email: Yes.
Me: Thank you.
TESC: 2nd email: Well, I just checked and was told that they have to be ACE accredited courses.
Me: Thank you, both courses are ACE accredited.
TESC: 3rd email: Just so we are clear, we do accept ACE accredited courses from PF but since they are not regionally accredited it must be on an ACE transcript, we can not accept a transcript directly from PF.
Me: That was the plan, thank you.

 

Finally, I made my mind to stick with PF irrespective of their not having regional accreditation for college courses since am international student and this may not really matter. I think knowledge acquired in the end is what matter most...