Getting ACE transcripts is maddening!

TESC obviously needs my Penn Foster courses in ACE transcript form. They requested it from me so they can do a full evaluation and give me a plan to finish my degree, and advice on what I can do with those credits. I decide to call ACE, I get some lady on the phone that I can barely hear because of mass yelling in the background. It sounded like I called someones house, not a business/organization. I couldn't make out much but what i did I didn't understand much. So I registered on the ACE website, and try and find the courses I took. NOTHING is labeled correctly, nothing really notes "this was in this program". Its nearly impossible to find what you need. What can't you just plug in "the program" you did at "your school" and then that pulls up all "courses" that are ACE evaluated within that program? Why is that so dam hard? I just put a WHOLE bunch of program in my "Ace transcript" list, let them figure out if its right. It says "the course are pending confirmation". I guess the wheels are in motion? Anyone else go through have any advice? Thanks for any help, I'm thoroughly annoyed at this point.

 

If you just put in 'a whole bunch of courses' in your ACE transcript request you may be shooting yourself in the foot.

My advice: Slow down! Ask PF for a list of PF/ACE course numbers so that you will know which courses to request on your ACE transcript.

 

I am SCREWED. For the first time I can say I am very disappointed in Penn Foster, but I guess in the end i am the only one to blame. I was under the impression that some of the courses within my program were ACE evaluated, but they said they were not. They said only "degree program" are ACE evaluated, so I am basically completely screwed as far as TESC accepting any credits. I'm gonna be forced to either take Penn Foster's A.S. program in industrial electronics/electrical maintenance technology, or go to CIE or just take WAY more courses and have to gain WAY more credit from TESC than I planned on. That will cost WAY more than I planned so I stand here as a very screwed individual.

 

I had an issue with ACE CREDIT a few months ago. After a few quick contacts and short waits, everything worked out perfectly.

I was applying to include PADI scuba diving certifications with ACE CREDIT recommendations on my ACE transcript.

One of my certifications, Deep Diver, was listed in the ACE database online with an end date shortly before I'd completed it. I follow these things and I thought there might well be a mistake in the entry. I called PADI. Their guy on this file is fantastic. He checked his records promptly and confirmed that Deep Diver had been continually reapproved.

I called ACE. There was a wait for the person responsible to become available, but as soon as she was she was on it. Within about one business day they'd corrected the National Guide online. For my certification in recreational as deep as 130 ft, an incredible 1 semester hour is now on my ACE transcript. (NB: This isn't a distance learning course! PADI and other agencies have some courses "online," but the online portions only cover material that would otherwise be covered in manuals or classroom reviews. For any legitimate diving certification, meeting performance requirements in the water, with a qualified instructor, is required after the book-learning, foundational knowledge part.)

Aside from this glitch, every time I've used the ACE CREDIT system, after a short wait in queue, every credit earned was recorded just fine.

Separately,

Wow. Yikes. I'm sorry to hear.

For your next step, don't rush into $igning up for anything? All of us here can surely help you fill in the gaps between what you have now, and an accredited degree, in a very affordable way.

 

Thank you Jonathan Whatley. I have been on the phone more today than I ever want ti be in a lifetime. I have called both Penn Foster and TESC 10 times today. The first thing is TESC never received my transcripts from Penn Foster and they were sent out weeks ago. They sent another one out. I don't get that. Here is something that I need some help on. Penn Foster college is DETC accredited, but the Career diploma side that i was on is Middle states regionally accredited. Do you think I still have a punchers chance here they will accept credits from them? Thanks again.

 

Like I told you before, you're going to need Penn Foster to transcribe the 18 credits first. Your program isn't ACE-approved and it has instructional sets instead of courses. ACE is not going to have a list of these. You need the actually college credits that are awarded toward PF's associates programs.

 

I understand sanantone, but when I call Penn Foster they do not seem to understand what I am saying. They don't seem to understand word one. I guess I'll call Penn Foster college again?

 

Maybe you can try Workforce Development. The Penn Foster representatives rarely know anything about ACE. Or maybe you need to contact a supervisor, just anyone who can convert your program into college credits.

 

This...Penn Foster's left hand has no idea what the right hand is doing. Workforce Development is the one that understands ACE.

 

sanantone, how do you think PLA through learningcounts.org might look as an avenue for pfet to seek credit by portfolio for any PF study he may have done that doesn't hold ACE recommendations?

pfet, you might want to take a look if you haven't yet at Steve Levicoff's unofficial guide to TESC credit by portfolio.

TESC's in-house PLA described here is a separate thing from learningcounts, and if learningcounts transfers well to TESC, TESC's in-house is likely much more expensive. And Steve L.'s guide here was written many years ago. But it still gives a very good high-level overview of the prior learning assessment process in general.

 

That's worth looking at if he can't get his career diploma transcribed as college credits; but, this should be a simple thing for PF to do. Maybe they want him to actually enroll in the degree program before he gets his credits. That could require that he pay a semester's worth of tuition.

 

Ok, I get it, now I finally get it. What I need to do is get a list of what transfers into Penn Foster's A.S. degree, then look up on ACE's website what ACE evaluated courses are in that list. Then get the transcript from ACE sent over to TESC. Here is the question I have, am I entitled to a transcript with the 18 credits I earned on them? To cover my bases I had PF do an evaluation to see what I would need to finish my A.S. there, that was a few weeks ago, just in case. Why in Gods name it would take 3 weeks for Penn Foster to evaluate what goes from one of their program to one of their programs is a mystery to me. Shouldn't that kinda be a 5 minute thing? I mean on the ET page it says you earn 18 credits toward an associates degree in Industrial electronic/electrical maintenance technology. You would thunk they do this all the time, and know right off the bat what goes where. So what is my next step? Call Penn Foster again tomorrow to try and get transcripts for the 18 credits or just allow the PF evaluation and then figure things out from there?

 

ACE is still going to need a transcript from Penn Foster that lists those courses or at least some kind of confirmation that you completed them.

 

Have you talked with PF's workforce development dept.?

You need to try them, explain you need your courses sent to ACE

Once that's accomplished you can order the ACE transcript be sent to TESC.

You have set up your ACE account correct?

 

I just got an email from some big shot over there and it was NOT encouraging. It said our career diploma programs are NOT degree credit programs. Could it be, because it sounds like it to me that there are no credits to transfer anywhere except to Penn Foster's A.S. program? It seems like I'm caught or they catch people in maze whereby you are stuck going for a degree at Penn Foster which won't happen now. I'm not very happy right now. I'm not even sure CIE-WC will accept my credits because apparently I don't have any credits. If that is the case I completely wasted the last year and 4 months in this dam program. I am very upset to be honest, very. I may be in a situation that the only thing I can do is go for my A.S. at Penn Foster, then transfer those ACE evaluated credits to TESC, but I will never do that. Too much time, too much money. The other thing i can do is just enroll at TESC, get straaighterlibe credits for my "General ED" requirements as I planned to do, get FEMA credits for "free electives" and have to do the complete career part of the degree program through TESC. I would be relearning lessons I already learned. I should have only had to do 12 credits but it may end up being 24 credits now, costing me much money, much time. Time I don't have, money I don't have. I am just not happy right now.

 

I did set up an ACE account, I have a 5 or 6 courses in my account awaiting confirmation that will never come. I apparently have no credits to speak of really. Apparently I earned credits only toward an A.S. degree at Penn Foster. I will call PF's workforce development side tomorrow. I'm too disgusted today to talk to anyone.

 

I figured that might happen. I'm sorry to hear that. Let's hope that there is some way you can get these courses transcribed without having to complete the whole degree program at PF. However, paying for a whole semester at Penn Foster for courses you don't even want is going to be expensive. Maybe you can use this as an opportunity to knock out some ACE-approved courses that will fulfill TESC's general education requirements. As Jonathan said, Learning Counts can be an inexpensive option for completing PLAs (prior learning assessments).

 

If you want fast action receiving credit by portfolio is a good way to go (especially if you also have related work experience). But this is also not always the low cost way to obtain credit.

I'm sorry to say (based on your posts) but sounds like you may have to devise an AA or AS degree plan that does not include you PF courses - but the good part is you can list both the PF and your new AA/AS on your resume.

 

I think you are correct Ian, I wasted my time. I would have been better off just starting off in the A.S. program, why bother with the ET career diploma BS. I am so upset with PF its sad. I had like them till now, but in the end I am the only to blame. I just assumed they were ACE evaluated, never assume is the saying right. If I have to do 21 or 24 full credits at TEST, how much time will that take, and more importantly how much will that cost you think? I am live in NJ so i get in-state tuition. Thanks for the help today.

 

The cost of Learning Counts is not that bad. Initially, if you choose the self-paced option, you can earn up to 12 credits for one portfolio for $379. After that, it's $250 per portfolio for up to 12 credits. Their credit recommendations automatically end up on an ACE transcript. I haven't heard much from anyone who has done this and transferred credit to the Big 3, but Excelsior and TESC are partner schools. It would be interesting to hear someone's experience outside of Learning Count's own YouTube channel.