How is Excelsior accredited by no residency requirement?

In my search for finishing my undergrad degree, I've found that nearly all colleges I spoke to had a minimum residency requirement: meaning a minimum number of hours of actual classes taken from that school (not physically present, just coursework through them). The only one(s) I found that don't (in my search for a BSCS degree anyway) were Excelsior (and COSC and TESC also I think, though I didn't look into them very much).

Considering that all of those colleges required a minimum residency (with the "non-traditional"'s only as exceptions), and considering that one of them in response to my query explicitly stated that the required residency was necessary for accreditation purposes, so...

I'm wondering how Excelsior gets away with being accredited and yet does not have a residency requirement.

Does anyone know anything about this?

Thanks!

 

The three you mention (and Athabasca would be the 4th and only other one in this category) were all newly begun in the 1970s, and designed, in regular discussion with the accreditors, to be accreditable. It would seem that it is much easier to be innovative in this way as a start-up, rather than adding such a program to an existing school.

There are, however, 323 other properly-accredited schools with 100% non-resident degree programs described in the new 15th ed. of Bears' Guide.

 

It could be that when Excelsior/TESC/COSC came to be that their regional accrediting associations (Middle States and New England) had looser guidelines than those at North Central, Northwest or Southern.

Regards.
TommyK

 

Thank you for your reply as always Dr. Bear.

323, really? Wow. You mean that I wouldn't have to register for a single class (distance or otherwise) from that college and they would give me a degree (after transfer, assessment, test, etc. of course), right?

I suppose I should buy your book. The problem is that I don't want to read the whole thing. Does your book have some sort of cross reference or matrix thing that would make it easy to find all schools that:

1) Have BSCS or similar degree
2) Are regionally accredited
3) Has some way for me to leverage my professional experience
4) Does not require me to take any classes (ie. through transfer, assessment, tests, etc. I could complete degree requirements).

If I had time and the data, I would put together a web service that would make it easy to do some really complex (perhaps even adhoc) searches to find just the right program for someone. Sure would have saved me an immense amount of time. It's frustrating--if I had a database with all the data, it would be trivial for me to find the exact school I need.

 

Actually you are misreading Dr. Bear's qoute. He is saying there are 323 Colleges that offer 100% non-residential degrees, not that these schools offer a degree without taking courses with them.

To the big three you may want to add Western Governors University. It offers degrees based on assesment with the option of taking classes. It is currently DETC accredited and is on the road to RA. They offer degrees in CIS and Business I believe.

If you really want/need to get a degree without taking classes, the big three are really the way to go. Also CLEP/DANTES will be a much faster route than portfolio/asessment. Good luck.

 

Actually, I'm not misreading his, I'm trying to make sure he understood my initial question because I find it hard to believe that there are 323 schools offering what I'm talking about.

When I used the term "residency" I was NOT referring to physically being at the campus. I was referring to the requirement that you MUST take 30 credit hours of coursework from the university before they will give you an undergraduate degree regardless of your transfers, test, assessment or whatever. All except Excelsior that I have talked to so far have a minimum requirement. All were 30 credits except for capitol college which says on it's website that it only requires 15 (but being more than twice as expensive per credit as a couple others...).

So what you're saying that there are NO other regionally accredited colleges that do not require a minimum amount of coursework through them besides the big three? So if that is a requirement in my search, then those are the only choices?

It's not that I don't want to take classes (I enjoy learning) so much as it's the money it would cost and the delay before finishing a degree. I want to pursue an MSCS degree on a limited budget and so I'm trying to find out the fastest/cheapest (those are related because of budget constraints) way to do so for me.

 

Hi

Bottom line, the big three are the only RA Colleges that allow a degree with no classes from the institution. They developed as alternative colleges in the early 70s out of the University Without Walls program that later developed into The Union Institute. If you read through the archives there is an amazing amount of info here and at AED.

If my first post came off as offensive I apologize. I was merely trying to explain the situation. Good luck.

 

Not offensive at all--no problem. We were both just trying to be clear which can be tricky--especially as I am new to this stuff.

Thank you for all your help. I've been really nervous about Excelsior, but it seems to be the fastest/cheapest solution for me to get into grad school.

 

I'd speculate that the idea of degrees entirely by assessment makes the accreditors nervous because it is a practice followed by so many degree mills ("life experience degrees!") and because it might be hard to police. The accreditors are apt to require administrative procedures and safeguards that aren't cost-effective for a school that doesn't specialize in this to maintain.

It's interesting that all four of the American schools that do this began under state auspices, either as state colleges (TESC and COSC), or as privately incorporated experimental intiatives undertaken by a state education department (Excelsior) or by a coalition of state governors (Western Governors). That has obvious implications both with regards to credibility and political clout.

Athabasca is a special case, since it's Canadian. In Canada, the individual provinces charter universities, and Athabasca is a creation of the province of Alberta.

 

This position could cause some confusion as most programs define "residency" as physicaly attending the campus. So a program that is run in a synchronus mode at a satellite location, but require you to physically be present would/could be classed "non-resident".

Also "non-resident" is very often used to define classes taken in an asynchormus mode using either the internet, mailed lessons, or vedio tapes.

 

Right, sorry about that. Funny thing was when I used the term residency in one post to mean what you said, someone pointed out the dual usage of the term to mean what I meant in this thread. Kind of confusing.

Anyway, I'll keep in mind the possibility for confusion and try to be more clear from the start.

Thanks!

 

"nervous about Excelsior"

JShellman writes, "I've been really nervous about Excelsior".

Well, maybe you should be.

The first two "Assessment Options" listed on Excelsior's Web page http://www.excelsior.edu/exams/xms_opts.htm are not available (Excelsior has suspended the first option, and Empire State no longer offers the second). Excelsior has known about the situation for at least a couple of weeks now, but hasn't updated the page.

If you're planning to submit portfolios, you really might want to consider enrolling somewhere else.

 

Charter Oak has a nicer logo.