Collegecreditprograms.com : A new college credit clearinghouse?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by recruiting, Jul 22, 2013.

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  1. recruiting

    recruiting Member

    Is this a clearinghouse for college credits? I just got this "invite" in my email (I do NOT know where they got it). It got past my SPAM filters too!! The namesake is "College Credit Programs "

    Pricing options, huh?

    I never heard of them, what do you make of it?

    Thanks for Accepting Our Invitation
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 22, 2013
  2. Damnation

    Damnation New Member

    i dont think even google has heard of them.

    only "rapidpath college credit" return two hits (both their website) and 1 youtube video (also from their website"

    And apparently they've been around for 10+ years (I guess they are not sure)
     
  3. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    Be careful.
     
  4. recruiting

    recruiting Member

    Thanks, it seems like something to keep an eye on for sure. :Flush: <--- money going down the drain.

    This is off of their facebook page.... Hummm makes one think

    "Join our community and learn how you can get your college degree with credits you may have earned with work & life experience. Save time and money. Over 340 accredited colleges and universities participating in our program!
    http://www.collegecreditprograms.com/registration"

    Do you see the red flag in this statement????
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 22, 2013
  5. recruiting

    recruiting Member

    Upon further examination of this FB and website pages I am calling SCAM on this business. Seems the whole "Life and work" experience for college credit BS is live and well at this website.

    They also claim to have partnerships with 100's of schools, is YOURS on this list?? If so, maybe a note to your school president with their link attached to it may get this killed before it becomes another full blown money vacuum for unsuspecting students. They are touting degree programs, but they are not saying they are a "college or university". I am writing to my schools fight now..

    Alexandria Technical College
    Allied National High School
    Allied American University
    American Military University
    American Public University
    American Sentinel University
    Amridge University
    Anne Arundel Community College
    Anoka-Ramsey Community College
    Arizona Western College
    Arizona State University
    Ashford University
    Atlantic Cape Community College
    Auburn University
    Averett University
    Baker College
    Ball State University
    Barton County Community College
    Bellevue University
    Bemidji State University
    Boise State University
    Boston University
    California Coast University
    California State Univ – Dominguez Hills
    Cameron University
    Capella University
    Central Baptist College
    Central Maine Community College
    Central Michigan University
    Central Pennsylvania University
    Central Texas College
    Chaminade University of Honolulu
    Charter Oak State College
    City Colleges of Chicago:
    – Harold Washington College
    City University
    Coastal Carolina Community College
    Coastline Community College
    Cochise College
    College for Financial Planning
    College of Lake County
    College of Southern Maryland
    Columbia College
    Columbia Southern University
    Davenport University
    Dallas County Community College – Telecollege
    Des Moines Area Community College
    Dominican University
    Duquesne University
    Eastern Connecticut State University
    Eastern Kentucky University
    Eastern Oregon University
    ECPI College of Technology
    Elizabethtown Comm. & Tech. College
    Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
    Empire State College
    Emporia State University
    Enterprise-Ozark Community College
    Excelsior College
    Fayetteville Tech Community College
    Florence-Darlington Technical College
    Florida State College at Jacksonville
    Florida Hospital College of Health Sciences
    Florida Institute of Technology
    Fort Hays State University
    Franklin University
    Frederick Community College
    George Washington University
    Georgia Military College
    Governors State University
    Graceland University
    Grambling State University
    Grantham University
    Grand Canyon University
    Hagerstown Community College
    Hampton University
    Hibbing Community College
    Honolulu Community College
    Hopkinsville Community College
    Indiana State University
    Indiana University at Bloomington
    Inver Hills Community College
    Ivy Tech Community College – Northeast
    Jacksonville University
    John Wood Community College
    Kansas State University
    Kaplan University
    Lake Superior College
    Laramie County Community College
    Leeward Community College
    Liberty University
    Limestone College
    Marylhurst University
    Metropolitan State University
    Minnesota State College – Southeast Technical
    Minnesota State Comm. & Technical College
    Minnesota State University – Mankato
    Minnesota State University – Moorhead
    Minnesota West Comm. & Technical College
    Midwestern State University
    Mississippi State University
    Mississippi Gulf Coast Com. College
    Monroe College
    Montgomery College
    Mount Wachusett Community College
    National Graduate School
    National High School
    National-Louis University
    National-Louis University Grad. School
    National University
    Nichols College
    Norfolk State University
    Northcentral University
    Northwood University
    North Dakota State College of Science
    North Hennepin Community College
    Northern Virginia Community College
    Northland Comm. & Technical College
    Northwest Technical College
    Nova Southeastern University
    Ohio Dominican University
    Oklahoma City Community College
    Old Dominion University
    Palomar College
    Park University
    Penn State University
    Peirce College of Pennsylvania
    Pensacola State College
    Pierce College
    Pikes Peak Community College
    Portland State University
    Post University
    Pulaski Technical College
    Redlands Community College
    Regent University
    Regis University
    Rio Salado College
    Riverland Community College
    Rochester Community & Technical College
    Roger Williams University
    Saint Joseph’s College of Maine
    Saint Leo University
    Salve Regina University
    San Diego Miramar College
    Scott Community College
    Sessions Online Schools of Art & Design
    Southeastern Oklahoma State University
    Southeastern University
    Southern Illinois University Carbondale
    Southern New Hampshire University
    Southwestern College
    South Central College
    St. Cloud State University
    Sterling College
    Strayer University
    Sullivan University
    Technical College of the Lowcountry
    Texas Tech University
    Thomas Edison State College
    Thomas Nelson Community College
    Three Rivers Community College
    Tidewater Community College
    Trident University International
    Trident Technical College
    Troy University
    United States Sports Academy
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    University of Alaska – Fairbanks
    University of Alaska – Southeast
    University of Arkansas – Little Rock
    University of Cincinnati
    University of Florida
    University of Illinois – Springfield
    University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
    University of Missouri-Columbia
    University of Nebraska – Lincoln
    University of New England
    University of Northwestern Ohio
    University of Oklahoma
    University of Phoenix
    University of Scranton
    University of South Alabama
    University of South Carolina – Beaufort
    University of Tennessee at Martin
    University of West Florida
    Upper Iowa University
    Valdosta State University
    Vincennes University
    Wayland Baptist University
    Webster University
    Western Carolina University
    Western Governors University
    Western Illinois University
    Western International University
    Western Kentucky University
    William H. Taft University
    . . . and many more!

    This like was at the bottom f the page Brand Engagement Strategies | Key Practices | Web 2.0 SEO | Marketing | Social Media | Mobile | Sales | Lead Generation | Event Planning | Go to Market it's a marketing website. SCAM SCAM SCAM
     
  6. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Heh, I was waiting for you to say "SCAMMITY SCAM!"
     
  7. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    This appears (after reading their fine print) to be a service offering to assist people with preparing portfolios for lifelong learning. But sooooo many red flags are present. They list a bunch of schools that accept this kind of credit, but imply they have agreements in place. And where do the credits come from in the first place? (I suspect they just help you do your portfolio at your school, as opposed to taking your portfolio and getting you credits at some servicing school that you can, in turn, transfer to your school.) Or not.

    They also promise to help at the master's and doctoral levels. No way. I suspect that route (and maybe all routes) lead to diploma mills:

    "RapidPath Degrees and can help you find which degrees are the right ones for you to consider by digitally comparing your credits with the curricula of thousands of degrees across the nation to find the ones that will best fit your goals and accept what you’ve earned to-date saving you time and money."

    This is likely their core business. "Hey, ____________ University" will only accept a handful of credits, but our partner, _____________ Diploma Mill University" will award you an entire degree! (For an additional fee, natch.)"

    I think this is a feeder to diploma mill services.
     
  8. recruiting

    recruiting Member

    LOL, yes I was close! When I got this in my email I thought to myself, "wow what a great idea" but then I thought only colleges and universities do this sort of banking of credits thing right? TESC and Excelsior do this if I am not mistaken? The funny thing is they too are on this website's BIG LIST too, lol.

    After looking at the no so fine print it appears to be selling degrees (phony of course). Maybe this is one way to get past calling themselves an actual university or college? A loophole of sorts?

    At any rate I think this link is good to have on here so unsuspecting people that search this place will find some info during a search. :chairshot:
     
  9. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    This is so totally bogus! They wrote a long missive on what happens if you miss a payment. Basically, the whole 12 month "subscription" at oh - $500 or so becomes due and if you don't cough up, it goes to a collection agency. If you do keep up your payments - watch out! "Renewal" is automatic, so they ding you for another 12 months. This is a maze of fine print, about what you do for them. Hardly anything on what they have to do in return.

    They say their member-students have earned over 2 million NTE credits, with their help. That's "non-traditional education" credits, i.e. learning from (usually) unaccredited sources, which (hopefully) one can get "laundered" into college credit via PLA etc. They're not going to do anything for you that a forum like this -- or maybe the Instacert one, won't help you do better, for free.

    I guess most schools have specific rules about NTE credits - how to submit them, limits etc. Here's one school's rules:

    http://www.csn.edu/uploadedfiles/Admissions/Non-Trad%20%20Credit%20Auto.pdf

    In my generosity, I will give you some college advice right now that will definitely save you $500. It will cost you nothing. Here it is: DON'T go near these "Rapidpath" people. Rapid path to running out of money, as I see it!

    Johann
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 22, 2013
  10. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Right from the source:

    "Over the past 10+ years, our students have earned over 2,917,696 NTE semester hours..."

    NTE = Non-traditional Education

    See what I mean?

    Johann
     
  11. CalDog

    CalDog New Member

    The "COLLEGECREDITPROGRAMS.COM" domain was created in April 2013, so it is only a few months old. The domain was registered through a privacy service.

    The phone number listed on their home page has a San Francisco area code. The same phone number is also listed by the San Francisco office of an estate sales company.

    Their "East Coast Business Office" is a Post Office box in Virginia Beach. Their "West Coast Business Office" is at a mailbox rental facility in Marina Del Rey (adjacent to Los Angeles).
     
  12. CalDog

    CalDog New Member

    Both collegecreditprograms.com and the estate sales company with the same phone number claim to be divisions of "Key Practices, Inc.". This firm is apparently based in Marina Del Rey; it is:

     
  13. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    I've seen lots of red flags before, but never so many in the same place - except at a parade in Pyongyang, perhaps. :smile:

    Johann
     
  14. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Okay, that's pretty funny. :smile:
     
  15. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    I asked a friend who lives nearby, in Venice CA, to go to their office. As CalDog points out, it is indeed a mailbox rental service, Postal Masters, which, not surprisingly, would not say anything about its clients.
     
  16. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    I emailed these folks to ask how they could be operating from a mailbox service. Prompt reply, thus:
    ----------------
    Thanks so much for your interest.
    We're sorry your cousin made a trip to our postal address, our office is not a store front, but is in the building next door, which is accessible when we have an appointment due to building security.
    How can we help you today? Please feel free to give us a call at your convenience or email us with any questions you may have. We look forward to helping you with your degree goals. Thanks again for reaching out,
    Stephanie
    VP Marketing, RapidPath™ Degrees
    -----------------------------------
    I'm not entirely sure I grok this . . . but I've emailed again to ask how come their telephone is in San Francisco, if their office is in Marina Del Rey.
     
  17. StephanieCCP

    StephanieCCP New Member

    Clarification on questions and assumptions you have about our program

    First off, our program is over 10 years old and powered by DegreeQuest which has been issued 34 patents and copyrights for the processes over the past 10 years. Secondly, we recently launched the College Credit Programs website with an open forum - so if we had anything to hide, why would we do that? Third, we hired a marketing management company to handle our PR, website, and online community, that is not unusual, it is quite common to have an agency help with optimization of your online presence. Why are you dinging us for that?

    Verified and Flexible: What you fail to acknowledge is that we are a Paypal verified business who offers 100% guarantee to our customer, this is an additional benefit to our students who use our service so they can feel confident that they are getting what they pay for. We also offer a payment plan to assist students who cannot pay the program fee in full which is renewable because you may change your direction, get your associates degree and need a new program for a Bachelor's degree or want to change your path. We're a subscription based service with online resources and we keep our program costs affordable considering the savings our students receive which on average is over $6K and 21 credits.

    As for our patented program, we are the only service that offers students the services and resources on our site as part of our degree planning and personalized assistance with a one-to-one counselor. As a way to validate our methodologies as accepted by the Department of Education - I am posting some background pieces and links to the sources to show you that your assumptions about our program are not correct, we are not a scam.

    1. We started out only working with individuals who had military training. We worked directly with the military until they cut the funding for the program. Unfortunately for Vets, they are getting the run around now and even being told by colleges they are not eligible for college credit for their training. We have done the research and identified the colleges and universities who will accept Military training and offer college credits for them.

    Excerpts from an article that originally appeared in The Texas Tribune 17 July 2013: For Veterans, a Fight for College Credit | The Texas Tribune.

    "Senator Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio is trying to get legislation reinstated to provide funding for services to help Vets get credit for the training they have earned. What is the problem? Officials with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the agency that oversees the state’s higher education institutions, say the credit problem arises because Texas does not have a statewide system for evaluating college credit earned in the military, leaving colleges to decipher complex military transcripts listing skills, experience and education."

    "Officials with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the agency that oversees the state’s higher education institutions, say the credit problem arises because Texas does not have a statewide system for evaluating college credit earned in the military, leaving colleges to decipher complex military transcripts listing skills, experience and education."

    "Veterans often receive a transcript of their credits two or three weeks after the evaluation, which they then can present to an institution. The program has been successful, but it has limitations, said program director Brigitte Flynt. For instance, since the program is not mandatory, colleges and four-year institutions can decide whether to accept the credits or not."

    "Dominic Chavez, a spokesman for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, said the board supports the program because it saves students money and eliminates the notion that students have to spend a certain number of weeks studying a subject to obtain mastery."

    2. We expanded our offering to include other methods that students can achieve college credits and that is via Competency Based Education as approved by the Department of Education allowing students to receive federal financial aid: This competency may have been gained from previous academic study, training, military service, national testing programs, occupational experience and other forms of experiential learning.

    With our patented system, we can help you find which schools are the right ones for you to consider by digitally comparing your PLA/portfolio with the curricula of thousands of degrees across the nation to find the ones that will best fit your goals and accept what you’ve earned to-date saving you time and money.

    Posted 18 April 2013

    "Last month the U.S. Education Department sent a message to colleges: Financial aid may be awarded based on students’ mastery of “competencies” rather than their accumulation of credits. That has major ramifications for institutions hoping to create new education models that don’t revolve around the amount of time that students spend in class."

    See Competency-Based Education Advances With U.S. Approval of Program - Wired Campus - The Chronicle of Higher Education

    3. FYI - More than 2,900 colleges and universities across the U.S. award credit for college level examinations.

    QUESTION FOR YOU: How are you going to contact them all to figure out who can help you get your degree using the NTE options available and approved by the Department of Education? Many schools don't want to help because they lose money by showing you a shortcut. We have done the work and research, we update our program with this information 4 times a year and we have developed the patented technologies to do this - take what you've earned and map it to the schools that will let you get the degree you are seeking - with online credits, with on campus credits, how much the fees are and timeline for each option you pick. Putting the student in the driver seat...

    The main reason students pick our patented program is that you cannot figure this out on your own.

    FYI - Only colleges and universities accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation are allowed to participate in our program.

    Think for a moment about the amount of time it would take an individual to find and contact schools that will (1) accept your transfer credits, (2) assess your work experience for credit (3) accept challenge exams for credit, (4) accept your military training for credit, (5) allow you to earn the maximum amount of NTE credits so you can complete or earn your degree in the fastest method available, with the ability to compare all the credit and school fees and timeline to achieve your goal.

    Most students don't have the time or understanding on how to do this. Especially, when your local school is not flexible and does not give credit for what you know requiring you to go to classes for something you already know.

    That's why our patented technology platform, DegreeQuest, and our RapidDegree Program is valuable to students who need to get their degree to move forward in their career or even to get started in a new one.

    We'd be happy to do an online demo for you - just let us know as we do not want to be lumped in with the SCAMS out there on the Internet and hope you'll consider this invitation and take us up on it.

    Thanks!
    Stephanie
    www.CollegeCreditsProgram.com
     
  18. StephanieCCP

    StephanieCCP New Member

    We would be happy to do an online demo for you, FYI we do NOT issue degrees, we help students with a degree PLAN - and we are happy to show you our patented program. We created this website with an OPEN forum so we are not hiding anything. We are also a verified business through Paypal. Let me know and I will set up an online demo for you. Thanks!
     
  19. recruiting

    recruiting Member

    Here we go!

    What authorizes you to bank national and regional college credits then transfer them? Are you accredited, if so by what agency?

    My schools (wrote to all three of them them last night) said that they A) never heard of your business and B) are not your learning partners? Actually, I lied I only heard from two the other one will get back to me...

    :tired:
     
  20. recruiting

    recruiting Member

    Verified through "paypal", you're kidding of course? :lame: Well guess what so am I...

    I don't believe that a demo will be necessary we get it. So will the people that search Google for info on this 10 year business that was created a few months ago.
     

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