How acceptable is a Penn Foster Bachelor's degree?

I'd be interested in hearing from other PF bachelors grads as well. I'm still soldiering on in my 4th semester. It's a good thing that it's self-paced, as my wife has health issues and I haven't been able to devote the time to my courses over the last nine months. But I have every intention of finishing what I started. So stay tuned!

 

I always have this dream of an "Academic Reset". I am 47, graduated in Mechanical Engineering (from India).

I am doing Penn Foster High school now. I am planning to do their AS in CIS, 'cause I can clear about 12-15 college credits in my High school program. I am planning to transfer this degree to one of their "Partner" schools to complete my BS there.
Transferring Credits into and from | Penn Foster College

 

Did you ever find out the answer for your question? If so, do you know if law school will recognize Penn Foster's bachelors? Thanks!

 

Currently on the linked page:


Attention displaced students — has your college recently closed?

Now accepting College credits for academic and financial credit!
With the recent closing of your school, we want you to know that we are here to help. With our easy enrollment process, low cost tuition, a variety of nationally accredited degree programs to choose from, you can get started quickly and not miss out on any study time, Below you can find our transfer credit policy and process, but we now have enrollment counselors standing by to work with displaced students. Call 1-800-816-3592 to talk to someone today!

 

Smart business strategy. Perhaps picking up the pieces of fairly recent NA debacles - Corinthian, ACICS etc. No wonder they've been around since 1890s. No flies on these guys!

J.

 

Update--I just finished my 5th semester and enrolled in the 6th. So far it's worked for me. PFC was very flexible while I was a caregiver to my late wife. Of course my first priority was her, and PFC was the least of my worries, but I'm sure there are others that have needed the flexibility they offer.

 

William Loveland?

 

WLC only offered an MBA.

PFC only offers a Bachelors and an Associates in Business.

So how would PFC be able to help WLC students, exactly?

Since this thread is alive again I feel compelled to comment...

If I had to choose between an RA degree and an NA degree I would choose the RA degree.*

If I had to choose between an NA degree and no degree I would choose the NA degree.

*If I had to choose between a very well known RA school with a very poor reputation and an unknown NA school, I would probably choose the unknown NA school.

 

Exactly right. I might add that
- Penn Foster, for all its relative size, qualifies as an "unknown school. Most people don't follow DL and associate any negativity with likes of University of Phoenix, Everest and the like.
- Penn Foster degree will probably be quite acceptable in many situations, but...
- ...since a student has control over which DL school to attend, in many cases it is well worth it to do a bit more planning, spend a bit more money, and end up with say a TESU degree instead of PFC.

I like Penn Foster, I really do, but unless time is of essence, I'd recommend RA or solid GAAP instead. I did recommend Ashworth to a friend in a great hurry here in Canada, after carefully reading official rules of a profession she tried to join and concluding that it should be acceptable. The resulting saga spawned a multipage thread here, and it took a court appeal (and Dr. Bear's letter - thank you sir!) to sort things out, imperfectly. Looking back, going with Excelsior would have been a better choice. Oh, and the profession updated a policy in July 2016, essentially blocking NA degrees (not by name, but WES recognition is now required).

 

Might not acquired credits apply at P-F?

 

We do not have enough information to speculate on the utility of WLC in any manner - and we probably never will.

We do know that WLC was largely a one-man show on the part of its president, one David Lady, who admitted right in this forum that he never earned a salary from WLC.

What we do not know is (1) how many students they ever had, (2) how many people, if any, actually graduated, (3) how many ever inquired about the school, (4) how many faculty members ever signed on, etc. For that matter, we do not even know the whereabouts of its illustrious unpaid president, who has virtually withdrawn from this forum and, it would seem, from professional education.

My take? WLC is a synonym for MIGS.

To compare them with Penn Foster is, for all intent and purpose, a grave insult . . . to Penn Foster.
:drive:

 

Just an update on my PF High school adventure.

Couldn't finish it faster due to work loads and issues at home, but kept going slow, Now I am down to 2 tests to complete my high school. Want to finish them this month.

 

Good for you Ms. Ganti. That is the beauty of self-paced study. You're not time pressured and with perseverance and persistence you can accomplish what you set out to do.

 

good job! Get er done!

 

Why would you be taking credits from an MBA program and attempting to apply them to a Bachelor program?

 

To make use of otherwise useless credits.

 

Thanks for opening up this post again, I find Penn Foster to be an interesting situation.

Quick info I found on PFC

Traces their roots back to the 1890s

• 2 Bachelors Degrees – Management & CJ

• A bunch of Associate Degrees, resemble your typical community college

• Tons of Career focused Diplomas/Certificates

It looks like the advantages of PFC (Bachelor’s in Management) are:

• Self paced courses
• Roughly $250 ish per course


The disadvantages of PFC are:

• Nationally Accredited, not RA
• In certain job markets an NA their degree might not meet requirements
• The school is on the “Generic” side
• Lower End Marketing Campaigns (not too many in my experience)

On the surface, PFC looks like a decent option for someone who is struggling to make academic progress. A NA Degree has to be better than no degree at all in most situations.

Does PFC have a bunch of skeletons in their closet? Have their been a bunch of student complaints or any lawsuits against?

Why wouldn’t PFC attempt to gain RA? Or maybe they have unsuccessfully?

I believe some of their courses are eligible for ACE credit also.

All this being said, i'm surprised PFC isn't more popular than i'm assuming.

 

(1) Does PFC have a bunch of skeletons in their closet? Have their been a bunch of student complaints or any lawsuits against?
Never heard of such. PFC has been mentioned often in these pages. Well-known to most of us.

(2) Why wouldn’t PFC attempt to gain RA? Or maybe they have unsuccessfully?
No. No unsuccessful attempts. They have done well with NA. RA would be more expensive to attain, MUCH more costly to maintain. Ergo, they would have to price things differently - and maybe find themselves in a crowded market segment. As you say, they've been at this for over 100 years. They know what they're doing.

(3) I believe some of their courses are eligible for ACE credit also.
True - last I looked, most of them. That's why single PFC courses are often popular with the do-it-yourself degree-earners, who need credit to finish a degree elsewhere. If ACE gives credit, that's the key to getting credit at many schools - around 2,000 of them, I'm told.

All this being said, i'm surprised PFC isn't more popular than i'm assuming.
It is probably MUCH more popular than you assume.

J.

 

WHOOPS! A consumer complaint I found:

Penn Foster College must pay more than $73,000 after PCC refused Portland man's credits | OregonLive.com

The school has about 150,000 students, says the article.

J.

 

They graduated approximately 48,000 high school students last year so looks like there is about 100k of career course students and college students combined. Can't seem to find specifics on each amount of those.