How acceptable is a Penn Foster Bachelor's degree?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by potpourri, Nov 6, 2008.

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  1. RANSOMSOUL

    RANSOMSOUL New Member

    Agree with PFC's popularity. Here & at DegreeForum you can read several members celebrating them as a strong resource for the Big3 and other schools. Unfortunately, PFC has had multiple increases on their course fees and even though it's still a strong deal, it not as strong a cost value as it once was.
     
  2. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    Their courses are pretty solidly in the "correspondence" category. You can register at 1 am on Christmas Day and start courses immediately through their online portal. Entirely self-paced and you can go the entire program with little to no interaction with an instructor.

    Years ago, that was pretty much enough to kill a school's RA dreams. But competency based learning has muddied the previously established terms and definitions quite a bit. So could they pursue RA? Possibly. But their value proposition has always been NA degrees for people who otherwise wouldn't have any degree, relatively low prices and, of the last 20 years or so I'd say, ACE credit recommendations for some of their programs to increase their utility.

    Yes, but it is limited. I was a bit bummed out to see that they really let most of their engineering program recommendations go. But if you look at their accounting courses it aligns pretty closely with the TESU B.S. in Accounting.

    I mean, we talk about it here pretty frequently so it certainly isn't unheard of. I, personally, have done a few certificate programs through them. Wehn last I took a course they told me that if I took something like five career diploma programs I would have "free" access to all of their other diplomas. Nice little perk if you're in it for personal interest over career development.

    I'm not terribly surprised it isn't more popular. For starters, PF is one of the better names it has had over the years. Saying you have an associates degree from "Penn Foster College" sounds a hell of a lot better than their last name, Thomson Education Direct.

    It's also not as competitive as it once was. Again, competency based learning programs threw the cheap tuition model for a loop particularly the cheap tuition self-paced schools. Why screw around with PF if you can get an RA degree from WGU?

    Aside from ACE, they do have a handful of articulation agreements to RA schools. Most are for-profit.

    It is definitely a school I would suggest because some of its programs will help some people in some circumstances. It's very similar in terms of course delivery to Ashworth. My personal preference of the two is with PF based on my personal experience.

    But utility issues will likely always be looming whenever you choose NA over RA.
     

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