Is there a reliable list of RA colleges that accept DETC credits or degrees?

I am currently enrolled in Ashworth's (DETC accredited) Early Childhood Education Associate's degree program. I would like to continue on to earn a Bachelor's degree in Liberal Arts or Interdisciplinary studies. Could someone please direct me to the RA colleges that accept DETC degrees and offer online Bachelor degree programs in these fields? Thank you.

 

There is no comprehensive list. Some people have developed lists, but their (the lists' and the listers') reliability is suspect.

Try checking with your current school. Also, examine schools you'd like to attend and read their policies. Finally, even if you find a school that says it won't accept such degrees, press. And don't accept your first "no," which will come from someone who can't waive the policy anyway.

 

Survey?

Thanks, but do you know if there was an actual survey done to compile a list? I thought there was a survey that Bear did, and the results were?
Ashworth does not offer any help in locating an RA college that will accept DETC credits, unfortunately. They have no list. I really thought there would be someone on this list who had the answer to this question. I asked both on this board and another one, and so far, no results. Also, I contacted many RA colleges and universities in my state and elsewhere, and the door slammed in my face each time.

 

My understanding is that Dr. Bear's survey was done at a convention and that it was a statistical survey only, it did not compile a list.

 

If you look here you will see a few posters who have complied a few lists. Hope it's helpful

 

azusaheart,

I cannot even begin to tell you how seriously you should take Rich's advice, above. There's more wisdom there than you may realize. I spoke about a year ago with the head of one of the BA programs at a regionally-accredited college in the midwest who told me, in no uncertain terms, that he would be more than happy to closely review (by looking both at the transcript and at the syllabus for each course) any DETC-accredited AA or AS (but probably not an AAS) degree as potentially requisite to admission to his BA program... this after the people in his very own admissions office initially did that door-slamming thing to which you alluded earlier. And, talk about coincidence, I even used any of Ashworth's DETC-accredited AA or AS degrees as an example, and I even had him point his web browser at its site (among others) while I had him on the phone. So, if that experience is any indication, Rich is dead-on correct. Putting-up something of a fight (as politely as possible, of course) could be a really smart thing to do.

All that said, in fairness, I should point out that once I pointed him to the Ashworth site, while we were still talking on the phone, he looked more closely at the curriculum for Ashworth's AS in Psychology, and he interrupted me to tell me he had just done so.

"Hmm..." he said, "I'm not sure I see enough core general educational coursework here. Of course I'd have to look at the detailed syllabus to say definitively, but from just this cursory overview I think in order for me to accept this associate's degree into my program, I'd probably make it a provisional admission, and I'd probably require that the student take a few -- and I'm talking about maybe 6 or 9 hours... 12 at the most -- core general ed courses, too... to kind of compensate for what appears to be a few minor deficiencies in this degree."

But then he cautioned that that was not an official answer and that he really would need to look more closely at the syllabi for all the courses to render any sort of official opinion. Then, quick-thinker that I can sometimes be, I asked if one could CLEP-out of those 6 to 12 hours and he replied, "Oh... um... yes... probably... um... I'd say, 'yes, almost certainly.'"

So, as Rich said, don't just accept "no" for an answer -- especially from a front-line admissions office person. Get past the front-line people and directly to the program office... and to its head, if you can. Remember that even program heads who more or less understand regional accreditation may not necessarily be as up on things regarding national accreditatation -- specificaly DETC accreditation -- as are even some folks around here. Determine if whomever you're speaking with really and truly understands DETC accreditation and, if they don't, don't hesitate to ask his/her permission to take 45 seconds to enlighten them a little. Above all, make sure s/he understands that DETC is a USDoE/CHEA-approved accreditation agency, just like whichever regional accreditor gave its blessing to his/her school; that DETC has come a very long way in recent years; and that it, of all the USDoE/CHEA-approved national accreditors, now probably comes the closest to having standards that are truly on-par with most any of the regional accreditors.

By the way, I'd name the college here but my conversation with that department head was very informal and, given some of the other things we discussed, I'm sure he'd agree confidential; and I'm just not sure he would appreciate learning later that its contents -- at least in a way that would identify him -- ended-up here. If you insist on knowing which college and/or which program it is I suppose I could email him and ask him if I can quote him (with attribution) here... or privately via PM or email if nothing else.

Good luck!

So here's a question for the group: Let's say azusaheart got an AA or AS from Ashworth, as planned; and then got a BA from a regionally-accredited university that dared to accept her Ashworth AA or AS as requisite. In what ways, if any, do you believe s/he would be shooting himself/herself in the foot if s/he then got one of Ashworth's masters degrees -- particularly its MBA... but, really, any of them?

 

Liberty University accepts DETC earned credit. They offer numerous undergraduate degrees including Multidisciplinary Studies (choice of either 2 or 3 concentrations).

Pug

 

<<So here's a question for the group: Let's say azusaheart got an AA or AS from Ashworth, as planned; and then got a BA from a regionally-accredited university that dared to accept her Ashworth AA or AS as requisite. In what ways, if any, do you believe s/he would be shooting himself/herself in the foot if s/he then got one of Ashworth's masters degrees -- particularly its MBA... but, really, any of them?>>

I don't think someone would be shooting themselves in the foot at all. They would have proven themselves at the RA level with the undergraduate degree. A DETC graduate degree wouldn't enjoy the same utility as the RA, but I don't think it would be looked upon with much skeptism, especially since the undergrad was RA.

Pug

 

Thank you all for the input and advice. Thanks, Gregg, for sharing that conversation you had with the head of a B.A. department at an RA college. That was an eye-opener for me.

 

I would be willing to bet I could find a number of RA community colleges and RA senior colleges whose freshman psych classes are not so thorough as Ashworth's and would not met the above head's approval.

My wife is in the psych program at Ashworth. The courses are very, very thorough and remarkably current insofar as research. The brilliant psychologist Carol Tavris is the co-author of one of her texts. Tavris stands out in the community of psychology because of her no-nonesense attitudes regarding personal responsibility and her opposition to junk and fad psychology.

One of her most celebrated books is Psychobabble and Biobunk: Using Psychology to Think Critically about Issues in the News.

I applaud Ashworth for using the work of such progressives in the field!

 

<<Finally, even if you find a school that says it won't accept such degrees, press. And don't accept your first "no," which will come from someone who can't waive the policy anyway. >>

I totally agree! Sometimes the lower level admissions people don't even know the transfer policy of the school. This happened to me at Liberty University. I was on the phone with one of their admissions people and was told that Liberty only accepted credit from RA schools. I told the individual that the Liberty school catalog stated something to the contrary. Again I was told that only RA credits were accepted. I later spoke with a supervisor. The supervisor told me that students frequently work in the admissions office and are not always aware of specific school policies. She apologized for the misunderstanding and confirmed that credits earned at institutions whose accreditors are recognized by CHEA and USDE would be accepted...as stated in the school catalog.

Pug

 

Have your wife come and join us at the Ashworth Yahoo Group. We'd love to have her input over there. This group is for student camaraderie and motivational support. Here's the url to join:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ashworthcollege/

 

I was just checking out Ashworth's web site. Wow, $35 per month for an Associate's Degree in Marketing! Not bad. I'd be tempted to sign up for that today if I wasn't so paranoid about being able to transfer to an RA Bachelor's in Marketing program. I only have about 9 actual credits, and would prefer a degree in Journalism or Public Relations, but I could "get by" with a Marketing degree. Has anyone here had much success moving on to an RA BA from Ashworth or some other DETC-accredited school?

 

No doubt.

I don't think -- in fact, I know -- that the mystery department head to whom I referred earlier herein was unimpressed with the Ashworth Psych AS's psych content. His concern, I think, was that the curriculum wasn't sufficiently balanced with general education coursework -- you know... stuff like "Underwater Basketweaving" and other such classes that not only have nothing to do with the major, but which almost seem intended to put one off of it altogether; and which almost everyone hates having to take during the first two years of a BA or BS program.

I wonder if that's a question better asked of the people in the Yahoo Group to which azusaheart referred Jimmy's wife. I mean... silly me... but shouldn't at least someone in a Yahoo Group devoted to Ashworth College have that experience? Just sayin'.

 

My reservation in Ashworth's AS program is the fact that there aren't many of the general education classes that are core requirements in RA college degree programs. I believe that some Ashworth students take the extra general education classes with Education Direct. They offer in gen. ed. classes what Ashworth does not. Also, I believe that most of Education Direct's courses are ACE approved. I'm seriously thinking of CLEPing out of the gen. ed. classes I will need such as Natural Science and Social Science.

 

Sounds like a plan. But you know what you really should do first... just for grins...

...you should contact an RA school that you're fairly certain you'd like to apply to. Get to the head of the department of the program you'd like to enter and have a nice chat... as we talked about earlier, herein. Most importantly, get him/her to look at the curriculum of precisely the degree you're enrolled in on the Ashworth web site. Ask him/her to review it, course-by-course. Offer to send him/her tickets to a hockey game or to enroll him/her in Harry & David's "Fruit-of-th-Month Club" or something -- anything to get him/her to take it really seriously for a lousy hour or so. Get him/her to tell you, straight-up, what more, if anything, you'd need, on top of your Ashworth AS degree, to enter his/her program. Don't let him/her get away with, "well... you might need..." or anything that vague. Tell him/her that you're deadly serious about his/her program, but you need to know what else, if anything, besides your Ashworth AS degree, that you'll need to bring to the table. I confess to being very interested in hearing what someone like that would have to say about it.

Hey... wouldn't Tony Pina be able to comment on this with some degree of authority? He's like a cop or somethin'... never there when you... er... uh... oops... just kiddin', there, Bruce.

 

Liberty University (RA) offers a BA in Business with a concentration in marketing. They will accept your DETC credits.

Pug

 

I'm not agnostic, but I don't wan to take Bible classes as in order to obtain my degree. I have read on this board that Bellevue may accept an Ashworth associates. I think one would still have to CLEP out of some of the general education requirements, however.

I have never considered a DETC school before, but might if this would transfer to Bellevue's Marketing Management Bachelor's program. You can't beat that price, but then again, you get what you pay for, too.

 

I'm an insomniac, so I had a lot of time last night to do some Google searching to find out if Ashworth would be a worthwhile pursuit. I'm probably going to offend quite a few people here, but I've reached the conclusion a DETC-accredited school just isn't worth it, even at $35 a month for 22 months. If more RA schools accepted the transfer credit, it would be. I investigated a number of the schools on this list that has been floating around on this board, and found that only a couple of those MIGHT take the credit. Even some of those that do only do so on a provisional basis, and make you prove what you know by taking placement exams. Why jump through all those hoops, when you could simply take RA courses in the first place, albeit at a higher cost.

Too bad, I really hoped Ashworth might be a good inexpensive option.

Does anyone know of any DL program, other than the "Big 3" that has a monthly "pay as you go" plan similar to Ashworth, preferably at low cost? I'm talking about RA. I do plan to take a number of CLEPS and DANTES as well.

 

Try Education Direct. Some of their courses are ACE approved, which may help with RA transfer.

Education Direct