Ive seen this advertised a few times and was wondering if anyone has any feedback on them. They have an interesting court reporter program but it is a little higher in price then i wanted.

I think Penn Foster is only accredited to grant high school diplomas. I may be wrong about that. I am fairly certain any credits you get there would not be transferrable. If you developed a portfolio of what you learned while taking their course, that might be a valuable thing to show a prospective employer.

Hi -

Penn Foster is DETC (nationally) accredited - I know that covers their Associate Degree courses (about 20 of them) and you can check:

http://www.detc.org to make sure their vocational courses are covered. I can hardly imagine them NOT being accredited, as the degree programs are!

Their new name indicates their roots. Penn from Pennsylvania and Foster for the founder of ICS in the 1890s. Predecessor organizations were Thomson Education Direct and - originally I.C.S.

School has good rep and now they offer accredited Associate Degrees (2 yr) at about the lowest tuition you'll find. Another DETC-accredited school you might want to look into is Professional Career Development Institute. PCDI also runs Ashworth College for 2-year degrees. Last time I looked, tuition at both schools (for degree purposes) was in the same range.

No - I'm not on the payroll of any school. Check out as many as you cna find before you part with your money.

Johann

By "accredited", I mean regionally accredited, which would allow students to use Pell Grants and other forms of federal financial aid beyond DANTES to help pay for the education.

Regional accreditation is also usually a criteria for credits to transfer to 4-year schools.

I actually have looked at taking classes from Penn Foster for personal development. If you think at any time that you might want to get a 4-year degree, be aware that classes from your community college would probaby count but those from Penn Foster probably wouldn't, although with a good portfolio you still might get credit or advanced class status.

That's right, Penn Foster is nationally, not regionally accredited -BUT - I understand MOST of their individual courses for associate degrees are ACE reviewed, which (I believe) means that these individual courses qualify for credit at regionally accredited schools.

I don't know if this means ALL RA schools accept them or not. Maybe you know.

One Penn Foster student in another forum wrote he'd found something like 54 credits of his 60-odd hours Penn Foster degree program were ACE reviewed and he was told he'd have no trouble putting these credits towards a Bachelor's through - I forget which - TESC, COSC or Excelsior - the "Big 3 " Regionally-accredited distance programs.

In fact, I've read of people taking individual ACE-reviewed courses from Penn Foster (at something like $55 a credit hour) and using them for credit at the Regionally Accredited institutions named above, because it was a bargain way to go.

Of course you are perfectly correct about the financial aid differences and the NA to RA transfer (or non-transfer) situation of completed programs. But NA can still work well for many people - depending on their aims.

Thought I'd add this, for Technoflute Mom. I'm a fan of Community Colleges too. They do a fine job - I've graduated from two, here in Canada, since I hit 50.

The college-to-university transfer system is much more straightforward in the U.S. Here, it's piecemeal. If you have a two year College diploma (most provinces other than BC don't deal in associate degrees) you'll get credit for something, but who knows what! I know a college grad here who, after a thorough evaluation, was offered credit for two COURSES by one university, and credit for two YEARS by another.

This is common, but seems strange when you consider that they are BOTH governed by the (Provincial) Ministry of Colleges and Universities...but the Universities individually call the shots re: college credit.

Despite these anomalies, I'm a diehard fan of Community Colleges in both countries - great places to learn!

Johann

I am currently taking their AAS in Business Management and talked to my local state college (universty of Oregon), and they accept most of their credits, so I am okay with that.

I took my Mathematics class at PFC and had the credit transfered.

__________________
ShotoJuku +
Senior Moderator

Wow, johanne, that sounds hard to keep track of. I don't know why I assumed your transfer program would be more similar to ours.

Yes, Karenlyn, it can be hard to keep track of. Plus, it varies by Province.

In British Columbia, 2-year Associate Degrees can be earned at a Community College, just as in the U.S. Here in Ontario, up until not long ago, College always meant 2 to 3 years, and a Diploma, not a degree, on graduation.

It still does in many cases. However, there are some new wrinkles in very recent times. It is now possible to get a four-year degree (usually B. Tech.) by coming back after a 3-year tech. diploma and taking about 10 more courses. You can usually get the classes at your college, but the program is administered through a University.

There are also a small number of 2+2 programs, where you end up with a Diploma and a Degree - 2 years at College, followed by 2 at University. I've also seem a limited number of B.A.A. programs (Bachelor of Applied Arts) that take four years - one in Paralegal Studies. Also, recently there's a a B.Sc. in Nursing that starts at College as a regular Nursing program and is extended to 4 years to complete the degree component.

The sticky part, as I said before, is (in Ontario) getting credit for your college courses if you're not in a program like the above. (I got my diploma and 3 certs at night.) One good on-line option for us guys is Athabasca University in Alberta. I've seen people with good GPA's get "time served" (2 years) for their College diplomas there. Athabasca U. is pretty big in the DL market and is also U.S. Regionally Accredited, so they attract students from south of the border too.

Athabasca will probably get my money, when I have some to send 'em. I think two years "time served" is better than I could hope for with a U.S. school.

I do have 24 credits earned at my local bricks-and-mortar University (at night) but this particular school is notoriously skinflinty in granting credit for Community College studies - I might get 6 and I'd have to fight hard, so why bother?

Regards

Johann