No luck with straighterline partner colleges.

[nnahh]

Park University isn't a partner college, but they accept ACE (not just for military btw, check their catalog).

They accept up to 90 credits from one source and have a 30 credit residency requirement. I believe 36 of the total credits must be upper level (which can include transferred work).

I think they give you credit according to their course codes, not necessarily based on the level you actually take the course. Certain classes like my CC Intro to Marketing transferred in as upper level credit. They even gave me UL credit for the free Insurance Ethics course even though it didn't fit into my degree plan, it was just counted towards the UL requirement.

[Life Long Learning]

Has anyone else had a hard time with straighterline partner colleges? 

I have been going through the list trying to find a good college but it seems that most of their partner colleges are reluctant to accept more than one or two straighterline courses and they don't want any of them to be GE or major related. I called straighterline to ask about this and the woman said "Our students call us all of the time saying that they took courses from us but the partner school they want to transfer to won't accept straighterline courses. We never know when one of our partner schools will stop accepting our courses." 

I know you are always supposed to check with the school first but it seems like better communication between straighterline and their partner colleges would help. Otherwise what is the point of having them?

Does anyone know of some partner colleges (either study.com or straighterline) that do accept a decent amount aside from the big 3? I know that no one will accept as many as the big 3 but even 30 or so credit hours would be amazing.

2 of my sons are using Franklin University (SL partner college).  They accept 20 classes (60 cr) from Straighterline.  Since SL courses are 100/200 level, they will not fill their major, however,  because of the imperfect way the business core and business electives fall (level not important, just meeting the requirement), I was able to arrange another 18 credits via their community college's certificate program that will transfer perfectly.  We do not have an evaluation to see if their other course credit transfers at all (TEEX, Sophia, random dual enrollment) but either way, they are both going to land really close to the full acceptable credit limit for that college- which in a perfect world would be 90 credits.  Know that they are earning BS degrees in Logistics, so other majors may be different- and for generic business or liberal arts majors, there's no reason not to use one of the big 3 and get a better transfer.  
For our purposes, anything better than 72 is a winner.  For their remaining credit, they will receive a SL partner scholarship for 10% off tuition, and both qualify for a Pell Grant, so after all the math, I'm totally good with their final price. The final price will be covered through employer reimbursement for a few thousand per year (we'll divide the remaining credits over TWO fiscal years for that purpose - which will be about 18 months in reality)   It is also possible, though not part of the equation, that they will qualify for additional scholarships once they matriculate, but that would just be icing on the cake.

I don't know how the other partner schools work- this one was the best suited for their major, but keep working.  It's like a jigsaw puzzle, and I would encourage you to keep trying the pieces from every direction - don't give up until you find a solution that fits your major, your goals, your budget, and your timeline.  The extra work and effort can save a lot of time and or money (though maybe not both).

Does Franklin University still require 30 SH from them?

[cookderosa]

Has anyone else had a hard time with straighterline partner colleges? 

I have been going through the list trying to find a good college but it seems that most of their partner colleges are reluctant to accept more than one or two straighterline courses and they don't want any of them to be GE or major related. I called straighterline to ask about this and the woman said "Our students call us all of the time saying that they took courses from us but the partner school they want to transfer to won't accept straighterline courses. We never know when one of our partner schools will stop accepting our courses." 

I know you are always supposed to check with the school first but it seems like better communication between straighterline and their partner colleges would help. Otherwise what is the point of having them?

Does anyone know of some partner colleges (either study.com or straighterline) that do accept a decent amount aside from the big 3? I know that no one will accept as many as the big 3 but even 30 or so credit hours would be amazing.

2 of my sons are using Franklin University (SL partner college).  They accept 20 classes (60 cr) from Straighterline.  Since SL courses are 100/200 level, they will not fill their major, however,  because of the imperfect way the business core and business electives fall (level not important, just meeting the requirement), I was able to arrange another 18 credits via their community college's certificate program that will transfer perfectly.  We do not have an evaluation to see if their other course credit transfers at all (TEEX, Sophia, random dual enrollment) but either way, they are both going to land really close to the full acceptable credit limit for that college- which in a perfect world would be 90 credits.  Know that they are earning BS degrees in Logistics, so other majors may be different- and for generic business or liberal arts majors, there's no reason not to use one of the big 3 and get a better transfer.  
For our purposes, anything better than 72 is a winner.  For their remaining credit, they will receive a SL partner scholarship for 10% off tuition, and both qualify for a Pell Grant, so after all the math, I'm totally good with their final price. The final price will be covered through employer reimbursement for a few thousand per year (we'll divide the remaining credits over TWO fiscal years for that purpose - which will be about 18 months in reality)   It is also possible, though not part of the equation, that they will qualify for additional scholarships once they matriculate, but that would just be icing on the cake.

I don't know how the other partner schools work- this one was the best suited for their major, but keep working.  It's like a jigsaw puzzle, and I would encourage you to keep trying the pieces from every direction - don't give up until you find a solution that fits your major, your goals, your budget, and your timeline.  The extra work and effort can save a lot of time and or money (though maybe not both).

Does Franklin University still require 30 SH from them?

yes - which is essentially your major.

[gremlinbrawler]

Are you looking at specific colleges or universities? Or are you just wanting to know who would take over 30 credits from SL? Most schools will accept 30 credits of non traditional credits, you'll be lucky finding some that take 60-90.

Yes I'm looking at some pretty specific universities. My cousin wants to study graphic design at a brick and mortar college in California. But he wants to accelerate the first two years of his degree if possible so that is why we are looking into all of the straight-line and study.com partner schools around here.

---

Has anyone else had a hard time with straighterline partner colleges? 

I have been going through the list trying to find a good college but it seems that most of their partner colleges are reluctant to accept more than one or two straighterline courses and they don't want any of them to be GE or major related. I called straighterline to ask about this and the woman said "Our students call us all of the time saying that they took courses from us but the partner school they want to transfer to won't accept straighterline courses. We never know when one of our partner schools will stop accepting our courses." 

I know you are always supposed to check with the school first but it seems like better communication between straighterline and their partner colleges would help. Otherwise what is the point of having them?

Does anyone know of some partner colleges (either study.com or straighterline) that do accept a decent amount aside from the big 3? I know that no one will accept as many as the big 3 but even 30 or so credit hours would be amazing.

2 of my sons are using Franklin University (SL partner college).  They accept 20 classes (60 cr) from Straighterline.  Since SL courses are 100/200 level, they will not fill their major, however,  because of the imperfect way the business core and business electives fall (level not important, just meeting the requirement), I was able to arrange another 18 credits via their community college's certificate program that will transfer perfectly.  We do not have an evaluation to see if their other course credit transfers at all (TEEX, Sophia, random dual enrollment) but either way, they are both going to land really close to the full acceptable credit limit for that college- which in a perfect world would be 90 credits.  Know that they are earning BS degrees in Logistics, so other majors may be different- and for generic business or liberal arts majors, there's no reason not to use one of the big 3 and get a better transfer.  
For our purposes, anything better than 72 is a winner.  For their remaining credit, they will receive a SL partner scholarship for 10% off tuition, and both qualify for a Pell Grant, so after all the math, I'm totally good with their final price. The final price will be covered through employer reimbursement for a few thousand per year (we'll divide the remaining credits over TWO fiscal years for that purpose - which will be about 18 months in reality)   It is also possible, though not part of the equation, that they will qualify for additional scholarships once they matriculate, but that would just be icing on the cake.

I don't know how the other partner schools work- this one was the best suited for their major, but keep working.  It's like a jigsaw puzzle, and I would encourage you to keep trying the pieces from every direction - don't give up until you find a solution that fits your major, your goals, your budget, and your timeline.  The extra work and effort can save a lot of time and or money (though maybe not both).

That is all very good to know! Thank you. 

I'm currently helping my cousin who is looking at some very limited options because he wants to do graphic design at a brick and mortar school in California. But he only wants to study what is related to his major in class and he is hoping to do a lot of the rest by exam.

Probably none of these suggestions will work for what we are looking for right now (and I didm't expect them to) but the reason I wanted to ask this question is so that I would have a better idea of how reliable the SL partner schools are for anyone else that asks me in the future. 

I'm very glad to hear that there are some decent options aside from the big 3. I graduated from TESU this year almost entirely by exam and now a lot of my friends and family are wanting to implement credit by exam after seeing how much it helped me. But they all of course have different major and career goals so I want to know what other good options are out there aside from the big 3 for the more uncommon majors that the big 3 don't offer. 

 Thanks so much for your help (and thanks everyone else too!)

[rlw74]

Are you looking for B&M or online options? There are so many colleges, its hard to narrow it down without knowing the major or if you are limited to a particular geographic area. One college near me in OH, a private Christian school, accepts a combination of 30 credits from SL or CLEP. But their tuition is ridiculously high (30k+ per year) so not sure it matters. It might be better to take CLEP courses since colleges seem to be more familiar with those credits. But there, the options are kind of limited. The Big 3 is the safest bet for taking a huge chunk of classes that will be accepted.

I agree, SL should be more proactive on this. However, I don't think colleges are real progressive in helping students find alternative credit or assisting them in knowing what will transfer beforehand. I'm currently looking into colleges for my 13 year old. Our school system offers the option to take college courses concurrently with high school classes so you can graduate with an Associates by the time you get your high school diploma. Its bonus because there is no cost for these classes. However, they don't allow everyone to do this. You have to have a certain GPA and you can't start the process until you are in high school. I'm hesitant to get her started on SL or any of the other providers without knowing what colleges will accept four years from now and I don't think the Big 3 will appeal to her otherwise I would get her started right away.

[dfrecore]

[quote pid='244452' dateline='1508282554']
That is all very good to know! Thank you. 

I'm currently helping my cousin who is looking at some very limited options because he wants to do graphic design at a brick and mortar school in California. But he only wants to study what is related to his major in class and he is hoping to do a lot of the rest by exam.

Probably none of these suggestions will work for what we are looking for right now (and I didm't expect them to) but the reason I wanted to ask this question is so that I would have a better idea of how reliable the SL partner schools are for anyone else that asks me in the future. 

I'm very glad to hear that there are some decent options aside from the big 3. I graduated from TESU this year almost entirely by exam and now a lot of my friends and family are wanting to implement credit by exam after seeing how much it helped me. But they all of course have different major and career goals so I want to know what other good options are out there aside from the big 3 for the more uncommon majors that the big 3 don't offer. 

 Thanks so much for your help (and thanks everyone else too!)
[/quote]

If you want a specific degree at a certain subset of colleges, it's much better to work backwards.  Find out what the school(s) will take, and then use that info.  For example, if your cousin is interested in a UC school, they won't take CLEP, DSST, ACE, anything out of the ordinary.  AP and IB is all you can do, along with CC credits.  But a CSU school will take CLEP and some DSST, but no ACE - so that's where you can get the most bang for your buck.  Also, they will only take 30cr or so, and very specific CLEP/DSST exams, so you really need to plan that out before spending the money on the exams (for example, forget taking the English Comp CLEP's, almost no CSU will take either of them).

UC/CSU's also have specific agreements with CC's, so an AA/AS won't just automatically block transfer.  You have to carefully plan out the 60cr+ that you want to transfer.  The good news is you can take about 80cr at a CC, leaving only 40 to take at the UC/CSU if you're lucky (depends on the major).

[a2jc4life]

Ashford takes a chunk (although their listed course equivalencies are outdated as of this catalog). Let me see if I can find the numbers.

"A maximum of 90 credits of combined nontraditional learning, prior learning, and transfer credits may be accepted and applied toward the 120 credits required
for a Bachelor’s degree."
"Within the 90 credit maximum, a maximum of 75 credits of nontraditional credit, including a maximum of 30 credits of prior learning may be applied toward degree completion. These 75 credits can be any combination of acceptable types of nontraditional credit."
"Within the 75 credit nontraditional maximum, a maximum of nine (9) nontraditional credits may be applied toward the major requirements (including additional majors). Nontraditional credits may also apply up to a maximum of 50% of the requirements for a minor or specialization or 100% of the
requirements for a transfer concentration. The content of nontraditional credits must be comparable to the content of the replaced course."

I'm told that the unofficial credit assessment is overly cautious, but I'll believe that when I see it. (I should be able to update in a couple of months.) I assume, based on this information, that I can actually transfer in as many classes as I want, but I'll have to take at least 30 Ashford credits toward the degree, and at least a total of 45 traditional credits (including those).