Distance Learning Systems - Ouch, too costly

[bjcheung77]

I don't know how they got to me by email, but they sent me an email with some info about classes/courses that are ACE recommended for credit.

I would NOT chose them as the courses are EXPENSIVE.   Link: https://dlsii.com/admission/programcost/...arison.php

They do have some courses that aren't found elsewhere for cheap, but come to think of it, most if not all are found on Study.com already.

[rachel83az]

Most of their courses duplicate CLEP exams. Even without ModernStates paying for exams, it's a bit ridiculous to base their catalog entirely on GE credits that have more popular and more widely-accepted options.

[innen_oda]

But if you need 'Beer and Wine in Western Culture' for transfer and you can't find it anyplace else, DLS has it.

Most of their courses duplicate CLEP exams. Even without ModernStates paying for exams, it's a bit ridiculous to base their catalog entirely on GE credits that have more popular and more widely-accepted options.

This sounds even worse: 'You will get access to the lectures, Instructor, e-book, extra resources, quizzes and assignments as soon as you enroll in a course. You will then get access to each week’s material the Friday before the week starts.'
So it's similar to other places but more expensive . . . AND isn't self-paced?

[dfrecore]

$263.33/cr and it's ACE?? And you can get at least 50% of these free from MS/CLEP? And the remaining ones via DSST for $89+fees, and a few via UExcel (RA credit). Or TECEP's (RA).

Let's not forget, you can get the "nursing" courses through Portage Learning/Geneva College (RA) for just $198/cr. Self-paced.

I don't even know why this place exists...the Beer course is literally the ONLY thing that is not available through the usual places...and you can probably find it at a CC for less...

[ss20ts]

$263.33/cr and it's ACE?? And you can get at least 50% of these free from MS/CLEP?  And the remaining ones via DSST for $89+fees, and a few via UExcel (RA credit). Or TECEP's (RA).

Let's not forget, you can get the "nursing" courses through Portage Learning/Geneva College (RA) for just $198/cr.  Self-paced.

I don't even know why this place exists...the Beer course is literally the ONLY thing that is not available through the usual places...and you can probably find it at a CC for less...

That's REALLY pricy for ACE credit. For $226.88 a credit, you can attend Fort Hayes State University which would give you RA credit which is more valuable if you're looking to attend TESU or COSC due to the RA credit requirements.

I wonder how long they've had this price and how many students they've had. Sophia used to be something like $349 per class then it became free for like 6 months when the pandemic started. Then they gave users a chance to buy a year long membership for $150 and it included a year long free membership for a friend. Now it's $79 a month. I'm sure waaaaaaay more people are using it for $79 a month than people did when it was $349 per class. For $349 a class, many state schools especially community colleges are cheaper.

[dfrecore]

$263.33/cr and it's ACE?? And you can get at least 50% of these free from MS/CLEP?  And the remaining ones via DSST for $89+fees, and a few via UExcel (RA credit). Or TECEP's (RA).

Let's not forget, you can get the "nursing" courses through Portage Learning/Geneva College (RA) for just $198/cr.  Self-paced.

I don't even know why this place exists...the Beer course is literally the ONLY thing that is not available through the usual places...and you can probably find it at a CC for less...

That's REALLY pricy for ACE credit. For $226.88 a credit, you can attend Fort Hayes State University which would give you RA credit which is more valuable if you're looking to attend TESU or COSC due to the RA credit requirements.

I wonder how long they've had this price and how many students they've had. Sophia used to be something like $349 per class then it became free for like 6 months when the pandemic started. Then they gave users a chance to buy a year long membership for $150 and it included a year long free membership for a friend. Now it's $79 a month. I'm sure waaaaaaay more people are using it for $79 a month than people did when it was $349 per class. For $349 a class, many state schools especially community colleges are cheaper.

Let's not even forget, all of these courses are LL.  So you can go to any number of CC's for less; plus a few 4yr schools.

Again, I'm not seeing the point of this provider at all.

Looks like they're fairly new - they got a group of their courses ACE-recommended in Nov 1, 2020, and then another group March 1, 2021. They had some in 2017, all of which have expired...

I wonder why we haven't heard of them before?

[innen_oda]

I don't even know why this place exists...the Beer course is literally the ONLY thing that is not available through the usual places...and you can probably find it at a CC for less...

I'd love to see similar ACE courses like the beer & wine course. Instead of ACE provider #927464 bringing out yet another boring generic course collection of intro to psych, intro to sociology, us history I and II, macroeconomics, eng comp I and II, etc etc, why not have 'Chocolate in Western Culture' or 'Cumin in Eastern Culture' or 'Intro to Permaculture'? I might not pay $75/cr for a 'typical' ACE course, I'd absolutely consider it for something that is interesting and unique. Some of them I might not even care if they fit into my course plan, and would simply take them in genuine interest.

Of course, at DLS' pricing of $260/cr, this is all moot anyway. If it was $200/cr and RA, it'd be worth consideration.

Sophia used to be something like $349 per class

Sophia could charge a premium because their format was uniquely excellent, and they had a few rare offerings - though even then, I think most of us waited for the $99/course sales anyway.


Providers need to realise that they need to either compete on price, on convenience, or on offerings. If it's not very cheap (e.g. TEL and ONU at $50-67/cr for RA), very convenient (ASU's EA, which is super user friendly and makes it easy to add and audit courses), very diverse (SDC which offers a massive range, and Sophia which has most of the basics, plus quite a few courses not found elsewhere), no one's going to bother.

[rachel83az]

I think that they're stuck on "everyone needs gen eds, so we'll offer gen eds". That's not a bad idea, per se, but even within gen eds there is some wiggle room. Something like "the history of the railroad in the US" could be quite popular among some students while possibly serving as a US History credit at some schools.

[innen_oda]

'History of the Railroad in the US' in place of US Hist I, and 'History of the Automobile in the US' in place of US Hist II would probably be a much more useful context for understanding the genesis of the America we know today.

[Johann]

Indeed. Good areas for advanced scholarship, too. I remember an article about an 80+ year-old British man who had just completed his Doctorate (at Oxford, IIRC) on 19th-C historical aspects of railways in UK.