MyWay Transfer Update: Non-degree awarding course provider

[SophiaPrincess]

Most if not all ACE providers such as Sophia.org and Study.com actually aren't DEAC accredited as they're not an institution, they're a course provider that has the DEAC AQC which is just a quality check, it's like being on COSC and TESU's approved provider lists, they've gone through 'registering' for these type of quality checks in addition to just ACE recommendation for credit.  An example of an institution that has DEAC accreditation and NCCRS recommendation for credit is Genesis University, thus these credits can be transferred to Excelsior, TESU and others such as UMPI, WGU that take NA or NCCRS credits.

Thank you for correcting me BJ. I have been misrepresenting Sophia as accredited by DEAC. I feel so foolish. I had hoped you were mistaken and checked with DEAC's website. They are NOT listed under accredited institutions but are listed as you described at https://www.deac.org/AQC/Approved-Providers.aspx#sophia .  I wondered why Sophia even mentioned ACE if they were DEAC accredited. Now I know why their ACE status is so important.

FYI, if they were DEAC accredited and not ACE-recommended, TESU wouldn't accept them. TESU doesn't accept NA credits. There is/was a similar situation with Penn Foster. They're NA-accredited, but TESU has only historically accepted their credits because of ACE-recommendation. Penn Foster seems to be dropping its ACE courses and leaning into its status as an NA degree provider, so future students won't be able to use Penn Foster credits at TESU any longer.

This is going to shock some members of the board but the US Department of Education reclassified all approved accreditors as national accreditors in 2019. The DOE no longer distinguishes between them. From what I understand, CHEA has followed suit. This means a school is free to seek accreditation from any of the former "regional" accreditors or the former national accreditors, not just the accreditor for their region. 
Universities still retain discretion over whom they admit but they can no longer discriminate against former national accreditors. I expect to see litigation regarding this, perhaps a class action.