Online Degrees and CLEP and DSST Exam Prep Discussion
Possible misrepresentation of the new COSC policy - Printable Version

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Possible misrepresentation of the new COSC policy - openair - 07-04-2020

I had a chance to speak with an admissions person from Charter Oak State College. When I asked about the new policy of requiring students to take 30 regionally accredited credits (24 to be exact, since the other 6 cr. come from them), he said that it was a misrepresentation. That's not what the policy states. This policy only applies to non-regionally accredited alternative course providers. Things like CLEP would still be accepted, as it is not an alternative course provider. Some of the people on this board have likely misunderstood the new policy. So, I just wanted to clarify things after the conversation. I should have asked about other things besides CLEP, since he only gave that example of a non-regionally accredited but fully accepted coursework/exams. Would DSST qualify as well? What about UExcel, or TECEP? However, I don't think that they would be treated as alt. course providers. This would make the pool of possible transfer-ready coursework/exams much wider.


RE: Possible misrepresentation of the new COSC policy - Cofffeee - 07-04-2020

(07-04-2020, 07:05 AM)openair Wrote: I had a chance to speak with an admisisons person from Charter Oak State College. When I asked about the new policy of requiring students to take 30 regionally accredited credits (24 to be exact, since the other 6 cr. come from them), he said that it was a misrepresentation. That's not what the policy states. This policy only applies to non-regionally accredited alternative course providers. Things like CLEP would still be accepted, as it is not an alternative course provider. Some of the people on this board have likely misunderstood the new policy. So, I just wanted to clarify things after the conversation. I should have asked about other things besides CLEP, since he only gave that example of a non-regionally accredited but fully accepted coursework/exams. Would DSST qualify as well? What about UExcel, or TECEP? However, I don't think that they would be treated as alt. course providers. This would make the pool of possible transfer-ready coursework/exams much wider.
TECEP is considered RA credit

(07-04-2020, 09:51 AM)Cofffeee Wrote:
(07-04-2020, 07:05 AM)openair Wrote: I had a chance to speak with an admisisons person from Charter Oak State College. When I asked about the new policy of requiring students to take 30 regionally accredited credits (24 to be exact, since the other 6 cr. come from them), he said that it was a misrepresentation. That's not what the policy states. This policy only applies to non-regionally accredited alternative course providers. Things like CLEP would still be accepted, as it is not an alternative course provider. Some of the people on this board have likely misunderstood the new policy. So, I just wanted to clarify things after the conversation. I should have asked about other things besides CLEP, since he only gave that example of a non-regionally accredited but fully accepted coursework/exams. Would DSST qualify as well? What about UExcel, or TECEP? However, I don't think that they would be treated as alt. course providers. This would make the pool of possible transfer-ready coursework/exams much wider.
TECEP is considered RA credit
Just for international student be aware.  To take TECEP by itself you still must provide TOEFL first.


RE: Possible misrepresentation of the new COSC policy - openair - 07-04-2020

(07-04-2020, 09:51 AM)Cofffeee Wrote:
(07-04-2020, 07:05 AM)openair Wrote: I had a chance to speak with an admisisons person from Charter Oak State College. When I asked about the new policy of requiring students to take 30 regionally accredited credits (24 to be exact, since the other 6 cr. come from them), he said that it was a misrepresentation. That's not what the policy states. This policy only applies to non-regionally accredited alternative course providers. Things like CLEP would still be accepted, as it is not an alternative course provider. Some of the people on this board have likely misunderstood the new policy. So, I just wanted to clarify things after the conversation. I should have asked about other things besides CLEP, since he only gave that example of a non-regionally accredited but fully accepted coursework/exams. Would DSST qualify as well? What about UExcel, or TECEP? However, I don't think that they would be treated as alt. course providers. This would make the pool of possible transfer-ready coursework/exams much wider.
TECEP is considered RA credit

(07-04-2020, 09:51 AM)Cofffeee Wrote:
(07-04-2020, 07:05 AM)openair Wrote: I had a chance to speak with an admisisons person from Charter Oak State College. When I asked about the new policy of requiring students to take 30 regionally accredited credits (24 to be exact, since the other 6 cr. come from them), he said that it was a misrepresentation. That's not what the policy states. This policy only applies to non-regionally accredited alternative course providers. Things like CLEP would still be accepted, as it is not an alternative course provider. Some of the people on this board have likely misunderstood the new policy. So, I just wanted to clarify things after the conversation. I should have asked about other things besides CLEP, since he only gave that example of a non-regionally accredited but fully accepted coursework/exams. Would DSST qualify as well? What about UExcel, or TECEP? However, I don't think that they would be treated as alt. course providers. This would make the pool of possible transfer-ready coursework/exams much wider.
TECEP is considered RA credit
Just for international student be aware.  To take TECEP by itself you still must provide TOEFL first.

Yeah. If this is confirmed, TECEP would likely be accepted as part of the 24-credit requirement (you just have to remember about the TOEFL thing, if you're an international student, as you said). I've posted this stuff becouse I've noticed that people might be signing-up for regular semester-long regionally accredited college and university classes in order to meet a requirement that doesn't appear to exist. This requirement  can be handled through various exams, (It would just be nice if someone added a specific list of accepted exams that don't fall under the "alternative education provider" rubric) foreign credit, etc. Theoretically, you don't need any regionally accredited credit (except for COSC's own) to graduate.


RE: Possible misrepresentation of the new COSC policy - dfrecore - 07-04-2020

CLEP, DSST and AP are all ACE-recommended for credit, so unless COSC specifically says that they will take those outside of ACE (meaning they're not counted in the 90cr limit), I'm not sure this is correct.

TECEP and UExcel exams are already RA, so those shouldn't count.

I’d want someone in charge at COSC to specifically say “CLEP, DSST & ACE will not count against the 90cr limit for ACE/NCCRS. So you could bring in 90cr of ACE/NCCRS, then an additional 24cr of CLEP, DSST and/or AP exam credit."


RE: Possible misrepresentation of the new COSC policy - openair - 07-04-2020

(07-04-2020, 03:06 PM)dfrecore Wrote: CLEP, DSST and AP are all ACE-recommended for credit, so unless COSC specifically says that they will take those outside of ACE (meaning they're not counted in the 90cr limit), I'm not sure this is correct.

TECEP and UExcel exams are already RA, so those shouldn't count.

I’d want someone in charge at COSC to specifically say “CLEP, DSST & ACE will not count against the 90cr limit for ACE/NCCRS. So you could bring in 90cr of ACE/NCCRS, then an additional 24cr of CLEP, DSST and/or AP exam credit."

It's hard to say with AP and DSST. The admissions guy only assured me that CLEP falls outside the new restrictions and that they won't actualy require one to collect 24/30 cr. from regionally accredited sources. You just can't have an all alt-provider transfer (they don't consider CLEP to be an alternative education provider source). I also think that they should have made it more clear. I am not surprised by the different interpretations of the new policy.


RE: Possible misrepresentation of the new COSC policy - Merlin - 07-04-2020

(07-04-2020, 03:28 PM)openair Wrote:
(07-04-2020, 03:06 PM)dfrecore Wrote: CLEP, DSST and AP are all ACE-recommended for credit, so unless COSC specifically says that they will take those outside of ACE (meaning they're not counted in the 90cr limit), I'm not sure this is correct.

TECEP and UExcel exams are already RA, so those shouldn't count.

I’d want someone in charge at COSC to specifically say “CLEP, DSST & ACE will not count against the 90cr limit for ACE/NCCRS. So you could bring in 90cr of ACE/NCCRS, then an additional 24cr of CLEP, DSST and/or AP exam credit."

It's hard to say with AP and DSST. The admissions guy only assured me that CLEP falls outside the new restrictions and that they won't actualy require one to collect 24/30 cr. from regionally accredited sources. You just can't have an all alt-provider transfer (they don't consider CLEP to be an alternative education provider source). I also think that they should have made it more clear. I am not surprised by the different interpretations of the new policy.

Be careful when listening to admissions people. They are not always the best source of truth when it comes to things like credit evaluations or policy interpretation. Their job is to make the school look as good as possible so you will enroll and pay tuition. Since the published policy disagrees with this interpretation, I'd like to see an official statement from someone in the COSC registrar and/or a member of the transcript evaluations team that agrees with this interpretation before I take it for truth. Particularly given CLEP is just ACE credit provided by a different alt. ed. provider.

In any case, even if the admissions person is correct, that doesn't change anything. CLEP/DSST isn't really an option right now since they don't allow online proctoring and test centers aren't likely to reopen for quite some time. Not to mention they don't offer upper-division credit. Based on trends we're seeing on the forum, more people are looking to complete all their credit from online alt. credit providers than from CLEP or DSST exams even before COVID hit, so if they don't accept 113+ credits from alt. ed. providers, they aren't likely to be the first-choice option for many students, and not really a full-time member of the big 3 anymore.


RE: Possible misrepresentation of the new COSC policy - openair - 07-04-2020

Regardless of the proper interpretation, the policy does undermine their big three status. I agree on that score. I am also skeptical of admissions people. I am still forced to rely on their knowledge. If it turns out (that's still an 'if'' and notice that my thread is titled 'possible misrepresentation') that popular exams for credit are exempt from this whole new policy, it would provide some kind of relief without providing full satisfaction to people who feel seriously let down by their new move. It would still be a significant obstacle to navigate the process of credit matching with the exams for credit. On top of that, the pandemic may be a cause for even more frustration with the process, as you pointed out.

If you look up their newly revised "Acceptance of Undergraduate Credits from Other Institutions" page, it does appear that they clearly distinguish between "credits from non-collegiate course providers" (Study.com, Saylor, Sophia, etc.) and "Credit by exam" where CLEP, AP and DSST are distinguished from "all other exams offered by alternative educational providers." That should ideally provide some clues to interpreting the new policy.


RE: Possible misrepresentation of the new COSC policy - dfrecore - 07-05-2020

(07-04-2020, 08:39 PM)Merlin Wrote: Based on trends we're seeing on the forum, more people are looking to complete all their credit from online alt. credit providers than from CLEP or DSST exams even before COVID hit, so if they don't accept 113+ credits from alt. ed. providers, they aren't likely to be the first-choice option for many students, and not really a full-time member of the big 3 anymore.

I still say they are one of the Big 3 until they no longer accept 114cr of transfer, and require more than 6cr in residency.  Once they require 30cr in residency like most schools, THEN they'll be out.  But until then, they are just a bit more difficult for SOME people to get the credits, but really, I think most people on this forum already have some credit, maybe from past schools.

Also, they're the only one of the Big 3 that requires a lab science.  Does this make it a bit more difficult to meet the GE requirement? Yes.  But does that mean that because of this requirement, they aren't one of the Big 3? No.  It's just an obstacle to be overcome in their process.  It's like TESU's residency waiver, or EC's Enrollment fee - something that makes it more difficult for some to overcome, but it's not impossible.


RE: Possible misrepresentation of the new COSC policy - Merlin - 07-05-2020

(07-05-2020, 01:20 AM)dfrecore Wrote: I still say they are one of the Big 3 until they no longer accept 114cr of transfer, and require more than 6cr in residency.  Once they require 30cr in residency like most schools, THEN they'll be out.  But until then, they are just a bit more difficult for SOME people to get the credits, but really, I think most people on this forum already have some credit, maybe from past schools.

Also, they're the only one of the Big 3 that requires a lab science.  Does this make it a bit more difficult to meet the GE requirement? Yes.  But does that mean that because of this requirement, they aren't one of the Big 3? No.  It's just an obstacle to be overcome in their process.  It's like TESU's residency waiver, or EC's Enrollment fee - something that makes it more difficult for some to overcome, but it's not impossible.

I see the 24 RA credit requirement as much more of a block to big 3 status than the requirement for a science lab course. The lab is inconvenient but can be overcome with extra money via online options. Coming up with 24 RA credits is a showstopper for people who don't have prior RA credit to bring in. I don't have any data to back this up, but just based on posts, it feels to me that the majority of new people are effectively starting from scratch. Even if it isn't the majority, my guess is that most people who come to this forum are not coming in with 24 or more prior RA credits that will meet the transfer requirements for COSC.

For the people who are coming in with zero RA credits, there is no difference between COSC and any other school that has a 30 credit residency requirement. This includes anyone coming from an NA school or who have only earned ACE/NCCRS credits. It may also include foreign school transfers.

I still see a big 3, but I see COSC and WGU as making up half of a school each. WGU and COSC both have a 30 credit residency requirement in my perspective, but with the recent change in accepted providers, WGU accepts more alt. ed. transfer options than COSC. Then again COSC is easier to match prior credits to in transfer. So its a wash.


RE: Possible misrepresentation of the new COSC policy - Cofffeee - 07-05-2020

If you think about it. You must have 30 RA credits. So it doesnt differentiate COSC much from most of other institutions in this situation. It doesnt make much difference if you have to take them at COSC or bring them in. You still have to get them. In this situation some RA Universities with competency-based options are much more attractive than COSC. (Including price too)