Any experiences with Empire State College?

[jhmroc67]

Hello,

After researching my various options as an adult returning to college to complete a BA, I decided to apply to Empire State College. I'd appreciate hearing from any one else with Empire experience to share--good or bad.
Thanks!

[peace123]

I looked into Empire, I only made it as far as the application stage. I decided to go with Excelsior because it would require less classes for me to finish and also I liked the freedom of them not having a residency requirement.

I do want to say the HS diploma issue is not unique to Empire. I had looked into an associates degree for my son through AJU ( which is accredited by DETC, so they are an NA school). He finished his HS online through a religious school that was registered in the state of Florida to grant HS diploma's. So I thought an online college would make sense. They (AJU) would not accept his HS diploma, ( according to AJU, The Florida Department of Education does not accredit, regulate, approve, or license K-12 private schools. Additionally, the Florida Department of Education does not officially recognize any of the various agencies that accredit private schools.). So AJU said he would need to take the GED if he wanted to be accepted into the associates program. The fact that we had documentation from our state's (NY) educ dept saying it could be used to apply to a SUNY college, as his HS diploma was considered accredited to NYS made no difference. In the end we decided not to go the AJU route with him.

I did find it odd that anyone who received their HS diploma from a private school in Florida ( or California according to AJU), would need to get a GED to qualify to attend their college. But after reading your story I see it is not that unusual after all.

I guess what we need to remember in these types of issues (regarding admission)is that final say is always up to the admitting school. They set their policies in accordance to what they believe will best protect their accreditation.

[peace123]

One thing I wanted to add is I have spoken with people at my work who took courses through Empire and one who got a degree with them and they were pleased by the materials, courses and advisers.



Also, you will be getting a SUNY degree which has much name recognition in NY.