The Duggars and CollegePlus

[jenniferhc]

Straighterline certainly felt the need to send a representative here to respond and many of the people from this forum expressed their outrage on their Facebook page. They also sent direct messages to SL. If this forum does not include CP's target market, then how come they direct some of their students to IC? How come we have several students here who are/were CP customers? How come we have dozens of homeschooling mothers and young people who were homeschooled on this forum? An unscientific poll in the off-topic forum showed that barely most of the people here are over 25, but the largest, single age group was rather young.

I know. I read it all at the time. But this group alone did not sway SL. Like I said, if you want the full story there, call them and ask. Also? At that time (and still today in some circles) SL did not have nearly the name recognition of CP and so they still had to worry about even the smallest online negative presence. If they continue to grow, that may no longer be the case and this board could simply drop off their radar.

Some students come to (or are directed to) IC for specific exam help, the way they might go looking for any resource because they need additional prep materials. Others may ask more general questions as they come to this forum, because they want to. This is no different than if CP directed their students to Khan Academy. You are mistaking them suggesting IC as a resource to them viewing this forum as populated with such a high number of potential customers they haven't yet reached, that they need to worry about what you have to say about them.

Several? Dozens? This is a very small drop in the bucket compared to the number of homeschooling moms and students who belong to groups designed specifically for homeschooling teens using CBEs/online courses to earn degrees. (Heck, we have that many in our local CLEP prep co-op, and we just represent one smallish area of the country.) Do you know how often IC/DF is mentioned in the online groups? Not very often. And by not very often I mean, "three or four times a year." (And not at all in our local group, BTW.) CP will speak to more homeschoolers next week in one convention than IC will see in the next fifteen years, unless something very dramatic changes here. I have over 70 people already RSVPed to my next presentation, and while several of them will have at least heard of CP, it will be remarkable if even 2 of them have heard of IC/DF.

You will see homeschoolers come here the same way I see them come to my site every day, looking for free or cheap alternatives to CP. Those people, though, are also generally not CP's target market, either. They are not going after ALL homeschoolers, just those from families who can afford their services.

Sanantone, can we be done here? You aren't part of the homeschooling community and as such, you really don't understand it. That you would even think the tiny number of homeschoolers on this forum reading this thread would alone be enough to worry CP into rushing to change their site and fee structure, is clue enough that this is a business model out of your frame of reference and experience. Isn't it time you just let it go?