Basic question about Study.com, Saylor.org, Shmoop, and other ACE credits services

[allvia]

As for Saylor, Straighterline, Aleks etc, you add your credits to the ACE credit register, and ACE will transfer it to your desired university. So, your credit records will always be with ACE, even if you canceled your membership eithbthese oroviders. Saylor has no membership fee, so nothing to cancel. As for study.com, I asked them this question. And they said that even if I canceled my membership, they would be preserving my credits just like any normal school would. So, you can cancel your membership after you have completed the required courses.

Thank you for your reply, so i need ACE account, or being enrolled in some college? I was thinking about getting some credits before enrolling in college, is this posbile?

It is recommended that for any ACE recommended course you add it to your ACE transcript - even if the school you end up attending wants the transcripts send directly from the provider (such as the case with TESU and Study.com). Having them on the ACE transcript protects you many years down the road should a provider shutdown and you need to prove you indeed took Bio I w/lab someday (for example) - ACE would be your official transcript for that.

You didn't ask about NCCRS but since many of the providers we talk about here offer courses through both ACE and NCCRS it is important to note that courses that are only NCCRS - those transcripts must come direct from the provider, as there is no centralized transcript service for NCCRS credits. In example Saylor offers some courses that are both ACE/NCCRS, some that are only ACE, and some that are only NCCRS.  Also be aware that in the cases of those that are both ACE/NCCRS they may be evaluated at different levels (LL vs UL) - in example 'Business-301' may be ACE reviewed as LL, but NCCRS evaluates it as UL; this may determine which transcript you choose to send to the school you're getting your degree from.  In the end LL/UL credit granted is determined by the school - and can vary from school to school.