Pierpont CTC Accreditation Issue Resolved, Notice Removed

[Jonathan Whatley]

Effective June 25, 2026, Pierpont Community and Technical College’s status with its regional institutional accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission, changed from “Accredited – On Notice” to “Accredited.”

The Notice sanction, which the HLC had placed on June 27, 2024, was thereby removed. This restores Pierpont’s accreditation to normal good standing, a clean bill of health.

HLC took this action based on the institution’s ability to demonstrate it is no longer at risk of being out of compliance with HLC’s Criteria for Accreditation. It was placed on Notice in June 2024, when it was determined to be at risk of being out of compliance with HLC’s Criteria for Accreditation.

We have much less current discussion of Pierpont since their Board of Governors AAS program in 2024 added a residency requirement of 12 credits earned from Pierpont. Still, many DegreeForum members and friends are Pierpont BOG AAS alumni. Well-earned good news!

[ss20ts]

I wonder if this is why the 12 residency credits were added.

[Mint Berry Crunch]

I wonder if this is why the 12 residency credits were added.

My mom had all of her stuff submitted to Pierpont prior to the October 2024 close out date. I have tried to call and email them, but no response. I am still incredibly frustrated and she is still very much upset.

[newdegree]

Good to hear that I caught a Pierpoint BOG degree on the way out with my sophia credits just to bank them.

[bjcheung77]

Technically, for those who are in homeschool/high school, they can do dual enrollment. Continue with the ACE credits, and then apply to Pierpont for their AAS when they've met the requirements (residency and ACE requirements max transfer). Graduate with the AAS with an emphasis of your choice and apply to a Bachelors.

During the downtime or wait periods, you can max the 90+ ACE credits, and stackable certs, if you want towards a Bachelors, before you graduate from Pierpont. Essentially, a trifecta, you're getting the Bachelors requirements completed and getting these stacked certs, ACE credits, and the AAS on route to that Bachelors.

[hallowoptimism]

Technically, for those who are in homeschool/high school, they can do dual enrollment.  Continue with the ACE credits, and then apply to Pierpont for their AAS when they've met the requirements (residency and ACE requirements max transfer).  Graduate with the AAS with an emphasis of your choice and apply to a Bachelors.  

During the downtime or wait periods, you can max the 90+ ACE credits, and stackable certs, if you want towards a Bachelors, before you graduate from Pierpont.  Essentially, a trifecta, you're getting the Bachelors requirements completed and getting these stacked certs, ACE credits, and the AAS on route to that Bachelors.

Can you flesh this out for me a bit? I'm researching for my son who is currently in middle school, but I want to strategically plan his high school classes to graduate with a bachelors degree. I was looking at Pierpont bc their DE classes are cheaper than our local community college. Does Pierpont accept credit from say Sophia or Study? I was also looking at potentially aiming for an associates degree to be able to get in into UMPI sooner than age 20. Not meaning to hijack this thread, but I'd love to hear your idea more clearly laid out as I'm researching!

[Mint Berry Crunch]

Technically, for those who are in homeschool/high school, they can do dual enrollment.  Continue with the ACE credits, and then apply to Pierpont for their AAS when they've met the requirements (residency and ACE requirements max transfer).  Graduate with the AAS with an emphasis of your choice and apply to a Bachelors.  

During the downtime or wait periods, you can max the 90+ ACE credits, and stackable certs, if you want towards a Bachelors, before you graduate from Pierpont.  Essentially, a trifecta, you're getting the Bachelors requirements completed and getting these stacked certs, ACE credits, and the AAS on route to that Bachelors.

Can you flesh this out for me a bit? I'm researching for my son who is currently in middle school, but I want to strategically plan his high school classes to graduate with a bachelors degree. I was looking at Pierpont bc their DE classes are cheaper than our local community college. Does Pierpont accept credit from say Sophia or Study? I was also looking at potentially aiming for an associates degree to be able to get in into UMPI sooner than age 20. Not meaning to hijack this thread, but I'd love to hear your idea more clearly laid out as I'm researching!

Yes, they do. Back then it used to be 59 credits could be from alt sources and 1 credit had to be regionally accredited. People use to pay for a Sophia subscription for $99 or $75 when discounted sometimes, and $25 for ASU elearning for a 1 credit course for intro to technology, plus $300 to get it transcribed from ASU. That, and I believe $300 for graduation fees used to be enough to get you in and out the door with a BOG degree.

Now, an individual can transfer in 48 credits from a mix of places, but they have to do 12 credits (or 4 courses) with Pierpont. It's more expensive nowadays compared to only costing a few hundred bucks back then. It's not too bad for an associates if that's what you want to get, but there are far better options now in which case you can complete a Bachelors and receive an associates as a 2 for 1.

TESU may be a great option for your son if you want to do a BA - Computer Science, but you will have to do some residency credits with them, or pay a fee, but you can tack on an associates in mathematics for free upon completion of all course requirements for the Bachelors at TESU.

Several colleges in New Mexico offer significantly cheap associates programs like Tohono Oʼodham Community College (less $100 per credit) which allows you to transfer in courses from Sophia. Another option (which isn't mentioned a lot on here) is Snow College. It's a CBE school based out of Ephraim, Utah which costs $1700 for in-state, and $2,000 for out-of-state students seeking an associates degree. Then again, you have a 16-week subscription to complete the program. Relatively similar to UMPI in some ways.

TAMUC/ETAMU-C is another CBE-based program, costs $2k for out-of-state and $1k for in-state students for Texas. They have a few bachelor and master degrees that your son could do.