COSC New Policy - Transfer Credit Updated Info

[dfrecore]

Has the big three status been preserved? Barely. They are putting up ever-increasing and more ridiculous obstacles on the educational path of non-traditional students. At a certain point, the "generous" transfer policy will be littered with so many obstacles and caveats that the standard single school 30-credit requirement will look like a smaller and more straightforward challenge to tackle.

I'll bite: which of these do you consider to be a "ridiculous obstacle"?

1. Fulfill general education requirements, including their Cornerstone course

2. Fulfill the requirements for a concentration, including their Capstone course.

3. Earn 24 more credits from COSC itself, regionally accredited transfer credit, TECEP exams, NYU language exams, or UExcel exams.

4. Earn 90 more credits from (3) or from a very wide variety of ACE approved providers, including AP, CLEP, DSST. StraighterLine, Sophia, SDC, or other non-traditional sources.

5. At least 30 of those 120 credits must be upper division.

6. At least 60 of those 120 credits must be liberal arts.

By ridiculous obstacle, I did not mean that it's almost impossible to meet these requirements. I've meant to say that they are putting totally unnecessary limits and caps on credit, which works against non-traditional students and simply prolongs their education. I am surprised that the policy is unveiled during a pandemic that has resulted in the closing of exam centers throughout the world. Secondly, it is out of step with all the recent trends in online education and the increasing role of non-collegiate yet ACE approved education providers. It's an attempt to curtail and limit their role. Thirdly, I am skeptical of the COSC ACE credit acceptance policy itself. Based on the official Sophia page (just an example), COSC accepts the least amount of credit from the big three. We'll see how that works out for the people who bring in the 90 ACE college credit recommendations and whether they won't be at a significant disadvantage compared to students from TESU and Excelsior.  How many of these credits will actually be accepted? Without published results, we are still speculating. And did they really have such a hard time with incorporating more Sophia credit into their programs compared with other regionally accredited schools? Excelsior takes 29 Sophia courses (of course, depending on the program) , but COSC potentially accepts only 19 courses. Why such a big difference? Of course, I am not challenging their right to set their own policy in that regard. But I can also provide a critique as a an observer. They are making it harder for alt-credit provider users. It isn't just done by putting up a 30 regional college credit requirement. It can also be done by eliminating potential ACE credit (for example, 1 year of a popular alt course provider ACE credit). This does sound like putting up way more obstacles than the other schools.

The COSC transfer guide for Sophia is not current, they accept more courses than are listed.  Same with TESU.  So that's not going to be an issue, things will transfer in as you'd expect them to.

I don't think their main goal is to make things easy for Alt-credit users, because I don't think it's a very large percentage of their students.  MOST students at any school are starting from scratch or bringing in credits from other schools.  We are the outliers here, and are a tiny fraction of who they normally deal with.

[SteveFoerster]

I don't think their main goal is to make things easy for Alt-credit users, because I don't think it's a very large percentage of their students.  MOST students at any school are starting from scratch or bringing in credits from other schools.  We are the outliers here, and are a tiny fraction of who they normally deal with.

Exactly right. I don't know anyone on the Alumni board who did as much non-traditional credit as a lot of the people on this forum, and those in Charter Oak's administration were focused on the revenue needed for sustainability even before the pandemic... and 114'ers don't bring much.

[openair]

I don't think their main goal is to make things easy for Alt-credit users, because I don't think it's a very large percentage of their students.  MOST students at any school are starting from scratch or bringing in credits from other schools.  We are the outliers here, and are a tiny fraction of who they normally deal with.

Exactly right. I don't know anyone on the Alumni board who did as much non-traditional credit as a lot of the people on this forum, and those in Charter Oak's administration were focused on the revenue needed for sustainability even before the pandemic... and 114'ers don't bring much.

Sure. They need the money for the operations. But then don't try to provide some lofty justifications for the whole thing. It's only so many credits, and everyone already has them. No, it's a money grab. It's a whole year of excluded credit and potentially more with specific ACE credit rejections. They just couldn't care less about non-trad students and their study tracks.  In the future, they might even throw them under the bus without looking back at their big three commitment.

[ss20ts]

Sure. They need the money for the operations. But then don't try to provide some lofty justifications for the whole thing. It's only so many credits, or whatever. No, it's a money grab. It's a whole year of excluded credit and potentially more with specific ACE credit rejections. They just couldn't care less about non-trad students and their study tracks.  In the future, they might even throw them under the bus without looking back at their big three commitment.

Instead of looking at the negative, maybe try to find the positive. The fact that there is even one college where this type of study is even possible is amazing. There's currently 3 well known colleges for this type of studying. That's pretty amazing. Colleges all need to make a profit to stay in business. No money = closing the doors. Then where will people like us be? The nontraditional 114 credit students aren't bringing them much money so they don't cater to us. It is what is. They don't have a "big three commitment". Their commitment is to keeping the doors open.

[openair]

Look at it this way: if no one is looking at the negative, there won't be much to appreciate down the road. They need some pushback, so that they can find ways to raise money without throwing out perfectly good credit.

[ss20ts]

Look at it this way: if no one is looking at the negative, there won't be much to appreciate down the road. They need some pushback, so that they can find ways to raise money without throwing out perfectly good credit.

Raise money? Clearly you don't work at a college. My neighbor does and he's a VP. He spends every day raising money. It's an endless job and these days there isn't money pouring in. 

Colleges need to make a profit to stay viable. Without students, there's no profit. This means students who are paying tuition and fees. The Big 3 don't make anything on the 114 cr students. We're not even really students in their eyes. You can pushback all you want, but you won't get anywhere because the 114 cr students aren't making them any money.

[openair]

Look at it this way: if no one is looking at the negative, there won't be much to appreciate down the road. They need some pushback, so that they can find ways to raise money without throwing out perfectly good credit.

Raise money? Clearly you don't work at a college. My neighbor does and he's a VP. He spends every day raising money. It's an endless job and these days there isn't money pouring in. 

Colleges need to make a profit to stay viable. Without students, there's no profit. This means students who are paying tuition and fees. The Big 3 don't make anything on the 114 cr students. We're not even really students in their eyes. You can pushback all you want, but you won't get anywhere because the 114 cr students aren't making them any money.

How does the fact that they need to raise money every day justify solid college credit rejections? Why resort to this exclusionary method?  I don't need to work at a college to know that there is something odd about this line of reasoning. I would really hope that they could find money-raising alternatives beyond trashing legit college credits in the hope that students would be locked into lengthier study. How does taking a non-critical stance help with the whole financial dilemma? COSC needs the money, so it's going to punish alt-credit providers and the users who have worked hard to accumulate high numbers of perfectly legitimate ACE-approved credit. In other news, the college wants to re-label an usually large number of upper-level exams as lower-level.  I suppose that's another fantastic money-raising method that we should all approve without question. Congratulations on the creativity!

[lillingworth]

But CLEP  is not available for those who are outside USA. so it leaves us with only TECEP which is RA credit as they told it straight before.

CLEP can be taken outside the US. My husband and I have taken several CLEP tests here in Japan. There are testing centers all over the world. 

https://clep.collegeboard.org/test-center-search   Just pick a country. Some are military only and some are open to everyone. We're not military and have been able to test in Tokyo. There's also a DSST center over here.

[rachel83az]

But CLEP  is not available for those who are outside USA. so it leaves us with only TECEP which is RA credit as they told it straight before.

CLEP can be taken outside the US. My husband and I have taken several CLEP tests here in Japan. There are testing centers all over the world. 

https://clep.collegeboard.org/test-center-search   Just pick a country. Some are military only and some are open to everyone. We're not military and have been able to test in Tokyo. There's also a DSST center over here.

I am in Europe and can't find an acceptable testing center closer than London. I am not in the UK. It's definitely easier to say that CLEP isn't available outside the US than to point out the few exceptions to the rule where civilians are able to take the tests.

[lillingworth]

But CLEP  is not available for those who are outside USA. so it leaves us with only TECEP which is RA credit as they told it straight before.

CLEP can be taken outside the US. My husband and I have taken several CLEP tests here in Japan. There are testing centers all over the world. 

https://clep.collegeboard.org/test-center-search   Just pick a country. Some are military only and some are open to everyone. We're not military and have been able to test in Tokyo. There's also a DSST center over here.

I am in Europe and can't find an acceptable testing center closer than London. I am not in the UK. It's definitely easier to say that CLEP isn't available outside the US than to point out the few exceptions to the rule where civilians are able to take the tests.

I don't think it's a few exceptions. There's literally hundreds of testing centers worldwide. But if someone sees here that there are none outside of the US they may miss out on an opportunity to take a CLEP. It's possible that your situation is the exception to the rule. I've met people that have tested in Korea, SEA, Germany, Turkey, etc. It sucks that you can't find a local testing center but it's also possible to contact a local university that offers proctoring and ask if they're willing to be an approved proctor. But let's not spread false information.