Lumerit Becomes Pearson Accelerated Pathways? Pearson to Compete w/ Guild Education?

[MNomadic]

I just got an email from Pearson, a company that many of my IT certifications have used as a proctoring service that they have a new service called Pearson Pathways link which appears to resemble Guild Education(the company that manages education programs for Walmart and some other major companies link) in that it brings together many different programs from multiple institutions. Additionally, the bachelor degree programs appear to be managed under what they call "Pearson Accelerated Pathways" which looks suspiciously nearly identical to Lumerit education(surprise: they are in fact the same) link another link. Not to be confused with their clone program, "Unbound" which is targeted specifically at Christian students link. Anyway, I found all of this interesting, considering how many times Lumerit has rebranded. 

For anyone interested, I did a trial run of one of Lumerit's ACE courses, and it was much more trouble than it's worth considering I had to use a lockdown browser for every single unit quiz, chapter quiz, and final test, which also involved a bunch of software configurations each time which would have amounted to dozens of "proctored quizzes." That along with being overpriced for what you get makes it not worth it in my opinion. The pricing, at $6750 for 10 courses or $7500 for unlimited per year, is much more than what most would expect to pay using popular alternatives here like ACE/NCCRS, CLEP/DSST, Tel Learning, Outlier, ASU Universal Learner, etc. pricing link. Also, many competency-based programs can be done cheaper while being more than just rebranded ACE courses link.

[ss20ts]

For $7500 you can get a TON of RA credit. Same with $6750. That is spendy for ACE courses.

[dfrecore]

It's completely insane. $225/cr for LL ACE? No thank you.

You could get that price at a CC or even some RA colleges:
ONU's YourWay ($50/cr, including UL courses)
TEL/RA schools ($67/cr)
ASU/LU ($425/course)
Sterling College Online ($145/cr, including UL courses)
U of Idaho Independent Study ($160/cr, including UL courses)
U of Arkansas Self-Paced Online ($165/cr, including UL courses)
CSU Pueblo Independent Studies ($205/cr, including UL courses)
BYU Independent Study ($212/cr, including UL courses)
FHSU ($226.88/cr, including UL courses).

[MNomadic]

It's completely insane.  $225/cr for LL ACE? No thank you.  

You could get that price at a CC or even some RA colleges:
ONU's YourWay ($50/cr, including UL courses)
TEL/RA schools ($67/cr)
ASU/LU ($425/course)
Sterling College Online ($145/cr, including UL courses)
U of Idaho Independent Study ($160/cr, including UL courses)
U of Arkansas Self-Paced Online ($165/cr, including UL courses)
CSU Pueblo Independent Studies ($205/cr, including UL courses)
BYU Independent Study ($212/cr, including UL courses)
FHSU ($226.88/cr, including UL courses).

Agreed! Thanks for showing the math. Lumerit/unbound has long been trying to capitalize on the "alternative credit" train by charging much higher prices for what other providers do better anyway. This forum is a blessing for those that don't mind doing a bit of their own research.

[freeloader]

I was thinking of the “all you can take” comparisons.

1 year cost for:

Pearson: $7,500

Northern Arizona CBE: $6,000
UMPI YourPace: $8,400
WGU: $7,440

So, for basically the same money, you can do a year of regionally accredited coursework or ACE courses?  Of course, these prices for the universities assume no pell grant, tuition reimbursement, or other aid….

[MNomadic]

I was thinking of the “all you can take” comparisons.

1 year cost for:

Pearson: $7,500

Northern Arizona CBE: $6,000
UMPI YourPace: $8,400
WGU: $7,440

So, for basically the same money, you can do a year of regionally accredited coursework or ACE courses?  Of course, these prices for the universities assume no pell grant, tuition reimbursement, or other aid….

Not only that, WGU and other CBE degrees, we have a lot of examples of people who are able to accelerate the coursework and actually finish a lot in that time period. Pearson/Lumerit/Unbound are unknown and if my experience with one free class at Lumerit is any indication, they're filled with a LOT of busy work to slow you way down, halting the value prospect of self paced learning.

[ashkir]

I really hate the approach Pearson is taking. Now we're looking for alternative ways to get credit versus their textbook gouging, so now they're buying the alternatives to charge us more for credits than an actual class will take!

I'm hoping Study.com and Sophia won't sell out.

[bjcheung77]

Sophia.org, Study.com, StraighterLine, Saylor.org and the other (larger) ACE/NCCRS providers should be safe... the smaller ones may be on the chopping block, maybe some time soon, sadly... the education field is volatile, actually, since the economy is in an unknown state, I think most fields are volatile...

[ss20ts]

I was thinking of the “all you can take” comparisons.

1 year cost for:

Pearson: $7,500

Northern Arizona CBE: $6,000
UMPI YourPace: $8,400
WGU: $7,440

So, for basically the same money, you can do a year of regionally accredited coursework or ACE courses?  Of course, these prices for the universities assume no pell grant, tuition reimbursement, or other aid….

And in 1 year many people could complete their entire degree through Sophia, Study.com, and InstantCert at UMPI and WGU for significantly less money. $7500 for ACE credits is ridiculous. For years I've thought of Pearson as a scam because of their textbook pricing and policies and this just makes them feel even more slimy.

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I really hate the approach Pearson is taking. Now we're looking for alternative ways to get credit versus their textbook gouging, so now they're buying the alternatives to charge us more for credits than an actual class will take!

I'm hoping Study.com and Sophia won't sell out.

Sophia is owned by the parent company of Strayer and Capella. They use Sophia as a feeder into their programs so chances are low that will be sold unless it's all sold. Hopefully!