International Student with Transcript Issue

[abd]

Your Location: Türkiye
Your Age: 30
What kind of degree do you want?: Leaning towards Business Administration because I feel like it would be faster/easier to finish, open to IT related degree.

Current Regional Accredited Credits:

None Total Credits: 0

Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits:

Coursera Total Credits: 138
Google Project Management Certificate (v1), 9, Pass
Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate V2, 9, Pass
Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate (v2), 12, Pass
Google IT Support Professional Certificate (v2), 15, Pass
Google UX Design Professional Certificate (v2), 10, Pass
Google Digital Marketing and E-Commerce Professional Certificate, 9, Pass
Google Project Management Professional Certificate (v2), 9, Pass
IBM DevOps and Software Engineering Professional Certificate, 18, Pass
IBM Data Engineering Professional Certificate (V3), 15, Pass
Human Resource Associate Professional Certificate, 3, Pass
Microsoft Public Relations and Communications Associate Professional Certificate(v.1), 3, Pass
Google Business Intelligence Certificate, 6, Pass
Microsoft UX Design Professional Certificate, 10, Pass

Any certifications or military experience?
Completed a Global MBA from ENEB. No other professional certifications or military experience.

Budget: Ideally around 1000-2000 USD.
Commitments: Full-time job.
Dedicated time to study: 8 hours/day.
Timeline: ASAP.
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: None.


Hello everyone,
I'm a long-time lurker and have learned a lot from this community. I've gathered my 138 ACE credits and am ready to start my degree journey, but I've hit a significant roadblock and would appreciate your advice.
My primary challenge is the high school transcript requirement for US universities. I graduated 13 years ago from a high school in a developing country that has since been permanently closed down. I have my physical diploma and the last three years of my transcripts in my possession (in both the local language and English), but there is absolutely no way for the school to send them directly to a university or an evaluation service.
Here's what I've tried so far:

• University of the People: They evaluated my credits and approved 48 for transfer, which was much lower than the 90 I was hoping for.
  
• Nexford University: I had a difficult experience with their admissions. They gave me this feedback: "As for his Credly credentials, courses from Sophia and ACE-recommended credits can be transferred, normally Registrar team are the best team to further determine which courses can be transferred to the BBA program from these certificates. If he wish to proceed with this, he will need to submit his application and secure his official transcripts from coursera and sophia (not from credly) as they are the issuer." Ultimately, they told me that their university was not a good fit for me.
  

My goal is to find a regionally accredited university (if possible). I am looking at options like UMPI and TESU. I plan to take the Duolingo English test to meet the proficiency requirement, as it's the most affordable option in Türkiye. However, these schools require an official evaluation from a NACES or AICE member, which seems to require the documents be sent directly from my closed high school.
My questions for the community are:

1. Are there any regionally accredited universities that might waive the "direct-from-high-school" transcript requirement for an adult international student who already has 138 ACE credits?
   
2. Is there a low-cost way to get my physical high school documents evaluated by a NACES member that does not require the direct-send method, given my school is permanently closed?
   
3. Are there any other fast and affordable, regionally accredited options I might have missed that are known to be flexible with unique situations like mine?
   

I am considering Newlane University as a backup, but my strong preference is for a regionally accredited degree. I'm ready to dedicate 8 hours a day to finish as quickly as possible within a $1000-$2000 budget.

Thank you for any guidance you can offer!

[CollegeStudentAC]

There are RA options but your budget is the problem.

Another NA option is Genesis University: https://genesisu.edu/

[Tomas]

With that budget, there isn't much of a choice, eg. one session at UMPI if you can manage. You pretty much named all options I could think of too. Maybe some degree from India could fall into that range, but I wouldn't probably even waste investigating in that direction, as there might be various obstacles eg. credit transferability or flexibility.
If you can do 8 hours a day, pay for 1-2 months of Sophia to gather missing credits for UoPeople.
Also check the legislature of your country, maybe you did that already and there is no way, but in many countries there is a backup plan for case when school closes down, as that is not an uncommon situation, eg. local archive, department of education, etc.

[Hotdogman1]

ENEB comes in as a RA bachelor's (at least) when transcribed from NACES. At the very least, it should remove the high school diploma requirement.

[Tomas]

I misread the details a bit, originally. If school is closed, maybe it might still be possible if you have the physical diploma, per NACES:
"My school is closed, and I cannot obtain sealed-envelope documents: Submit your original documents to us and include a written explanation of your circumstances. We will review the situation and prepare a report if possible."

[wow]

Before giving up on UoPeople, I strongly recommend looking at the "Helpful Information" on the UoPeople reddit front page: https://www.reddit.com/r/UoPeople/

The reason only 48 of your ACE credits qualify for transfer is that UoPeople is a liberal arts school, so you need a variety of courses. You're missing humanities and social sciences. Go to the UoPeople website, find the course list for your major, and decide what credits to take based on that.

Transfer equivalents for Sophia:
https://www.reddit.com/r/studydotcom/com...sfer_list/

UoPeople accepts most Saylor direct credit courses (courses are free, $5 for one proctored exam per course), but you need to make sure they fit into the Pathway for the degree you want:
https://www.saylor.org/credit/courses/

[Mint Berry Crunch]

With that budget, there isn't much of a choice, eg. one session at UMPI if you can manage. You pretty much named all options I could think of too. Maybe some degree from India could fall into that range, but I wouldn't probably even waste investigating in that direction, as there might be various obstacles eg. credit transferability or flexibility.
If you can do 8 hours a day, pay for 1-2 months of Sophia to gather missing credits for UoPeople.
Also check the legislature of your country, maybe you did that already and there is no way, but in many countries there is a backup plan for case when school closes down, as that is not an uncommon situation, eg. local archive, department of education, etc.

This. I had the same thoughts. I think UMPI may be the best bet. It's possible to do a degree at UMPI in 1 semester (I did it everytime besides for the MAOL - took 2 semesters), but you're gonna have to knuckle down and go 4-low on this one.

[abd]

There are RA options but your budget is the problem.

Another NA option is Genesis University: https://genesisu.edu/

Thank you for your reply!

---

With that budget, there isn't much of a choice, eg. one session at UMPI if you can manage. You pretty much named all options I could think of too. Maybe some degree from India could fall into that range, but I wouldn't probably even waste investigating in that direction, as there might be various obstacles eg. credit transferability or flexibility.
If you can do 8 hours a day, pay for 1-2 months of Sophia to gather missing credits for UoPeople.
Also check the legislature of your country, maybe you did that already and there is no way, but in many countries there is a backup plan for case when school closes down, as that is not an uncommon situation, eg. local archive, department of education, etc.

Thank you for your reply, I appreciate the feedback.
You are right about the budget, it's very tight, which is why I'm trying to be so careful with my choices. I will look into the Sophia option for UoPeople again as you suggested.
Regarding the high school records, I appreciate that idea. Unfortunately, it's highly unlikely to work in my specific situation. The school was located in a very small, remote village—not even a city—in a country that is not very advanced in terms of centralized or digital archives. The chance of a local department of education having a backup copy of a transcript from 13 years ago from a now-closed village school is almost zero, I'm afraid.

---

ENEB comes in as a RA bachelor's (at least) when transcribed from NACES. At the very least, it should remove the high school diploma requirement.

This makes a lot of sense, thanks!
I will check with UMPI and others to see if providing a NACES evaluation for my ENEB MBA will allow them to waive the high school diploma requirement. That would be a huge help.
Quick question on that: I only have the ENEB diploma itself. I didn't pay the extra fee for the UI1 degree when I finished about 6 months ago.
Anyone knows if NACES will evaluate the ENEB-only diploma? Or do I really need to pay for the UI1 version?

---

Before giving up on UoPeople, I strongly recommend looking at the "Helpful Information" on the UoPeople reddit front page: https://www.reddit.com/r/UoPeople/

The reason only 48 of your ACE credits qualify for transfer is that UoPeople is a liberal arts school, so you need a variety of courses. You're missing humanities and social sciences. Go to the UoPeople website, find the course list for your major, and decide what credits to take based on that.

Transfer equivalents for Sophia:
https://www.reddit.com/r/studydotcom/com...sfer_list/

UoPeople accepts most Saylor direct credit courses (courses are free, $5 for one proctored exam per course), but you need to make sure they fit into the Pathway for the degree you want:
https://www.saylor.org/credit/courses/

Thank you very much!

[CollegeStudentAC]

There are RA options but your budget is the problem.

Another NA option is Genesis University: https://genesisu.edu/

Thank you for your reply!

---

With that budget, there isn't much of a choice, eg. one session at UMPI if you can manage. You pretty much named all options I could think of too. Maybe some degree from India could fall into that range, but I wouldn't probably even waste investigating in that direction, as there might be various obstacles eg. credit transferability or flexibility.
If you can do 8 hours a day, pay for 1-2 months of Sophia to gather missing credits for UoPeople.
Also check the legislature of your country, maybe you did that already and there is no way, but in many countries there is a backup plan for case when school closes down, as that is not an uncommon situation, eg. local archive, department of education, etc.

Thank you for your reply, I appreciate the feedback.
You are right about the budget, it's very tight, which is why I'm trying to be so careful with my choices. I will look into the Sophia option for UoPeople again as you suggested.
Regarding the high school records, I appreciate that idea. Unfortunately, it's highly unlikely to work in my specific situation. The school was located in a very small, remote village—not even a city—in a country that is not very advanced in terms of centralized or digital archives. The chance of a local department of education having a backup copy of a transcript from 13 years ago from a now-closed village school is almost zero, I'm afraid.

---

ENEB comes in as a RA bachelor's (at least) when transcribed from NACES. At the very least, it should remove the high school diploma requirement.

This makes a lot of sense, thanks!
I will check with UMPI and others to see if providing a NACES evaluation for my ENEB MBA will allow them to waive the high school diploma requirement. That would be a huge help.
Quick question on that: I only have the ENEB diploma itself. I didn't pay the extra fee for the UI1 degree when I finished about 6 months ago.
Anyone knows if NACES will evaluate the ENEB-only diploma? Or do I really need to pay for the UI1 version?

---

Before giving up on UoPeople, I strongly recommend looking at the "Helpful Information" on the UoPeople reddit front page: https://www.reddit.com/r/UoPeople/

The reason only 48 of your ACE credits qualify for transfer is that UoPeople is a liberal arts school, so you need a variety of courses. You're missing humanities and social sciences. Go to the UoPeople website, find the course list for your major, and decide what credits to take based on that.

Transfer equivalents for Sophia:
https://www.reddit.com/r/studydotcom/com...sfer_list/

UoPeople accepts most Saylor direct credit courses (courses are free, $5 for one proctored exam per course), but you need to make sure they fit into the Pathway for the degree you want:
https://www.saylor.org/credit/courses/

Thank you very much!

https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/EN...cy_Results

[bjcheung77]

abd, how long did it take you to get all of those Coursera certificates? How much did it cost you? UofPeople is your best bet right now for getting the degree, either Business or Computer Science. UMPI would be a great second option if you can finish in 1 session. You have 138 ACE credits, none of them are general education...