Is this the new norm for Sophia? Is it dead?

[tallpilot]

Thank you everyone!  

No, I'm not being dramatic.  Pushing support off to an independent provider is how many companies suffered and almost went out of business after the year 2000 Dot-com bust.  Companies who saw the important benefits of owning their own support were the survivors and thrivers.  Companies who refused to understand these simple concepts suffered major hits to their reputations.

I understand the overload Sophia is/was experiencing, gaining thousands upon thousands of new students and not being prepared for such an influx.  I also the financial burden of an unexpected influx of that size.  However, my gut feeling is they got mega-dollars from the stimulus plan and weren't hurting financially.  

Good point about not starting new classes right now as my family situation hasn't settled enough yet. 

Second good point about dropping the classes and starting over another time.

Unfortunately, I now have a bad taste in my mouth for Sophia.  Combine that with other Sophia experiences I've been reading on this forum, and the negatives are compounded.

The good thing is I only need two courses to graduate, however, those 2 courses, an Eng Comp and Public Speaking, are two courses that have extended times on grading.

I understand your frustration and the bad taste in your mouth. These alternative education providers claim to offer flexibility for ‘busy’ people. They certainly offer more flexibility than a B&M class but they do have rules to keep people on track or kick them out. You had time available when you started the courses but then your situation changed.

Like many of us do when things change, you thought things would get back to ‘normal‘ quickly so an extension would give you time to finish. It didn’t work out that way. Dropping and starting over in the future when you have time will help your stress and frustration subside.

I’m sorry this happened to you. Don’t forget about it and give up though, you are so close.

[BrianFallon]

What has happened to Sophia?

A little history of the situation:
I registered for some free classes earlier in the summer.  I was most of the way through the first 30 days of my classes, then I had 2 major family issues that derailed and depressed me.  While I was away dealing my family, which took a huge amount of work, I could not log in to Sophia because they live in a remote area with no Internet access.

Briefly while I was home one weekend, I requested an extension.  That was granted with no problems, but my family situations became much worse, unexpectedly and I found myself back in no-where-ville with no Internet connection.  Please don't tell me how I could have taken care of the situation because there was no time for phone calls or going to a town over an hour away to get Internet access.  

My second 30 days was about to expire and I requested another extension explaining the above situation.  Last week, they granted 15 day extension and no further extensions.  At that time, I had no time to argue or ask for an escalation.

Several times today, I've tried to chat.  The CHAT link on Sophia.org is going to Livechat at this link https://www.livechat.com/, rather than being answered by a Sophia rep.  Livechat says I can have 14-days free.  This usually means they want my credit card info before they will let me have one conversation. They're not getting my credit card info because I've been through this type of scam before and it isn't happening again.

Is anyone experiencing these problems?  Is this the death of Sophia.org?  If so, my daughter and I need to switch to SL or SDC asap!  

I think your situation would be the same, regardless of the alt credit provider you chose.

[ss20ts]

What has happened to Sophia?

A little history of the situation:
I registered for some free classes earlier in the summer.  I was most of the way through the first 30 days of my classes, then I had 2 major family issues that derailed and depressed me.  While I was away dealing my family, which took a huge amount of work, I could not log in to Sophia because they live in a remote area with no Internet access.

Briefly while I was home one weekend, I requested an extension.  That was granted with no problems, but my family situations became much worse, unexpectedly and I found myself back in no-where-ville with no Internet connection.  Please don't tell me how I could have taken care of the situation because there was no time for phone calls or going to a town over an hour away to get Internet access.  

My second 30 days was about to expire and I requested another extension explaining the above situation.  Last week, they granted 15 day extension and no further extensions.  At that time, I had no time to argue or ask for an escalation.

Several times today, I've tried to chat.  The CHAT link on Sophia.org is going to Livechat at this link https://www.livechat.com/, rather than being answered by a Sophia rep.  Livechat says I can have 14-days free.  This usually means they want my credit card info before they will let me have one conversation. They're not getting my credit card info because I've been through this type of scam before and it isn't happening again.

Is anyone experiencing these problems?  Is this the death of Sophia.org?  If so, my daughter and I need to switch to SL or SDC asap!  

I think your situation would be the same, regardless of the alt credit provider you chose.

I agree. They all have a timetable. Some will just keep charging you until the end of time. At B&M college there's no extensions. There are hard deadlines and that's that. Stinks but this is how everyone is treated. It prevents the appearance of favoritism.

[NoStudentNoCry]

Sophia is very generous with extensions. They already gave you 75 days (if I read the post correctly) - and could potentially give you additional extension. 
By no means you'd be granted multiple extensions at "normal" university. The school would be like "Didn't make it in time? Too bad, take your W or F and see you (and your money) the next term".

[Lacedonia4]

Sophia is very generous with extensions. They already gave you 75 days (if I read the post correctly) - and could potentially give you additional extension. 
By no means you'd be granted multiple extensions at "normal" university. The school would be like "Didn't make it in time? Too bad, take your W or F and see you (and your money) the next term".

Colleges allow for courses to be changed to audit if one feels they are not doing well, but one still has to pay for the course, you just do not get credit for it, but have access to all the learning materials.

[ss20ts]

Sophia is very generous with extensions. They already gave you 75 days (if I read the post correctly) - and could potentially give you additional extension. 
By no means you'd be granted multiple extensions at "normal" university. The school would be like "Didn't make it in time? Too bad, take your W or F and see you (and your money) the next term".

Colleges allow for courses to be changed to audit if one feels they are not doing well, but one still has to pay for the course, you just do not get credit for it, but have access to all the learning materials.

None of the colleges I have attended allow you to change your enrollment status to audit. You're free to withdrawal, but there's no refund after the first week or so and that W stays on your transcript for life. 

In my state audited courses aren't free either. You just don't take the tests and don't receive a grade. That's really not designed for someone earning a degree.