Penn Foster additional courses enrollment

[lavagirl]

I took Penn Foster Art Appreciation and while working on it I wrote an email to Penn Foster and asked if I can add Music Appreciation to my student account. I got an answer that since it is an individual college course I will need to enroll again to take Music Appreciation. So I finished the Art Appreciation course, put it on ACE transcript , went to Induvidual College Courses on the Penn Foster site Online Summer College Courses | Penn Foster College and pushed the Enroll button on the Music Appeciation course which took me through the process of college enrollment with electronic signature signing again. I was given a new student ID (since during enrollment process there was no place to put your existing student ID). Something tells me that this is wrong. I would like to hear feedback from people who took Penn Foster courses if they were given a new student ID each time and created a new account when taking additional courses in Penn Foster. I am planning on taking 3 more courses with them. Does it mean I will have 3 additional student accounts?

[bricabrac]

This is why I, and others, have always referred people to the workforce development number. There is no need to enroll as a PF student.

I've taken four courses and always went through the workforce development office 1-800-233-0259 to order individual courses under the same student account number and never had an issue.


I would call them as soon as possible and have them consolidate your accounts, or cancel the recent order and reissue the course under the existing student ID.

Workforce Development

[lavagirl]

Thank you very much, I will use your advice.

[LaterBloomer]

PF has given me many student numbers, and I don't care. One time, when I signed up for more than one course at a time, I was told that I would have to take ALL of the finals on the same day. Really? At B&M schools I don't even remember if I had more than one final on the same day. Really easy to get a proctor when more than one test has to be taken on the same day. (Let me introduce you to sarcasm if you didn't recognize it.) If I had gone with different numbers, I don't think it would have been an issue. I'm almost finished with my Stat. Mgmt. course, and it's on a different number than previous courses. My Bus. Stats. course might be under the same number, but I'm not sure. Student numbers are PF's issue, not mine, and I don't conern myself with them.

[HorseManiac]

I second what Bricabrac said. I've always used the Workforce Development number and I just call them when I'm ready for the next class and they add it to my account. I've done 3 classes this way so far.

[lavagirl]

Thanks to everybody for your responses. Before calling to Workforce development I decided to use Penn Foster chat and to ask if I need to consolidate both student accounts. They told me that "whenever students enroll in a new program ( even a single subject) they get a new student number. All the records are connected to each number for shipments and grades. No need to consolidate accounts, they should be separate."

So, I decided that I will leave this course on a separate account, but in the future I just will call the Workforce development number and ask them to add the course to my existing account.

[bricabrac]

Unfortunately what they told you is not true. You are not enrolling in a new program, you are purchasing an indivdual course. You are not attending their school as a student, you are an enrolled student elsewhere. I am beginning to wonder if they want the added numbers for some reason. Wouldn't having the same student registered under separate accounts lead to more work down the line?

If you needed a transcript, of course in my case they were useless but at any rate if you needed one, would you have to order multiple transcripts or would they then consolidate multiple student IDs onto one transcript? When I log on, all courses are included in one place. Is it the same if you have multiple student IDs?

I just find them encouraging non diploma/NA degree seeking individuals to set up separate accounts/mulitple student enrollment highly suspicious. I don't think PF needs more questionable behavior attributed to their organization, they've already accumulated enough problems for themselves.

Regardless, good luck in your course(s)!


This is an interesting recent 'issue' involving Penn Foster. Very dicey. Why would anyone try to scam the military? Idiots. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/alleged-sche...ssistance/

[sanantone]

Unfortunately what they told you is not true. You are not enrolling in a new program, you are purchasing an indivdual course. You are not attending their school as a student, you are an enrolled student elsewhere. I am beginning to wonder if they want the added numbers for some reason. Wouldn't having the same student registered under separate accounts lead to more work down the line?

If you needed a transcript, of course in my case they were useless but at any rate if you needed one, would you have to order multiple transcripts or would they then consolidate multiple student IDs onto one transcript? When I log on, all courses are included in one place. Is it the same if you have multiple student IDs?

I just find them encouraging non diploma/NA degree seeking individuals to set up separate accounts/mulitple student enrollment highly suspicious. I don't think PF needs more questionable behavior attributed to their organization, they've already accumulated enough problems for themselves.

Regardless, good luck in your course(s)!


This is an interesting recent 'issue' involving Penn Foster. Very dicey. Why would anyone try to scam the military? Idiots. Alleged scheme targets U.S. military students' free tuition assistance - CBS News

One problem with this article is that it calls Penn Foster unaccredited. It is not unaccredited. Now, on to the scam part. The scam looks to mostly be between Ed4Mil and Caldwell College. Penn Foster was providing the education and being paid what it normally charges. Ed4Mil was the one carrying out the bait and switch and marking up the prices so that it could keep 10% and give the rest of the markup to Caldwell College which was not providing any educational services to these military students. The whistle blower is only suing Ed4Mil and Caldwell College. The only thing that might be questionable on Penn Foster's end is if it knew it was receiving tuition assistance for which it was not eligible.

[LaterBloomer]

You know how when you 'phone a college you don't know who to believe? Well, when I called PF some years ago to register for 3 or 4 courses, the woman who answered said that if I put them all under the same student ID I would have to take the tests on the same day. She mumbled something about accredidation. I thought that it sounded lame, but I needed the courses. There's some quote about not assuming an action to be based on evil when it is more likely the result of stupidity. I figure this student number is more for them than for us. Could be wrong. Probably am, but that's the way I see it.

[bricabrac]

You know how when you 'phone a college you don't know who to believe? Well, when I called PF some years ago to register for 3 or 4 courses, the woman who answered said that if I put them all under the same student ID I would have to take the tests on the same day. She mumbled something about accredidation. I thought that it sounded lame, but I needed the courses. There's some quote about not assuming an action to be based on evil when it is more likely the result of stupidity. I figure this student number is more for them than for us. Could be wrong. Probably am, but that's the way I see it.

I will go as far as to say maybe if you registered for the courses on the same day they would consider it a bundled set and require all the finals to be taken at the same time. If this was in fact true, why would you not just stagger the courses by a few days to a week? Just an FYI, in forum discussions it was said this is the case for enrolled degree-seeking students; the semester finals are taken at the same time.

The woman who took my order did not tell me courses registered on the same day require finals taken at the same time. I called and requested the final exams be sent to my proctor. I actually purchased one course on July 12. Final exam was uploaded online. Then purchased two more on July 19. I took both finals together using the same proctor but I called and told them I completed all the work on both courses and asked that they mail the finals to my proctor, no one said they had to be taken at the same time. The final course, which was a last minute decision, was September 14. Final exam uploaded online. All under the same student ID.

Yes, I also heard about the accredidation blurb given over the phone, although a few years ago they were telling people they were regionally accredited when enrolling degree candidates. Not fully disclosing it was actually the high school diploma that was regionally accredited. Which in my opinion reeks of dishonesty and I would consider them crooks, but as you mention, they served a purpose.