Straighterline - EC & Fort Hays Question

[marianne202]

First let me apologize if this info is located somewhere, but since they changed the format I can't get the advanced search feature to give me any decent results when I search and when it does give me something it seems to start with really old posts first.

I'm considering taking a few classes with Straighterline and I know I can have them sent to EC to be placed on my existing transcript with them as unapplied credit. My question is, will they apply a letter grade or pass/fail? Does it reflect SL on the transcript? Does Fort Hays still transcript SL credits? My problem is the school I want to end up transferring these credit to, indicates that I have to have a score of 80% or better to get credits transferred for anything that is considered credit by exam. I'm worried that if they just show up as a pass/fail they may not take it. How do SL credits show up on an ACE transcript? Graded or pass/fail?

Any thoughts for how to handle this? I would need to take two-three SL classes and one ECE in order to waive 2 classes at the new school. But that will save me about $2,400 and 4 months of time. SL is new to me, so I thought I would bow to the SL experts here and defer for advice so I don't mess up. BTW, I talked to the school I want to end up attending and their registrar didn't know anything about ACE or SL so I wasn't able to get an answer on direct transfer. I don't want to push too much for fear they may decide not to accept them all...and I don't want that!

Thanks!

[brothert69]

If you send them to EC either from SL or ACE they will be P/F. From what I understand Fort Hays no longer does SL credit. There is a new partner school Albany State that does issue letter grades for SL credits but to my knowledge no one on the board has tried them yet.

[Merlin]

From what I understand, with Fort Hays out of the picture, all of the current schools that accept credits from SL (including the 4 schools that provide letter grades) also transcribe those results to indicate the original credit came from SL. So unless the new school you're planning to attend accepts SL directly (or via ACE) there isn't any way to launder those credits to make them appear as if they came from the partner school.

Albany State is a new partner of SL (and they do provide letter grades, bringing the schools to 5) so they may be like FH where they did not transcribe Straighterline as the source, but Albany State only issues letter grades for a handful of classes anyway (Math 101, Eng 101 & 102, Psych 101, Western Civ I, Intro to Sociology, and US History I.) If you need one of those classes, you might give it a shot and see what happens. So far nobody else has done it, or at least none that have posted in these forums to verify one way or the other.

[NAP]

Hi Marianne! I sent you a PM.

[cookderosa]

From what I understand, with Fort Hays out of the picture, all of the current schools that accept credits from SL (including the 4 schools that provide letter grades) also transcribe those results to indicate the original credit came from SL. So unless the new school you're planning to attend accepts SL directly (or via ACE) there isn't any way to launder those credits to make them appear as if they came from the partner school.

Albany State is a new partner of SL (and they do provide letter grades, bringing the schools to 5) so they may be like FH where they did not transcribe Straighterline as the source, but Albany State only issues letter grades for a handful of classes anyway (Math 101, Eng 101 & 102, Psych 101, Western Civ I, Intro to Sociology, and US History I.) If you need one of those classes, you might give it a shot and see what happens. So far nobody else has done it, or at least none that have posted in these forums to verify one way or the other.

And, to add salt to the wound, if any of those schools successfully launder the credit, it won't come into your EC transcript as a letter grade- it'll be a transfer credit (no grade). BUT, if you can get a letter grade to appear on another college's transcript, simply use that. In other words, if you need pharmacology and could find a college that would give you a letter grade for it, then don't do anything with EC. Just enroll at the new college. I have a feeling this is going to be more trouble than it's worth.

PS I already think you answered this before, but are you trying to get credit for a class you teach? You can do that at TESC.

[NAP]

Thanks Jennifer for confirming my thought! I wondered if I was missing an important step, so I sent it as a PM instead of posting it. Burbuja has said that COSC gives letter grades for SL and has lowered their enrollment fee. Maybe this idea will work for Marianne.

[Merlin]

COSC does accept SL credits with letter grades, but they also transcribe those credits with SL as their source.

[marianne202]

Thanks everyone! I'm not trying to remove SL per se from the transcript, but I do worry that if the grade shows up as P/F it won't meet their 80% threshold for credit by exam. I'm sure even if SL was on the transcript that since it is ACE approved and another RA school accepted it, they might...a very big might. Jennifer, yes, some of these are credits for courses I teach. Some of the courses I teach I can't test out of or get any proficiency credit for them. I understand their need to protect the integrity of their "core" program content, so I don't mind repeating some classes = easy credit for me, but it just adds to the cost ($1200 per course) plus my time. Unfortunately, after being in school full-time for 3 years I'm kinda short of both right now!!!!

I could throw all this to the wind and pursue the WGU avenue again, where I can just motor through the courses at my own pace, but I just had such a bad experience with their program head and admission staff, that I just don't feel I can trust anything they say or do. I'm just really torn, trying to figure out the best route, since either way it will cost about $15,000 and take about 6-12 months. UGH! I hate this part of the process! I wish one of the big 3 offered RHIA training, but alas I'm stuck with very few choices!

Thanks again for all the info and help!