TESU - UL psychology is no more! I am PISSED!!

[bricabrac]

Thank you bricabrac... I'm hoping I'm grandfathered in. I had my courses evaluated in about a month ago. So hopefully they don't come back and change it after I go through degree audit. That will leave me with just weeks to finish up three to four courses before the second degree audit. Which gives me 3-4 weeks maybe? If that's the case I probably won't be graduating in September which affects my plans to start my grad school program too. Ugghhhh! Hopefully it works out for everyone involved.

I can't say what I would like to here other than I'm sure you're fine. Something happened recently to justify them downgrading the course. I wouldn't be surprised if it was feedback from this forum. Unfortunately, when a decision such as this has been made in the past, it's done from that date on. Appeals can then be submitted on an individual basis for students caught in the unknown/unpublished cutoff period, such as the OP.

[dfrecore]

I wouldn't be surprised if it was feedback from this forum.

I find it hilarious that if they're so concerned about feedback on the forum, that they don't use any of it to actually IMPROVE themselves!! Study.com is on here, monitoring, helping people, using the feedback to improve their product. You say that TESU is probably on here, but I don't see how they've used it in any positive way. As a matter of fact, I think customer service there has gotten worse in the last couple of years than it already was.

Strange.

[sanantone]

I find it hilarious that if they're so concerned about feedback on the forum, that they don't use any of it to actually IMPROVE themselves!! Study.com is on here, monitoring, helping people, using the feedback to improve their product. You say that TESU is probably on here, but I don't see how they've used it in any positive way. As a matter of fact, I think customer service there has gotten worse in the last couple of years than it already was.

Strange.

They've actually been worse. When I attended in 2011, someone hung up the phone on me, and it used to take them a long time to respond to tickets. I even had the head of advising get smart-mouthed with me on the TESC forum because I pointed out that an advisor gave me a wrong answer over the phone and hung up on me. Instead of looking at getting his advisors better training and being upset about the horrible customer service, he berated me for not making an advising appointment. I did make an advising appointment, but the advisor refused to help me do any planning because some of my test scores were still missing. Thank goodness I found one person to help me. Unlike Todd Siben, that guy deserved his promotion. If TESU paid attention to the complaints on this forum, Todd Siben would have been fired by now.

[johnjaxs]

The office said again today (I've been going round and round for days) that the dean reviewed and decided to change them and no, I am not grandfathered in - EVEN THOUGH I DID IT PRIOR to whatever date they changed it! She said she's had many calls today regarding it, and had 3 others upset about it even just before my call!
So I am not sure how many it is affecting but obviously a lot!

It affected e financially, and wasted a ton of time as well, as I could have done something else, too!

You did them before they change, but you didn't submit them to the school before. Am I correct?

Sorry, but the hard truth is that it doesn't matter when you completed them, it matters when you submitted them and got them transcribed. You can argue that you were caught unaware, but at the end of the day it is completely up to TESU.

When I did my degree with them I submitted my courses immediately for review/transcription, because I knew they could change the levels or reject courses at will. I also always ran my courses by an academic advisor so that I would have written permission/evidence that I took the course with the idea/assumption on their part (not just mine) that my courses would come in as a certain level.

I hope it works out for you, but the lesson here is ask and submit ASAP.

[cookderosa]

The office said again today (I've been going round and round for days) that the dean reviewed and decided to change them and no, I am not grandfathered in - EVEN THOUGH I DID IT PRIOR to whatever date they changed it! She said she's had many calls today regarding it, and had 3 others upset about it even just before my call!
So I am not sure how many it is affecting but obviously a lot!

It affected e financially, and wasted a ton of time as well, as I could have done something else, too!

Were you already enrolled with this on your transcript, or just applied? I think if you were enrolled when the change went into effect, you'd have a stronger case, but like bric said, they really can change if they decide to.

[rlw74]

What do you think the sudden change would be and why would anything on this forum influence them to change those courses specifically??? especially as opposed to any other course provider? Too many study.com members? too many social science majors? They don't want us getting the residency waiver discount or tuition discount? It seems strange to me because they don't seem to be taking note of complaints about study.com members being overcharged for courses, transcripts taking forever to be reviewed etc. A lot of us chose TESU because of study.com discounts. I could just as easily chosen any of the other Big 3 because I had a lot of courses that would transfer anywhere.

The irony of this is it has to be a really recent change. My final ACE transcript went in end of March and didn't get reviewed until May. I can't remember the exact date but I think I have it somewhere. If I had submitted my transcript just a few weeks later I wouldn't have had the credits applied to my evaluation. Or, if they hadn't completed my transcript review within the 25 days (because they seem to be backed up right now) I also might have missed out. It seems someone dropped the ball by not updating the course transfer equivalencies - either TESU or study.com. I know I checked those each time I took a course and ordered an ACE transcript just to make sure there weren't any surprises.

[bricabrac]

What do you think the sudden change would be and why would anything on this forum influence them to change those courses specifically??? especially as opposed to any other course provider? Too many study.com members? too many social science majors? They don't want us getting the residency waiver discount or tuition discount? It seems strange to me because they don't seem to be taking note of complaints about study.com members being overcharged for courses, transcripts taking forever to be reviewed etc. A lot of us chose TESU because of study.com discounts. I could just as easily chosen any of the other Big 3 because I had a lot of courses that would transfer anywhere.

Okay this is a long ramble - forgive all errors as this was banged out during lunch.

It's not just Study.com, it has actually happened with quite a few vendors over the years. There are still members who visit regularly that have been here longer than I have (ex Cookderosa), some who came on board about the same time (2009) or just after who will most likely recall some of the examples I'm about to list. So many kind, determined and quite frankly wonderful students who paved the way are no longer around. So much of their hard work went into getting some of these courses acknowledged and approved for credit, only to have them downgraded/restricted. I remember zefrench leading the way in getting the Aleks/ACE system honed & automated. At one time you had to fax documents back and forth.

Here are a few examples off the top of my head where the forum (or information learned here) may have tipped the scales a bit:

Folks discussed the ease of FEMA courses, couldn't believe they could be used for credit, tainted the degree... Result: no longer accepted at TESU. This decision had much to do with the next item.

How easy it was to get the ESST degree, must be a junk degree or doesn't have any viable use. Result: AOS accepted courses changed, fema courses discontinued, capstone added. Heard from a birdie the Dean wasn't happy about the feedback. There was more to the story I can't get into it here.

Students complained about Aleks beginning algebra (at one time MAT102) not meeting the liberal arts college math requirement. Sorry, if still around, you all know its true.:p Some (better?) compared it to the CLEP general math exam (MAT102/103); never mind the aleks course was not proctored, and they did accept intermediate algebra. They still continued to call and fuss at the registrar. Result: course reevaluated to remedial.

Members discussed how Aleks stats courses were all similar or easy to complete back to back. Result: courses reevaluated and now duplicate. At one time all 3 were accepted, then two, which quickly changed to one.
[INDENT]I remember when the staff member was volunteered to sign up and take all the ACE approved courses. TESU decided that person's experience/feedback would be used to reevaluate the courses instead of ACE recommendation. The decision was not a positive outcome for students who just wanted fast cheap gen ed credit. By the end of all the hoopla, I thought we were just lucky they continued to accept four non duplicating courses for credit.[/INDENT]

At one time the DSST business society and ethics exam was approved for the business core and SL course could be used to meet ethics requirement. Many who didn't feel comfortable testing, or not close to a testing center, wanted to use the SL course to meet the business core requirement. Result - reevaluation, recoded as duplicate. Now only the TECEP or specific other courses will fill business in society or IM slot.

I won't even go into the Strategic Management TECEP and all the talk about the BSBA being the only degree you can test out of, .. Some even referred to the exam as easy. It sure wasn't easy for me but we all have different levels of experience/study skill set. Anyway, I think we all know how that story ended. Keep in mind the PF alternate was also referred to as an "easy" course. In all fairness, this decision may have had more to do with the new business school accreditation. I've been away from internal gossip for awhile now, so can't confirm what really happened.

There may have been other instances, just can't think of them right now.

[dfrecore]

Okay this is a long ramble - forgive all errors as this was banged out during lunch.

I won't even go into the Strategic Management TECEP and all the talk about the BSBA being the only degree you can test out of, .. Some even referred to the exam as easy. It sure wasn't easy for me but we all have different levels of experience/study skill set. Anyway, I think we all know how that story ended. Keep in mind the PF alternate was also referred to as an "easy" course. In all fairness, this decision may have had more to do with the new business school accreditation. I've been away from internal gossip for awhile now, so can't confirm what really happened.

There may have been other instances, just can't think of them right now.

I totally get your point, but what is the answer then? Do we restrict this forum to never saying that a course is easy? Do the moderators delete posts about that if we don't self-police? How do we get info out to everyone who wants it, without talking about them and their relative ease?

I guess I just don't know what it is you think this forum should become if you think it's what made changes (all bad) to TESU's policies over the years.

And again, if someone from TESU is monitoring this forum, why in the world are they not using any of the info from everyone's complaints to GET BETTER!?!? I can't figure that one out.

[bricabrac]

I totally get your point, but what is the answer then? Do we restrict this forum to never saying that a course is easy? Do the moderators delete posts about that if we don't self-police? How do we get info out to everyone who wants it, without talking about them and their relative ease?

I guess I just don't know what it is you think this forum should become if you think it's what made changes (all bad) to TESU's policies over the years.

And again, if someone from TESU is monitoring this forum, why in the world are they not using any of the info from everyone's complaints to GET BETTER!?!? I can't figure that one out.

I don't think all experiences between TESU and the forum members have been bad. If not for some of the members on this forum, as mentioned earlier, many of the alternate methods of credit would never have been approved. Personally, I think easy is not the best term when referring to certain courses you know will be scrutinized. I felt the TECEP was a "better choice" than the actual course because the course had a lot more as Cook would say "busy work." I've often described the course as brutal because of the amount of work that was involved and found the TECEP, although difficult, a better choice if you could fully digest and memorize all the required information. Especially for those who have appropriate practical experience. Do you see the point I'm trying to make here?

Over the years I've recommended many courses/exams always mindful of others watching. I then use PM to have a much more open dialogue. As we all know, the forum provides specific feedback threads to share information with members. Wouldn't put it past a school to sign up just to poke around, but it's geared towards CLEP/DSST, proprietary and marketed as a tool used to complement the flashcards. Also think there was a reason so many of the M/C TECEPs were revised to the combination M/C & essay format.
ETA: Some may view essays as a more difficult testing method, I would disagree. I find essays actually benefit the tester due to points given for partial answers.

Regarding the school and it's customer service/support issues. This has been the case for a long time and as Sanantone stated, has gotten better over the years. BTW, most do not share the problems with TESU some on this forum have experienced; more on that later. I had a bit of an argument with one adviser, previously mentioned; I quickly learned to thank the person, hang up and call back. There was a second individual many also despised who, once I understood her way of thinking, became a huge help to me over my final year.

Overall, I think TESU would benefit from hiring a few individuals who come out of an alternative credit degree program. All of their employees tend to be traditional which, in my opinion, is the main reason behind all the conflicts between alternative credit seeking students (DF) and staff. They simply don't understand us sometimes. A fact that, early on, I had a hard time comprehending. I mean, in NJ they are considered an alternative method (adult) institution. But upon asking, I was informed they were geared towards adults and military taking and/or transferring credits from multiple schools, not so much the testing, Ace, etc. When I first started, testing was actually used more by military students. TESU has grown, often times painfully, over the years in accepting all the alternative methods known and generously used by DF members.

I'm not trying to make any sweeping declarations here, just offering my own personal thoughts/experiences and as always, YMMV.

[rlw74]

I can understand both sides. I guess what always makes me laugh is when someone says a course is easy. That is really subjective. I think study.com is easy... As long as you don't mind spending 40-50 hours in front of a computer taking quizzes. I literally got up at 5 or 6 am and worked on courses all day (sometimes till midnight) every day for weeks on end. Was it easy? In a manner of speaking. But I also have decades of schooling and life behind me. It was no harder or easier than some of the college courses I've taken in the past. I just like that I can spend as much or as little time in a day and finish in a week vs twelve weeks if I choose to bust my butt. I'm in the capstone now and I personally think it's easy but I have classmates who are struggling to finish. So it's kind of relative. I know you can put me in front of an Aleks course and I most definitely won't find it easy. Forget finishing a course in a week... Might take me months.