Who wants to buy Penn Foster College?

[sanantone]

If you're going to headquarter your school in Nevada, then it needs to be licensed by the Commission on Postsecondary Education.

[jsd]

A similar idea, probably cheaper than buying a college...

I wonder how difficult it would be to design and get ACE or NCCRS approval for a bunch of underrepresented challenge exams. We can pool our money and be the next big CLEP, but for tests that don't exist yet

[sanantone]

A similar idea, probably cheaper than buying a college...

I wonder how difficult it would be to design and get ACE or NCCRS approval for a bunch of underrepresented challenge exams. We can pool our money and be the next big CLEP, but for tests that don't exist yet

If I were to start a school, one of the first things I would do is to get the courses ACE or NCCRS (more than likely ACE) approved because the accreditation process takes so long. At least I could tell the students that their credits will transfer somewhere.

[bjcheung77]

Has there been more feedback on this? Anyone want to pool in on something slightly different? Starting a school....
What I was thinking, to create an alliance with other smaller private/public schools that grant Certs, Dips & Degs.
These can be just state approved schools, up to other nationally approved schools, or just ACE/NCCRS recommended.

Why? This new school I want to start is just another Big 3, but will cater to the people who have completed some unrecognized credit elsewhere that can't be easily transferable to a Regionally Accredited school. It would be similar to UOP (University of the People) or NationsUniversity, but the difference is they don't take courses at my school. I want to be more of what the others do, but grant degrees through 100% transfer from other sources.

Target market would be people from other nations such as Australia, Canada, U.K, including the US, etc. Many of them have completed school at smaller lesser known institutions with say, an arts diploma or bible studies diploma or trade such as heavy duty mechanics diploma. It may not transfer anywhere, but they would like to get credit for it and ladder it to a Bachelors.

A program we can offer would be like Athabasca Univ. A bachelors of general studies, 90 credits all done elsewhere. They take additional courses from partner institutions and pay me the app fee, grad/residency fee for completing them. But I want to add value for it, so they can at least have a more recognized degree such as partnering with other universities.

Another option is to offer Bachelors degrees with a concentration or major (120 credits) and this will require articulation with another school say, Ashworth or Penn Foster, or a different college that grant degrees and those courses are at least ACE or NCCRS recommended, or the school is nationally accredited. This way, students can further their education if they decide to get into a Masters Degree from a Regionally Accredited school that accepts Nationally accredited Bachelors.

The school will be a non profit organization, but I can see huge potential for this. There are so many illegal aliens, people who have perm residence, or even citizens not only in America that would like a chance at education, for further learning but are limited to shady schools. Read this from the sister forum: Perhaps worse off attending college… and this article and many others in regards to illegal aliens studying at UOP. Online university provides free college for illegal immigrants

[sanantone]

I just found out what kind of bachelor's degree a school might expect from a welding instructor. I saw a job opening asking for a bachelor's in metallurgy or materials science.

I think the best model for going from ACE/NCCRS to DEAC-accredited is a combination of the Penn Foster and University of the People models. They both have instructors teaching their courses. University of the People pays its instructors an honorarium to keep costs low. I think it would be easier to transition from ACE/NCCRS to DEAC and later to RA if your courses are already built around instructors with master's degrees or an undergraduate degree for vo-tech subjects. I also like the Straighterline model of getting partner colleges while only having ACE and/or NCCRS approval. You can probably piggyback off of their partner colleges. If they're willing to accept courses completed with no instructor, I'm sure they would be very open to accepting courses taught by those with RA master's degrees.

More and more schools are offering a Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences. It's friendlier to vo-tech and professional credits. I like TESU's BSAST model because it only requires 12 upper level credits or the equivalent of four courses; one is the capstone and the is project management which is easy to complete non-traditionally through a place like Sophia Learning. Their degree just needs to be more open to various types of certifications such as a paramedic license and police academy training. To me, a BAAS in a specific concentration sounds better than a BA or BS in general studies, liberal studies, or individualized studies. Tarleton State University offers a BAAS in Criminal Justice, Manufacturing and Industrial Management, Information Technology and Business. These degrees are more flexible than a BA in Criminal Justice or a BSBA/BBA. Their BAAS in Criminal Justice accepts credits awarded for police academy training.

[videogamesrock]

I contacted the state and NCCRS. There's a lot of red tape involved. NCCRS requires a visit to your location to evaluate each course you have created. It's $10,000 for day one and $6,000 per day thereafter. If they want course revisions that's extra days. The accreditation is good per course for 5 years and then it starts all over again. The same is with DEAC accreditation. When starting a new business venture I look for the path to the least resistance, and this one has major obstacles involved. In order to even have the state approve your school you'd have to make serious campaign contributions to have someone push the paperwork through.

[sanantone]

Look at how much ACE charges.

Fees for CREDIT Course Reviews

I still think it's easier to just buy a school with DEAC accreditation.

[rebel100]

I might go in with folks on this forum, but not most of the folks on the other forum (except Bruce and Steve Forester).

Imagine all the drama over seemingly simple things like coke vs Pepsi!

[bjcheung77]

Look at how much ACE charges.

Fees for CREDIT Course Reviews

I still think it's easier to just buy a school with DEAC accreditation.

I would agree with buying an existing business, but if it's that much $1 mill or a half mill. It maybe cheaper to start an online school in Canada and have franchises like the way WGU started, expand into those states. UOP (Pheonix) and some other schools have done so, I think fees are a lot cheaper too. I might have to research that a bit more.

It could be an alternative to not create classes and have them finish the courses through third party partnerships, and have degree conferred by the newly created university. This way I don't have to worry about classes and just have to process applications and get them student fees.

hilarious

[defscarlett]

Look at how much ACE charges.

Fees for CREDIT Course Reviews

I still think it's easier to just buy a school with DEAC accreditation.

Wow, I didn't realize they were that expensive. That's why there's a lot of great programs out there that don't go for ACE accredidation