Why aren't transcript reviews automated?

[mysonx3]

I'm enrolled at TESU and have taken one course so far with them a 1 unit one. They already had my old transcripts and I sent another one from the last year of CC classes that I have completed. It took them about a week to evaluate them. 
There are classes that don't quite fit into a nice format. For example my two introductory Accounting classes that I took in my local CC are both 4 units each.  TESU's equivalent are only 3 units each. Kind of interesting how Intermediate Accounting is a 3 unit class at TESU while Intro to Financial Accounting was a 4 unit class at my local CC. 
Also for my Associate's degree plan they take Intermediate Algebra for the quantitative literacy. That same class also came in as a 4 unit elective in the Accounting Degree plan, which moved things around a bit. 
Those 4 unit classes also caused the BSBA to require 122 units to complete instead of the usual 120 units.

So schools can make courses worth whatever they want.  My CC was a 4cr course for Financial Accounting, but I've been at other schools and it was 3cr.

For Intermediate Algebra coming in as an Accounting Elective, that's wrong, and there will probably be a fix to it, or they will see it during the graduation audit when the time comes, and move it.  So, I would get that fixed before you want to graduate.  Also, it won't count as your Quant Lit requirement (I'm assuming you're getting a BSBA?).  You need College Algebra to fulfill Quant Lit for that degree.  If you're getting a BALS, then it WOULD go in Quant Lit, and you need them to move it.  For a BSBA, it's a GE Elective.

As far as TESU requiring 122cr, that's not the case at all.  You only need 120.  They will subtract the 2cr needed from Free Electives.  If it ends up that you have more than 120cr, and they can't break out the extra 2cr (from a 3cr course), then you'll just have extra credits - but that is not TESU requiring more than 120cr.

I think with Intermediate Algebra rustydroid is saying that it counted as an elective within an Accounting degree (which is where it should be), not as an Accounting Elective.

[Rustydroid]

I'm enrolled at TESU and have taken one course so far with them a 1 unit one. They already had my old transcripts and I sent another one from the last year of CC classes that I have completed. It took them about a week to evaluate them. 
There are classes that don't quite fit into a nice format. For example my two introductory Accounting classes that I took in my local CC are both 4 units each.  TESU's equivalent are only 3 units each. Kind of interesting how Intermediate Accounting is a 3 unit class at TESU while Intro to Financial Accounting was a 4 unit class at my local CC. 
Also for my Associate's degree plan they take Intermediate Algebra for the quantitative literacy. That same class also came in as a 4 unit elective in the Accounting Degree plan, which moved things around a bit. 
Those 4 unit classes also caused the BSBA to require 122 units to complete instead of the usual 120 units.

So schools can make courses worth whatever they want.  My CC was a 4cr course for Financial Accounting, but I've been at other schools and it was 3cr.

For Intermediate Algebra coming in as an Accounting Elective, that's wrong, and there will probably be a fix to it, or they will see it during the graduation audit when the time comes, and move it.  So, I would get that fixed before you want to graduate.  Also, it won't count as your Quant Lit requirement (I'm assuming you're getting a BSBA?).  You need College Algebra to fulfill Quant Lit for that degree.  If you're getting a BALS, then it WOULD go in Quant Lit, and you need them to move it.  For a BSBA, it's a GE Elective.

As far as TESU requiring 122cr, that's not the case at all.  You only need 120.  They will subtract the 2cr needed from Free Electives.  If it ends up that you have more than 120cr, and they can't break out the extra 2cr (from a 3cr course), then you'll just have extra credits - but that is not TESU requiring more than 120cr.

It was just an observation on the number of credits that some classes are worth which would probably make automating this process a bit harder. Intermediate Algebra did not get placed as an Accounting elective just an elective.
Right now my the "classes required" on my degree plan say 122 with a note stating " Exception: The total number of semester hours required for your degree program has increased to balance/account for extra semester hour(s) app ied to other specific requirements or sections". 
I think they keep tweaking my degree plan because I could have swore that one time Intermediate did not have an equivalent at TESU and it came in as a two credit course. Now they are using all 4 credits in the plan. This are all just observations on what my degree plan says.

[Life Long Learning]

If someone has a prior degree, then they have to differentiate between credits earned before and after conferral. The old credits might fit in gen ed and electives, but they can't be used in the major because you need 30 new credits.

30 new credits can be anywhere in your degree plan.  You can sometimes reuse credits from the major.  

I used some of my 1st BS business management degree "major" credits in my second  BS in Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEM) degree.  Fact, they satisfied the concentration: Agency Management

As a policy Excelsior College will not give you a second business degree if you have one already.  In a second field (HSEM) yes.

[jamshid666]

If someone has a prior degree, then they have to differentiate between credits earned before and after conferral. The old credits might fit in gen ed and electives, but they can't be used in the major because you need 30 new credits.

30 new credits can be anywhere in your degree plan.  You can sometimes reuse credits from the major.  

I used some of my 1st BS business management degree "major" credits in my second  BS in Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEM) degree.  Fact, they satisfied the concentration: Agency Management

As a policy Excelsior College will not give you a second business degree if you have one already.  In a second field (HSEM) yes.

So, basically, the credits have to be "new" to the second degree but not necessarily new to the student?

[Life Long Learning]

If someone has a prior degree, then they have to differentiate between credits earned before and after conferral. The old credits might fit in gen ed and electives, but they can't be used in the major because you need 30 new credits.

30 new credits can be anywhere in your degree plan.  You can sometimes reuse credits from the major.  

I used some of my 1st BS business management degree "major" credits in my second  BS in Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEM) degree.  Fact, they satisfied the concentration: Agency Management

As a policy Excelsior College will not give you a second business degree if you have one already.  In a second field (HSEM) yes.

So, basically, the credits have to be "new" to the second degree but not necessarily new to the student?

Yes, as I understand it and 30 credits past the date of the last degree conferred.  So my unused credits in my first degree also do not count towards a new 30?

I was reading I think online at UMA in Maine that they require you to have 9 upper-level credits from their "major" from them.  Implying you can transfer in some credits in your major.  The different colleges will have different rules.

[cookderosa]

There already exists big user-generated databases that unofficially evaluate for you. Transferology, CollegeTransfer.net, and others. At the end of the day, a registrar's decision to include or exclude a credit is a really big deal. I believe that the stakes are simply too high to turn this over to an automated system when you're talking about out of state transfer credit. (instate is something entirely different, that is much easier and could simply be automated)

[sanantone]

If someone has a prior degree, then they have to differentiate between credits earned before and after conferral. The old credits might fit in gen ed and electives, but they can't be used in the major because you need 30 new credits.

30 new credits can be anywhere in your degree plan.  You can sometimes reuse credits from the major.  

I used some of my 1st BS business management degree "major" credits in my second  BS in Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEM) degree.  Fact, they satisfied the concentration: Agency Management

As a policy Excelsior College will not give you a second business degree if you have one already.  In a second field (HSEM) yes.

I wasn't specifically referring to Excelsior; although, I do wonder why they gave me credit for biology courses but didn't put them in the major.

[mrstackz]

I work in the industry of data-based automation.  I can answer the question this way.  Short answer: Cost.

Long answer:

When dealing with transcripts you're dealing with three levels of information: Dates, Competencies, and Courses.  


Dates is easy.  But every school has their own preferences for how to evaluate them, and the accrediting bodies sometimes don't agree on relevancy.

Example: Penn Foster will take just about every credit you've been given credit for regardless of age.  Northern Arizona University, however, will only give certification credit based on tests - which are based on the date the test was written.  So you might have your A+ certification but NAU won't take it because it's based on the 700, rather than 900, series of tests.  Despite being (even to this day) the same basic material.

Competencies is straightforward.  But we've gotten convoluted with what we name things instead of keeping it simple.  We won't categorize "Math" or "Algebra", we have to say "Finite Math", "College Algebra", "Intermediate Algebra", etc.  Which means different competencies are expected.  For a business degree, what math do you need to know?  You basically need to know enough to navigate Excel and/or a calculator.  But then you have the accrediting bodies that force higher levels of math.  If School A's accrediting body requires 3 levels of math and School B's accrediting body only requires the highest level and assumes the lower levels from a high school degree, you can't easily create a mapping of credits if you're transferring from B to A.

Example: When I was enrolled at WGU originally, I had to take 5 - FIVE - distinct math-based classes.  NAU only required one.  Penn Foster two.  When I enrolled at WGU the second time they required two, including one I had already taken but didn't pass.

Courses is where it really gets problematic.  Some colleges like WGU are just the course and don't care about the individual competencies within (i.e. Project Management vs. Budget).  Some colleges like NAU break it down to every possible level but grant credit at a competency, not a class, level.  So then you transfer from WGU to NAU and NAU is having to try and figure out what all competencies should be included in the class reported.  Problem is that's based on the date of the class as it may have changed over time.

Example: in 2003 you might go to a WGU CS course and pass it.  In 2013 that same class might now talk about completely different (current) technologies.  School B might be only teaching the newer technologies and only credit you if the course was the 2013 version of the course, but they may only have a few students who have taken that version to compare competencies.




It's a lot more difficult than it should be because frankly, there are too many opinions about what a student should confidently know in a given program, and schools/accrediting bodies can't agree on what that minimum is. And that's because we add a bunch of useless garbage to pad the education - example is classes like "music appreciation" in a business class.  Unless you're opening a music store, such a class should not be anywhere in the program.

[sanantone]

Institutional accreditors give schools a lot of freedom in designing their curricula. TESU is not going to have the same requirements as every other school in the Middle States Association. When it comes to programmatic accreditation, there is more standardization.

I don't think I've come across a school that requires music appreciation. Schools usually have humanities or fine arts requirements. Some schools offer limited courses, so music appreciation might be the only thing they have. However, they are usually open to accepting other fine arts courses transferred from other schools. This is another reason why automation won't work.

Universities were not invented to be vocational training schools. They were designed to provide a well-rounded education. There's this misconception that some countries, like the UK, cut out all the gen ed stuff. This is not true. If you intend to go to college, then you spend additional time in high school completing your A levels.

[Life Long Learning]

I work in the industry of data-based automation.  I can answer the question this way.  Short answer: Cost.

Long answer:

When dealing with transcripts you're dealing with three levels of information: Dates, Competencies, and Courses.  


Dates is easy.  But every school has their own preferences for how to evaluate them, and the accrediting bodies sometimes don't agree on relevancy.

Example: Penn Foster will take just about every credit you've been given credit for regardless of age.  Northern Arizona University, however, will only give certification credit based on tests - which are based on the date the test was written.  So you might have your A+ certification but NAU won't take it because it's based on the 700, rather than 900, series of tests.  Despite being (even to this day) the same basic material.

Competencies is straightforward.  But we've gotten convoluted with what we name things instead of keeping it simple.  We won't categorize "Math" or "Algebra", we have to say "Finite Math", "College Algebra", "Intermediate Algebra", etc.  Which means different competencies are expected.  For a business degree, what math do you need to know?  You basically need to know enough to navigate Excel and/or a calculator.  But then you have the accrediting bodies that force higher levels of math.  If School A's accrediting body requires 3 levels of math and School B's accrediting body only requires the highest level and assumes the lower levels from a high school degree, you can't easily create a mapping of credits if you're transferring from B to A.

Example: When I was enrolled at WGU originally, I had to take 5 - FIVE - distinct math-based classes.  NAU only required one.  Penn Foster two.  When I enrolled at WGU the second time they required two, including one I had already taken but didn't pass.

Courses is where it really gets problematic.  Some colleges like WGU are just the course and don't care about the individual competencies within (i.e. Project Management vs. Budget).  Some colleges like NAU break it down to every possible level but grant credit at a competency, not a class, level.  So then you transfer from WGU to NAU and NAU is having to try and figure out what all competencies should be included in the class reported.  Problem is that's based on the date of the class as it may have changed over time.

Example: in 2003 you might go to a WGU CS course and pass it.  In 2013 that same class might now talk about completely different (current) technologies.  School B might be only teaching the newer technologies and only credit you if the course was the 2013 version of the course, but they may only have a few students who have taken that version to compare competencies.




It's a lot more difficult than it should be because frankly, there are too many opinions about what a student should confidently know in a given program, and schools/accrediting bodies can't agree on what that minimum is. And that's because we add a bunch of useless garbage to pad the education - example is classes like "music appreciation" in a business class.  Unless you're opening a music store, such a class should not be anywhere in the program.

You give an excellent example of the "tiny niche" (competency-based schools) in the college World (WGU/NAU etc).  99% of colleges are way different. 
 
Time:  I transfer all my courses back to 1984 without issues.  Even the Intro to computers courses (99% of students also do not do IT Certs).  Only my Stats course was downgraded to an intro to Stats, not regular Stats at one college.  Many colleges only have one version of stats so thats what you get. 

Course Credits Amount (Length):  This is the biggest barrier to acceptance by the colleges and loses to the students!
Semester System 3 SH = 4.5 Quarter Hours.  

Quarter-hour college will give you equal course trade but the students often lose 33% of their credits that way.

Semester hour colleges (FTCC in North Carolina) will not take a 3 QH course as equal (acceptance) for their 3 SH course (3 QTRs = 2 SH).  Has NOTHING to do with competency or time or course name.

File an appeal:  I have tried this at numerous colleges and it does some times work.  I have maybe a 50% pass rate as 5 of 10 colleges agreed with my appeal on a course.  You can Petition to appeal Policy or Academic Requirements also (I did this in writing once also).  Community colleges I find the best and have a straight and easy to understand appeal system and Petition Forms.  Universities are a mixed bag!