Advice for college age and high school home schooler?

[cookderosa]

Thank you we are actually going to contact advising and his professors at his current school as well as a few of the 4 year schools with his major. It did appear that the 4-year university would be the ones evaluating the CLEP. However, they have made it clear that not many are accepted. I will message you if I have any question. Again, thank you for helping with this!

Would you mind messaging me the name of his school or at least the state? I find this incredibly hard to believe, I'd like to check, because if there are schools that disregard articulation agreements, it should be made public here. I was unaware that any of the 50 states operated this way, and I try to stay on top of this. Please message me so I can check.

[dfrecore]

I also homeschool my kids, who are young yet (10 & 12), but am already doing research on the local community colleges and state colleges (we live in San Diego). My daughter will begin taking art classes at our local CC as soon as she starts high school. My son will have to start taking college classes when he gets to the calculus level and bypasses my ability to help him with his math.

All of the local community colleges (that I've looked at) accept CLEP and DSST exams. They may have specific exams they do or don't accept, and specific scores they have to get to pass, but they all have something in their catalogs regarding the exams. Most also discuss ACE certification being accepted as well. Keep in mind that San Diego is VERY military-friendly (6 Naval or Marine bases here), so that's a factor. Many only have DSST info in their Military section of the catalog. My local CC will accept 48 CLEP units. Not sure about the rest.

The "state" college (all schools with CSU or the word "state" in the title, there are 23 campuses, including 2 in the San Diego area), are all on a mission to try to alleviate the overcrowding, and accept CLEP exams. Some may accept DSST exams, but that's a little more difficult to come by (CSUSM doesn't have anything in the catalog about it, SDSU has an ROTC program and specifically accepts DSST's). They will only accept 30 CLEP/testing units. So even if you take the 48 units accepted by your CC, the schools will only accept 30 units.

The UC colleges (10 campuses including 1 in San Diego) do NOT accept any CLEP or DSST exams at all. They state it in their catalogs. So even if your community college will take the exam, the university will not accept it.

Not sure if that's what you meant by not honoring articulation agreements, but that's how it works here.

Sorry it's so wordy! But you caught me when I was doing research, and we all know that when we learn something new, we like to share it with whoever will listen!

[cookderosa]

I also homeschool my kids, who are young yet (10 & 12), but am already doing research on the local community colleges and state colleges (we live in San Diego). My daughter will begin taking art classes at our local CC as soon as she starts high school. My son will have to start taking college classes when he gets to the calculus level and bypasses my ability to help him with his math.

All of the local community colleges (that I've looked at) accept CLEP and DSST exams. They may have specific exams they do or don't accept, and specific scores they have to get to pass, but they all have something in their catalogs regarding the exams. Most also discuss ACE certification being accepted as well. Keep in mind that San Diego is VERY military-friendly (6 Naval or Marine bases here), so that's a factor. Many only have DSST info in their Military section of the catalog. My local CC will accept 48 CLEP units. Not sure about the rest.

The "state" college (all schools with CSU or the word "state" in the title, there are 23 campuses, including 2 in the San Diego area), are all on a mission to try to alleviate the overcrowding, and accept CLEP exams. Some may accept DSST exams, but that's a little more difficult to come by (CSUSM doesn't have anything in the catalog about it, SDSU has an ROTC program and specifically accepts DSST's). They will only accept 30 CLEP/testing units. So even if you take the 48 units accepted by your CC, the schools will only accept 30 units.

The UC colleges (10 campuses including 1 in San Diego) do NOT accept any CLEP or DSST exams at all. They state it in their catalogs. So even if your community college will take the exam, the university will not accept it.

Not sure if that's what you meant by not honoring articulation agreements, but that's how it works here.

Sorry it's so wordy! But you caught me when I was doing research, and we all know that when we learn something new, we like to share it with whoever will listen!

Thanks for adding that.
Okay, so "honoring articulation agreements" simply means that the college is compliant in their agreement/transfer guarantee. Here is the page from University of California's page Transfer Admission Guarantee | UC Admissions

That is a current link, but I thought I read a while back that they were stopping the TAG program. Nonetheless, when you are in one of these agreements, it's a contract. So, whatever the agreement contract is when you begin (at the CC) you are locked into the agreement which guarantees 100% acceptance of your credits inside that articulation. (which can include CLEP credit if the CC accepts it in your plan, even when the Uni's policy is not to accept CLEP)

While I'm not a lawyer, I'm sure you could pursue legal action if they didn't comply.

*EDIT* okay, so I see they did do away with "TAG" and now call it "TCA" so that link is current.

[cathgrl]

Would you mind messaging me the name of his school or at least the state? I find this incredibly hard to believe, I'd like to check, because if there are schools that disregard articulation agreements, it should be made public here. I was unaware that any of the 50 states operated this way, and I try to stay on top of this. Please message me so I can check.

Collegehomeschoolmom's profile would indicate the local CC is Prince George's Community College, MD.

[cookderosa]

Collegehomeschoolmom's profile would indicate the local CC is Prince George's Community College, MD.

I know this is strange, but I'm not really comfortable doing that.

[dfrecore]

Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear. What I was trying to clarify was that while a CC here may accept 48 units of CLEP/DSST's toward an associates degree at that college, it is very clear anywhere you look in both their catalogs, additional documents on their websites, and the 4-year college websites, that this does not apply to transfer requirements. That is a completely separate issue.

The IGETC (Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum) - the articulation agreement between CA Community Colleges and the UC system - specifically says that "CLEP credits do not apply toward IGETC requirements".

The CSU Advising Guide shows which CLEP credits count towards which courses including units (for example, you only get 3 units for Biology instead of 6, and College Math is accepted at the CC for 3 units, but will not transfer to a CSU school at all).

Sorry, hopefully not getting too off-track. Hopefully, articulation agreements are very clear in this, but I would check with the college you want to transfer to rather than rely solely on CC info.

[UptonSinclair]

Our community college system in Colorado specifically states in their documentation that using CLEP, DSST, or AP credits to meet the guaranteed transfer requirements may affect transfer agreements.

[cookderosa]

the point is not to push CLEP into every transfer situations, the point is to find out if you can. Most of the time you can.
Almost all of the time, the university page will say that they don't accept CLEP/DSST, when applying as a FRESHMAN, which means you're looking in the wrong place.
But of course each state differs, as do the AA/AS transfer options at each CC for the program you're planning to attend as well as the major your seeking.
In some cases, you can use AP instead of CLEP.

The reason I replied, is because more often than not, people don't even know that articulation agreements exist and (incorrectly) refer to the university's admissions page instead of the transfer page and community college document. Whether or not someone takes advantage of cost/time saving options is really up to them and their family.

[dfrecore]

I agree Jennifer. I think doing a lot of research ahead of time, and knowing what your plan is will help tremendously with this. Starting with the school you want to transfer to and working your way back to the CC will help you make the best plan for your student/family. It's great to be able to save money with CLEP/DSST exams, but a waste if they won't transfer or fulfill the requirements you need. I want every class that they take to count towards the end goal (except if my kid wants to take extra art courses, or if the other kid finds something interesting like programming or extra science classes, I certainly won't object).

If you're not sure what your student wants at the end, I think it would be better to get those GE courses that transfer, rather than an AA. Because it leaves you with a lot more options later. If your kid knows exactly what they want, and an AA will get them there faster, than go for it. And if you can combine the two, that's also a fantastic option.

[collegehomeschoolmom]

I have already mentioned that before although we do have several CCs in our area. Thanks.