What's the impact of TESU downgrading Study.com?

[jsd]

That's a drastic move for a partnership that ends in 6 months.

[SDO]

I totally agree. But that huge discount was accidental. They are probably losing a lot of revenue when you consider all the people on here plus the multiple whole towns in California that are a part of Study's Working Scholars programs that are getting huge discounts. $1400 lost for each of those students is not chump change in this era of state budget cuts to colleges and universities.

[jsd]

we'll find out soon enough. but i would put money on TESU not targeting an individual provider, but instead deciding to align their transfers with ACE's recommendations (which is a move that makes sense).

[dfrecore]

I totally agree. But that huge discount was accidental. They are probably losing a lot of revenue when you consider all the people on here plus the multiple  whole towns in California that are a part of Study's Working Scholars programs that are getting huge discounts. $1400 lost for each of those  students is not chump change in this era of state budget cuts to colleges and universities.

How would downgrading some courses change any of this?  And like jsd said, the partnership ends in 6 months, so why would they do the downgrading NOW instead of back when they became a partner?  It just doesn't make sense.

What does make sense, though, is downgrading all ACE/NCCRS recommended courses to match ACE/NCCRS, so that people are more incentivized to take TESU courses, or even sign up for the Comprehensive Tuition Plan.

But to just target Study.com as "retaliation" doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

[robbalobba]

I got an reply from TESU.

I asked:

"I spoke with you folks in November about a couple of courses at Shmoop University that would come in as upper level credits (specifically, Shakespeare's Plays, Literature and the Media, Women's Literature, and Holocaust Literature).  However, I understand that you recently reevaluated several courses at Study.com, changing the designation of some courses between upper and lower level.

My question is this:  did you reevaluate the courses offered by Shmoop University as well?  I understand that both Study.com and Shmoop provide a similar service, so I wanted to reconfirm that I can take the courses I mentioned as upper level credits.  Please let me know whether or not this is still the case.  Thank you."

To which they replied:

"We have not heard anything as of yet about Shmoop University changing any equivalencies. You may need to check with Shmoop University and ACE Accreditation as they may be able to better inform you of any possible changes."

So... in classic fashion, they didn't really answer my question.  I guess, unless someone else can ask more carefully than I did, we're probably stuck with vague answers until someone tries to transfer courses in.

[jsd]

Yeah that is a dumb reply showing that they don't understand the question. Why would you need to talk to ACE about how TESU will be transcribing Shmoop courses? We know they're ACE recommended. Ugh.

I wonder who will be our first guinea pig.

Or maybe the Study.com folks will see this thread and can shed some light on the situation.

[originalamyj]

Well I completed Shakespeare’s Plays and am almost finished with women’s Lit. I can try to transfer them in but I’m not actually enrolled yet until I take my TECEP (registered for this term) so I’m guessing I wouldn’t get a confirmed response until I’m enrolled.

[SDO]

I understand the sentiment around thinking that TESU is aligning its equivalencies to ACE recommendations, because with some of the equivalency changes it seems that is the case. However, TESU has always done its own thing. There would be no reason to change now, after 40 years. In fact, a quick look at their CLEP equivalency page shows Marketing and Management still as upper level, contrary to ACE recommendations, and it says those equivalencies are good through 12/31/20 and 12/31/22, respectively. DSST's Business Ethics, Human Resource Management, MIS, Organizational Behavior, Finance likewise are all lower level according to ACE, but not according to TESU.

I think it is wrong to think that TESU is "targeting" Study.com or "retaliating." I've been on this board a long time and remember other occasions where downgrading happened and it affected only 1 provider. TESU has their own reasons, and we can only speculate what they are.

But as for why they did not downgrade the Study.com courses at the beginning of the partnership. I don't think they realized their mistake right away. If they had, they would have corrected it before it went public and they had to honor it. But since they didn't realize it right away, it would make sense for them to first see what type of impact that the mistake made on their revenue. If it was negligible, there would be no reason to spend time in bureaucratic meetings trying to find out a solution for a problem that didn't exist. I believe that when they saw the effect on revenue, they decided to pick up the slack by attempting to force students to take more of their courses. Like I said earlier, I could be wrong, but like jsd said, we will find out soon enough.

[robbalobba]

So... I might have decided to pester the Advising Department a bit more.

As of this morning:

"Currently according to our system Shakespeare's Plays will transfer in as LIT-310, Shakespeare I, and is being accredited through ACE until August of 2019. Literature and the Media will transfer in as LIT-430, Literature and the Media, and is being accredited through ACE until August of 2019. Women's Literature will transfer in as LIT-323, Women in Literature, and is being accredited through ACE until August of 2019. Holocaust Literature will transfer in as ENG-301, The Holocaust, and is being accredited through ACE until August of 2019."

[originalamyj]

So... I might have decided to pester the Advising Department a bit more.

As of this morning:

"Currently according to our system Shakespeare's Plays will transfer in as LIT-310, Shakespeare I, and is being accredited through ACE until August of 2019. Literature and the Media will transfer in as LIT-430, Literature and the Media, and is being accredited through ACE until August of 2019. Women's Literature will transfer in as LIT-323, Women in Literature, and is being accredited through ACE until August of 2019. Holocaust Literature will transfer in as ENG-301, The Holocaust, and is being accredited through ACE until August of 2019."

This makes me feel better.