CLEP Scores only kepts for 20 years?

[sanantone]

There's no telling how much longer CLEP and DSST will be around, but they're very old programs. The first CLEP centers were established in the 1960s.

I think this forum has gotten much younger, but when I joined, most of the members were older. Many of them had started college in the 1980s and 1990s, so it doesn't sound weird at all to me that someone would finish a degree 20 years later. Also, during the Great Recession, a lot of people who already had degrees went back to school for more marketable degrees. 

I've attended many schools, but rarely looked at their time limit on transfer credits. Maybe it's because I never had to worry about it. My credits transferred fine. Time limits are most commonly placed on STEM and business courses. Graduate programs also have time limits.

[MNomadic]

My friend who is applying for PA grad programs, right now is finding that some of them want her to have taken some of the science prerequisites withing 6-7 years which is getting to be a problem for her. For most general eds, most colleges won't care how old they are. Just get your cleps onto ace and/or a college transcript right away. Hopefully finish your degree in the next 2 decades, as well.

[dfrecore]

I don't think this is really an issue to worry about. In 20 years, the education landscape will look completely different anyway. Most B&M schools have a 10 year limit on courses you take with them. The 20 years from CLEP seems generous.

I've never heard of a 10-yr limit on courses at B&M schools at all.  There may be a limit on how old CERTAIN courses can be, but not that you can't transfer in older courses, or they won't use them at all - especially towards Gen Ed's, Free Electives, etc.

You may have trouble if you take all of your major courses and then wait 10+ years (even TESU would only take 3 of my older courses in the major), but there were certainly no issues otherwise (and I transferred in 76 credits that were 12-30 years old.

[sanantone]

My friend who is applying for PA grad programs, right now is finding that some of them want her to have taken some of the science prerequisites withing 6-7 years which is getting to be a problem for her. For most general eds, most colleges won't care how old they are. Just get your cleps onto ace and/or a college transcript right away. Hopefully finish your degree in the next 2 decades, as well.

That's pretty generous. A lot of schools place a 5-year age limit on genetics and certain other biology courses because there are constantly new discoveries. 

Am I remembering correctly? Doesn't ACE have a 30-year limit? Hopefully, no one will need 30 years; I'm just curious because I heard this before.

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I don't think this is really an issue to worry about. In 20 years, the education landscape will look completely different anyway. Most B&M schools have a 10 year limit on courses you take with them. The 20 years from CLEP seems generous.

I've never heard of a 10-yr limit on courses at B&M schools at all.  There may be a limit on how old CERTAIN courses can be, but not that you can't transfer in older courses, or they won't use them at all - especially towards Gen Ed's, Free Electives, etc.

You may have trouble if you take all of your major courses and then wait 10+ years (even TESU would only take 3 of my older courses in the major), but there were certainly no issues otherwise (and I transferred in 76 credits that were 12-30 years old.

Congratulations on finally finishing.

[alexf.1990]

I don't think this is really an issue to worry about. In 20 years, the education landscape will look completely different anyway. Most B&M schools have a 10 year limit on courses you take with them. The 20 years from CLEP seems generous.

I've never heard of a 10-yr limit on courses at B&M schools at all.  There may be a limit on how old CERTAIN courses can be, but not that you can't transfer in older courses, or they won't use them at all - especially towards Gen Ed's, Free Electives, etc.

You may have trouble if you take all of your major courses and then wait 10+ years (even TESU would only take 3 of my older courses in the major), but there were certainly no issues otherwise (and I transferred in 76 credits that were 12-30 years old.

It varies from institution to institution. When I looked at schools a few months back, I saw a number of them that limited transfer credits older than 10 years. A few were even as low as 7 years. Some refused to take them outright, but most use ominous language like "we reserve the right to review coursework older than X years."

It's my understanding the the 20 years limit is from the College Board's side of things. After 20 years, the College Board deletes your records. If someone got a sympathetic admissions counselor, they might be able to get credit after 20 years with an ACE transcript.

[MNomadic]

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That's pretty generous. A lot of schools place a 5-year age limit on genetics and certain other biology courses because there are constantly new discoveries. 

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I think you're right. I think it was 5 years which is disqualifying her from some programs. I think some of them are being a little bit flexible for her, though.

[dfrecore]

A limit on how old courses can be in certain areas (computers comes to mind), but it's certainly not true that "most schools have a 10 year limit." Not even close.

[Ideas]

I've never heard of a general 10 year limit, but I can believe that. That sucks for people trying to attend those schools. I think those schools would lose out because older transfer students would go elsewhere.

For health professions, it makes sense to require newer science courses. I generally see 3 years for nursing prerequisites. It's not only because the content could change, but they think the student is forgetting more over time. I believe I have seen schools that only allowed 1 or 2 years for A&P in particular (but 3 years for the other prereqs).

7 is a long time for IT fields. I think 7 years is very generous for those, maybe too generous. This is for computer credits from TESU: "Up to 9 credits (50 percent) of the 18 credit certificate may be older than 7years from the most current date of application to the University. Any additional older credits applicable to the certificate area of study would have to undergo a currency review."

[sanantone]

Limits are put on math courses because students can forget, but age limits on certain science courses are there for currency. That's why they're often not applied to all prerequisites. I haven't seen that 1 to 3-year limits are common for nursing programs. I also haven't seen a general 10-year age limit for all courses, so I don't think this is common. 

I apologize for the change in font. I don't know why my phone is doing this.

[cannoda]

This can be an issue for a second bachlors, especially when the first degree was completed almost entirely by exam. Many schools have no age limit on transfer credit except for specific programs/courses. It's interesting that the College Board keeps AP scores indefinitely, but has a time limit on CLEP. I'd love to hear their explanation for the different treatment.