ASU to Launch a Free Global Initiative and enroll 100 million students

[wow]

Except we can't get them graded until we initiate the grading process, somewhat of a limbo.

Huh. I thought submitting the assignment (final exam or project) was the same as submitting it for a grade.

They won't grade your assignment until and unless you apply for credit, hence my email to them. 

I copied this from the Marketing course:

"Please note: Your file will not be graded or reviewed by Thunderbird experts until after Step 3 if you decide to pursue academic credit.

Step 3: Once you've completed all completed all five advanced courses, you'll need to apply to the university and submit your final projects for each of your five courses. Your work will then be evaluated by a Thunderbird content expert to validate your achievement, with opportunities to revise and resubmit if needed."

I believe you, I just didn't realize that was the process. That said, from the point of view of us on the degree forum who are trying to accumulate credits for cheap and hack our degrees, it can seem like they are lagging. From other perspectives, this is a huge undertaking on the part of Thunderbird and they are offering it for free, so students shouldn't expect anything to be implemented at a pace that meets their needs, or necessarily even on the schedule that Thunderbird originally planned. I would expect that when they are ready to grade things, they will send out an email or at least announce it prominently on the website with complete instructions for pursuing credit. (And given that people have to request grading as you said, I imagine they want to figure out the price beforehand so that people don't apply for grading unless they are serious about paying for the credits or applying to Thunderbird School of Management. I also imagine there are going to be different pay scales for different countries, but who knows.) In any case, they aren't ready to grade things now. And given that my email for them about questions that they should already have answers to (about missing downloads in the course materials) have also gone unanswered for long periods of time, I would think that the ones that they don't have answers to would go unanswered for even longer.
If you are needing these credits to complete your degree or save on a master's, unfortunately, it looks like you will need to seek the credits elsewhere if it's an urgent thing, or just wait at least several months or longer if it's not urgent.