Even though I am still in my first semester of studies at Penn Foster College, I am already looking ahead to other colleges to transfer to for my bachelor degree and eventually, my MBA.
Transferring my Penn Foster College associate degree should not present much of a problem. I have already identified at least two regionally-accredited colleges which will take the entire degree in transfer with no problem. They are Peru State College in Nebraska, and Bellevue University, also in Nebraska. I have heard from students at other DETC-accredited schools that Bellevue has accepted their degrees in transfer, and I emailed an admissions counselor at Peru directly. I pointed out that Penn Foster College is nationally-accredited, although many of its courses are reviewed by the American Council on Education, or ACE. Their response: “sure, we’ll accept the degree. We don’t want you to have to take the same courses twice!” Nice. I still have to check with Charter Oak State College and see if they will accept my degree from Penn Foster.
I had considered another DETC-accredited college for my bachelor degree: Andrew Jackson University. It offers a BA in Communications, which is what I really want, and the price is right. Eventually, I would like to get an MBA from the University of Oklahoma, which has a part-time program. So I emailed someone from admissions and asked if the BA from Andrew Jackson University would pass muster. The response I got was not encouraging.
"Although Andrew Jackson University is accredited by the Distant Education and Training Council which is approved by the Department of Education and it is a legitimate school, we only accept individual courses from DETC accredited schools which are substantially equivalent to OU courses. So we typically do not accept many courses from these schools or their degrees for consideration for our graduate programs.”
Ouch.
So, Andrew Jackson is out, and I still have to check with Charter Oak. The lesson here is clear: although you may only be starting your college studies, if you have plans for obtaining a higher degree down the road, ALWAYS check to make sure your degree will meet your current and future needs. This applies not only to future applications to colleges and universities, but to potential future employers as well. While many would be hard-pressed to tell you the difference between regional and national accreditation, some businesses only recognize regionally-accredited degrees. Taking time out now to check the utility of your degree can save you some time, money and effort in the future.