A while back, I posted some information about taking
advantage of college credits obtained through military training which is
evaluated by the American Council on Education, or ACE. I have racked up approximately 90 credits
this way, all due to my training at military service schools. Luckily, I worked in a job which had many
communications and liberal arts-type courses (I was a Navy journalist).
But, you don’t need to have been in the military to obtain
ACE-evaluated credit, which can translate into college transfer credits and
lower tuition. Many companies have their
own training programs and distance learning courses which are evaluated by ACE
for college credit.
I once did some part-time work for Home Depot, and they take
their employee training seriously. Even though
I was only part-time, I took 67 hours worth of courses through the company’s
intranet system and correspondence training.
Many of the courses were about sales training, hazardous materials
handling and other safety techniques. At
last check, ACE evaluates only a dozen or so Home Depot courses for college
credit.
If you work for a nationally-known company, chances are they
have had at least some of their courses evaluated for college credit. The infamous Hamburger University,
a management training center operated by McDonalds’s, offers 46 credit hours
worth of ACE-evaluated courses.
Other companies which have ACE-evaluated courses which can
be used for college credit include DaimlerChrysler, the Federal Aviation
Administration, Fidelity Investments, NASA, A.G. Edwards & Sons and
Citigroup. Even the CIA has a few
ACE-evaluated courses. I could tell you
what they are, but they would probably have to kill me if I did. OK, I’m just kidding about the killing, but
they do have ACE-evaluated courses.
If you want to find out if your company has ACE-evaluated
courses, see your company’s human resources manager, or check out the list at https://www.acenet.edu/nationalguide/index.cfm
. If your company has training courses,
but they are not on the ACE list, encourage your employer to have those courses
evaluated by ACE for college credit.
Employers are always looking for well-educated and properly-trained
workers.
Who knows...if your company offers enough ACE-evaluated
training courses, you could be well on your way toward earning a college degree
just for going to work!