My Penn Foster College Experience : Penn Foster College

Response to Penn Foster College Tuition Increase

tcord1964 — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:55:00 GMT

I mentioned yesterday that Penn Foster College is increasing its tuition by some 39 percent over what I am currently paying, and I also suggested that someone at Penn Foster offer an explanation for such a jump in tuition. It turns out I didn't have to wait long for a response:

Terry,

I know you've been a long time fan of Penn Foster College but this time you got some of your information wrong. It is true that PFC is taking a price increase but for new students the increase averages $15 per credit or roughly $200 a semester. For students moving into the second through fourth semesters, the increase is $10 per credit. If you add it all up, Penn Foster College will cost $65 per credit for the first semester and $90 per credit each semester thereafter. Still a bargain compared to the average $121 per credit charged by community colleges. And at PFC your books and study materials are all included at no extra charge.

As for Bachelor Degrees, you are correct. Starting in October, Penn Foster College will be launching two BA programs (Business Management and Criminal Justice) with more programs to come next year.

Why the price increase? Well, the increase cost of printing, mailing books and supplies, and purchasing textbooks leaves us no choice. Nonetheless we increased our tuition as little as possible.

Hope you find this explanation useful.

I appreciate the quick response from Penn Foster College about the recent announcement that they will be increasing tuition to $90 per credit hour, beginning October 1st. But, let's take a closer look at these comments.

It is true that PFC is taking a price increase but for new students the increase averages $15 per credit or roughly $200 a semester.

I was talking about my own personal situation. I have been a student of Penn Foster College (formerly Education Direct) since (gulp!) 2005. It is true that I have always been, and still am, a big fan of the school. Not to pat myself on the back, but I have probably been the biggest cheerleader for PFC who doesn't actually work for the school. I am currently in the second semester of my program. My current semester costs $808. This semester I am taking 15 credits. This averages out to $53.86 per credit hour for me. With tuition increasing to $90 per credit hour, that is a difference of $36.14 per credit hour, or $108.42 per course, or $542.10 per semester. That is a far cry from $15 per credit, or $200 per semester.

Tuition for the associate degree in Marketing is currently listed at $920 per semester on Penn Foster College's web site, if a student uses the automatic payment plan. Assuming a student takes 15 credits for the semester, that averages out to $61.33 per credit. When tuition increases to $90 per credit hour, that is a difference of $28.67 per credit hour, or $86.01 per 3-credit course, or $430.05 per semester (assuming 5, 3-credit courses per semester).

Still a bargain compared to the average $121 per credit charged by community colleges.

The average? Where? Nationally? Certainly not in my state. Our community college tuition is nowhere near $121 per credit hour. I think our most expensive community college in the state is $80-$85 per credit hour.

Starting in October, Penn Foster College will be launching two BA programs (Business Management and Criminal Justice) with more programs to come next year.

Congratulations! Personally, I think this is fantastic news, and I would be interested in seeing which other programs you add to the list of BA programs. Frankly, I wish more schools would offer communications, public relations or journalism programs.

Why the price increase? Well, the increase cost of printing, mailing books and supplies, and purchasing textbooks leaves us no choice. Nonetheless we increased our tuition as little as possible.

OK, now THAT'S an explanation ... and it's certainly one I can live with. PFC does include books in the cost of the tuition. I will be starting a new program at Andrew Jackson University on September 29^th, and books are NOT included in the tuition or fees. I have to pay for them. Of course, I don't buy them new, but if I did the cost would be prohibitive. There aren't many schools (with the exception of Ashworth University) where you can pay $90 per credit hour, receive books with the courses AND earn a BA degree. Put in this context, yes ... that is a bargain. Perhaps Penn Foster will offer graduate degrees in the future?

I believe a better PR move for Penn Foster College would have been to come right out and say "hey look, with the increasing price of books and the state of today's economy, we reluctantly must increase our tuition to cover our costs." What students received instead was a two or three line blurb in their message box which essentially said "Starting October 1^st tuition at Penn Foster College will increase to $90 per credit hour." The same message ... but I have a feeling the previous option would have been more palatable for students.

I appreciate the quick response from Penn Foster, and I am still a fan of the school. While I am studying with AJU in the near future, it is because they have the program I want at a price I cannot refuse. It does not mean I would not continue to recommend Penn Foster College to other students, especially if Penn Foster continues its monthly payment plan.

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Do I REALLY need a college degree?

tcord1964 — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 03:32:00 GMT

The title of this post isn’t something that I have asked myself. I know I need a college degree to even be considered for the majority of the jobs that interest me. Each ad that I have seen for communications, marketing or public relations make that clear. The words “minimum qualification: bachelors degree” have become a constant refrain in each job listing.

No, the question “do I REALLY need a college degree?” is one that I have heard from my son. My answer was always, “Yes, absolutely you need a college degree to get a good-paying job.” But the more I thought about it, the more I realized the proper answer is “it depends”.

It really depends on exactly what kind of job you want to hold. There are many good-paying jobs, jobs with six-figure incomes, that don’t require a college degree at all. My brother works as an electrician. He does not have a college degree. He attended for one semester and decided it just wasn’t for him. He has plenty of on-the-job and vocational school training and now makes about $20 an hour, with more for overtime.

There are plenty of skilled trades which don’t require a degree, but offer some pretty decent salaries. Plumbers, brick masons, auto mechanics, HVAC technicians and even some healthcare professions don’t require either a two or four-year degree. While I’m at it, I guess I could throw radio announcer on that list, although only a very small minority make the mega-bucks commanded by Ryan Seacrest or Howard Stern. It would be better to stick with masonry.

My son will be a senior in high school this next year and he has no idea what he wants to do for a living, and that’s OK. He has plenty of time to figure that out. I told him to consider going to a local community college right out of high school and knocking out his general education requirements right away. He doesn’t even have to pick a particular program. It could be something general, like Liberal Arts. That will buy him two years before he decides what it is he “wants to do when he grows up”.

Or not. He may decide to do something completely different, like vocational training in a skilled trade, driving a semi-truck (drivers are another group that can command six-figure salaries) or starting his own business. Whatever he decides, as long as he’s happy and is able to make a living, who am I to judge?

This is a distance education forum, and the emphasis is placed on getting degrees. But don’t forget: there are sometimes other options available…options that don’t include degrees. Remember, there is vocational training available through distance learning as well. Penn Foster College is one distance learning option which offers several vocational training programs, but there are many others. So, while a degree might not be in your future, distance learning still might be.

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DETC and Transfer Credit

tcord1964 — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 16:55:00 GMT

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.

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Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

tcord1964 — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 04:12:00 GMT

I’m steadily making progress through my Business Math course, and I should be taking the third of four exams in this class by this weekend or the beginning of next week. This week, I am studying financial statements, balance sheets and financial ratios and trend analysis. A few weeks ago, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you what these things are, let along actually work on them.

The great thing about this portion of the course is that the text book material uses actual financial statements from real companies and has you prepare an analysis of the material. This is as “real world” as any course could hope to get, and I have to say I was impressed. I actually feel like I am gaining the knowledge I will need when I move up in the business world.

Although we are all working for that sacred piece of paper…the degree…there is something even more important that goes along with the whole process. It’s the education…the knowledge…that we as students are gaining through our distance learning courses. As I have mentioned before, I have always been something of a math moron. When it came to simple math problems, such as the household budget or balancing a checkbook, I always had to have my wife help me out with some of the math.

Well, this past weekend, she was paging through my Business Math text book and some of the homework I have done. She said “you are actually doing this?” I said “Sure. It’s taking me what seems like forever, but I’m getting through it.” With a look of awe on her face, she said “I can’t even understand this, and I could never do these math problems in your book.” She then added something even more amazing: “You’re better at math than I am now.”

That was my first jaw-dropping moment through this whole process. I have taken so long to get through this course; I was starting to feel like a failure. But, I am learning the material, I have a 95 average in this course so far, and I will likely finish it by the middle of this month. Up next: I’ll be studying inventory valuation and estimation.

I did make one stupid mistake this past week. I had mailed a SMART transcript request to try and get some of my Navy training credit transferred to Penn Foster College. Unfortunately, I mailed it to Penn Foster, rather than the Navy.

I’ve really got to pay closer attention when addressing these envelopes.

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My 6th Grade "Distance Learner"

tcord1964 — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 16:57:00 GMT

My son was supposed to enter the 6th grade at the local public middle school this year. However, my wife and I both agreed not to send him. We felt he just wasn’t ready. He was allowed to move up to the 6th grade, even though he received 4…yes, that’s right…4 F’s on his final 5th grade report card. He had struggled with his 5th grad studies throughout the year. He had received some extra help at his school, and his mother and I helped him with his homework every night, which would take hours. We felt we would be setting him up for failure if we sent him back to public school. I sent a letter withdrawing him from the school.

My son has ADHD, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. He takes medication for it, but even with medication, I know it can be a challenge for him to concentrate. He needs the kind of individualized attention he just isn’t going to receive at a public school. My wife told one of his teachers that we were considering “homeschooling” our son. The teacher thought it was a great idea. I was shocked.

My wife and I are not teachers. Neither of us holds a college degree. However, I could not help but think that we could teach our son what he needs to know for the 6th grade. We certainly couldn’t do any worse than the public schools have done up until this point.

I looked into purchasing a curriculum for my son’s studies. I was amazed at the number of options available. There are just as many homeschool curricula out there as there are distance learning programs. We decided to choose the Lifepac series by Alpha Omega Publications. It’s a Christian-based curriculum, which isn’t a problem for my family because we are Christians. However, it isn’t all Bible lessons. There are courses in History, Science, Language Arts and Math. The material looked challenging enough, so we decided to make the purchase.

We are also supplementing the curriculum with materials we are finding online, plus additional workbooks we have found at local stores. My wife has been doing the bulk of the teaching, since she is the one at home with him during the day. She was shocked at just how much our son did not know. It appeared he was not at a 5th grade level with his studies, let alone the 6th grade. I purchased the assessment tests available from Lifepac, so we could determine what grade level he should actually start with this year, and then we will help him catch up until he is able to study at a 6th grade level.

As I looked over his course materials and the way he has been studying this year, I realized there was very little difference between his method of studying during homeschool, and the way I study for my courses at Penn Foster College. We both study on our own using textbooks, CD-ROMs, work assignments and additional study on the Internet. We both have to take self-assessment tests and semester-end exams. The only difference is I have to take a proctored exam at the end of the semester and return my exam results to Penn Foster. My son is graded by my wife.

So, in effect, my 11-year-old son is also a “distance learner”. If it’s good enough for his old man, I guess it’s good enough for him, too.

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