If your teen has college credit through ALEKS, Sophia, Studycom, Straighterline, CSM Learn, Penn Foster, Gateway Education, TEEX, FEMA, College Plus, or any other alternative credit provider, be sure you’ve set up a Credly account.
For those who earned college credit before 2021:
In 2021, anyone with American Council on Education (ACE) credit was asked to move their old credit over to a new company called Credly / Acclaim. Credly will “hold” your old and new ACE credit on an official Credly transcript. While ACE used to offer this service, they no longer do, so if you have an old ACE transcript (pre-2021) you should collect your credits sooner rather than later. To emphasize, you can no longer get a transcript from ACE.
To set up a free Credly account, simply go to Credly.com and create an account. Be sure to do this in the name of the person that holds the college credit. If possible, it will make things easier to use the same email address linked to their old college credits, but it’s not necessary. Once you create your free account, you now must go to each old account that held ACE credit and ask them to send your credits to your new Credly account. Be prepared for a clunky and inefficient process. You may need to do this via chat box, email, or by phone.
Examples of credit you will need to put on your teen’s Credly transcript:
- ALEKS Corporation—McGraw Hill
- Saylor Academy
- Sophia
- Straighterline (ACE)
- Study.com (ACE)
- Workplace Training
- GED Exam
- The Institutes for Statistics Education (ACE)
- SeeMore Impact Labs (formerly CSM Learn)
- Penn Foster College (limited to ACE courses only)
- Gateway Education (ACE)
The following companies are not currently participating at the time of this writing, though it’s worth contacting them anyway. Many of us have college credit from these companies and want to use it! Without their participation in the new Credly process, your college credit earned through them is likely lost.
- College Plus
- FEMA Independent Study
- Gateway Education
- Lumerit
- National Fire Academy
- Texas Engineering Extension Service TEEX
- The Institutes (Insurance)
- TOR Academy
- UExcel Exams (through 2015)
- Unbound / Be Unbound
- Verity College Education (through 2016)
Not all non-traditional college credit will be housed on your Credly transcript. You do not have to submit any of the following since each issue their own official transcripts.
- Advanced Placement (AP)
- CLEP
- DSST / Dantes
- TECEP
- ACTFL
- NYU-FLP
- Wescott
- Arizona State University Universal Learner
- Outlier co
- Classical Conversations
- IEW Christian Halls
- Veritas Press
- Coopersmith
- Law Shelf
- Davar
- OnlineDegreecom
- Christian Leaders College
- Olivet Nazarene University Your Way
- UExcel (after 2015)
For those with college credit since 2021:
You should already have a Credly account. I you don’t, that needs to be a tthe TOP of your to-do list!
You’ll open a free Credly account in the name of the student who will earn college credit. It is best to do this before they begin earning college credit if possible.
Once the Credly account is active, you can now receive credits into the account.
Upon completion of an ACE course, follow the ACE provider’s instructions for adding that course to your Credly account. For many providers, this happens automatically, but you may have to request it manually. Keep track and be sure that EVERY credit earned is being housed in the Credly account.
Later, when your teen wants to attend college, you can make a request with Credly, and their official transcript will be sent to your target college(s) for evaluation. Do not send credits from ACE providers directly (Studycom, Straighterline, Sophia, etc.) unless the college (1) has a partnership with the ACE provider and (2) they are telling you to do so. ACE providers are not regionally accredited, so sending a transcript directly from a company instead of Credly will likely result in complete denial of credits.
