University of the People April Promo

University of the People is a tuition-free university open to high school graduates. They are offering a promo this month in recognition of Community College Awareness Month that allows anyone with a community college associate’s degree to transfer their credits for no cost. Read more below.

For those who hold a community college associate degree, University of the People is waiving all fees if you transfer between now and the end of April. Since the program is tuition-free, they normally charge $17 per credit for transfer credit.

A Word about Accreditation

The accreditation a university holds on the day you graduate is the accreditation level of your degree.Currently, this university does NOT YET have regional accreditation (RA), which is the gold standard, however they do have accreditation through the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) and Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC) which is perfectly legitimate.

Typically, I urge high school students to only earn regionally accredited CREDIT because that improves their changes of that credit transferring after high school. If a student intends to finish the UoP degree at UoP, that risk of transfer issues is removed, but there are always limits to pursuing a degree that isn’t RA. Notably, occupations that require a state license (teacher, doctor, lawyer, nurse, professor, etc.) require the undergrad degree to be RA.

That said, they are in the process of becoming regionally accredited. Unofficially they expect to have this finalized this year, so if you’re flexible with your completion timeline, my advice is to use this “free promotion period to send in everything and sit tight until RA is granted. You will see HS4CC post a lot more about UoP once they obtain RA status because they have already contacted us about reaching out to the homeschool community and those hoping to earn a degree without debt.

“University of the People received candidate status in June 2021 with WASC Senior College and University Commission which is a regional accrediting body;^[15] WASC states that “Candidacy indicates that the institution meets all or nearly all the Standards at a minimum level. Candidacy is not accreditation and does not ensure eventual accreditation”.^[16]“

What does tuition-free mean?

“University of the People’s Tuition-Free Model is 100% real! To help support the university’s continued operation,we charge only a low application fee, and an Assessment Fee per course completed ($120 for the undergraduate programs, $200 for certificates, and $300 for the graduate programs). That’s it. No annual enrollment fees, and no cost for course material. For those who cannot afford these fees, scholarships are available to help support their studies.”

Of special interest to HS4CC families

75% of an associates degree may be brought in using prior credit (45 of 60 credits)
75% of a bachelor’s degree may be brought in using prior credit (90 of 120 credits)
CLEP
DSST
Advanced Placement
ACE (Studycom, Sophia, Saylor, Straighterline, ALEKS, etc.)
NCCRS (Coopersmith, Law Shelf, Davar, Onlinedegree, etc.)
Credit from dual enrollment (graded C or better)
AFTER APRIL 30 the cost to transfer credit is $17 per credit.