College credit that doesn’t come from a college? Yep! It’s a thing- but where can you use it?  The ACE College List isn’t the best list to use. I have a “real” list that’s more accurate.

Non-college-issued credit comes from many places – we even have a list of 30 ways to earn college credit in high school, and most of them don’t come from a college. So what makes these non-college classes worth college credit?

Most of the time these classes are “worth” college credit because their curriculum or exam has been evaluated by a third party called ACE American Council on Education.

ACE is the largest and primary evaluator of workplace learning, military training, credit by exam (CLEP, AP) and every other kind of alternative credit in the United States.  If you can find a college that accepts ACE credit, you can REALLY save some serious tuition costs.  Some ACE credit is free, some are exceptionally low cost (under $10 per credit), and even the most expensive ACE credit is almost less than what you’ll pay for rack rate tuition at your local college. As such, knowing where you can use ACE credit is the million-dollar question.

Some colleges will accept “all ACE credit” – that is to say, if your credit appears on an ACE transcript, they will give you college credit. The number of colleges in this category is very small. The big thing to pay attention to in this category are the golden few who have guaranteed partnership agreements with colleges. My estimation is that there are fewer than 25 colleges who take “all” your ACE credit. If you’ve heard people talking about “The Big 3” they are in this category and used widely among homeschool families because you can DIY an entire degree at home these schools and they are Regionally Accredited (the gold standard) so they represent the best option to craft a degree from scratch DIY style:

• • 1. Thomas Edison State University, NJ
    2. Excelsior College, NY
    3. Charter Oak State College, CT

Some colleges will accept some “ACE credit” but don’t go so far as to say “all” and will consider, but not guarantee, acceptance. My estimation is fewer than 250 fall into this category. Colleges in this category will vary and may not have the right accreditation for many occupations.

2,000 colleges are part of the “ACE Network” which ACE publishes the list of colleges who will “consider” your work for college credit. In no way, shape, or form do 2,000 colleges award credit for ACE. Being in the network does not mean they award credit.  In some cases, colleges appear on that list because they issue ACE credit for their own courses – that’s not the same thing!

What does it mean to be part of the ACE Network?

As I found out with my oldest son in 2013, being a part of the ACE Network does NOT mean that the college will review ACE credit for you- it might mean that they teach it! Our local community college is on the list, so imagine my surprise when they denied 27 of my son’s ACE credits in transfer (ALEKS math and Straighterline). I decided to probe deeper (they were on the list, after all!) and found that our local community college offered a carpentry course through the continuing education (non-credit) department, and successful completion of that course led to 3 ACE credits in carpentry. In other words, our community college was on the list because they taught a course that generated ACE credit, not because they awarded credit for ACE work. Yes, I appealed. No, he didn’t receive credit. Ouch.

RULE 1:  Don’t assume colleges on the ACE Network list will award your teen college credit for their ACE courses.

As I appealed my son’s credit decision, I grew frustrated with advisor after advisor who didn’t know what ACE was or what kind of credit he’d earned. I shouldn’t have been too frustrated because I remember myself having advised students at the community college for about 10 years before I knew what CLEP was….or that we were a testing center. Eventually, when I found someone (the Registrar) who knew what ACE credit was, she was able to explain to me why our community college was on the list and told me all about the carpentry course. Scenarios have played out like this dozens of times among our membership. I frequently hear of parents being bounced around to 4-5 people just trying to find out if the college accepts Straighterline credit!

If you’re constantly told that they don’t know what ACE credit is, or if they accept it, or want you to “submit your transcripts first” before giving you information, you can ask if they award credit for military training. Military training usually appears on an ACE transcript, so even though your teen won’t have military training for evaluation, this could be a “clue” that ACE credit may be awarded. Again, we’re trying to predict based on an incomplete picture, but how colleges behave in one situation is usually a good indication of how they’ll do other things – so it’s worth asking if you’re out of options.

RULE 2:  Don’t assume that college personnel are familiar with ACE credit. ACE credit is probably the least frequent type of credit they encounter. You’ll have to be patient and persistent.

As someone constantly tracking this type of information, I am so frustrated when I can’t share a “list” with our membership. Asking for a list is a frequent question, and frankly, there isn’t one. So, instead, I’ll share what I know- and you can work from there.  I have found that several ACE credit sources have credit transfer partnerships with specific colleges. For example, Saylor Academy has partnership agreements with 20 colleges. Those 20 colleges have agreed (in writing) to accept Saylor’s courses for college credit. That list is a great list to use as a starting point- which is to say that if those 20 colleges accept Saylor courses, they probably will accept other ACE evaluated course provider’s courses! The Alternative Credit Project partnered with 40 schools, and Straighterline another 100+.

RULE 3:  When one ACE credit source has a partnership agreement with a college, it is reasonable to infer that the same college will also accept other ACE credit sources.  

If you visit each ACE provider’s website, you can find their partnership agreements. Here is a small sample of ACE providers:

Study.com partnership colleges

Sophia.org partnership colleges

edX partnership colleges (includes graduate level partnerships)

Saylor Academy partnership colleges

Straighterline partnership colleges

As you browse the lists, you’ll see that there is some overlap of schools, but there are many listings that appear on only one list. It is my observation, that if a college appears on any list above, you’ll have an excellent shot at getting them to accept your other sources of ACE credit- at the very least, you should try.

So, the following list is the list I created by merging all known partner college relationships with ACE credit providers I could find.  In other words- this list, not the ACE Network list, is probably as close to any “real ACE list” as you’ll ever find, and it contains about 145 colleges (not 2,000).   

RA = Regionally Accredited

NA= Nationally Accredited

*note- it may not seem like it, but this project took quite a bit of work – most providers used only college logos- not text (how crafty of them) so I had to hand write the list here for you.   Remember, there is no incentive for businesses to “share” or “merge” lists because it is in their best interest for you to use their products and NOT those of their competitor!  

UPDATE:  My deepest gratitude to Amy B. for generously and painstakingly looking up all of these college’s addresses and websites!! I know how long projects like this take, and I am so thankful!!!!