Sophia DOMINATES the HBCU alternative credit world with the most partnerships of the ACE providers. Here is a quick list of Historically Black Colleges and Universities that are partner colleges with Sophia. HS4CC 25% discount coupon ends today!
If you’d like to start working with your teen on potential careers, Sophia offers 3 different Career Readiness courses that might want to look at. In this post, I’m going to break down all 3 and show you the pros and cons of each.
When 9th-11th grade teens take Composition 1 & 2 in high school for college credit, parents often wonder what to use for Language Arts in 12th grade. Here are 4 options to consider.
A partner college is a written agreement between a business and a college to make it easy for you to transfer your teen’s college credits. Partnerships differ by college or company, but here is an example of what a partnership looks like and how to use it.
From my email inbox today: Sophia is launching 2 new courses and made changes to several from their current catalog! All interesting, but the BIG deal is that they are launching their first science lab! Details below.
In the arena of using alternative college credits to the fullest, there are 3 colleges that stand alone as the most flexible with and DIY-friendly; they are affectionately called “The Big 3.” If you hear people talking about testing out of a degree, this is what they mean.
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.
Colleges are highly predictable in how they handle incoming credit, but people are exceptionally creative, and it doesn’t take long before bright parents think they’ve found a loophole. Let’s look at that loophole.
Sophia doesn’t offer many coupons, but we just got one! New subscribers can get 25% off. Sophia Learning offers ACE evaluated college courses that you can use in your homeschool for potential credit later. The coupon is valid from Aug 16-Sept 15. Details here. This is NOT a sponsored link/post.
Sophia doesn’t offer many coupons, but we just got one!! Starting today, new subscribers can get 25% off. Sophia Learning offers ACE evaluated college courses that you can use in your homeschool for potential credit later. The coupon is valid from Aug 16-Sept 15. Details here. This is NOT a sponsored link/post.
