The companies/organizations in this category sell courses “for college credit” that have been evaluated by the American Council on Education (ACE). ACE credit is not as transferable as credit earned directly through a college, but can be very transferable when used with the intention of transferring to one of the partner colleges. ACE is a third party credit evaluator that evaluates all types of learning that happens outside of a college. This kind of college credit is guaranteed to transfer into partner colleges (varies by provider) but transfers poorly outside of partnerships.
Using ACE credit requires creating an account with another third party, Credly to “hold” your teen’s credit until they’re ready to use it. HS4CC List of ACE Partners
Gateway Education is a tech company that offers self-paced online courses worth college credit. Gateway uses a subscription-model paired with a per-course fee.
$95 per month and $55 per course
Courses are self-contained and all-inclusive, so the student doesn’t need to purchase any extra books or supplies.
Cost Strategy
Companies that use the subscription model can get expensive when it takes a student “too long” to finish a course. For that reason, a good strategy for keeping costs low is to approach each course one at a time. This allows you to focus exclusively on one course. Under this model, it is usually possible to complete 1-2 courses in a month.
At a pace of 2 courses per month, your costs would be:
- $99 monthly subscription
- $55 course 1 (3 college credits)
- $55 course 2 (3 college credits)
$209 for 6 college credits / $35 per credit
College Credit Course List
(note that they also offer courses NOT worth college credit)
- American Government
- American Literature
- Anatomy & Physiology 1
- Anatomy & Physiology 1 Lab
- Anatomy & Physiology 2
- Anatomy & Physiology 2 Lab
- Beer & Wine in Western Culture
- Biology
- College Algebra
- College Mathematics
- Developmental Psychology
- English Composition 1
- English Composition 2
- Ethics
- Fundamentals of Public Speakig
- Health & Human Development
- History of the United States 1
- Introduction to Anthropology
- Introduction to the Humanities
- Introduction to Macroeconomics
- Introduction to Microeconomics
- Introduction to Philosophy
- Introduction to Psychology
- Introduction to Sociology
- Introduction to World Religions
- Life and Teachings of Apostle Paul
- Microbiology
- Microbiology Lab
- Nutrition
- Pathophysiology
- Pharmacology
- Principles of Management
- Statistics
- Substance Abuse
- Technical Writing
- Western Civilization 1
How it works
Once you pass the course with 70% or better, add the course to your Credly dashboard. It is now ready to send for college credit.