Marc Singer, vice provost, of the University's Center for the Assessment of Learning, is leading the University's work to leverage open courses and prior learning assessment to create new pathways to earning a degree.
Students can earn up to 34 credits without paying course tuition that can be transferred and applied to an undergraduate degree at Thomas Edison State University, based on the college’s partnership with the nonprofit organization, the Saylor Academy.
Students would earn the credits through Saylor’s self-paced Earn College Credit program, which includes free, open online courses and fee-based credit-by-exam programs that are aligned with many associate and bachelor degree programs at Thomas Edison State University.
The program has the potential of saving New Jersey students approximately $5,900 in tuition costs and out-of-state students approximately $8,000 in tuition costs for those who are able to apply all 34 credits towards an undergraduate degree at the college.
“Much has been said over the past few years about disruption in higher education and how open courses will actually help students,” said Marc Singer, vice provost of the college’s Center for the Assessment of Learning. “Our partnership with Saylor demonstrates a way for students to take high-quality open courses at no cost and then apply what they learned in those open courses through prior learning assessment. We believe this demonstrates how open courses can benefit students interested in earning a college degree from a regionally accredited institution.”
In February, the college launched an Open Course option for the Associate Science in Business Administration degree program, which allows students to complete the degree by taking free, open, online courses from the Saylor Academy and passing assessments offered through the University's prior learning assessment program.
The Earn College Credit partnership builds on that idea and enables students to apply up to 34 credits towards a non-nursing associate or bachelor’s degree program at Thomas Edison State University. Depending on a student’s academic background and degree program, up to 22 credits earned through the program may be applied to general education requirements and up to 12 credits can be applied to area of study requirements in business administration programs or to free elective requirements in other non-nursing undergraduate programs at the college.
According to the Lumina Foundation, nearly 850,000 New Jerseyans have "some college" but no degree and are not currently enrolled anywhere. A study by the nonprofit Complete College found that the majority (66 percent) of jobs in New Jersey will require post high school training by 2020. However, the study points out that only 46 percent of New Jersey residents currently have an associate’s degree or more. The partnership between Saylor and Thomas Edison State University seeks to increase the number of degreed New Jersey adults.
The program provides an opportunity for more people to fast-track their future using Saylor’s flexible, on-demand education portal. A select number of these courses are included in this effort and include foundational and STEM courses such as Calculus, Corporate Communication, Business Law and Ethics, Introduction to Marketing, Principles of Management, Biology, Chemistry and Computer Science.
“This program with Thomas Edison State University will be a huge boost to helping more people get degrees. Saylor and the college share a common goal — making higher education accessible, affordable and convenient so that our students have the skills and knowledge to compete in the workforce,” explained Amanda Antico, president, Saylor Academy.
Saylor’s open courses for this transfer program have been reviewed and recommended for college credit by either the American Council on Education or the National College Credit Recommendation Service. To earn credit for the designated courses outlined in the “Earn College Credit” program, students complete the self-paced classes and then take a proctored exam. Saylor’s open courses are free, but the exams related to courses require a $25 proctoring fee. Other exam programs in the Earning College Credit program include the University Level Exam Program (CLEP®), Excelsior, the University’s TECEP® exam program and StraighterLine® and have other fees. Students must pass the exams to be able to transfer the credit to Thomas Edison State University.
Toni M. Terry, BA