Excelsior College

The problem is the communication of the school. I have been double billed several times and given wrong information by staff. Because of wrong information concerning my transcripts I have to pay an overnight fee to get my transcripts to grad school by the deadline. I requested them several weeks early, but they were held when they double billed me for graduation fees. They would not help with the overnight fee even though they caused the problem. Very disappointing how they handle their students. I recommend going to a not for profit online school to get a better experience.

How do you Excelsior Scam institution Feel NOW, when you have been sued by Students, and lost the case, by acknowledging by doing wrong and settling the case for discrimination’s, all lies, and unfair testing to students, because your goal was never to teach the students, but to teach «nursing teachers» how to fail students in order to make Dirty money for Excelsior owners and keep your job and have steady paycheck because you could not find the job in nursing with Honor. I am blessed to live by this day and find out that Finally someone will realize that these Legally –Scammed program should be closed with shame and finally students spoke out to let the Whole World to know what is going on on these” Cpne test” of Excelsior college. This is not the test which define your nursing skills, or will give your knowledge to be a nurse, these is“The Dirty Money Making Machine” to fail students, to retake test again, pay double and if you are lucky they will pass you on the third try, it depends on their mood, or direction from Excelsior how many students should pass Cpne this time. I was told this by previous teacher who worked for Excelsior.
With this Law Suit future students will be able to decide if its worth to go to Nursing school online without any knowledge how to prepare for Cpne test because Excelsior 3 day workshop is useless it will not teach you anything and you have no choice but rely on other workshops like Shery Taylor, or Chansellors who are not affiliated with Excelsior.
When I started the program I was told by counselor that at the end of the program students will be provided with clinical experience in order to pass cpne, but it was a Lie. Its more convenient for them to allow some other people tell you what is the right way to pass Cpne or how to prepare… but not the college itself.
Again and again this is strategically created game which involves students who passed Cpne, teachers who still work for the program blame students who failed because of being lazy, stupid or not preparing enough…
I am not going to be surprised that after my review I will be attacked by Excelsior helpers in order to conceal the truth about” Famous Passing Cpne”.

Academic advisers are awesome and always available.

For those who don’t know, EC is know as one of the «Big 3» (Thomas Edison State College & Charter Oak State College being the other two). These 3 regionally accredited (RA)institutions of higher learning have a unique structure. Unlike the vast majority of RA traditional and online colleges/​universities, the residency requirements at these colleges are at the absolute minimum. What does that mean? How is that an advantage?
In general, most colleges/​universities require that you earn X number of credits from them in order to obtain a degree. I want to say that most require 30 or so credits to be earned by taking classes from that college/​university. As far as I remember, the only course that needs to be taken from EC is a 1 credit hour online Information Lit course. The remaining 120 – 125 credit hours that are required for a particular degree can be satisfied externally. This is a huge advantage over other colleges/​universities.
Limits on credits transferred in are common at most colleges. With minimal exception (how long ago you took the course and if it applies to your particular degree plan), EC allows you to transfer in as many as you want. This is a fantastic benefit that saves time and money.
Testing out options. Traditional institutions limit the number of courses that you are able to test out of using CLEP/​DSST and other sources of college level credit. At EC you can basically earn an undergraduate degree completely by «testing out». This is not to be confused with credits for «life experience». I don’t think that EC awards credit for life experience by itself. I think TESC has a program that allows you to «challenge» credits/​courses based on life experience, they are called portfolios or something. If I remember correctly, you have to document why you feel that you should be awarded college credit for particular topics you have advanced personal knowledge in. Then a committee reviews and accepts or denies. I believe the process is more difficult and expensive than testing out.
I was able to piece together an undergraduate degree, with a decent GPA, largely through «testing out»:
15 traditional courses at various community colleges and four year colleges.
15 DSST Exams
5 CLEP Exams
5 EC exams
The way the process works: you enroll in the college, have all your previous transcripts and CLEP/​DSST scores sent to EC. You pay a first year fee/​tuition, something around $ 2k or so if I remember correctly. Your advising team evaluates your previous credits and then tells you what courses/​exams you will need to take to complete a degree. Then each year until you complete your degree you pay an annual fee/​tuition of $ 500 or so.
At this point you determine, with the help of your advisor, which CLEP/​DSST/​EC exams you want to take to satisfy your requirements.
Your first avenue, in my opinion, is to take as may CLEP/​DSST exams as possible. They are inexpensive, around $ 100 each for a 3 credit exam plus the test center fee of about $ 20. Finding a test center that is open at a time convenient for you is most likely your biggest challenge. Most community colleges offer these exams at their test center. You don’t have to be enrolled at the school to use their test center or take exams. When you take exam you will be asked where you want the exams results to be sent, EC has a code number you provide before taking the exam. For further discussion on the individual exams go to:
Degree
Once you have used as many CLEP/​DSST exams as possible, for cost reasons. Figure out which EC exams you can take to satisfy the remaining credits. EC exams are more expensive, $ 200-​$ 300 I think, but cover more of the required upper level required credits. Your advisor will do a better job of explaining this than I just did.
These exams are not easy, nor are they difficult. You will read on forums and
of some individuals taking a ridiculous number of exams in a very short period of time. I remember reading about some guy taking 10 exams in one week, that’s heavy! The most I took in a week was 4 DSST exams.
My point is, for short money and in a reasonable amount of time you can complete an undergraduate degree. A real one. Without going to class. It takes a lot of work on your end but, it is completely possible.
The only down side I see is name recognition, or lack there of. I highly doubt that you will see EC bumper stickers while driving down the street or people bragging that they attended EC. I do believe that they have a better reputation than univ of Phoenix or DeVry. I also think EC looks better on a resume than UOP.
In the end, my EC undergraduate degree was enough for me to gain acceptance into some decent graduate programs.

Finished my degree. Thank you to the Liberal Arts Team for a couple of calls and e-​mail follow up to see if there was any thing they could do to help. The extra attention did help to spur me on the way to complete.

I’ve been a college student for half my life it seems, and that’s ok because I do enjoy learning new things. The problem is that at some point – if you still haven’t figured out what you want to be when you grow up – you have to go get a real job and pay the bills. I’ve had a real job for a long time, which means finishing a college degree gets shoved into whatever little spare slices of time (and energy) I have left after the end of long weekdays, and whatever remnants of my weekend are left for studying. If this story sounds familiar and you are in the same boat, enter Excelsior College.
First, let’s tell it like it is: this isn’t Harvard or Yale. Excelsior seems to cater primarily to transfer students (usually adults trying to finish out a degree started someplace else), military students, and nursing students. «Excelsior College, a member of the University of the State of New York, is a private college in Albany, New York offering associate, bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in Business, Technology, Liberal Arts, Health Sciences, and Nursing. Excelsior College is well-​known for its flexible degree programs. Unlike most colleges and universities in the United States, Excelsior has no residency requirements, and many Excelsior degrees can be attained entirely remotely, and, in many cases, using mostly college credit earned elsewhere. «(Wikipedia) So – this is a quicker way than most schools to get your «papers», or to fill in some credits so you can transfer them to a school of your choice – one probably in your town made of real bricks and mortar. »
With 30,000 students (none of whom you are ever likely to meet in person since it is a virtual university), and a tuition cost of under $ 10K per year, PLUS the flexibility of courses offered on-​line as well as exams (you can attempt to test out of courses and earn credits) AND potentially – credit for work/​life experience – if you really want to finish your degree but don’t have time to go sit in a classroom, this is an excellent option.
I have been a student for a few months, and this week, I am happy to report – I earned one of my degrees – but I am still working towards another as eventually I want to get my Master’s (but will transfer my credits and apply to a more reputable local school when I do that).
The lowdown:
Prestige — 1 star
Convenience and Flexibility — 5 stars
Ways to Earn Credit — 5 stars
Tuition Prices — 3 stars (a 3 credit class is $ 900…still not exactly cheap)
Instruction — Meh – if you aren’t totally self motivated and disciplined enough to learn things mostly on your own – this might not be the best college model for you. If you are however, 3+ stars.
Keep in mind, when you go to an «on-​line» college you are going to be missing out on all kinds of valuable additions to the whole college experience – like meeting other students, dorm life, and other social life :-) If you just graduated high school – go to a real college, even if you don’t know what you want to be when you grow up – if you are an adult trying to get a degree out of the way – this is not a bad option to consider.
p. s. — one of the best ways to get some undergrad credits out of the way is to take CLEP exams. We have a testing center here at Portland State University. For less than $ 100 per test, you can self study and try to test out of all sorts of classes and earn credit – a huge time saver! Learn more on the PSU site: