Alternative College Credit Courses
Students also earn alternative college credit by taking self-paced, online courses. Some of the most well-known alternative credit course providers are Saylor Academy (https://www.saylor.org), Study.com (study.com), StraighterLine (straighterline.com), Sophia Learning (sophia.org), ALEKS (aleks.com) and others. Some universities also accept courses completed on edX and Coursera. These courses provide all the study material and grades from assignments, quizzes, and tests. The cost per course varies from $30 - $200. These are ACE (https://www.acenet.edu/National-Guide/Pages/default.aspx) recommended courses.
Most of the credit transferred to our university and applied to our degrees was from alternative courses. We liked taking Alternative credit self-paced Courses because they were graded on written assignments, quizzes, and exams, whereas credits earned by testing results were based only on one test. Alternative credit courses are not as well-known as the Dual Credit Exams; therefore, it is recommended to check with prospective colleges to see if they accept this type of course, what courses are accepted, and how they will apply to your major. The college's registrar's office makes the final determination of which alternative credits will be accepted and what requirements these credits will fulfill.
Some of our alternative credit came from completing Google Professional Certificates. The ACE National guide lists 13 Google Professional Certificates, which have credit recommendations ranging from 6 to 42 credits. These certificates cover valuable technical training for the modern workforce. We have Google certificates in Project Management, Digital Marketing, and UX Design. We plan on earning more certificates in Cybersecurity and Data Analytics. Low-cost online resources like these enable all students to access advanced training. These courses are listed on Coursera.org, along with other certificates from tech companies like Microsoft.