Credit for Industry Certs

[siersema]

Starting a new thread so we don't get to off topic in the "How do you know about CLEP?" thread. Though is it even possible to go Off Topic in the Off Topic section of the forums?

.. and now back to the discussion


First off on the matter of US vs AU in regards to degrees the short answer would be that the AU degree should have just as much utility in most settings as a US degree. The only way I can see the AU degree as having less utility is if the person judging your degree is anti distance learning. The same could be said if you're getting a degree from NY and you live in Indiana though (however it would be a bit less noticeable). The funny thing is that the US degree I did mention (Aspen.edu) would probably have less utility than the AU degree. Aspen is accredited by DETC which isn't always accepted by a Regionally Accredited school. If you didn't plan to teach, and didn't mind limiting possible PhD options than being DETC wouldn't matter as it's a legit accreditor recognized by the department of education. If you want to keep reading about RA vs NA accredition and so on I'd recommend some other forums..

http://forums.degreeinfo.com/

http://forums.degreeboard.com/index.php

There are many strong opinions on RA vs NA, but near universal agreement on the acceptance of properly accredited schools from the UK, CA, AU, and South Africa.



The Aussie program is on my short list. I'd have to update my MCSE to 2003 but then I'd only have 6 courses for a graduate degree. It really wouldn't hurt me to update my MCSE, and my employer would reimburse test costs. I must say the formalities of working with a school in another country are the only big things holding me back. A little more work to even get into the program, but it may be worth the extra effort. It does look like the school goes to some great effort to help International students. I have e-mailed Irfan Altas ialtas@csu.edu.au with a few questions and he's been fast and great with the responses.

[libartsmgr]

Thanks for the additional information. Insightful.

I'm going to continue to look into it. Might even be something my hubby might do. He got his undergrad traditionally and has a ton of IT certs. He's been playing with the idea of his masters forever. This just might be the ticket.

Yet another reason why I really appreciate this community!

[sgloer]

This is good information. I'm sure there are a lot of members who have IT certifications that they could cash in towards college credit...and towards a master's? that's huge.

[AKay]

wow what a coincidence i was looking into aspen since i have my mcse2003 and it would only be 27 credits for a masters but something told me it was to good to be true
AKay

[siersema]

Speaking of to good to be true.. take a look at Aspen's tuition.

http://www.aspen.edu/tuition.htm

Note: For a limited time only significant cost savings are available now for new students. Authorized degree-seeking students who opt to pay in full upfront for their entire degree program will be charged only $4,200.00 plus books and fees*

This offer is only available until July15th, 2006 and cannot be used in combination with any other discounts or promotional offers.



Again I'm still tempted, though I'm not quite finished with my BS so July 15th is a bit soon for me. I emailed them to see what they'd say if I were interested in signing up a couple months from now.

27 credits did seem great, but what's even better is of the 27 left (after your MCSE), you can still test out of another 3 of their courses with challenge exams (though I have no idea how difficult that would be compared to just taking the course).

Both Aspen and CSU look like they'd be good programs for me. Aspen is cheaper and I could complete it faster, CSU has the potential to allow me to teach in more schools if I wanted to go that route. At this point I don't know which I'll go with but it does appear it will be one of these two programs.

Akay, do you have a list of programs you've been looking at?

[Alaskan]

I wonder if those hard-earned Cisco certifications, such as CCNA, CCNP, etc. are creditworthy at Aspen and other Universities?

Would be good information to know.

Thanks

[siersema]

The Cisco certs are good with many undergraduate programs. As far as I know Charles Sturt is the only Masters level program that will take them.

[Alaskan]

Any other certs worth credits for undergrad programs that folks know about?

Could be interesting...looking at possible Checkpoint Firewall, Sun OS stuff.

Thanks,

Alaskan

[siersema]

Excelsior accepts Cisco, ICCP, Novell, Microsoft, CompTIA, Sun, Oracle, and SAS

https://www.excelsior.edu/portal/pag..._schema=PORTAL

I haven't seen any CheckPoint outside of the Master of Information Systems Security degree at Charles Sturt.

http://www.itmasters.com.au/security_multi.htm

Indiana's Community College accepts a large number of certifications for credit, and since they're regionally accredited the credits should transfer to other schools. I know Purdue also accepts Network+ and A+, not sure what else.

http://www.ivytech.edu/pla/crosswalk.html

Microsoft Office certifications appear to be ACE evaluated, so they should be accepted by many schools.

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mc...ist/credit.asp

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mc.../creditrec.asp

I think while you'll find many schools that accept various IT Certifications there will be a limit to the number accepted. At the undergrad level Excelsior seems to accept the highest number of IT Certifications for credit.

[Alaskan]

Rob,

Thanks much for this info...I'll definitely put it to good use.