| Dear OSB, Straight Talk: The StraighterLine e-Newsletter Issue #30, February 15, 2012
Edited by Jeffrey Lee Simons
In this issue...  StraighterLine Receives A- Rating from the Better Business Bureau
The Better Business Bureau Board of Directors' Standards and Compliance Committee has given final approval for StraighterLine's accreditation and awarded us an A- on a scale of A+ to F. (According to the BBB, the only thing that kept us from getting an A+ is how long we've been in business.) -------------------------------------------------------------- Get a Perfect Fit with Our No-Risk Free Trial Would you ever buy a new pair of jeans or sneakers without trying them on first? At StraighterLine, we want you Try us on... you've got nothing to lose, and thousands of dollars to save. -------------------------------------------------------------- StraighterLine Reports: How CLEP Could Save You a Semester of CollegeBy Beth Dumbauld As an adult learner, your time is precious. Repeating material in courses you've already mastered can be frustrating and turn off even the most committed of adult students. Paying valuable tuition dollars to obtain college credits for subjects you know inside and out is a waste of time and money. That's where CLEP comes in. The College-Level Examination Program offers exams insubject areas that could help you bya semester or more of college. Find out everything you need to know about CLEP in this StraighterLine Report by Beth Dumbauld. Read Full Report New Science Courses Live: General Physics I and General Physics I with LabGreat news for any budding Isaac Newtons or Albert Einsteins reading this: General Physics I and General Physics I with Lab are now live. Both have been reviewed and recommended by the American Council on Education's (ACE) CrRecommendation Service. So now, thanks to StraighterLine, you can take advantage of low cost intro courses in Chemistry, Biology, Psychology, Anatomy and Physiology I and II, and Pharmacology I and II. Stay tuned: General Physics II is on the event horizon! Best of The StraighterLine BlogLet's Honor Historically Black Colleges and Universities during African American History Month
For African American History Month, Barry Lenson offers our appreciation to the group of colleges and universities known as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (a group that includes our partner college, Albany State University ). Back in the years when the doors to higher education were closed for deserving young Americans of color, these colleges took historical steps to create colleges that welcomed them. In his post, you'll find links to a searchable directory of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, the White House initiative, and other sites and portals that can help you find out more about these exceptional, dedicated institutions of higher learning. Read Full Post Colleges Falsify Data to Boost their Ratings in U.S. News? Call Us Not Surprised
If you've been following the news recently, you've probably heard that California's prestigious Claremont McKenna College was adding points to the reported SAT scores of incoming freshman to boost the school's position in the U.S. News college rankings. But as Barry Lenson tells us in this post, it's not the first time schools have done this. Read on to find out how The University of Southern California and the University of Florida have slanted and distorted their data, and why it's so easy to do. Read Full Post The Changing Face of College Status
In this intriguing post, Barry Lenson looks at how our concept of "status" has changed, and is still changing. For instance, in the past, it was acceptable for affluent male students to underperform in school and obtain a "Gentleman's C" at Ivy League schools. Or that status was sexist and reflected expectations that women, no matter how educated they were, would put their careers behind those of their husbands. Read Full Post Business Majors: How To Save More on Your DegreeAre you planning on getting a business degree? Then you can make your first smart business decision and improve your bottom line by taking the StraighterLine Business Course Bundle . It's $255 worth of courses for only $199a savings of 25% off regular price when you buy all four courses together! - Introduction to Business
- Business Communications
- Accounting I
- Economics I: Macroeconomics
Whatever type of business degree you intend to earn, from Accounting to an MBA, you will be required to take thesecourses someplace. And since our course credits transfer to any of our partner colleges or through the ACE Crservice to over 1200 colleges and universities in the US, why not save yourself both time and money and take them from StraighterLine? Online Education in the NewsObama's Disappointing College Plan
The Washington Post, Matt Miller, 2/1/12 Matt Miller's opinion column in the Washington Post takes a look at President Obama's new college affordability initiative and concludes that it will leave students with more college debt than they incur today. He dismisses the plan as "tinkering at the edges of tinkering at the edges", saying, "A serious affordability agenda would aim much higher. It would start with honest talk about how zillions in grants and student loans have enabled endless college price increases while bankrolling much "research" of dubious merit, cozy lifestyles for tenured professors and a facilities "arms race" that has little link to teaching and learning." Such an agenda, Miller continues, would "make the world safe for disruptive innovators such as StraighterLine..." Miller goes on to discuss StraighterLine in detail and even quotes our CEO, Burck Smith. Miller concludes that "...boldly revamping the business model of higher ed is precisely what leaders serious about renewing upward mobility and preserving the middle class have to pursue." (We couldn't agree more.) Read Full Article Touro Speaker Working ToEducational System
The Vallejo Times Herald, Sarah Rohrs, 2/9/12 The Vallejo Times Herald reports on the efforts of education visionary and author Roger Shank to reform education. According to the article, he feels that "most colleges today are based on long-outdated models to prepare elite members of society to be scholars." The article continues, "La Salle University ." (As many of you know, La Salle University is a StraighterLine Partner School.) Read Full Article Online Education Skyrockets at UND
WDAZ TV, Melanie Orlins, 2/3/12 According to this report from WDAZ TV, Grand Forks, North Dakota, over 25% of University of North Dakota students are enrolled in online courses. The report interviews a working mom with small kids and two jobs, for whom online courses are her only option. Surprisingly, she lives in Maryland, but takes courses at UND. The reporter also spoke to UND spokesman, Peter Johnson, who reported that although originally skeptical, "A lot of...faculty members who are surprised at the ability Read Full Article The Latest from CEO Corner: Higher Education's Likely Reaction to Obama's College Reform ProposalThe following is an excerpt from Burck's blog post, "Don't Throw Me in the Briar Patch!" Higher Education's Likely Reaction to Obama's College Reform Proposal: First, the good news. For the first time the Department of Education is showing signs that it might be a regulatory agency rather than a booster for accredited non-profit and public colleges. Now, the bad news. The regulatory tool that it has chosen pushes more money from student wallets into a broken system...Though the details of participation requirements have yet to be released, the problem with the proposal is that it focuses on slowing the growth of tuition rather than reducing the overall cost. Further, it relies on the expansion of already overwhelming debt. Lastly, if fails to include the many nascent alternative credentialing models at a time when they are starting to spring up everywhere. Let's start with the goal..." You can full post in CEO Corner ----------------------------------------------------------------- Refer Your Friends and Earn Gift Cards Why not let your friends in on the StraighterLine secret and make some extra money for yourself at the same time? Get a $Amazon.com Gift Card when your friends sign up for a StraighterLine online college course. There's no limit to how many rewards you can earn. Get started now ----------------------------------------------------------------- Don't miss an issuenow! 
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