StraighterLine is a U.S. educational company that offers low-price, online higher education courses that are equivalent to general courses required for a bachelor's degree. The American Council On Education’s College Credit Recommendation Service (ACE CREDIT) has evaluated and recommended college credit for StraighterLine courses. The company is itself unaccredited, but has over 120 partnerships with accredited colleges and universities that accept its courses for credit.
Courses
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The company primarily offers McGraw-Hill course content delivered via a Moodle learning management system, very similar to the delivery model used by many online colleges and universities. StraighterLine offers the students the ability to take any number of online college courses for $99 a month plus $59 a course. Straighterline requires proctoring for a course final exam (included in the cost of enrollment). eTextbooks are included for free with course purchase.
StraighterLine offers more than 60 online college courses as of September, 2017.
The company has strategic partnerships with the Educational Testing Service and the makers of the Collegiate Learning Assessment, as part of a plan to expand into offering validated tests from leading educational organizations.
Professor Direct
StraighterLine launched professor led courses in December, 2012. Professor Direct allows professors to set their own premiums on courses, charging any amount of their choosing per student. This is the first time a business or school has allowed professors to set their own prices for courses that lead to college credit. Students can choose between 8- and 15-week cohorts, or self-paced formats. At time of launch StraighterLine had 15 professors with masters or doctorate degrees.
Partners
StraighterLine has a network of over 120 partner colleges that guarantee full credit transfer, with nearly 2,000 additional institutions having accepted StraighterLine credits in the past. In 2016, the U.S. Department of Education selected StraighterLine to participate in the EQUIP program to test a financial aid partnership with Dallas County Community College District and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.
The school began operations in 2009 and has reported serving nearly 70,000 students through August 2017.
History
The company was founded in 2008 as a division of Smarthinking, Inc., an online tutoring provider, and was spun out in 2010, shortly before Smarthinking was acquired by Pearson PLC. In 2011, the company was named one of "The 10 Most Innovative Companies in Education" by Fast Company (magazine). In 2017, the company was named an "Innovator Worth Watching" by The Christensen Institute. StraighterLine has had multiple rounds of investment, and in April 2012 received a 10-million dollar investment. Investors include: FirstMark Capital, City Light Capital, and Chrysalis Ventures.
The company is growing rapidly, in January 2012 StraighterLine was at 11 employees, by July 2012 it was at 22. As of September 2017, the company was at 50.
CEO
Burck Smith is the CEO and founder of StraighterLine. Ten years before launching StraighterLine in 2009, he co-founded SMARTHINKING, the largest online tutoring provider for schools and colleges.
Criticism
Courses such as Straighterline are highly controversial with educators. Professors at Northern Virginia Community College, one of the schools involved with Straighterline, have voiced their objections to their administrators, citing lack of standards and rigor for testing. Additionally, complaints from students whose credits from courses they completed did not transfer to degree-granting institutions have been registered in online reviews and with the BBB. The company retains an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau. Regional accreditation is more common among 4-year and degree-granting institutions, and because StraigherLine is nationally (ACE accreditation) and not regionally accredited, there is often difficulty in transferring courses for credit at regionally-accredited, degree-granting institutions, despite their relationship with the ACE credit program.
References
External links
- Company web site