Thousands of Students Take Courses Through Unaccredited Private Companies. Here’s a Look Into One of Them.

A growing number of students are taking courses offered by unaccredited private companies and completing them in a matter of days or weeks — often for less than $200 — and then transferring the credits to colleges.

The practice was pioneered by companies like StraighterLine, which entered the market in 2009 to a mix of intrigue and skepticism, seeking to transform college access and affordability. StraighterLine boasts credit-transfer agreements with more than 150 American institutions, most of them private, though more than 2,000 colleges have accepted its courses for credit on a case-by-case basis. It saw 45,000 students enroll in at least one course on its platform in 2021.

Other companies, including Sophia and Saylor Academy, market similar models.

That growth comes in response to a perfect storm of skyrocketing higher-education costs, more adult learners seeking flexibility, and drops in enrollment that have spurred colleges to beef up retention and re-engagement efforts with “stopped-out” students.

“It’s really on the colleges and, I would say, the accreditors to make sure the colleges are doing the right thing when they are accepting credits,” said Wesley Whistle, policy director of the higher-education program at New America.

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