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Resources to Assist Member Organizations in Advertising
and Using their College Credit Recommendations

At National PONSI, we pride ourselves on personalized service and responsiveness to our member organizations. Ongoing support for member organizations is provided in the form of a variety of services. Where noted, copies of materials can be obtained through the Request Materials link.

Welcome - A Summary of important information about your National PONSI membership
Publicizing your credit recommendations to the academic community
Publicizing your credit recommendations to course participants
Transcript form
List of cooperating colleges
Excelsior College Transcript Service
Advocacy for course participants
Request Materials

Welcome - A summary of important information about your National PONSI membership. If you are new to National PONSI, read this Welcome flyer first to receive valuable information regarding your membership, your credit recommendations, and your partnership with National PONSI.

Publicizing your credit recommendations to the academic community. To ensure that your credit recommendations will be widely accepted by colleges and universities, we maintain regular contact with virtually every college and university in the United States. Credit recommendations are now posted to CCR Online as soon as evaluation results are finalized.

Publicizing your credit recommendations to course participants. National PONSI has materials available to help you ensure that the individuals enrolled in your courses are realizing the full benefits of your credit recommendations. These materials provide a vehicle for making students aware that the college credit recommendation exists, what it means, and how they can initiate the process of turning the credit recommendation into actual college credit.

Poster. This poster is intended to encourage your participants to apply for college credit. It is specifically aimed at those who may not have considered pursuing a college degree or who have been discouraged from continuing in their studies due to job or other constraints. We suggest displaying the poster where it will reach the most people, such as in a classroom, on a bulletin board in the classroom area, or in a lounge used by course participants. Space is provided on the poster for you to insert the name, office location, and phone number of an appropriate person within your organization for individuals to contact for more information about National PONSI and the credit recommendations. A copy may be requested through the links at the top and bottom of this page.

Flyer explaining college credit recommendations. This flyer can be distributed to course participants to explain about college credit recommendations. We recommend doing this early in the course, especially when there are additional completion requirements for participants who wish to apply for college credit. Space is provided for you to insert the name, office location, and phone number of an appropriate person within your organization for individuals to contact for further information about National PONSI and the credit recommendations. This flyer should also save you time in briefing instructors about National PONSI and your college credit recommendations, and minimize the time instructors spend making announcements in class and answering questions. View the flyer. You may copy the text of the flyer and place it on your own letterhead or request a copy through the links at the top and bottom of this page.

In developing your own promotional literature, which National PONSI encourages its member organizations to do, please be advised that you should not use the term "accredited," or state or imply that your courses have been "awarded credit" or that your organization "awards credit." National PONSI makes recommendations that colleges may choose to accept, modify, or reject based on their own policies and degree requirements. The fact that a learning experience has a credit recommendation should be referenced as follows: "This course (or learning experience) has been evaluated and recommended for college credit by the National Program on Noncollegiate Sponsored Instruction (National PONSI), a program of the Board of Regents of The University of the State of New York." Please send us copies of any materials that you use to publicize your credit recommendations.

Transcript form. As the sponsor of courses with college credit recommendations, you will be asked by course participants to supply transcripts to colleges. We have devised a model transcript to indicate all information that colleges generally require to process requests for credit. The omission of any of these items will tend to delay processing by colleges. Conversely, we have found that the inclusion of information not called for on this model also tends to delay processing; for example, courses that have not been evaluated by National PONSI. (If you do include titles that have not been evaluated, we suggest that they be clearly identified as such.) Therefore, we recommend that you follow this model closely in adapting it for your own use. The addition of an organizational seal or stamp - if available - will further enhance the official appearance of your transcript. You may also wish to attach a copy of your official report until your course exhibits have appeared in College Credit Recommendations and, thereafter, a photocopy of your section in that publication. View the form. A copy of this form, in either paper or electronic format, can be requested through the links at the top and bottom of this page.

List of cooperating colleges and universities. More than 1,500 institutions have reported that they will consider awarding credit based on the Program's recommendations. A list of these institutions, together with contact names and phone numbers, can be found on this Website. This information is updated annually. With this list, you can refer students interested in obtaining college credit to a specific individual at the college of their choice. You can also approach colleges through these contact offices to explore articulation agreements and other collaborative arrangements. At your request, we will also advise you on ways to develop cooperative relationships with area colleges to standardize the acceptance of your credit recommendations.

Excelsior College Transcript Service. Excelsior College offers a special transcript service in cooperation with National PONSI. Through the Excelsior College Transcript Service, your PONSI courses will be listed for college credit on an official transcript of Excelsior College. Since colleges more readily award credit for courses listed on another college's transcript, this service has proven very helpful in promoting the acceptance of the credit recommendations. The Transcript Service also relieves you of the record processing necessary to maintain and issue PONSI course transcripts for your students. Once you submit your course records to Excelsior College, they maintain the transcripts and send them to colleges at each student's request. You can request a brochure that provides complete details through the links at the top and bottom of this page.

Advocacy for course participants. The Program's staff is always available to contact college officials on behalf of your organization or the individuals who take your courses if any difficulties are encountered in obtaining college credit. It is our experience that once a college is approached to award credit and becomes familiar with the Program's work, the vast majority of such appeals are successful. Organization representatives can refer individuals to the Program office directly. Individuals should be prepared to supply the name, title, and mailing address of the college official they have been dealing with.

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Updated May 11, 2008