Hey everyone,
I’m in a bit of an odd situation. I previously attended a trade school and received a “bachelors degree.” The institution I received it from is not regionally accredited and I have been going to a community college the past few years to transfer to a 4 year. When I’m filling out the fafsa form, do I put my goal is to achieve a second bachelors degree? I have student loans out from the first “degree.” The institutions I’m applying to don’t recognize my degree because of the accreditation. Any advice would be appreciated.
@kelsmom not really in your bailiwick but you may have some experience here. Any help?
I’m pretty sure that if the first degree qualified for student loans then it is considered a valid degree. Maybe it is accredited by a national agency but you can’t get federal loans or aid for unaccredited. This is a separate matter from regionally accredited colleges accepting transfer credits or not from them. Or qualifying for grad school with them or not. So I see a 2nd bachelors degree. You can always email admissions. And if you put 2nd BA then in addl info you might want to say why you found the first was not adequate.
How generous are your transfer targets with credit by exam or credit for experience? Check the websites for that information. Even if you can’t receive credit for a specific course, if you take the equivalent CLEP exam, you may be able to get credit for what you know.
Thanks everyone, it was nationally accredited. I’ll contact admissions and see what they say about it.