NONDISCRIMINATION POLICY

The Great Books Academy does not discriminate on the basis of race/ethnicity, color, national origin, sex, disability, veteran status, or age in the administration of any of its employment, educational programs, admissions policies, any scholarship and loan programs, athletics, recreational, and other administered programs or activities.

The ACE College Credit (“ACE Credit”) Recommendation Service. The American Council on Education’s College Credit Recommendation Service (ACE CREDIT) has twice (2005 and 2013) evaluated and recommended upper division college credit for all 8 courses (totaling 48 credit hours – 6 per semester) of our Great Books Program.

For decades, colleges and universities have trusted the American Council on Education (ACE) to provide reliable course equivalency college credit recommendations to facilitate credit award decisions. The structure of a college or university degree program or departmental regulations may affect acceptance of ACE CREDIT recommendations. (Ultimately, every college and university has the discretion to accept credit for ACE CREDIT recommendations, or not, as they see fit, so be sure to contact the college where you intend to apply before starting the application process to find out their policies and procedures beforehand.)

The ACE CREDIT College and University Network

The numerous colleges and universities listed on the linked page (below), are those which actively support and consider the ACE credit recommendations.  http://www2.acenet.edu/credit/?fuseaction=content.getCollegesUniversities

From the Joint Statement on the Transfer and Award of Credit by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and admissions Officers, the American Council on Education, and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation:

“Each Institution is responsible for determining its own policies and practices with regard to the transfer, acceptance, and award of credits. Institutions also have a responsibility to advise the student that the work reflected on the transcript may or may not be accepted by a receiving institution as bearing the same (or any) credits as those awarded by the provider institution, or that the credits awarded will be applicable to the academic credential the student is pursuing.”

[text date: 5/11/2010]

There is no assurance nor guarantee that the Great Books Academy will in the future maintain or renew its ACE affiliation or listing in the ACE College credit recommendation service National Guide, or use of  the ACE transcript service, nor that ACE itself will continue its college CREDIT recommendation, transcript service or National Guide. We may also decide in the future to use a different college credit recommendation service. However, our Great Books Program was fully reviewed by ACE College credit recommendation service, and was recommended for 48 hours of college credit (6 credits per semester/course, in 2005 and 2013. The Great Books Program is a fixed program, meaning it does not substantially change because it is based on the canon of the great classics (the “Great Books”) of Western Civilization, and the pedagogy is based on the Socratic method going back over two millennia to the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates. It is therefore reasonable – though not certain – to assume that, even were ACE CREDIT to cease operations at some time in the future, or were we to discontinue our association with ACE at some time in the future, that colleges and universities may continue to rely upon the ACE credit recommendations already made, twice.

[Since posting the above, the Great Books Academy decided not to continue use of the ACE National Guide and transcript service as we provide our own official transcripts directly to colleges and universities. As the ACE transcript service relied entirely upon our transmission to them for information of courses completed and grades obtained, which simply duplicated our transcripts at an extra cost to students per transcript, we determined it to be an unnecessary expense and needlessly cumbersome.]

Academic institutions establish their own transfer credit policies and procedures. There are approximately 4,500 institutions of higher learning in the US. That is why we recommend to parents and students–as we do here-that if they have a particular college or university in mind for future transfer of credits from our Great Books Program that they contact that college or university (usually their admissions department, and ideally a credit transfer expert if they have one) to ask them if they will accept such credits for transfer and with what procedures and regulations.

Nevertheless, in order to diminish some of the uncertainty of college credit-acceptance policies, we have entered into Agreements with a number of colleges and universities precisely in order to assure that those colleges and/or universities commit to accept our Great Books Program and/or Theology Online courses for college credit, according to the terms of those individual agreements. The very purpose of such agreements is to remove ambiguity regarding credit transfer and acceptance policies between the signatory educational institutions. If you are unclear about what credits they will accept, and for what degree programs, please ask and we will be happy clarify that for you. Thank you. [text date: 5/11/2010]

Class Changes and Program Cancellation: We reserve the right to change, modify or cancel any or all Great Books Program, or Theology Online courses, Socratic or other online classes, including but not limited to times, moderators or online locations, at any time, if circumstances warrant (for example, low enrollment in a given class), in our sole discretion. In that event, any portion of tuition not already used would be refunded on a prorated basis of 1/32th per each week of scheduled class or exams remaining (i.e., of the 9 month September-May academic year) at the time of cancellation. [2010]

FUTURE PLANS Statements in press releases, publications, online, or made orally, by any principal or agent of the Great Books Academy, relating to plans, strategies, economic performance, growth or trends, projection of results or timing of specific activities or investments, and other statements that are not descriptions of historical facts may be “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking information is inherently subject to risk and uncertainties, and actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors, which include but are not limited to, risk factors inherent in doing any activity. Forward-looking statements may be identified by terms such as “may,” “will,” “hope,” “should,” “could,” “expects,” “plans,” “goals,” “intends,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” ” predicts,” ” forecasts,” potential,” or “continue,” or similar terms or the negative of these terms. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results or conditions, timing, levels of activity, performance of achievements. The Great Books Academy has no obligation to update forward-looking statements. [text date 7/6/2010]