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I am taking 6 college credits at a Puerto Rico University and 3 credits at Penn State. Penn State is my primary college, I was just trying to pickup extra credits at a cheaper price from PR and get them transferred to Penn State for my general education credits. Anyway, the university in PR advertised its distance education program that you don't have to travel to PR at all to attend. Today, I was due to take a test online, but when I clicked to start the test, the browser got stuck in an endless loop. When I hit "Refresh" it now says that I already took the test and got me a zero in it. I didn't even get to see the first question. I am waiting a response from the professor, but he mentioned that if you take the test from your own home, there are no exceptions for computer glitches. He only makes exceptions for people taking the test at the computer lab in one of the campuses.
So far, my Penn State GPA is 4.0. If the professor in PR won't give me credit for this test, I'll have no option but to drop the class. I'm afraid that I would have to pay for the class out of my pocket, even though the problem was technical in nature. I think is false advertisement to say that you can complete the whole course online, but at the same time, tell you that you have to be there in person or else, you're on your own if any problems arise. BTW, over 90% of the students live in PR, close to a campus and are taking the class online for convenience reasons. That's not my case since I live in PA, not in PR.
I also wonder if dropping this class will affect my Pell for the credits that I'm taking at Penn State.
"...but he mentioned that if you take the test from your own home, there are no exceptions for computer glitches. He only makes exceptions for people taking the test at the computer lab in one of the campuses."
because reliable internet service is one of the requirements for distance ed. The students are most likely taking the test at a proctored lab where the tech problem may be college-related.
Have you checked with Penn State about the transfer credits?
Most all credits can/will transfer however, the little detail some forget to mention is that those credits will not count toward your degree with Penn State so you may end up taking and paying for the same classes at two Universities.
because reliable internet service is one of the requirements for distance ed. The students are most likely taking the test at a proctored lab where the tech problem may be college-related.
Have you checked with Penn State about the transfer credits?
Most all credits can/will transfer however, the little detail some forget to mention is that those credits will not count toward your degree with Penn State so you may end up taking and paying for the same classes at two Universities.
Penn State policy is that outside credits usually don't count towards concentration credits but they may count towards general education credits or electives.
Penn State policy is that outside credits usually don't count towards concentration credits but they may count towards general education credits or electives.
Okay, just a suggestion for you to make sure.
We had this issue with our daughter which is the only reason I am aware of it.
"when I clicked to start the test, the browser got stuck in an endless loop. When I hit "Refresh" it now says that I already took the test and got me a zero in it"
I've taken some online classes and the professor's always told me in the syllabus that it's our responsibility to make sure our internet connection is working correctly. You are NEVER supposed to hit refresh while taking the test. That's the worst thing you can do, besides exiting out of the browser. lol
"when I clicked to start the test, the browser got stuck in an endless loop. When I hit "Refresh" it now says that I already took the test and got me a zero in it"
I've taken some online classes and the professor's always told me in the syllabus that it's our responsibility to make sure our internet connection is working correctly. You are NEVER supposed to hit refresh while taking the test. That's the worst thing you can do, besides exiting out of the browser. lol
Did it ever occur to you that maybe my browser was just waiting for THEIR server to respond? A network timeout can happen on my computer, my router, my ISP, their ISP, their router, or their server. I have taken 16 credits online at Penn State and have not had any kinds of problems using the same browser, Internet connection, and computer. Every test that I have taken at Penn State will simply resume where you left off in case of trouble. You have to click 'Submit' or run out of time for the test to count.
In the meantime, my question about the Pell grant remains unanswered.
From a quick Google search, I don't think it matters if you drop the class, your award is adjusted appropriately. There does seem to be an issue with being enrolled in 2 colleges however...Office of Student Financial Aid at the University of Georgia
Also, you are missing a key word in the transfer policy "may". Did you clear these credits with the registrar before you took the class so you know they will transfer for sure? It's very difficult to transfer in credits at most schools, especially doing what you are doing.
From a quick Google search, I don't think it matters if you drop the class, your award is adjusted appropriately. There does seem to be an issue with being enrolled in 2 colleges however...Office of Student Financial Aid at the University of Georgia
I've been staying out of this to this point since there are multiple permutations possible, and the OP hasn't given us enough to go on.
1) Could be enrolled at both schools but only rec'g aid (Pell) through PSU. In which case his PR enrollment was never impacting his Pell in the first place, and there's no violation of drawing Pell at 2 schools for the same enrollment period. Dropping wouldn't impact his PSU award.
2) Could be enrolled at both schools and rec'g Pell at both. As golfgal's link notes, this is not allowed, and one of the schools would have had to withdraw Pell else the regs require both to cancel. In this scenario dropping a class is a side issue.
3) Could have a 'consortium agreement' between PSU and PR that treats enrollment at both schools as aid eligible via PSU. Dropping one course generally wouldn't impact already received Pell, but would matter if they hadn't actually paid your Pell yet or were using a 'census date.'
Those are the primary 3, but I could probably think of other options. In any case you can probably see we're pretty deep in the weeds and the student is going to have to contact the FA office at whichever schools he is receiving aid from. Though I suspect scenario 1 is the most likely in this case.
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