Penn Foster College

About Penn Foster College

Penn Foster College offers Associate and Bachelor's Degrees designed to give you the skills you need in today’s fastest growing fields.

Study online, in print, or in combination. You decide which method best suits your learning style. Their expert faculty and friendly support staff are dedicated to helping you successfully complete your program and earn your degree!

Penn Foster College History

In 1890, a newspaperman named Thomas J. Foster was the first to recognize that working adults with ambition needed a more convenient way to learn advanced skills. He developed the distance-learning method as a way of helping anthracite coal miners become mine superintendents and foremen.

This was the solution hard-working people around the country had been searching for! Miners would work a twelve-hour shift, then return home to study by candlelight, so they could gain the engineering knowledge they needed to earn promotions. The school became a stunning success virtually overnight, enrolling more than a quarter of a million students in its first decade. As the years rolled by, millions more would choose Penn Foster College, Penn Foster Career School, and Penn Foster High School. By 1945, 5,000,000 students had enrolled in Penn Foster programs, and today that number has grown to more than 13,000,000.

As the world's leader in at-home education, Penn Foster Incorporated has maintained a tradition of excellence for more than 100 years. They're proud of their history and excited about their future. They look forward to helping you become a successful part of their next century of learning and accomplishment.

Penn Foster College Mission Statement

Institutional Description

Penn Foster College provides programs and services that are designed to meet the lifelong learning needs of the adult learner. Programs of study, which are offered via distance learning, lead to undergraduate degrees in the areas of business, technology, health, education, and social services.

Mission

The mission of Penn Foster College is to provide general, technical, and professional undergraduate education that is accessible and affordable and that will prepare its graduates to advance or change their careers, develop marketable skills, and gain an appetite for lifelong learning.

The school regularly assesses fulfillment of its mission and achievement of institutional effectiveness through ongoing studies of student learning, measurement of student satisfaction, and evaluation of the career outcomes of graduates.

Accreditation

Penn Foster College has met the high standards of integrity and performance set by the Accrediting Commission of the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC) in Washington, D.C. The DETC is listed by the U.S. Department of Education as a nationally recognized accrediting agency.

Licensing

Penn Foster College is licensed by the Arizona State Board for Private Postsecondary Education and is authorized to award Associate of Science and Bachelor of Science Degrees.

College Credit Recommendations

The American Council on Education's College Credit Recommendation Service (ACE CREDIT) has evaluated and recommended college credit for 182 Penn Foster College courses. The American Council on Education, the major coordinating body for all the nation's higher education institutions, seeks to provide leadership and a unifying voice on key higher education issues and to influence public policy through advocacy, research, and program initiatives.

All Penn Foster College programs are affiliated with DANTES, which qualifies U.S. military personnel for tuition reimbursement.

Memberships and Affiliations

Additional Penn Foster College institutional and faculty memberships and affiliations include:
American Association of College Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO)
American Association of Community Colleges
American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA)
American Medical Technologists
American Society for Engineering Education
American Society of Mechanical Engineers
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)
Association of Veterinary Technician Educators
Bay Area Veterinary Technicians Association, CA (BAVTA)
Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA)
Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers
International Association of Administrative Professionals
International Society for Technology in Education
National Association of Legal Assistants
National Federation of Paralegal Associations
Northeast Veterinary Technician Education Association (NEVTEA)
Pennsylvania Association of Private School Administrators (PAPSA)
Pennsylvania Health Information Management Association
SAE (The Engineering Society for Advancing Mobility - Land, Sea, Air and Space)
Society of Broadcast Engineers
Veterinary Technicians & Assistants Association of Pennsylvania (VTAAP)