Penn Foster College Reviews

"Never again in my lifetime will I go with Penn Foster. I had issues and it took days for the so called instructor to get back to me. I am now on my FOURTH month waiting for my certification. They have yet to send it and every month I call I'm told it is being processed. I am also still waiting for the email copy. At this point I don't even know if this is legit. Why take so long to mail it out? WORST online education program. Save your money and go thru somewhere else. Penn Foster is thru ICS learn as well.Read Less"

"The only good thing about this school is the self-paced schedule, however, if you take longer than their recommended time frame you have to pay extra for an "extension" which doesn't feel self-paced 100%. Also, the externship requirements are a little outdated and a bit "too much" making it harder to complete and continue. They ask for too many videos which isn't realistic working in a clinic that is busy and you can't be bothering people to film you as everyone has responsibilities. Also, you can't claim these expenses on your income tax which is unfair since their degrees aren't cheap for paying out of pocket.Read Less"

"I wish I could go back in time and never enroll in this program. While the material and things you learn aren’t necessarily terrible, the externship process is. If you’re from a smaller town/place with limited opportunities, good luck finding an externship site. I went into this program to test the waters to see if I would be interested in being a vet assistant during the height of the covid lockdown, as I figured it would be better to not physically go to school and learn from my own home… big mistake. This program has done nothing but stress me out in the long run and not even for a great cause considering PF does not help you with securing a externship site. It’s really up to you to do so. I haven’t been stressing because of the typical school stress surrounding projects and grades but the externship process. It feels like I’ve spent so much time on something that I will have nothing to show for. I can’t help but feel I’ve wasted my time with this program and I think it’s so entirely ridiculous that PF does not help you secure an externship site by partnering with certain locations. I’ve tried emailing places, calling and physically going in person and to my avail, nothing yet, as a portion of places literally train people who get hired in and/or will turn you away. I’ve been trying for months to secure an externship site and I can only extend the program one more time before PF basically says I can’t extend it anymore, all progress is lost and I’d have to start over ENTIRELY, paying the full amount again. It currently costs $100 to extend the program and you get 2-3 requested extensions. My point of doing PF was to give me an advantage and come to find out people can get trained on the spot to be a vet assistant. This wouldn’t be such a big deal to me as I genuinely was interested in this program starting out but because they don’t secure you with an externship site, you risk doing all this work, just to potentially have nothing to show for it because the externship process isn’t secured. I feel as if people who landed an externship site got lucky. It feels like a slap to the face. I can’t say it enough that I’m against this program. Maybe this would be better for someone who’s already a vet assistant looking to increase their knowledge but I say that LOOSELY since it seems like most places have not cared about this certification whatsoever/train people on the spot. The whole process has left a bad taste in my mouth.Read Less"

"penn foster did not tell me that if i quit i was going to owe money. they said i can always quit and i wouldnt have a balance. i have 10 years vet tech experience , started the program to get certified but online school was not for me . i rather be in a school than online. it just isnt good school if you are not use to online classes. you are on your own. i decided to quit now i owe money 600 . didnt expct that because they made it seem like easy peasey and you can quit and not owe nothing back. so i agreed to sign up but man i was wrong they lied. they got me to sign up thinking that you can quit anytime without owing any money. i paid on time. but i owe the courses i did now.Read Less"

"I'm going to be completely honest here. I first went to the 2nd top community college in the country and got a certificate in medical assisting and became a Registered Medical Assistant(RMA) through American medical technologists. Because healthcare has gotten so corporate now, nobody would hire me because of my lack of experience. It got too frustrating and finally after 3 years of searching for work in the medical field, I enrolled in Penn Foster for Criminal Justice. I am on my second course and I am loving it. The payment plan is affordable(much more than community college), not to mention I didn't have to spend thousands on textbooks like i did with my medical assisting program.Read Less"

"Veterinary technician program is terrible!! I would highly recommend an in person education. I've worked as an unlicensed Veterinary Technician of 23 years. This program is ridiculous and absolutely not looking out for the students best interests. If you have no clinical experience this program is going to be impossible!!"

"I would not recommend this school/courses to anyone. This is not about education this is all about robbing people! Read their terms and conditions thoroughly because when you read and understand that they fool you it will be too late and they will charge your credit card already. I took several tests and did get any new knowledge other than about drawing double solid line and I decided to quit. This poor experience cost me $375.00. Imagine this incredible!!"

"I’m graduating next week or the week after and I’m very pleased at how much I have actually learned. If you put in the time an effort. It’s well worth the money. People seem to complain about the written essays but I had no issues I got 100 on one 98 on another. Grading was fast a teachers were very nice when responding. Would absolute recommend this school. Some people just don’t seem to have the drive a complain for no reason I’m happy I didn’t listen to the bad reviews."

"This school is a joke. I've had to send the test back to prove. My answers are correct and there's are not. So I'm not sure if my grade reflects my actually knowledge. Not only on lessons plans but textbooks and test too. I hope they figure out what they are doing but do not take online courses. I've had multiple people look over just the wording they use and are confused. Grammar is a big factor in this because I feel like it was just Google translated. It's just not good."

"Gave me a 0 on the final exam because my computer died mid way. Will never recommend this school to anybody due to the uncompromising staff and rude workers. My computer died and I got a 0 for the semester final exam, what logic is this? Calling the school did not help at all but made it even worse. They said they will still take 2-3 weeks to grade the exam, even though I got a 0. 2 weeks wasted for me."

"I do not recommend penn foster… they are charging me 1000 dollars I don't know the reason if I always paid on time even they don't let you continue the course if you don't pay month to month so I don’t recommend this online course. But if you consider signing up, ask all your concerns before signing up."

"Penn foster is an ok online school. I'm almost finished with the private investigations career diploma program and overall it's fine. It's affordable, self paced and accredited by deac which is recognized by the department of education. I have graduated from U.S. Career Institute with a certificate in 2022, am currently enrolled in Washington Technical Institute and have many certifications in the security field. Im also getting my undergraduate in business management from Ashworth College soon. I recommend Penn foster to everyone. The only complaints I have is that short instructional videos would be nice and one section of the course had almost nothing to do with private investigations, which I complained to the school about. Overall I've had good experiences with multiple online schools, including Penn Foster. I'm now looking to enroll in Columbia Southern University. If your interested in good online schools to attend, I also recommend California Coast University, university of the people and so on. Good luck with your decision and studies!Read Less"

"I am on my last coding class. I am completely lost in the Buck coding instruction. They compact a lot of information into a chapter. There are no lecture explaining anything so I am lost. I have a BS and 28 masters units and have never had classes with no lectures at all. There has to be lecture or you leave students feeling overwhelmed. I was a 4.00 gpa in graduate school so I know it is not my study habits. There must be better schools that teach medical coding."

"The vet tech program though Penn foster is an absolute joke. Some of the course work is outdated and the skills no longer used in veterinary setting. The externship process is even more disgusting. They don’t offer any type of help beyond an email explaining that they can’t help you and you’ll have to figure it out. I’m currently enrolled and will likely not finish due to them not offering any kind of assistance or explanation as to why the skills I submit are unacceptable to them. I doubt any of their externship instructors have actually worked in a veterinary hospital in years or even decades. You will definitely waste money on this program and have nothing to show for it. I’ve looked into Platt college and it seems way more do-able than the joke that is Penn Foster.Read Less"

"I am guilty of writing reviews when things are bad, even though we should write when things are good. However this is a review of how poor the experience was that I had gone through with Penn and Foster. Right on their home page it says " learn on your schedule". This was something that appealed to me right away. I work 50 hrs a week and I am a single parent. When I have my daughter I start work at 6 am, I pick her up after school at 3:15 and work for another hour or 2 while I give her some time to unwind after school. I then make dinner and as we make dinner I do some home work with her. After dinner, I clean up then she showers and we do some computer exercises, she practices her reading, and then I read to her. We finish up around 8 or so. a Very full day.. I get 3 days a week I do not have her, that's when I was doing the Penn and Foster work. I am a slow reader and was always a C student, but I tried my hardest. There are quizzes in the excel course I needed to complete and there were sections that were less than clear on how to submit answers. I reached out to the live chat and they really couldn't assist me. As I mentioned they say you can learn on your schedule. They have removed me from the course because I wasn't going fast enough, the direct opposite of their reason to choose them. If you're looking into take the excel course with Penn and Foster here are the the disclaimers you should be aware of, you should have lots of free time, don't expect to actually learn on your schedule. I tried to do that and they removed me out for being slow, being a single parent and working full time. Also if you are intimidated by taking an online course and not very familiar with computer programs, stay away from this school. Apparently they want students who already know excel ( despite it being a program to teach you excel) are proven A or B students and can answer all of your own questions. I was really excited to go back to school and learn something new, but this school or program WILL NOT help you nor make it easy for the millions of people who are in my similar situation.Read Less"

"Don’t trust anyone who has positive words about this school. It was a disaster for me. The material seemed fine and super easy, books are basically free, but the proctors are IMPOSSIBLE - 6 questions for essentially entire textbook worth of information? I don’t care who you are, that’s ridiculous. The Facebook “group” was just full of drama. If you don’t pay off your semester by the next one, your monthly payments DOUBLE or at least mine did. They threw me in an English class (I have a bachelor’s degree I shouldn’t need any Gen Ed classes). The way they grade papers is stupid - random people are grading them so when you get them back and correct things, you’ll turn it back in only for someone else to grade it and contradict what the first person marked up. I quit basically as soon as the second semester started. DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME NOR MONEY. GO SOMEWHERE ELSE.Read Less"

"It was great while I attended. I do wish they had better career help after you graduate. Communication was great. Courses were great the student portal was easy to navigate. Easy to do the licensing exams at the end. All around a great experience. I really enjoyed it."

"Currently enrolled in Penn Foster VT program. With 17 years experience and having already passed the VTNE via an alternative pathway , I’m finding the classes a breeze. I’m just starting my externship for the second semester… and I began this school Oct 22. I plan to be finished in less then 1 year. I will say I haven’t learned anything new - aside from maybe some livestock stuff ( not my vibe ) yet , and someone the info and techniques are antiquated , and i am able To pass all exams and proctors with out much more then a review of the course. I’ve heard nightmare stories about the externship so I’m curious about that… but I’m able to complete it at my current job and put in as many hours as want to get the min hours done.Read Less"

"I took a years worth of credit hours for the Associate business management degree. I decided to not continue with this institution because there is no professor communication at all. Half of the online material can be googled. The only way to contact is a 1-800 number and you have no idea if you're actually talking to a licensed professional or the janitor. I tried to apply the transcripts to georgia highlands college for spring 2023, and THE TRANSCRIPTS WEREN'T REGIONALLY ACCREDITED!! So now I have to take a bunch of basic classes all over again. Absolutely do not recommend penn foster. You can go to the government student aid website and basically get a free ride through college(with pell grants) if you're a low income family.Read Less"

"For the low tuition, you can't beat the price (really). Taking everything into account, I am happy I did this, and IT WAS MAINLY DECENT. I know there are better schools. I would give it 2.5 stars out of 5 stars, or a "C-." I am in the "Computer Programming Languages" course. Overall, it is just "OK." I can speak from my experience only. This is my second time attending. I did it the first time in 1993 (another computer certificate). Now it's September of 2022, and I have been enrolled since January. After reading most of the reviews, it sounds like some programs are worse than others. This is definitely a "bargain basement" school. However, I kind of knew that - going in a second time. I took money out of my 401k and paid everything up front (I recommend paying like this, NOT monthly.) That being said, the instructors are difficult to reach, and the online format is troublesome or difficult (but not impossible) to use. I wish THEY SUPPLIED the software that I am supposed to use. (Older software would have been just fine. It DOES NOT have to be the latest and greatest.) YOU HAVE TO FIND almost everything yourself (this was very difficult most of the time). If you take this course, be prepared to spend two weeks or more hunting for software that they want you to use. I used my wife's old windows 7 laptop, and my current laptop from my job. My company had already installed MS Access, so I didn't have to hunt for it! I am also friends with two of the guys in my company's I.T. department, those three things were blessings. I ended up using the oldest versions of software (except for MS Access). Yes, there's problems, but you get what you pay for (rock bottom tuition). So it's ok.Read Less"