Excelsior College
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Excelsior College is a private college in Albany, New York that specializes in meeting the needs of adult learners. It is most notable for being one of the "Big 3" regionally accredited colleges allowing students to earn a degree entirely through credit-by-examination testing. The other members of the "Big 3" are Thomas Edison State College in New Jersey and Charter Oak State College in Connecticut.
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Excelsior was founded in 1971 by the Board of Regents of The University of the State of New York as The Regents External Degree Program, a publicly-funded external-degree-granting unit of the New York State Education Department. In 1984, the unit was renamed Regents College. In 1998, Regents College severed its relationship with the Board of Regents to become a private college. The school adopted the name Excelsior College in 2001 (Excelsior is Latin for "ever upward" and is also the motto of the State of New York). Today, Excelsior College has over 27,000 students enrolled in a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate degree programs.
Excelsior College is well known for its flexible degree programs. Unlike most colleges and universities in the United States, Excelsior has no residency requirements, meaning that the requirements for an Excelsior degree can be met entirely through college credit earned elswhere. Sources of college credit that can be used towards an Excelsior College degree program include distance learning courses from Excelsior and elsewhere, traditional college courses, Excelsior College examinations, other recognized examinations such as GRE subject exams, CLEP, and DSST exams, and credit for prior learning (evaluated via portfolio assessment).
Excelsior College is accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. Its nursing programs are accredited by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission. Its baccalaureate degree programs in electronics engineering technology and nuclear engineering technology are accredited by the Technology Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology.