Welcome Union Members & Family Members! 

What You Can Expect

  • Affordable, discounted tuition and scholarship opportunities
  • Flexible, stackable, online programs that work around you
  • A very generous transfer credit policies that maximizes the credits you've already earned
  • The opportunity to earn credit for what you already know, including professional and military training and certifications, CLEP® exams and other credit-by-exam programs
  • Personalized service - from admissions and degree planning to career counseling and post-graduation support

About Peirce College 

At Peirce College, we serve our students in ways that fit their lives, not ours. A private, nonprofit institution, Peirce is the only college or university in Philadelphia dedicated exclusively to serving busy adults and nontraditional learners. We are proud to partner with the EDUTrust Network to serve union members and their family members.

Peirce was established in 1865 as Union Business College to provide career-focused education for soldiers returning from the Civil War, and was one of the country’s first schools to embrace women as students. The College is a pioneer in online learning and a leader in prior learning assessment and providing opportunities for students to earn credit for college-level knowledge they already possess.

Based on Peirce College's most recent Customer Service Survey and Market Research study:

  • 99% of prospective students said their conversations about Peirce with family and friends was positive
  • 96% of prospective students said their conversations about Peirce with employers was positive
  • 94% of students rated their experiences with Peirce faculty as positive
  • 91% of students said the process for enrolling at Peirce was convenient and easy to follow

Today, Peirce continues its tradition of serving the unique needs of busy adults and other nontraditional students with affordable, stackable degree programs and certificates, flexibility and personalized support. Students can earn credit for college-level knowledge gained through years of work, professional and military training and other experiences. Students can also embed industry-recognized professional certifications into their programs - and earn credit for those certifications. The College has one of the most generous transfer credit policies in the country that allows you to maximize credits you already earned at other regionally accredited institutions from around the country, including Eastern Gateway Community College. Peirce also awards credit for professional and military training, credit-by-exam programs and select professional certifications.

Peirce Programs Recognized by Forbes Advisor

Forbes Advisor has ranked the following Peirce programs as among the best in the country for 2024.

To take the next step, apply today: 

APPLY - UNDERGRADUATE 

APPLY - GRADUATE

Peirce College Accreditations, Approvals & Alignments

  • Middle States Commission on Higher Education
  • Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP)
  • Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management (CAHIIM)
  • American Bar Association (ABA)
  • Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM)

Special Discounted Tuition 
Members of the unions working with the EDUTrust Network and their families have access to special discounted tuition. 

  • Associate Degrees:  $350 per credit
  • Bachelor's Degrees: $400 per credit 
  • Graduate Certificates: $550 per credit 
  • Master's Degrees:  $625 per credit 

In addition, students can save thousands by earning credits at no cost through our partnership with Coursera, which includes career and professional certificates from Google, IBM and Meta. 

We also specialize in maximizing transfer credits earned at other colleges and universities, including Eastern Gateway Community College, and awarding credit for expertise you have gained through work, military training and other experiences. 

Schedule a free credit evaluation
Contact us at admissions@peirce.edu or make an appointment. 

Peirce College Named Best Bang for the Buck College

Washington Monthly magazine has named Peirce College the #11 Best Bang for the Buck College in the Northeast. The Best Bang for the Buck list ranks institutions according to how well they help non-wealthy students attain marketable degrees at affordable prices. The list is created by isolating the social mobility metrics from the main rankings of four-year institutions. Peirce was also named among the top 20 institutions nationally on Washington Monthly's Best Bachelor's Colleges list, which ranks an institution's contribution to the public good in three broad categories: social mobility, research, and promoting public service.

wm-2024-best-bachelors-badge    wm-2024-best-BBB-badge

Learn more at an upcoming virtual information session:

  • Check back soon for our next events

How is Peirce College different?

Peirce has developed a career-integrated approach to serving our students. We want to know what your professional and personal goals are so we can help you achieve them.  

You will receive personalized support from our team of admissions advisors, academic advisors and career counselors to help you prepare for success and to achieve your goals. These team members serve as your personal guides through your educational journey and your support team to keep you on track.

Before you apply, we will provide a preliminary estimate of how your transfer credits can apply to degree programs at Peirce, and what opportunities there are to lower the cost of your education through no-cost courses and professional certificates offered through our partnership with Coursera.  

When you apply to Peirce, we will help you order your transcripts and complete a free, official credit evaluation that determines how your transfer credits will apply to your degree. In addition:

  • We will guide you through the financial aid process, including how to complete the FAFSA and how to apply for scholarships and lower any out-of-pocket costs you may have.
  • We will also show you how to lower your costs through prior learning assessment, including professional and military training, credit-by-exams, and alternate credit providers, like Study.com, StraighterLine.com and Sophia.org.
  • Depending on your professional goals, we can show you how to embed industry-recognized credentials into your academic program, which validate that you possess specific, in-demand skills.

You will receive the same personalized support from our faculty, who specialize in working with adult learners and nontraditional students and understand how to ensure your program has the flexibility you need and the academic excellence you deserve.

To get started, apply today.

APPLY - UNDERGRADUATE

APPLY - GRADUATE

Frequently Asked Questions

What can I study at Peirce? 

Peirce College offers a wide variety of career-focused online degree programs and certificates that work around the unique needs of adults and nontraditional learners, and help maximize transfer credits, including credits earned at other regionally accredited institutions, credit-by-exam, professional and military training and select professional certifications. At Peirce, students can apply up to 30 transfer credits to associate degrees; up to 90-102 transfer credits to bachelor degrees; and up to 12 credits to master's degrees.

Below is a list of our current academic programs. 

Business: Stackable Undergraduate Programs 

Healthcare & Human Services: Stackable Undergraduate Programs

Information Technology: Stackable Undergraduate Programs

Legal Studies: Stackable Undergraduate Programs

Liberal Studies: Stackable Undergraduate Programs 

Graduate Degree Programs

Stackable Graduate Certificates 

    *degree completion program that accommodates up to 102 transfer credits; all other bachelor degree programs accommodate up to 90 transfer credits.

    How many transfer credits can I apply to my degree at Peirce?

    The amount of transfer credits you can apply to a degree program at Peirce depends on the program you select. 

    Students can apply up to 30 transfer credits to associate degree programs at Peirce College.

    With our bachelor's degree programs, students can apply up to 102 transfer credits to our degree completion programs. The most flexible of these programs are the BA in Liberal Studies, which has 60 credits in open electives, and the BS in Organizational Leadership and Management, which has 39 credits in open electives. Additional degree completion programs are the BS in Human Services Leadership and BS in Technology Management. 

    All other bachelor’s degree programs at Peirce can accommodate up to 90 transfer credits, including our baccalaureate programs in accounting, business administration, criminal justice, human resource management, health information administration, healthcare administration, information technology, paralegal studies and public health administration.

    Graduate students can apply up to 12 graduate transfer credits to our master's degree programs. 

    How can I earn credit for what I already know?

    You can earn credit at Peirce College for college-level knowledge you already possess through the following methods:

    • Credit-by-exam
    • Portfolio assessment
    • Credentials, training and other programs that have been evaluated for college credit

    Credit-by-exam programs, such as the CLEP®, the College-level Exam Program, and Peirce College exams, allow students to test out of a degree requirement. These exams provide significant savings in time and money for adults who know the material because they are a fraction of the cost of course tuition and typically take less time to complete.

    With portfolio assessment, students develop a portfolio containing evidence that they possess college-level knowledge that is equivalent to what they would have learned in a specific course. Like credit-by-exam, portfolio assessment costs much less than course tuition and can save adults who know the material time and money.

    Students can also earn credit for professional licenses and certifications, professional and military training and other programs that have been evaluated for credit by Peirce College or the American Council on Education and fit a specific degree program requirement. There are no additional costs to earning this credit for students who have completed the training or possess the credentials. Common examples include:

    • Students who have completed Philadelphia Police Academy training
    • Students who have completed Philadelphia Division of Prisons training
    • Students who have completed military training
    • Students who possess select IT certifications
    • Students who possess AHIMA Certified Coding Associate (CCA®), Certified Coding Specialist (CCS®), Certified Professional Coder (CPC®) or Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT®) certifications

    Through the College's partnership with Coursera, students can earn select Google Career Certificates, Meta Career Certificates and courses at no cost and apply credits for those certificates and courses to undergraduate and graduate programs at Peirce - saving thousands in tuition and providing valuable credentials that employers are looking for.

    In addition, students can earn low-cost credits aligned with Peirce programs through select courses offered by Study.com, Sophia.org and StraighterLine.com.

    What are Peirce courses like?

    Most courses at Peirce are structured on a 7- or 8-week timeline and feature weekly schedules that provide students the flexibility to complete assignments at times convenient for them. Courses are led by faculty who specialize in serving adults and other nontraditional learners. Each week, students have the option of attending live, virtual sessions with their professors. Courses are available via online and hybrid formats.

    How much does it cost to attend Peirce College?

    Through our partnership with EDUTrust and the unions they are working with, union members and their families benefit from special discounted tuition.

    • Associate Degree Tuition:  $350 per credit
    • Bachelor's Degree Tuition:  $400 per credit
    • Graduate Certificate Tuition:  $550 per credit
    • Master's Degree Tuition: $625 per credit

    For more information, contact us today at admissions@peirce.edu.