| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Type | Online only, self-paced; no campuses |
| Schools on this page | Penn Foster College (Chandler, AZ) awards the degrees and most job-specific diplomas; Penn Foster Career School (Scranton, PA) awards locksmith, private investigator, motorcycle repair, floral design, drafting and other diplomas |
| Credentials | Career diplomas, undergraduate certificates, associate (AS) and bachelor’s (BS, BAS) degrees |
| Typical length | 3 to 17 months for most career diplomas; four semesters for an associate degree (about two years at the fastest for vet tech) |
| Accreditation | DEAC (both schools); Career School also MSA-CESS; vet tech AS: AVMA-CVTEA |
| State authorization | College licensed by the Arizona State Board for Private Postsecondary Education; NC-SARA member |
| Federal aid | No (no FAFSA, Pell Grants or federal loans) |
| Owner | Penn Foster Group, owned since 2018 by an investor group led by Bain Capital Double Impact |
| Founded | College 1974 (first accredited 1977); the Penn Foster brand traces to the International Correspondence Schools, Scranton, 1890 |
| Facts checked | 8 October 2026 |
Two Penn Foster schools, one website
Penn Foster College is a distance-learning college licensed in Arizona, with its office at 3133 West Frye Road, Suite 215, Chandler, AZ 85226. It was founded in 1974 and first accredited in 1977, and it belongs to Penn Foster Group, whose brand goes back to the International Correspondence Schools, founded in Scranton, PA in 1890. Penn Foster says its schools have over 133,000 active students. Every program is online and self-paced, and students can enroll on any day.
Penn Foster sells several schools’ programs on one website, so check which school awards yours. Penn Foster College awards all degrees and most job-specific career diplomas, including veterinary, medical, HVAC, automotive and electrical programs. Penn Foster Career School, based in Scranton, awards locksmith, private investigator, motorcycle repair, floral design, drafting, plumbing and other diplomas. Penn Foster High School, in Nashville, TN, is a separate school and is not covered here.
Programs and who awards them
The table shows the main career programs, with list prices from Penn Foster’s program pages or 2026 catalogs (checked October 2026). Program pages also show lower pay-in-full prices during promotions. A dash means Penn Foster’s sources gave no figure.
| Program | Awarded by | Length | Hands-on part | Prepares for | List price (2026) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Veterinary Technician AS | College | 66 credits, 4 semesters | Two externships, 150 and 200 hours; student finds the sites | VTNE; AVMA-CVTEA accredited | $2,039 per semester |
| Veterinary Assistant | College | 11-16 months | Externship, 100+ hours at a clinic the student chooses | AVA exam (NAVTA-approved) | $1,089 |
| Medical Assistant | College | 11-16 months | Optional externship, 100+ hours | NHA CCMA (voucher included) | $2,399 |
| Medical Assistant AS | College | 60 credits, 4 semesters | Required externship, 160 hours | NHA CCMA (voucher included) | $1,539 per semester |
| Pharmacy Technician Professional | College | 13-17 months | Required externship, 130+ hours in a community pharmacy | PTCE (voucher included) | $1,449 |
| Dental Assistant | College | 3-7 months | — | DANB RHS and ICE; AMP (NELDA) | $1,039 |
| Medical Billing and Coding | College | 10-14 months | None | NHA CBCS (voucher included); AHIMA CCA | $1,569 |
| Home Health Aide | College | 9-11 months | Required 40-hour practicum; student secures the site | Federal home health aide training minimums | $1,039 |
| Medical Transcriptionist | College | 7-11 months | — | AHDI RHDS | $1,039 |
| Optician Exam Preparation | College | 11-12 months | None | ABO NOCE (voucher included); CLRE | $1,779 |
| HVACR Technician | College | 5 months at the fastest; about 9 on average | None | EPA certification (voucher included) | $1,139 |
| Auto Repair Technician | College | — | — | Working toward ASE certification | $1,189 |
| Residential Electrician | College | — | — | — | $1,139 |
| Pharmacy Technician | Career School | — | — | No ASHP claim | $1,249 |
The Veterinary Technician AS is accredited by the AVMA’s Committee on Veterinary Technician Education and Activities since January 2006. Penn Foster lists ASHP/ACPE accreditation for the Pharmacy Technician Professional diploma, and the Veterinary Assistant diploma is NAVTA-approved. The Dental Assistant diploma is not CODA-accredited, and no programmatic accreditor is named for either medical assistant program. Some programs do not meet licensing or certification rules in every state: Pharmacy Technician Professional in DC, Oklahoma and Washington; Home Health Aide in California, DC, New Jersey, New York and Mississippi; and Dental Assistant in California. Students there can still enroll.
What the main programs cover
Veterinary Technician AS
The degree has 66 credits over four semesters and takes about two years at the fastest. Its clinical work comes in two externships: 150 hours over 10 weeks, covering 29 skills, after the second semester, and 200 hours over 18 weeks, covering 51 skills, at the end. Students must find their own externship sites; Penn Foster does not place them, although it names VCA, Banfield and BluePearl among its partners. The degree prepares students for the VTNE. Graduates can continue into the College’s Bachelor of Applied Science in Veterinary Technology, a degree of at least 120 credits.
Pharmacy Technician Professional
This College diploma takes 13 to 17 months and is worth 64.2 CEUs. It ends with an externship of at least 130 hours, over 4 to 13 weeks, in a community pharmacy; Penn Foster names CVS, Walgreens and Kroger. An externship coordinator places students, who need a 70% grade average, a background check and a 10-panel drug screen, and who pay their own externship costs. A PTCE exam voucher is included. Penn Foster Career School sells a separate, shorter Pharmacy Technician diploma without the ASHP/ACPE listing, so check which one you are buying.
Medical Assistant: diploma or degree
The career diploma takes 11 to 16 months (53.8 CEUs). Its externship of at least 100 hours is optional; a coordinator helps find a site, but placement is not guaranteed. The Associate of Science has 60 credits over four semesters and requires a 160-hour externship, again with a coordinator’s help. Both include a voucher for the NHA’s Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA) exam. Because the diploma’s clinical practice is optional, students who want supervised experience before job hunting should plan for the externship or choose the degree.
Veterinary Assistant
The Veterinary Assistant diploma takes about 11 to 16 months online. It is approved by NAVTA, so graduates can take the Approved Veterinary Assistant (AVA) exam. Students must complete an externship of at least 100 hours, over 8 to 17 weeks, at a veterinary clinic they choose themselves. It is a shorter and cheaper route into clinic work than the vet tech degree: the program page listed $1,089 in October 2026, against $2,039 for each of the degree’s four semesters.
Home Health Aide
The diploma takes 9 to 11 months and ends with a required 40-hour supervised practicum. Students must secure the practicum site themselves and need a 65% grade average to start it; a background check, drug screen and TB test may also be required. Penn Foster says the program meets the federal minimums of 75 training hours and 16 hours of supervised practical training. Its curriculum does not meet requirements in California, DC, New Jersey, New York or Mississippi.
HVACR Technician
The HVACR diploma can be completed in as little as five months, and Penn Foster puts the average at about nine. It prepares students for the EPA certification exam, and the exam voucher is included in tuition. The program has no externship, so practice on real equipment has to come from a job or other experience. HVAC students also get a discount through the Snap-on Student Excellence program.
Cost and paying without federal aid
Penn Foster charges one national price, with no in-state or out-of-state rates. All four 2026 catalogs cover the calendar year 1 January to 31 December 2026. Prices change with frequent promotions, so confirm the current price with Penn Foster before you enroll.
- Career diplomas: the 2026 College catalog lists totals (tuition, registration and shipping) from $709 (Veterinary Team Telehealth) to $2,599 (Medical Coding Professional). Most can be paid through interest-free monthly plans of about $59 a month, with a down payment of $20 on auto pay.
- Degrees: billed per semester. Program pages in October 2026 put a semester at about $1,050 to $2,040, depending on the degree and whether it is paid in full; the College catalog lists $80 to $134 per credit, and monthly plans run about $65 to $75.
- Included: books and course materials, and exam vouchers for several programs (CCMA, CBCS, PTCE, EPA and NOCE).
- Other fees (2026 catalogs): extension $125, transcript $15, prior-learning assessment $100, shipping $65 per semester for College degrees; administrative fee $60 and program change $50 at the Career School.
- Refunds: the College refunds in full within 6 days of enrolling, then keeps 10%, 25% or 50% of tuition depending on progress, and full tuition is owed once more than half the program is complete. The Career School’s full-refund window is 5 days.
There is no federal financial aid: Penn Foster does not take FAFSA, Pell Grants or federal student loans. Apart from the military scholarship below, we found no named scholarships.
Military and veterans. Penn Foster has not accepted new GI Bill or Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E) enrollments since 31 October 2022; students enrolled before then may finish. Other options it lists are the SpouseWorks Scholarship (formerly MyCAA), worth up to $4,000 for eligible military spouses; Army Credentialing Assistance for select career diplomas; and a 30% grant for active-duty members, veterans and their dependents.
Admissions and pace
Enrollment is open: students can start on any day, and coursework is available online at all hours. Applicants sign an enrollment agreement, pay a down payment and complete a basic skills assessment. Degrees, undergraduate certificates and some diplomas require a high school diploma or GED. The minimum age is 16 or 17 depending on the program, and non-native English speakers need English-proficiency scores. Students need a computer, internet and email. The College accepts transfer credit for up to 75% of a program’s total. Externship programs can require a background check, drug screen and TB test.
Accreditation and results
Penn Foster College and Penn Foster Career School are both accredited by the Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC), a national accreditor. The Career School is also accredited by the Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools (MSA-CESS) for its non-degree programs and is licensed by Pennsylvania’s State Board of Private Licensed Schools. The College is licensed by the Arizona State Board for Private Postsecondary Education to award associate and bachelor’s degrees, undergraduate certificates and career diplomas, and it takes part in NC-SARA through the Arizona SARA Council. The College can award IACET continuing education units for some diplomas; IACET approval is a continuing-education standard, not accreditation.
Penn Foster College publishes no graduation, completion or job placement rates. The figures it does publish cover single exams or surveys:
- VTNE (vet tech AS): 70.5% of about 1,400 first-time candidates passed from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2025, testing within a year of graduating. Penn Foster gives the national rate as 67%.
- PTCE (pharmacy technician): Penn Foster reports a 70% pass rate for 2024, but this figure covers all of Penn Foster Group, not this diploma alone.
- Vet-field employment: 94% of vet tech completers reported working in the veterinary field in a 2025 survey; the figure is self-reported and the definition is not given.
- Satisfaction: in 397 surveys from March 2023 to February 2024, 95% of students said they were satisfied and 89.5% would recommend Penn Foster.
Ownership and legal record
Penn Foster Group, legally PF Carrus Careers, LLC, has been owned since 2018 by an investor group led by Bain Capital Double Impact; Vistria Group owned it from 2014 to 2018. The group also owns Ashworth College, bought in 2019, and merged with CareerStep (Carrus) in 2021. In January 2024 Penn Foster announced it would close its Scranton student service center, cutting about 10% of the group’s workforce, while keeping a presence in Scranton.
In 2015 Penn Foster College settled with Oregon’s Department of Justice and Higher Education Coordinating Commission, which found that it had enrolled Oregon residents without state authorization and had implied a regional accreditation it did not hold. The settlement terms were a $1,900 refund, $22,000 in investigative costs and up to $50,000 in donations. We found no lawsuit, attorney general action or accreditation action from 2023 to 2026 in a search in October 2026.
Before you enroll
- No federal aid, and no new GI Bill students. You pay Penn Foster directly, in full or by monthly plan. At the College, tuition becomes owed on a sliding scale after the first 6 days, and the full amount is due once you pass the halfway point, even if you stop.
- Credits may not transfer. DEAC is a national accreditor, and students in reviews report credits that other colleges would not accept. Ask the school you might transfer to before you enroll.
- You arrange much of the hands-on training. Vet tech students must find two externship sites (350 hours in all), vet assistant students their clinic and home health aide students their practicum site. Pharmacy externs pay their own externship costs.
- Some programs don’t lead where their names suggest. Pharmacy Technician Professional does not meet requirements in DC, Oklahoma or Washington, Home Health Aide in four states and DC, and Dental Assistant in California. Physical Therapy Aide does not qualify graduates as physical therapist assistants, and the Fitness and Nutrition certificate may not qualify them as personal trainers.
- No completion or placement rates are published. Apart from a few exam pass rates and a self-reported vet tech employment survey, you cannot see how many students finish or find work.
Externship and career help
Externship coordinators help students in the medical assistant diploma and degree and in Pharmacy Technician Professional find sites, though the medical assistant diploma page says placement is not guaranteed. For vet tech externships Penn Foster names VCA, Banfield and BluePearl among its partners, but students still find their own sites. HVAC students get a Snap-on tool discount. Penn Foster says student support works by appointment, and reviewers report waits of several days.
What students say
On Niche, Penn Foster College is rated 4.28 out of 5 from 201 reviews (checked 8 October 2026), with 105 five-star and 5 one-star reviews. On Trustpilot, Penn Foster’s profile scores 4.0 from 1,629 reviews, 181 of them in the past year (also checked 8 October 2026).
- Praised: flexible, self-paced study that fits around work and family; low cost and interest-free plans; clear course materials and helpful staff.
- Criticized: slow support, with phone appointments days away and replies taking about a week; credits and transcripts that don’t transfer; billing and cancellation disputes, including debts sent to collections; little hands-on training and hard-to-arrange vet tech externships.
Treat the Trustpilot score with care: Penn Foster has claimed the profile on a paid plan and invites reviews, which tends to raise ratings. The Niche page is for Penn Foster College.
Sources
Checked 8 October 2026: Penn Foster accreditation · College consumer information · 2026 school catalogs · Tuition · Military and veterans · Veterinary Technician AS · AVMA accredited distance vet tech programs
Programs & Courses
Veterinary
- Veterinary Technician Associate of Science (College; AVMA-CVTEA accredited)
- Veterinary Technology Bachelor of Applied Science (College)
- Veterinary Assistant career diploma (College; NAVTA-approved)
- Veterinary Practice Management undergraduate certificate (College)
- Veterinary Team Telehealth career diploma (College)
Healthcare
- Medical Assistant career diploma and Associate of Science (College)
- Pharmacy Technician Professional career diploma (College)
- Pharmacy Technician career diploma (Career School)
- Dental Assistant career diploma (College)
- Medical Billing and Coding career diploma (College)
- Medical Coding Professional career diploma (College)
- Medical Administrative Assistant career diploma (College)
- Medical Transcriptionist career diploma (College)
- Home Health Aide career diploma (College)
- Phlebotomy Technician career diploma (College)
- Sterile Processing career diploma (College)
- Medical Laboratory Assistant career diploma (College)
- Optician Exam Preparation career diploma (College)
- Health Care Management Associate of Science (College)
- Physical Therapy Aide career diploma (Career School; aide training, not PTA)
Skilled trades
- HVACR Technician career diploma (College)
- Residential Electrician career diploma (College)
- Industrial Electronics and Electrical Maintenance Associate of Science (College)
- Construction Technology Associate of Science (College)
- Engineering Technology Associate of Science (College)
- Gunsmith career diploma (College)
- Plumber career diploma (Career School)
- Appliance Repair career diploma (Career School)
- Construction Trades career diploma (Career School)
- Electronics Technician career diploma (Career School)
- Locksmith & Home Security Technician career diploma (Career School)
- Drafting with AutoCAD career diploma and AutoCAD certificate (Career School)
Automotive and engines
- Auto Repair Technician career diploma (College)
- Diesel Mechanics/Heavy Truck Maintenance career diploma (College)
- Motorcycle Repair Technician career diploma (Career School)
- Small Engine Repair career diploma (Career School)
Business and office
- Accounting undergraduate certificate and Associate of Science (College)
- Bookkeeping career diploma (College)
- Business Management undergraduate certificate, Associate of Science and Bachelor of Science (College)
- Human Resources undergraduate certificate and Human Resources Management Associate of Science (College)
- Administrative Assistant, Payroll Clerk and Tax Preparation career diplomas (College)
- Event Planning, Wedding Planner and Travel Agent career diplomas (College)
- Small Business Management, Virtual Assistant and Retail Supervisor career diplomas (Career School)
Computers, design and creative
- IT Support Specialist career diploma (College)
- Computer Information Systems Associate of Science (College)
- Graphic Design undergraduate certificate and Associate of Science (College)
- Interior Design Associate of Science (College)
- Computer Graphic Artist, Interior Decorator, Floral Design and Jewelry Design and Repair career diplomas (Career School)
Legal and criminal justice
- Criminal Justice Associate of Science and Bachelor of Science (College)
- Paralegal Studies Associate of Science and Paralegal career diploma (College)
- Private Investigator career diploma (Career School)
- Legal Secretary career diploma (Career School)
Education, animals and outdoors
- Early Childhood Education Associate of Science and CDA Credential Preparation certificate (College)
- Child Care Professional career diploma (Career School)
- Dog Obedience Trainer and Wildlife/Forestry Conservation career diplomas (College)
- Landscaping Technology career diploma (Career School)
General studies
- General Studies undergraduate certificate (College)
Campus Locations
100% Online , Online,