Penn Foster Career School

A tradition of excellence for over a century. 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 Career School. By 1945, 5,000,000 students had enrolled in Penn Foster training programs, and as of today that number has grown to more than 13,000,000.

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

Penn Foster Career School is one of the oldest and largest distance learning institutions in the world. The school provides programs and services that are designed to meet the lifelong learning needs of the adult learner. Programs of study lead to career-specific diplomas.

The mission of Penn Foster is to empower adult learners to advance or change their careers, learn a new skill, or gain personal satisfaction. The school strives to fulfill this mission by providing breadth and depth of courseware, applicable technology, and a wide array of flexible services aimed at the needs of the adult learner. Programs teach current marketplace skills which prepare for a wide variety of entry-level vocational positions. The mission is supported by an admissions policy that allows students with appropriate prior education to enroll in programs without regard to race, religion, gender, age, color, national origin, or physical disability.
The school 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.