The article presents a profile of the distance education company StraighterLine and examines reasons why many students who take courses from the company do not receive transfer credit from U.S. colleges. According to the article, the goal of StraighterLine is to provide college students with an affordable alternative for introductory courses and company founder Burck Smith comments that he has lobbied state higher education policy makers to pursue legislation that would require traditional colleges to accept transfer credits from StraighterLine programs. It describes how former StraighterLine partners such as DeVry Universities and Assumption College have ended their relationships to pursue internal distance education options and presents comments from college provost Lawrence V. Gould.