ProSchools was one of the first NMLS-approved providers, offering “online instructor-led” (OIL) classes. Over the past year, the NMLS has required education providers update and refine their courses to meet the highest of standards required by the SAFE Act. That’s a good thing.
Changes, however, sometimes cause confusion for students accustomed to proceeding through a course a certain way. Today I’m going to take a few minutes and explain how our course assignments work. We get quite a few calls on this topic.
ProSchools’ Assignments:
- Each of our NMLS-approved courses involves instructor interaction, which includes online assignments. ProSchools has several instructors monitoring all course assignments, making sure students understand the information and if not, contacting them for assistance and clarification.
- ProSchools offers 10 and 21-day sessions for our 20-hour SAFE course. Assignments are scheduled for release throughout the course session. Each assignment becomes available for response on the day listed in their schedule.
- The final exam becomes available once all assignments have been submitted. Course completion and credit hours will be forwarded to NMLS when all assignments have been reviewed by an instructor and marked as completed satisfactorily. (Keep in mind, students must still meet other course requirements in order to take the final exam.)
- The latest change we’ve made to our courses is module locking. The NMLS requires that each course be completed in a linear fashion and modules should be completed in order. Students are not allowed to move on to the next module until completing the previous module. No jumping around and starting at the end of the course, OK?….makes good sense!
Another question we get from students is about the banking of hours with the NMLS. Students want to know when the NMLS will be notified of their course completion.
Here is our response: when the course session ends, the provider has 7 days to “bank” or notify the NMLS that the LO has completed their education. ProSchools banks hours weekly, usually every Friday. Sometimes loan originators are worried and want their hours banked the same day they complete their course. We remind people that according to the NMLS provider resources, the NMLS looks at the course completion date of the course. As long as providers get the education banked within 7 days, the LO should be fine.