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Your local community college and your local state university are probably offering plenty of online courses. There is nothing wrong with online study in and of itself.
The UoP has the same kind of regional accreditation that your local community college and state university have - perhaps even from the SAME accrediting agency if you are in the area covered by the North Central Association.
That said, I say "beware of a school with a profit motive." Why? As far as I am concerned, there is an inherent conflict of interest between making money and providing education. The UoP is like any other business: its ultimate loyalty is to its stockholders. YourState U is a non-profit organization; it puts feathers in its cap by accepting students who are qualified (as evidenced by its graduation rates) and its scholarly production (superstar professors, etc).
I am a librarian. I worked as a college librarian for six years. I worked in a different for-profit college very briefly, then at a private liberal arts college for the last five years. I left that for-profit college because I was sickened by the quality of education that they were providing for an exorbitant cost.
If you need the flexibility of online classes, look into your local "bricks and mortar" colleges and universities - they are probably offering online degree programs and they don't have a profit motivation.
I'd keep a mile away from the UofP. There are some major lawsuits against them right now and I've seen reports suggesting that they were engaging in a lot of unsavory practices. Moreoever, most employers are going to look at "University of Phoenix" on a resume and toss it right into the garbage can.
I would keep away from all the for-profit educational companies for the most part --- unless you were looking to enter into some low-level technical field. I can't see any reason to use any of them for Business Administration because a BBA from a legit university is going to carry a lot more weight on a resume. But if you must choose an online for-profit university, I'd go with someone other than UofP at the very least.
UoP has a graduation rate of 16%--that is the lowest in the nation according to the article linked to above. The average for all American universities is 55% (Freshman to graduation in six years is the measure). The measure for UoP is 6% at the Southern California campus and 4% among on-line students.
THEY HAVE NEVER EVEN APPLIED FOR ACCREDATION FROM AACSB. (ouch!)
You mention the average for all universities...what about online colleges? I would think overall those numbers would be lower due to the ease of getting in (and out).
And University of Phoenix is accredited by the ACBSP, just not the AACSB.
You mention the average for all universities...what about online colleges? I would think overall those numbers would be lower due to the ease of getting in (and out).
And University of Phoenix is accredited by the ACBSP, just not the AACSB.
The ACBSP was started in 1988 by 150 schools that couldn't get AACSB accredation. I think its lame to not be able to get accredited--so instead of improving your programs, you start your own accredating organization.
You mention the average for all universities...what about online colleges? I would think overall those numbers would be lower due to the ease of getting in (and out).
Which Colleges Leave Students With the Most Debt? - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnews/20090522/ts_usnews/whichcollegesleavestudentswiththemostdebt - broken link)
You mention the average for all universities...what about online colleges? I would think overall those numbers would be lower due to the ease of getting in (and out).
=.
I don't have that data. Sorry.
But it is interesting to note that students who attend UoP traditional classes, in Southern California had only (ONLY) a 6% completion rate, as contrasted with a 55% average for all colleges.
It's all about money. They want you to pay more for your education. The more expensive universities may have a better education, but heck, some small colleges do rival the big names for quality. It's a game, about jumping through hoops and keeping those in the education business making money.
Basically all you have to do to go to UofP is click a couple buttons. If you don't want to do it anymore, you don't have to. But if you're actually at a school, there's usually more motivation to go to class, etc.
I don't know the numbers, I was just theorizing that that might be the case.
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