EduPlan Blog

For-Profit Online Schools--Not Your Only Option

by Sandy Womack, Ed.D., Director, EduPlan

www.eduplan.org

John Sperling, owner of University of Phoenix, wrote an interesting book called Rebel With A Cause, overviewing the long process it took for him to get regional accreditation for his for-profit college.  University of Phoenix was non-traditional, accelerated and used part-time instructors experienced in their field, instead of full-time professors.  Sperling was first rejected by Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), but eventually received accreditation from Northcentral Association of Schools of Colleges (now, Higher Learning Commission).

Sperling was one of the pioneers of for-profit colleges.  Today, there are many schools that are for-profit.  Most, such as Strayer University, Kaplan University and Capella University are on the Stock Exchange.  A few, such as Northcentral University, are for-profit, but are privately held.

I mention University of Phoenix because GetEducated.com (www.geteducated.com) is holding a poll for graduates of University of Phoenix to rank their education from "A" to "F".  The general perception is a C-, but many of my counseling clients have told me that they had attended many schools and University of Phoenix worked best for them.  If you are a graduate of University of Phoenix, have your voice heard on their poll.

These for-profit online schools generally have lots of marketing money to show up everywhere on the Internet.  I see ads in my Yahoo home page, my Linked-In page and on the paid ads when I search for Online Schools.  Showing up on ads does not mean that these schools are the best value for your money.  If you are searching, scroll through several pages of search results for other options and then compare time, cost, prestige and other factors before making a decision.

Are Online Colleges Recession Proof?

by Sandy Womack, Ed.D., Director, EduPlan

www.eduplan.org  Get a free copy of the E-Book:  5 Considerations Before Choosing an Online Degree

The past few recessions have increased the number of adult students attending colleges.  Employees at corporations became anxious that they would be laid-off and could not find a good job without a degree in hand. Community colleges, local state universities and online colleges saw large numbers of adult students starting or trying to complete the associate, bachelor or masters' degrees. 

This recession feels different to me.  First of all, some companies are suspending their tuition assistance programs either for a quarter or two or indefinitely.  Adult students do not want to take out large loans in addition to the credit crunch that may have already affected their lives.  So those students who were already in college are cutting back the number of units they are taking or using the lower cost options such as community colleges to gain some credits.

The Online universities, especially the For-Profit schools, saw an increase in students in late 2008, but the enrollment numbers have fallen off in 2009 and the stock prices are down for the For-Profit Universities.  The Communities Colleges, however, are seeing large increases and some community colleges are having trouble keeping up with the number of adult students enrolling in Health-related degree plans. 

I think there are college winners and losers in this recession.  Give me your comments about "Are online colleges recession proof?" and I will publish those comments.

Perserverance Needed for a Part-time Degree

by Sandy Womack, Ed.D., Director, EduPlan

www.eduplan.org

The perserverance needed to finish a part-time degree program (either on-campus or online) reminds me of the perservance needed to diet.  With a new diet, hopes are high and we start out with great intentions.  Then, Life Happens.  Holidays come around (turkey dinners with all the extras);vacations are taken (drinks with little umbrellas) and Happy Hour comes on Friday (muchies at the bar).  Next thing we know, we are off our diet.

Anyone able to stay on a diet for several years knows that Life Happens and if we go off our diet during the holidays or vacation, we should just say "oh well" and start on the diet again.  Good dieters (is there such a phenomenon?) might even go off the diet for a day every few weeks, but jump back on the wagon.

Gaining the part-time degree is very similar to this approach to dieting. We start our degree plan with lots of high hopes and enthuiasm, but then life happens and we want to drop out.  Students who have been able to go to college while working and having a family life know that they sometimes have to "stop out" not "drop out".  These students may take a semester off or cut down on the number of classes to accommodate changes in the job or family.  But, they jump back on the wagaon and start up again the next term.

These students who have been able to finish a degree while working realize tthey have the same amount of time per day as everyone else and have been able to shuffle their priorities to include school work.  Getting the degree is very important to them and on the top of their goals.

My cousin, Jack, showed me the meaning of perserverance when I was a young girl.  Jack wanted to be an accountant, but he was working full time and had a family.  He started a BS in Accounting part time when he was in his 30's.  This was in the 1960's and there were no adult programs, no online  programs and  no accelerated programs.  Jack took one class per semester and finally completed his degree 17 years later. 

Thousands of adult students have started and finished their associates', bachelors' and masters' degrees part time while working.  Are you ready to be one of them?

Upside Down Degrees

by Dr. Sandy Womack, Director, EduPlan

www.eduplan.org   Get the free E-book:  5 Considerations before Choosing an Online Degree

Did you attend a community college and gain an Associate's degree?  At the time, you may have wanted to gain a trade or technical degree and move quickly into the work force.  You may have an Associate's in electronics, computer repair, graphics, secretarial science or automotive repair. 

The degree might be an Associate of Applied Sciences (AAS) or an Associate of Science (AS) or Associate of Arts (AA), but not transferable to a 4-year degree (or so you were told by an advisor at your community college).  The good news is that this has changed in the last few years. 

Several colleges have set up ways to transfer the AAS or non-transferable associates to a Bachelor degree plan.  In Arizona, both Arizona State University and Northern University Arizona (my hometown university), offer the Bachelor of Applied Science (BAS) degree, either on-campus or online.  The BAS degree REQUIRES the AAS as part of the admission process.  So, students with the AAS in electronics (for example) can now select from several majors in the BAS curriculum.  Their AAS will transfer as a whole to the BAS program. 

The BAS is considered an Upside Down degree because the major (electronics, graphics, etc.) was taken at the lower level instead of the usual junior and senior year.  Other Upside Down degree programs you might consider are:

    *  Rogers State University offers the BS Applied Technology.  RSU offers the online degree and you can transfer up to 30 units into the major from community college coursework in one field, or military courses in one field. 

    *  Thomas Edison State University and Excelsior College are both good schools to transfer in lower division major credits.

Schools have finally realized that many community college students need an inexpensive way to transfer into a 4-year program.  The Upside Down Degree is a good start.

Cost of an Online Degree

If your company offers Tuition Reimbursement, consider yourself fortunate.  The cost of going back for a degree is getting more expensive each semester.  Even the less-expensive state universities are having to charge more with this economic situation.  The Board of Regents in my state of Arizona has just upped the tuition and fees of all the state universities.

Online degrees are also charging more per unit or credit.  It hasn't hurt their bottom line, however.  All 5 of the top for-profit online universities have seen their stock prices rise in the past 6 months.  For-profit university stocks are one of the few stocks that have been profitable.  Jim Cramer of Mad Money (CNBC TV Show) has been touting these for-profit stocks for many weeks.

This is not an endorsement that you should be applying to one of the for-profit online universities.  Because they have to make a profit to satisfy stockholders and because they advertise so extensively, these schools are usually very expensive.  There are many good online (and on-campus) schools, both undergraduate and graduate, both state and private, that are "good deals".

Search for online schools that are not the ones that show up on every paid search site.  Schools with online degrees such as Park University, Thomas Edison State University, and Excelsior College are so much less expensive and can save thousands off a degree plan.

If your company offers Tuition Reimbursement and pays for most of your degree, consider yourself very fortunate in this age of ever increasing tuition. 

Educated Outside the US?

by Sandy Womack, Ed.D.

www.eduplan.org

One of my latest clients had his MBA application rejected from a state university.  He found out that his Bachelor's in Computer Science from India was a 3-year degree and although this is not unusual in India, it does not allow him to gain admission for a Master's degree in the U.S.

If you have received your undergraduate degree from a university outside the US, here are some suggestions for you if you want to pursue a graduate degree.

    * You probably had your credentials evaluated by a private company when you first came to the U.S. for work.  Don't assume these "job position and experience evaluation" can be used to gain admission into a local graduate school. 

    *  If you want to see if your undergraduate degree is US equivalent, you might want to pay for an evaluation by a foreign transcript evaluation service.  The cost is usually $100-$150 and I recommend either ECE (www.ece.org) or WES (www.wes.org).

    *  Your local university can also evaluate your transcript for free, but you usually have to complete the entire admission process first.

    *  You will have to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) if your degree was from a non-US university.  Sometimes the TOEFL is waived by the graduate department if you have had several years of work-experience in the US.

    *  Once you have your overseas transcript evaluated and it is declared "US Equivalent" and you have taken the TOEFL, the application process to graduate school becomes the same as anyone educated in the US.

    *  If your overseas transcript is Not equivalent to US standards, you may have to take courses required for a 4 year US bachelor's degree.  Some schools offer Bridge Programs to make up the 4th year of school.

My client fround a Bridge program that helped him with his writing skills and business skills and he gained the MBA prerequisites, as well.