EduPlan Blog

Blended Programs for Graduate Degrees

by Sandy Womack, Ed.D., Director, EduPlan   www.eduplan.org

I'm not sure if colleges and universities use the term "Blended Degrees" in their listing of majors.  It is a term I made up to describe new majors offered by online schools, private, for-profit colleges and even a few state universities.  The new degrees "blend" classes from technology, business, leadership and project management.

Starting in early 2000's, corporations wanted employees to be flexible and able to move into many fields, many jobs.  The companies expected employees with master's degrees to have business skills, even if they were "technical".  Employees had to work with clients in technical sales, technical marketing and technical support.  Project Management skills were also needed.

University of Oregon's Master of Applied Information Management is a good example of a blended degree (also called Multidisciplinary).  The degree offers Core classes in Project Management, Business Administration, Information Design and Applied Research.  The sampling of Short Courses include:  Business Ethics, Data Mining, Search marketing and Sustainability.

This degree and other blended degrees may be alternatives to the MBA, MS Information Systems, or MS Computer Science.

Financial Aid Concerns

by Sandy Womack, Ed.D., Director, EduPlan   www.eduplan.org

I am an educational counselor, working mostly with employees at larger companies, helping them set up degree plans, focused on their goals, background and skills.  These larger companies have Educational Assistance Policies that pay most or all of the tuition for a degree.  So, I am not that knowledgeable about Financial Aid.

However, I recently saw a documentary on TV that highlighted the problems of financial aid.  Many students were taking out large financial aid packages and when they graduated they found that the interest rate was as high as a credit card rate (17 - 18%).  Many new graduates received phone calls that could be called harrassment.  One woman featured was told that she would be arrested if she did not pay her financial aid amount that month.  So, she did so instead of paying her rent.  Later, she and her 5 year old daughter were evicted.

There is a fairly damaging blog from a woman who attended Westwood College and felt she was scammed by Sallie Mae.  Read it at:  http://fight-westwood.blogstop.com  This is called:  Westwood College Online and Sallie Mae Scam.

By the way, Westwood College is not regionally accredited.  I would never recommend this college to any of my clients.

Choosing an Online Degree? Tip #5

by Sandy Womack, Ed.D., Director, EduPlan   www.eduplan.org

Many online schools allow students to gain college credits for Life and Work Experience.  You can transfer some of these credits directly into a degree plan.  Other credits can be granted with essays and documentation of learning.

Some options for gaining these credits for life and work experience are:

1) Testing Out of Classes.  College Level Examination Program (CLEP) is a great way to gain college credits in English, Foreign Language, Math, Business, Science, etc.  www.collegeboard.com/clep

2) Military Credits.  Submit your SMART or AARTS report to the college rep to see if you have credits from classes, training or your MOS.

3) External Training Courses or Internal Corporate Courses.  Bring your list of courses taken from external training vendors or classes you took internally at your company when you visit the school.

4) Certificates.  Examples might be Project Management, Microsoft Certificates or 6-Sigma.

5) Licenses.  Examples might be FAA or FCC licenses.

Most working professionals can gain an average of 18 - 20 credits with these options for Life and Work Experience.  That means you eliminate 6-7 college classes from your degree program, saving both time and money.

Bottom Line:  Take time to research the online schools that provide ways to gain college credit for your life/work experiences.

Choosing an Online Degree? Tip #4

by Sandy Womack, Ed.D., Director, EduPlan   www.eduplan.org

The ideal situation for an online degree would be a learning environment that matches your Learning Style.  Most online programs are heavy with reading information on the internet.  This is ideal for students that are Visual Learners.  In-class programs are heavy on lecture--ideal for Auditory Learners.  Labs, studios and demonstrations are ideal for Hands-On Learners. 

The best learning is a combination of all 3 types of Learning Styles.  Most students figure out ways to incorporate their learning style into any learning situation.  I am an Auditory Learner and stuggle to read large quantity of material on the internet.  So, I print it out and record portions of it and listen in my car.  Or, I find a lecture or dicussion on a Podcast and listen on my IPod.

If you are thinking about an online degree, streaming video works well for both Auditory and Visual Learners.  Stanford University's Continuing Professional Development (http://scpd.stanford.edu) was one of the first universities to move from a satellite viewing of their classes to streaming video.

If you want to find out your Learning Style, try this free website:  www.howtolearn.com/lsioptin_employee.html  This is a basic test, but it is free.  Other, more sophisticated Learning Style Inventories can be found in a Yahoo or Google search:  Learning Style Inventory, but there may be a charge for these.

Bottom Line:  Try to coordinate your course format to your Learning Style.

Choosing an Online Degree? Tip #3

by Sandy Womack, Ed.D., Director, EduPlan   www.eduplan.org

I like to see college websites where the curriculum is clearly visable and the costs are upfront.  I don't want to call a rep or have a chat on the Chat Line.  I found that most of the reps on the Chat Lines only know basic information and many were there to get prospective students to enroll immediately.  Some reps wanted to sign me up for a Bachelor's degree, even though I have a doctorate.

Many times you have to put in personal information before you get any questions answered.  I usually put in false information because I don't want the school to be constantly bugging me.  BTW, you can request that schools not call you and get on their Do Not Call list and the schools have to comply.

Bottom Line:  Beware aggressive marketing and marketing ploys to get you to enroll in a degree plan before you are ready and before you have all your questions answered.

Choosing an Online Degree? Tip #2

by Sandy Womack, Ed.D., Director, EduPlan   www.eduplan.org

The second tip for choosing an online degree:  Do your research to check the costs of the colleges.

Most online degrees are more expensive than on-campus degrees.  Even your local state university may charge out-of-state tuition for residents who opt for online.  Some schools charge an extra cyber-campus or technology fee. 

Thre are some less expensive online schools.  Foothill College Online is a top community college and classes are only a few hundred dollars per course and Foothill offers almost all the General Education courses online.

Park University is a regionally accredited university with online Associate, Bachelor and Master degrees in many fields of study. Undergraduate courses are under $1000/each and since the average online undergraduate class is about $1300 - $1500/each, this school is a bargain.

Fort Hays State University is a regionally accredited state university offering several Master degree programs for about $1200/class.  The average online graduate class is about $1800 - $2000/course, so here is another bargain.

The Bottom Line:  Do your research on cost comparisons of online programs.

Choosing an Online Degree? Tip #1

by Sandy Womack, Ed.D., Director, EduPlan  www.eduplan.org

Over the next few days, I will be listing the top 5 tips to help you decide if you want to enroll in an online degree plan.  I think that most online colleges and online degrees are wonderful ways to help you achieve your career goals.  But, many online schools use aggressive marketing to get you to enroll.  Hopefully, the tips I provide will help you make a good decision.

The first tip is:  Look at the School Accreditation.  You will want to attend a REGIONALLY accredited college.  The accreditation of the college should be one of the 6 accreditation agencies below:

WASC - Western Association of Schools and Colleges; NWCCA-Northwestern Commission on Colleges and Universities; HLC- Higher Learning Commission of North Central Association of Schools and Colleges; SACS-Southern Association of Colleges and Schools; NEASC- New England Association of Schools and Colleges; MSA-Middle States Association of Schools and Colleges.

If you do not attend a regionally accredited school, a hiring manager or company may not consider your degree to be a "real" degree.  It will also be unlikely that you will ever be able to be admitted to graduate school.

The Bottom Line:  Look for a college wtih regional accreditation for quality and transferability of credits.

Good Schools Using Marketing Ploys

by Sandy Womack, Ed.D., Director, EduPlan   www.eduplan.org

I was disappointed that a good school, Arizona State University, has started using marketing ploys when someone is searching their online degree plans.  I was searching for a online graduate Engineering degree for a client and knew that ASU had online programs.  However, when I looked at their online degree section, there was no program curriculum or admission information.

There was a Chat Line but I had to put in my personal information before I could talk to a rep.  I usually put in false information except for a phone number.  I wanted to see how many times I was called and if the calling became annoying, as it does with many of the online schools. 

I don't know why a very good school such as ASU thinks they have to resort to this type of aggressive marketing.  Maybe there are statistics showing a huge increase in enrollment.  I like the personal touch of being able to talk personally to a rep, but I don't like to put in personal information before I get a simple question answered, such as "What are the classes needed for this degree?".

Alternatives to the MBA

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

The MBA is still the most popular Masters degree for working professionals.  Before launching the MBA search, ask yourself these questions:  Do you want to be a manager of people and their problems?  Do you want to deal with budgets?  Do you want to try to balance the needs of upper management with your departmental needs?  Do you want to hire and fire, give raises or discipline sub-par performance?  Do you want to set employee goals and deal with employee action plans?

Some alternatives to the MBA might be a blended degree with some project management courses, business classes and technical courses.  These Master level derees are not the MBA, but may work better for your long term career goals. 

Some master-level alternatives to the MBA are:  MS Engineering Management; MS Project Management; MS Applied Technology; MS Management of Science and Technology; MS HR Management (or Health Care, or Sales or Non-Profit, etc.).  Another alternative to the MBA might be a certificate program in Business Administration, Business Management or Project Management.  These certificates do not require a lengthy admission process nor require an admission test such as the Graduate Management Test (GMAT).

Find more information about MBA and other Master-level degrees from the EzineArticles listed on the EduPlan website:  www.eduplan.org

    

    

Misleading Online School Listings

I write an article a week for EzineArticles (www.ezinearticles.com).  I have also signed up to get the articles written every week from the Online Education catagory.  This week there is an article called "Top Universities Offering Free Online Courses".  This article got my attention because there was a listing from Online Education Database of the so-called top online universities.

The list of the top online universities was a listing of "middle-of-the-road" schools (regionally accredited, but no prestigious schools).  Then there were the non-regionally accredited schools also in the listing:  ITT Technical Institute, Tiffin University and Everglades University.  How can these be in a listing of Top Universities when they don't have regional accreditation--the mimimum standards for most corporations' education assistance policies?

There was another website that advertised: "Top Regionally Accredited Schools Online".  Here I found more non-regionally accredited schools.  Most were DETC (Distance Education and Training Council accreditation).  DETC schools have some standards, but if you try to take your DETC undergraduate degree to a regionally accredited Master's degree, you probably won't be admitted.  Most corporations will not consider a DETC degree a "real degree". 

So, beware the so-called "Top School Listings" and rely on websites such as American Council on Education (ACE) listings.

by Sandy Womack, Ed.D., Director of EduPlan   www.eduplan.org