Online Universities
 

I see ads for places like University of Phoenix. They claim they are accredited.

Anyone know if the degrees are accepted as legitimate by real life employers?

I'd say there are two camps on this. One holds that many on-line degrees are a complete hoax. The other recognizes most of them as completely legitimate (not coincidentally, most of this camp hold on-line degrees themselves). As they have become so prolific, I think one needs to consider each degree, where it came from and who holds it on an individual basis...not much different than a traditional degree in that sense. On balance, I think a traditional campus university-issued undergraduate or graduate degree currently holds a legitimacy advantage but that may change with time.

Usually much, much cheaper to get a degree from a legitimate, bricks and motor school or their online division. I watched a Frontline about private 'education', seems most of much more profit than education. I'm sure it can work for some but there are lots of options with much better/proven results.

Some of these schools are "accreditied" but none of the solid universities will accept their credits for transfer.

I don't know how legitimate they are but, they're sure expensive. If you contact them they will call you a half dozen times/day every day. I spoke to one and told them I wasn't interested and they're still calling after over a year.

A lot of bad press in the past, but it has changed greatly over the last few years as more and more programs are being offered. My wife is in HR at a HUGE global beverage company and she tells me that from a hiring point of view, it makes no difference to them how they got the degree as online schools have a reputation as being tougher and they think it takes a stronger commitment to go back to school later in life.

I would check to see if your local university has evening and online classes already. I did this myself with Chapman University in Southern California. Chapman's a nice little university in Orange County. They are accredited and all that. I wouldn't say it's cheaper - I started out at around $255 or so a unit and ended somewhere over $300 but I already had an AA and they gave me credit for some of my certifications so that was cool too.

My wife works at a major State University. The online schools credits are worthless when you transfer to a "real" college.

I don't know how legitimate they are but, they're sure expensive. If you contact them they will call you a half dozen times/day every day. I spoke to one and told them I wasn't interested and they're still calling after over a year.

Well, considering that my ex brother-in-law was an admissions adviser for an online school, I'm highly suspect.

Here's a guy who has never held down a job for longer than six months. Here's a guy who "went back to school" to get his GED. While on one of his many stints as an auto mechanic, he told me that running rich can make an engine overheat while making it run lean will cool it down. He once told me that dwarfism and "midgetism" are distinct, medically recognized conditions, which is why dwarfs do not like to be called "midgets".

I figured any school that would hire him to guide its students is highly suspect.

It depends on the university. I did several courses with Athabasca University(north of Edmonton, Alberta) years ago and it was correspondence communication then. The work required for one course was more than a regular university course. Many mature students use on line because you don't have to attend classes. Don't discount them all. Many are legit. :)

This has been a pet cause of a certain political party. Let's just say that most of the faculty at traditional universities tend to have a certain political affiliation, and they have been using their connections to attack and de-legitimize for-profit universities that they see as "stealing" their student loan money.

Some online schools also own an accreditation organization.

There are a few schools I know of here in SC, that have on-line courses and I would consider legitmate. USC and Charleston Southern. I'm sure there are more.

Here's my gauge: If the GI Bill will pay for the school it is legit.

GI Bill will pay for U of Phoenix

Dont discount all online degrees, there are some major schools now offering an online program but it is very expensive, two that come to mind are the online programs at Penn State (yes the real one) and Notre Dame (yes the fighting Irish one) these degrees would be recognized anywhere by anybody if you can afford them.

Todd :)

When we first started offering online courses in 1998, we had to do a "substantive change" process with SACS (our accrediting body). They determined that we have equivalency... if you take an online class, your transcript shows nothing about it being online.

Crunching the numbers, only about 20% of our students take only online courses (another 50% take one or more online courses in addition to other courses on campus), and of those about half only take one or two courses per term.

You mean, unless the online credits are from "the solid universities" own online program...

There is NO doubt that Universities are not what they used to be. ..and higher education will continue to CHANGE.

When I was in engineering school we had to look at a bunch of 2-D graphs (for example) put them together in our minds-eye, and visualize a 4-D plot. Now days, students are shown colored surface plots to visualize the same relations. Before that, engineers had slide rules and put a man on the moon. Point is, it is becoming easier and easier to get knowledge. ...it's everywhere. Even on car forums. ;)

I think this subject is getting a little twisted. There are classes offered online by just about every brick and morter university. Then there are classes and degrees only offered online by for profit college "companies".

I'm 30 credits short on an advanced degree. Traditional brick and mortar institutions aren't very attractive for a few reasons.

I'm obviously not going to impress a Harvard grad interviewer with a State college sheepskin.....but I don't want to hang my hat and spend my money on an online one that gets laughed out of the HR office.