Human Resources People, opinion of online Universities?

[patz]

Something like Ashford University or University of Phoenix? Are they acceptable for BA/BS requirements for a job?

[MRM]

No. No legitimate business I know or has ever done business with would not consider an on line degree as you describe to qualify you for anything. Arizona State University has real four year degrees that you can get on line. Few people do it because it's hard but at least you get a legitimate degree. I wouldn't waste my time with an on line only, for profit college. I'd take a kid with a two year community college degree over a person with a four year degree from the University of Phoenix.

[Craig T]

Originally Posted by MRM

No. No legitimate business I know or has ever done business with would not consider an on line degree as you describe to qualify you for anything. Arizona State University has real four year degrees that you can get on line. Few people do it because it's hard but at least you get a legitimate degree. I wouldn't waste my time with an on line only, for profit college. I'd take a kid with a two year community college degree over a person with a four year degree from the University of Phoenix.

My wife is an SVP of Worldwide Human Resources for an international Cosmetics firm. She would parrot MRM's above post verbatim. The ASU, Pepperdine, and Penn State online degree programs are actually worth doing.

[BGCarrera32]

Not in HR but if a sciences related online degree only go with something ABET accredited (American Board of Engineering Technology) and you won't get that with a U of Phoenix or ITT, etc.

Major universities and colleges that do the sciences are all ABET accredited.

[sammyg2]

U of P is a total joke, most companies i've dealt with treat it as equivalent to a high school diploma.

[fintstone]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

U of P is a total joke, most companies i've dealt with treat it as equivalent to a high school diploma.

If the degree is accredited, it will usually qualify you...but the selecting official may not chose you if they don't like the reputation of your school. At a minimum, for most fed government jobs, they have to be listed here: U.S. Department of Education Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs

[onewhippedpuppy]

Accredited is no problem. I'm slowly making my way through the online MBA program at a fully accredited KS state university (Fort Hays State). It won't impress the Harvard grads, but the courses are taught by the same instructors as on-campus, the curriculum is the same, and my eventual diploma will not be any different than an on-campus student. I know a good many executives that went through some variety of online or e-MBA courses because it was required for them to take the next step in their careers, none of them went to Harvard or Yale to do so.

[Evans, Marv]

People usually seem to acquire degrees from online universities to qualify them for steps up in their careers or on a pay scale. It's rampant in the education field, since it's an easy way to get to another pay level. I had two people I worked for who bought PhD's online to help qualify for administrative positions. They were still lousy at their jobs.

[campbellcj]

I mainly focus on actual accomplishments and other things besides schooling, but agree that I would not give a for-profit "mail order" degree the same weight as one from a recognizable traditional school. However, I have lots of respect for anyone who puts himself/herself through any sort of degree program part-time while working professionally full-time -- that's hardcore.

[RANDY P]

+1 ASU. don't waste your $$$ on for-profit online..

ASU - IIRC will actually cost less than U of P, as well. Remember online college isn't subject to resident / non-resident rates. You can slam out ASU fairly quickly, as well.

[RANDY P]

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

People usually seem to acquire degrees from online universities to qualify them for steps up in their careers or on a pay scale. It's rampant in the education field, since it's an easy way to get to another pay level. I had two people I worked for who bought PhD's online to help qualify for administrative positions. They were still lousy at their jobs.

Yep- in a strict pay scale environment, (Gubmint, for instance) that's what the online degrees are good for, or getting promotions- OTOH if you are walking into a room against other MBA's looking for a first shot- Online isn't gonna get you far.

rjp

[John Rogers]

Any on line degree is okay depending on what the degree is. I mean from than is how much face to face interaction is needed with an instructor such as in a software engineering class where you need to sit with students to help them solve problems. An example of one that is terrible is an introduction to computers class and the students have never installed software or hardware and might be able to get to Facebook, send email or use a companies application but little else. They tend to get frustrated and drop out as they are not able to solve the issues.

Many years ago I taught for a school who had the US Navy's College Afloat program and would spend a west pac cruise teaching computer classes, usually one or two a day several times a week and the students loved them. Now they do the same classes on line but most want the personal interaction but can't get it.

[rattlsnak]

Originally Posted by campbellcj

However, I have lots of respect for anyone who puts himself/herself through any sort of degree program part-time while working professionally full-time -- that's hardcore.

^^ this.. And thank you. I posted this before, but I finished my full four year degree last fall from start to finish in 2 1/2 half years online while working full time and with two teenage kids and all their activities, family, etc. That was the hardest thing I have ever done. A lot of older people today still laugh and make fun of online degrees, but you have no idea what you're talking about. Most classes use the exact same book and instructors as the people going to physical class except it takes serious discipline to get your work done while life happens around you. and for the most part you're on your own trying to figure things out . It is becoming the norm, and it's been said it is much harder to get a degree online than it is going to traditional brick-and-mortar route. I agree with the above statements about the online factories like AIU and Phoenix, but the big universities with online divisions are definitely growing. Most employers today who arent stuck in the dark ages using flip phones do indeed recognize that fact.

[930addict]

Originally Posted by RANDY P

+1 ASU. don't waste your $$$ on for-profit online..

ASU - IIRC will actually cost less than U of P, as well. Remember online college isn't subject to resident / non-resident rates. You can slam out ASU fairly quickly, as well.

Data point -I'm at ASU now. It is going to cost me $46k to complete my degree and i should be done in 2.5 years. I transfered in with all GE completed and they even took some of my San Jose State credits.The program is accelerated. What they do is split the semester in half which they call terms. So fall term A and fall term B and so forth. So you take one or two classes per term. It is a heavy load especially working full time with a family.

And I also agree with the comments about schools like university of pheonix. I have a friend that got his MBA from UofP who was told by an HR person that his degree didn't mean anything. Ouch!

[Arizona_928]

Originally Posted by 930addict

Data point -I'm at ASU now. It is going to cost me $46k to complete my degree and i should be done in 2.5 years. I transfered in with all GE completed and they even took some of my San Jose State credits.The program is accelerated. What they do is split the semester in half which they call terms. So fall term A and fall term B and so forth. So you take one or two classes per term. It is a heavy load especially working full time with a family.

That's how one of my parents finished up their masters. 2/3 classes per term and full time teaching at a school district is hard. But then you're definitely not wasting 1-2 hours each day commuting and trying to find an actual parking spot at the ASU campus. "Yes it's that bad"

On that note I feel ASU is a complete degree mill. When comparing the graduate classes to half of the under grad science courses I took, I get sad...

[petrolhead611]

We have had the Open University here in the UK for about 50 years. Its degrees are as good as most here

[MRM]

There is a difference between online universities and online degrees. The OP asked about on line universities. Online universities are actually worse than I stated in my first post. I would consider anyone who applied on the strength of a degree received from an online university(University of Phoenix, Trump U, etc.) to be a bit of a fraudster simply for representing such a degree as legitimate.

Online coursework or degrees from legitimate universities are a completely different issue. Business schools have had Executive MBA courses for years that provide the same MBA degree as their full time day schools. Of course, companies usually recruit the full time day students and not the EMBA class, but most EMBA students are later in their careers and are going to business school to advance with their employer. Once they have the degree few care how it was earned.

I think much the same of online degrees earned from legitimate, recognized schools. An employer will be able to tell from a resume that an older student who completed a four year degree in 18 months and a handful of transfer credits probably did it online. But a degree from ASU is a degree from ASU. A degree from U of P probably is a disqualifier to most employers who are worth pursuing.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by john rogers

Any on line degree is okay depending on what the degree is. I mean from than is how much face to face interaction is needed with an instructor such as in a software engineering class where you need to sit with students to help them solve problems. An example of one that is terrible is an introduction to computers class and the students have never installed software or hardware and might be able to get to Facebook, send email or use a companies application but little else. They tend to get frustrated and drop out as they are not able to solve the issues.

Many years ago I taught for a school who had the US Navy's College Afloat program and would spend a west pac cruise teaching computer classes, usually one or two a day several times a week and the students loved them. Now they do the same classes on line but most want the personal interaction but can't get it.

Some on-line courses are real, UOP is not (IMO).
Many years ago I took a few courses at university of phoenix. The company was paying for them and encouraged it so i gave it a shot.
There was nothing okay about it.

UOP is a total scam IMO, anyone who pays and shows up passes.
If you do any work, you get a B or an A.

I watched people gets As and Bs who never bought the text or assigned reading.
The courses were not taught by professors, they were taught by ordinary people who needed a little extra spending $$.
Most of them have "master's degrees" from UOP.

One class was "marketing".
The instructor asked the class on the first day, "does anyone here want to get a job in marketing? No one raised their hand.
He said "good, so i won't waste your time or mine" and he proceeded to play solitaire for the remainder of the course.

[Rick Lee]

Anyone remember Winston University on SNL?

[RANDY P]

Online is gonna continue to grow.....why wouldn't it?

I suspect in 10 years, it will be the norm. Go to the college you want, anywhere on the map it's all virtual.

I pulled off ASU in 2.5 years as well, and working on masters on WGU. Ya, I know it's online but I'm already in where I'm gonna stay..>

rjp