witte3616
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Will For-Profit Colleges Make Us Forget Subprime Mortgages?
Response to dbauder: These are interesting statistics, but what should one do with this information who is a student at A.U.? The value of statistics comes from their use. Without a call for action, these statistics are pointless. Beyond increasing awareness, what are you suggesting? Please bring it down to an individual level, to a student's perspective please. I have already invested nearly 3 years of my life into this degree program at A.U., so I'm very interested in what is being discussed here, but so far, no one has provided any actionable information. Should I write Congress? Should I ask for a refund and give it back to Uncle Sam? Is it that people who make money from traditional educational models are possibly feeling threatened by A.U.'s success? I am reminded of a quote from an entertainment industry icon, H.M. Warner (Warner Bros.) In 1927, Warner infamously said "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" when another studio first released a film with sound. File that one under bad predictions. History is filled with them. Perhaps this is the same thing that's going on here. Perhaps people are feeling threatened by the shifting paradigm toward online learning and that maybe they are wishing that they had jumped on the bandwagon. Moreover, perhaps edu. traditionalists are feeling threatened that their piece of the pie is shrinkning? Since they are on the outside looking in, they'll stand on the sidelines and shoot poison arrows. Just an opinion here, but innovators are often initially looked up on as being a threat to existing norms. Thoughts? Witte3616— July 13, 2010 3:07 a.m.
Will For-Profit Colleges Make Us Forget Subprime Mortgages?
Now hold on just a minute here. I am currently a very hard working student at Ashford University in a BA Psychology program. I also hold down a full-time job at an Ivy League university that I could never afford to attend, even as an employee. They recently drastically cut their tuition program for staff, and I was really glad that I wasn't going to their university. It would take me about 15 years to complete a 4-year degree at the new rate of tuition reimbursement I would receive. Therefore, I could toil away for 15 years at a "prestigious" college, or finish my BA degree at AU in about 3 years. At the end of the day, recruiters and HR people tell me what matters most is that I have a degree, rather than where I earned it. By my own measure, the courses at A.U. are rigorous enough at 5 weeks, and each course has an 8 to 10 page final paper that makes up a large portion of the final grade. A friend of mine just graduated from Penn State and she said it seemed that I was working way harder than she did on her courses, especially in comparison to the amount of writing that is required at A.U., and the amount of discipline that is required to keep moving forward in an online format. It can be a lonely road, and there's no one prodding me along but myself. I take offense to some of what is being said here; primarily, the comments that allude to a degree from A.U. not having any value. Secondly, I oppose the blanket statements that are made here that cast A.U. as substandard diploma mill for dummies. Over three thousand students graduated this spring from A.U. with BA degrees. This is the largest graduating class in the school's history as A.U. Further, I have attended both traditional and online colleges, and I find that there are good and bad students and good and bad professors in both online and traditional schools. AU is an accredited university and that's what I have to focus on in the face of this "pending scandal". There are plenty of people that graduate with six-figure debt from Ivy League institutions that are sitting on the unemployment line, AND they can't write a proper sentence. When I graduate from A.U., I will have about 40k of debt, which is about the price of a new Acura MDX crossover vehicle. In comparison to tuition at Ivy League and private colleges that can run $40k for one year, I really don't think this is going to ruin me. I would rather have $40k in debt instead of $100k+ from your so-called better colleges, with no guarantee of landing a job in this tough economy from either institution. I have rambled a bit here, but I think I have made a few good arguments in favor of A.U. No, they aren't the greatest school out there, but I am generally satisfied with their product and I wouldn't count them out just yet! jmpwitte— July 12, 2010 7:43 p.m.