Public school teachers are certainly familiar with certain types of for-profit universities, diploma mills, and private and/or geared-toward-the-working-individual schools--National, Chapman, Phoenix, and LaVerne come to mind--as so many of us get master's degrees from them to move up on the pay scale.
It turns out that it's not only public school teachers who frequent such schools; military personnel are also a target audience.
I had a bad experience with one of these types of schools. I don't have a master's degree yet, but once when I was seriously looking at getting one I found one I'd truly enjoy: a Master's in Military History from Norwich University. I about bounced my jaw off the floor when the admissions person on the phone told me it would cost $40,000 for this online degree. I don't care if it's that much because most people who get this degree are active duty military who get reimbursed for the cost or not, that was just way too high. I don't care what kind of financial aid they offer, that cost is absurd. I don't fault them for charging that much if they think they can get it, but they won't get it from me.
Being retired military and living in a military town, I see/hear these types of universities all the time. When I was still in it irritated me that the military would give them the same status as legitimate institutions. Many of their credits will *not* transfer to regular universities/colleges and most service members are unaware of this. And as you mentioned they charge a fortune as well. They remind me of the old days of the NCOA (if you recall that organization), when they sold insurance to enlisted troops and would use Enlisted and NCO Calls for that purpose. That always aggravated me as well.
ReplyDeleteDarren,
ReplyDeleteI did the same. Norwich is really expensive. Try the American Military University. Cheaper and you can pay as you go. I'm in it now for my second masters in military history.
Chapman is a non-profit and La Verne is a not-for-profit. National and Phoenix are for-profit. Please correct your blog post. As a Chapman alum, I don't want my degree being slandered :)
ReplyDeleteNot that I doubt you, but can you provide a link regarding Chapman's status? I couldn't find such information on their web site: http://www.chapman.edu/about/
ReplyDeleteLaVerne's web site states that it is, in fact, a "non-profit institution": http://laverne.edu/about/
Thanks for the correction.