Anyone taking online classes?

wwhwang

Hey guys. Since I have the GI Bill, I was thinking I might as well use it. However, with money tight as it is, I might have to do it online. Does anyone know which online universities are trustworthy and accredited? I was thinking about University of Phoenix and going into IT since my political science degree isn't getting me anywhere.

Anyone have any suggestions?

xmacro

Be careful with UoP and ITT - they've been sued a few times for claiming their courses are accredited when they really aren't. Be sure to double check with the schools/orgs you wanna get into that they will accept credits from UoP or ITT before enrolling.

ellinas

a professor at my university said that if you get a degree at a school like the one you're thinking of, then the other school has to accept your classes whether or not they are accredited, because if they don't then basically they are saying "you really don't have a degree and what you have is a joke," which would be illegal for them to do. just something to look into if i were you, i'm thinking of taking my professors advice and doing that myself just to save money ...he could be wrong though.

xmacro

ellinas:

"you really don't have a degree and what you have is a joke,"

That's essentially what happened with ITT tech and Phoenix awhile back - the degree's were literally worthless when students tried to transfer their credits to a traditional University. None of the credits transferred, hence the lawsuits and the new commercials mentioning "not all credits may transfer"

beatnic

There are "real", for lack of a better term, universities that have online courses. Those credits are transferable.

DeadBoxJD

I'm currently in college at a State school taking both online and "traditional" classes. Most of the North Carolina state schools have complete online degrees. These have the benefit of being accredited, cheaper, and from a nationally recognized institution. I would look into attending a state school like that. They're usually also cheaper...I.know my degree will be half the cost of a friend's degree from ITT, and we'll have the same degree at the end.

cholmes8310

I got mine at Ashford University based out of Clinton, IA. Very easy format, very well done, very quick. While most like Unv of Phoenix and Liberty University make you take 65 hours from there, Ashford will take transfer credits up to 99 hours. Classes are 5 weeks, with a term paper due in week 2 and 5. Other than that, it's a couple of assignments a week normally due on thursday and some easy quiz due on Sunday. I really enjoyed it, and actually learned a lot. I would highly highly recommend them, as I finished my BBA from there.

one thing to note, Ashford is a formal 4 year university as well, and fully accredited, so you should not have a problem with credit transfer should you decide to go elsewhere.

Schrooz

Penn State Online looks good. I almost signed up a couple of years ago. It has a lot credebility in the marketplace since it's Penn State. But in the end, it is really what you take away from your training that matters. It offers degrees in IT, too. Good luck.

letsgowithbob

I did a lot of research on this when I was looking for colleges. There was for a time a caveat for the post 9/11 GI bill that would allow you to collect your per diem for the location of the school vice where you lived, as long as the school was a B&M institution

The main thing about the schools like ITT tech and Phoenix is what type of accreditation they have. Harvard, SDSU, UT, Notre dame....and so on are all REGIONALLY accredited schools. They have curriculum that has been approved to fulfill the requirements for a good 4 year school. The credits are transferrable and they do not expire (huge point). You should make sure that the school that you are trying to attend is a REGIONALLY accredited school.

ITT tech, UOP, and such are Nationally accredited schools. Their credits are non transferrable, and for the most part the degrees themselves expire. My friend got his bachelors from ITT, and then 8-10 years later wanted to go back and get his masters. None of the schools he was trying to get into would accept his credits, and when he went back to ITT Tech, they told him that he would have to get his bachelors degree again in order to be eligible for his masters, because his degree was only good for 5 or 6 years. True story. I would be very careful about getting a degree that you can use later to get a masters if you so desire. Good luck with everything. I am not sure but I know that the military was at one point taking ITT tech and schools like them off the GI bill eligibility list. Just because so many soldiers and sailors had been screwed by them in the past. sorry for the long post.

CvilleE

letsgowithbob:

I did a lot of research on this when I was looking for colleges. There was for a time a caveat for the post 9/11 GI bill that would allow you to collect your per diem for the location of the school vice where you lived, as long as the school was a B&M institution

The main thing about the schools like ITT tech and Phoenix is what type of accreditation they have. Harvard, SDSU, UT, Notre dame....and so on are all REGIONALLY accredited schools. They have curriculum that has been approved to fulfill the requirements for a good 4 year school. The credits are transferrable and they do not expire (huge point). You should make sure that the school that you are trying to attend is a REGIONALLY accredited school.

ITT tech, UOP, and such are Nationally accredited schools. Their credits are non transferrable, and for the most part the degrees themselves expire. My friend got his bachelors from ITT, and then 8-10 years later wanted to go back and get his masters. None of the schools he was trying to get into would accept his credits, and when he went back to ITT Tech, they told him that he would have to get his bachelors degree again in order to be eligible for his masters, because his degree was only good for 5 or 6 years. True story. I would be very careful about getting a degree that you can use later to get a masters if you so desire. Good luck with everything. I am not sure but I know that the military was at one point taking ITT tech and schools like them off the GI bill eligibility list. Just because so many soldiers and sailors had been screwed by them in the past. sorry for the long post.

Wow....my wife is in the same boat...she wants to take online classes to get a head start then transfer credits, but it seems it will be worthless and a waste of money....this is great info for all soldiers and us the eager folks. Education is very important, but this is insane that these schools are schooling us like this.....WTF. Thanks for this info.

Bombay

So here is my .02 on online courses. After completing my Masters Degree from a university in May 2011 where some of the classes were taught online, I have several opinions on online courses. The positives....If your instructors are good in their field it is a huge advantage for online courses, main reason is they can tap into their resources nation and even world wide to bring in other top notch instructors to guest lecture on specific courses (one of my instructors while a good guy wasn't the best professor but was a main player in his field and in turn got other main players in the field to instruct some courses. It was almost like getting free education from several other institutions, some of which were much better than mine.) Second positive is access. Having access to other students and instructors basically 100% of the time is good. The negatives....there is little in the way of personal interaction when dealing with online classes (Duh!). This is my book is huge. I'm in a profession that deals with face to face interaction on a daily basis and making decisions on those cues so I have taught myself to learn from dealing with people so I struggled with that. It is not the same with someone who is just talking on your screen. The second big thing is bang for your buck, you (most of the time) pay the same amount for not leaving home and not 100% using what a university has to offer in my opinion. The last negative is computer feeds, good online course will have you pay for chat hosts (rooms) where the feeds, audio and visual are second to none. If you have a free site it will most likely be crap in the way of those things mentioned above. Hope this helps.

letsgowithbob

CvilleE:

letsgowithbob:

I did a lot of research on this when I was looking for colleges. There was for a time a caveat for the post 9/11 GI bill that would allow you to collect your per diem for the location of the school vice where you lived, as long as the school was a B&M institution

The main thing about the schools like ITT tech and Phoenix is what type of accreditation they have. Harvard, SDSU, UT, Notre dame....and so on are all REGIONALLY accredited schools. They have curriculum that has been approved to fulfill the requirements for a good 4 year school. The credits are transferrable and they do not expire (huge point). You should make sure that the school that you are trying to attend is a REGIONALLY accredited school.

ITT tech, UOP, and such are Nationally accredited schools. Their credits are non transferrable, and for the most part the degrees themselves expire. My friend got his bachelors from ITT, and then 8-10 years later wanted to go back and get his masters. None of the schools he was trying to get into would accept his credits, and when he went back to ITT Tech, they told him that he would have to get his bachelors degree again in order to be eligible for his masters, because his degree was only good for 5 or 6 years. True story. I would be very careful about getting a degree that you can use later to get a masters if you so desire. Good luck with everything. I am not sure but I know that the military was at one point taking ITT tech and schools like them off the GI bill eligibility list. Just because so many soldiers and sailors had been screwed by them in the past. sorry for the long post.

Wow....my wife is in the same boat...she wants to take online classes to get a head start then transfer credits, but it seems it will be worthless and a waste of money....this is great info for all soldiers and us the eager folks. Education is very important, but this is insane that these schools are schooling us like this.....WTF. Thanks for this info.

There are online courses that are regionally accredited, many of them are in fact. I would definitely check them out though and verify with the region's accrediting board, and verify that they are in fact up to date and accredited. No sense paying for a degree twice.

Lakota72

I just finished my degree with Excelsior College. They are very military friendly and I really enjoyed taking classes with them.