Was wondering if anyone knows anything about this Doctor of Information Technology program from Edith Cowan University located in Australia (quality and rigor of program etc.) Also, on their site, they state that they do accept US Financial Aid in the form of student loans. I always thought that to participate in U.S. FA program, an institution must be physically located in the US. Very interesting...
ECU is a good Australian university and I expect that the rigor and quality of their programs is equivalent to US programs. As for the question regarding financial aid, I've never opened up that can of worms myself but my first thought is that there's a distinction between their willingness to accept US financial aid and the US financial aid people's willingness to grant financial aid to a non-US school. Hopefully one of our members is better informed on this question.
There was a millish school that claimed to be located on some island somewhere that technically was accredited by the nation where they "claimed" to be located. Any who they participated in financial aid until it revoked as I recall. I might be way off, but that’s what I recall.
In this economy, I think if some media talking head gets a hold of this information, and if the US department of education would actually release money to a foreign institution under the FA program, I think they can make a good story about this.
I think there might be a misunderstanding here. The original poster stated that the school in question stated they could accept US Financial Aid in the form of student loans. Student loans offered by the US Government generally come as subsidized and unsubsidized loans. Both of these loans require that the borrower (i.e. the student) repay the loan with interest. Subsidized loans usually have lower interest rates and can usually be deferred until after graduation or so many months after stopping classes. Unsubsidized loans usually have higher interest rates, and many of them require payment to begin with in a month of two of the money being disbursed. In both cases the US Government makes money on the interest paid on these loans. There are more restrictions on subsidized loans, but unsubsidized student loans are fairly easy to obtain. I do not believe this would "make a good story" even in these hard economic times; because the Government is loaning money to a US student to help pay for school, and the student in return will repay the US Government with interest (think of this as profit). Where the misunderstanding lies, I believe, is in confusing student loans (not always need based) with other forms of need based financial aid (i.e. Pell Grant, HOPE Grant (in Georgia), Bright Futures (in Florida), etc.) where the student is not required to repay the aid in which case it could be argued that the US Government was simply sending money to support a foreign economy. Of course others could argue that by helping a US student obtain a degree the US Government would in effect be helping this student earn more throughout their life span which would translate to more taxes paid and more money put in to the US economy since we are refering to distance learning students who continue to reside in the US while studying from a foreign school. This might not be the case if we were talking about a student from the US who decided to relocate to a foreign country for the purpose of being a residential student at a foreign school. However, I would argue that most US based students who study by distance from a foreign school intend to use the knowledge gained in the US. At the bare minimum they are still contributing to the US economy while living in the US even if after finishing a foreign degree (maybe an LLB for example) they plan to attempt to immigrate to the foreign country for a career. As always just my two cents worth. As Electronic Arts reminds us: "challenge everything".
You are, understandably, mistaken on a couple of counts. First, the institution need not be located in the U.S. That's why the US Dept of Education issues eligibility to foreign schools. However.... Students in the U.S. studying by distance learning at foreign schools are not eligible to participate in Title IV (student aid) programs, even if said school is approved. The approval is for U.S. students going abroad to study at foreign schools. So..... If one decides to go to Australia to study at this school on-campus, one will be eligible to participate in USDoE student aid programs. But distance learning students will not. (However, those students with prior student loans may, at their option, defer those loans while studying at these schools, even at a distance.) Hopefully, this helps.
