American Public University or Kaplan College?

Hello all. I am new to the board and a had a few questions that I thought you all might be able to provide some insight to.

I am stuck, and sure I am not the only one, in deciding on the right online degree from the right institution that will help me the most in the long run in the Criminal Justice field.

American Public University, other than the name (have also read the post), seems to at least LOOK like a very interesting school. They allow you to basically build your degree, choosing a major, a concentration and, if you would like, a minor as well. They are also well underway to receiving RA. Not to mention that a BA in Criminal Justice is only $30,000 with a possibility of books being completely free. I say ONLY because the GI Bill, of which I am qualified, will pay $35,000 for college.

Kaplan College, the other possibility on my list, offers a BS in Criminal Justice with a concentration and is RA'd. But the degree is around $45,000 at its current rate (still cheaper than UoP).

I guess my question is whether anyone here knows anything about these two schools, as I have seen very little on the web opinion-wise about them, and could provide some direction between these two?

 

I don't know anything about Kaplan, other than what you wrote. I do know that APU is a great school and as you mentioned recently earned Candidacy status toward regional accreditation. APUS is already DETC accredited. The online classes use Educator as its Course Management System, which is very user friendly for both students and professors. American Public University includes 3 colleges and the degree comes from the particilar college that you want to enroll through. (American Military University, American Public University, and American Community College). Because you are not active duty and want a BS you would be enrolled through American Public University. Good luck.

 

Thanks for your reply, Mourningdove.

On a different note, does anyone here who is currently in or has previous work experience or knowledge in the criminal justice system on the local, state and/or federal level know which accreditation is usually prefered (National or Regional), or if it even matters as long as the degree is accredited, in these different policing agencies?

 

There might be specific reasons why you are choosing between Kaplan and APU (if there is just disregard this post!). If there isn't, you may be interested in Troy State University Florida & Western Region's BS in Criminal Justice:

http://www.tsufl.edu/distancelearning/advisor/Bachelor%20of%20Science%20Criminal%20Justice.htm

You can also have a "military science" minor to plug in your military credits if you have a lot of them. They charge $140 per semester hour:

Which comes to...

$16,800 for tuition.

Let's say you you take two classes per term (full-time). You would need two books (one per class) for each term (I haven't paid more than 80 for a book yet [used]). So, let's say, at 100 dollars a pop on books:

$4,000 total for books.

+ 30 dollars (I think.. maybe 50? I don't remember) application fee comes to a grand total of:

$20,830 <-- pretty cheap compared to APU or Kaplan.

You can probably go even cheaper with Excelsior's Criminal Justice program. Criminal justice seems to be a popular major for online programs, so you wont have any trouble finding online courses to fit into Excelsior's CJ curriculum.

I believe one of the moderators (Bruce) has posted a list of Criminal Justice programs via DL a couple times. Just showing you some different options! Hope this helps.

Bill

 

Thanks for the info on Troy State, Bill.

I contacted them and unfortunately, in my current geographical location, I would not be able to meet the requirement of having a proctor present for certain exams.

I am going to have to stick with DL schools that do not require the use of proctors.

Still on the hunt!

 

How about Empire State College? THey seem to have a large number of web-based courses that are assignment only (extremely useful if you're in the UK and the one sensible intriductory economics course available has one start a year ;-), and they do allow a CJ concentration.

http://www.esc.edu/esconline/across_esc/cdl/cdl.nsf/home?openview

Angela