Input needed on BA/BS criminal justice

I am so glad I stumbled across this site! I recently graduated from my local community college and was happy my GI Bill covered more than I expected. I got an AA in general education. Now I want to go after a bachelor's degree in criminal justice/law enforcement. It would be nice if I could continue to use my GI Bill for an online school but it's running out soon anyway. I am looking for something not very expensive.

I did the usual search for online schools and ran across those sites like classesusa.com etc that list online schools (like Capella, Regis, St. Leo, et. al.). I've browsed through just about every school's website that offers a criminal justice degree and their tuitions have all been around $350 a credit hour which is way out of my league. I know some would say what about a grant/loan? I'm 37, live in the San Francisco area and make $60k gross a year. I can't afford a loan and I highly doubt anyone would give someone my age a grant even with the GPA I got on my AA.

I was shocked when I saw how cheap degrees were through Madison U and was going to start with them. The fact that they had flat out rates per degree was odd and the fact that the Veteran's Administration said I couldn't use my GI Bill there got me reevaluating them. I've read numerous threads here which opened my eyes a bit more and they don't seem like a viable option at this point if I want a degree that will help me get a job requiring a degree.

Without reading tons of threads on here, what do you think of Andrew Jackson University? They seem to have the right accreditation and the price looks very reasonable at $3950 for 30 credits. Does anyone know of a place with a $10k or less degree in this field that can be done online?

If anyone out there has attended/graduated an online school in this field can you tell me if it was a solid learning experience or not?

Thank you.

 

DANTES

The DANTES External Degree Catalog lists quite a few undergraduate criminal justice degrees. The universities listed are RA and VA approved.

http://www.dantescatalogs.com/DEDC/InstitutionsBySubjectType.asp?RecID=3

 

Make sure you understand the difference between "regional" accreditation and "national" accreditation. AJU is nationally-accredited by DETC... which is perfectly fine as long as you understand the pitfalls and overall utility of a nationally-accredited degree versus a regionally-accredited one.

The RA versus NA thing gets debated here over and over and over again, so it should not be difficult to find a thread about it. Most recently -- this very day, in fact -- I was debating it in this thread. And you can find zillions of others.

I'll be blunt about it, though:

• Make sure you really and truly understand the difference in utility -- not quality, but, rather, utility -- between a nationally-accredited and a regionally-accredited degree before you opt for the nationally-accrredited degree.

And by all means read the aforementioned thread so that you can begin to get the straight skinny on that subject. (NOTE: The aforementioned thread doesn't start out talking about NA versus RA, but just read through it long enough and you'll see the debate kick in. Once you find that, read carefully and make sure you understand.)

As for Andrew Jackson University (AJU), it actually looks pretty good to me, as nationally-accredited institutions go, that is. In fact, I spoke with AJU on the phone the other day after it came up in another thread. I've known about it for a while, but it's web site was so unprofessional-looking in the past that I sorta' dismissed it... stupidly, I realize. It's got a pretty nice web site now, though... er... well... at least it's so much better that, when compared with the old site, it's "pretty nice." And it's now much easier to figure stuff out on said site than it was on the old site.

What isn't on the new AJU site (but which I suggested to them that they needed to put there quickly) is any information about CLEP or DANTES or Excelsior exams as transfer credit; or about the percentage of the AJU degree which must be purchased from/earned at AJU. And the answers to those questions, I learned on the phone, are:

1. Up to half of any AJU degree may be acquired by CLEP, DANTES or Excelsior testing; and,
   
2. Twenty five percent (25%) of any AJU degree must be made-up of coursework purchased-from/earned-at AJU directly (meaning that up to 75% of said degree may be earned elsewhere and transferred in).[/list=1]Or so I was told.
   
   I don't know if any of that's helpful, but it's all I have to say about it... for now, anyway. But there are many good, smart folks here who know alot -- and I mean alot -- about criminal justice degrees, in general. Hopefully some of them will chime-in here.

 

thanks

Thanks guys! That DANTES link showed me a couple schools I haven't seen before with some reasonable rates.

I read that thread on the RA vs. NA debate.

The more I read AJU's site (I like that they had a sample lesson in my degree field to read!) the more I may go with them. If I need to go after a master's in this field I'll just continue my education with AJU and not have to worry about the portability of education. It sound's silly, but I even like the name of the school. Sounds much better than the other place which always makes me think of Wisconsin.

 

Have you looked into Excelsior College?

www.excelsior.edu

They offer a BS in Criminal Justice and most of your units can be done by exam. I do believe they want you to actually take courses for at least 15 of your 30 upper division units (something like that).

Just another option!

 

hmm

Ok I see only one potential problem with AJU. They require you to nominate a test proctor at a post secondary school to administer midterm and final exams. Is this something that can be done easily? Rent a proctor? Ugh. Has anyone done this?

 

excelsior

Excelsior? Am I reading this right... a $2000 degree? Hmm....

 

Troy University offers an online B.S. degree in Criminal Justice. Take a look at www.troy.edu and click on the "ecampus" link for info on their B.S. programs. Their tuition is relatively affordable at $150 per semester hour and they are very supportive of military students and veterans. Since they offer courses at various military installations and are one of the providers for the eArmyU program I'm sure they can assist with your GI Bill issues. Troy University is a regionally accredited school.

One of my former undergraduate professors owns his own business down in Florida now and teaches in Troy's online CJ program as well. If you have any questions, let me know via PM and I can pass on his e-mail address to you.

abnrgr275

 

If cost is an overriding concern, Fort Hays State University offers a B.S. in Justice Studies through their Virtual College. They are among the least expensive RA schools around.

 

Re: excelsior

Sort of...

Excelsior charges an enrollment fee that covers the cost of evaluating your transcripts, advising, etc...

Courses and/or exams are an extra cost. However, depending on how you earn your credits it may be much cheaper than many RA schools out there.