Anyone ever hear of National University?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by jecsb4, Apr 12, 2005.

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  1. jecsb4

    jecsb4 New Member

    Hi All,

    Just woundering if anyone has taken classes with or heard of National U. I know that they are RA but don't know their reputation.

    I am intrested in their MA in Mgmt with a specialization in Organizational Leadership. Tuiton is around 13K which is about my top range that I can afford.

    Does anyone know of another DL school with a MA in Mgt that is in my price range?

    Thanks.

    Joe
     
  2. Mr. Engineer

    Mr. Engineer member

    I heard National is a good school - I don't think you can go wrong. It certainly has to be better than UoP. Are you thinking about a MS in MGT or an MBA? CSU-DH has a pretty good MBA program - and it falls into your price range.

    W.
     
  3. jecsb4

    jecsb4 New Member


    Mr. Engineer,

    I probally will stick to a BA in Mgmt due to my lack of exposure to finance and accounting knowledge.

    I was considering American Intercontential U untill I did a search on them and read a lot about their agressive sales methods and weak admin support.
     
  4. Anthony Pina

    Anthony Pina Active Member

    National is based in the San diego, California area and is definitely RA. Some years ago, National ran into some very difficult times when there was a threat of losing its accreditation. It simply grew too big too fast and did not have the resources to sustain the growth. Its reputation in California suffered for many years as a result.

    If I recall correctly, during its crisis time, National had a change in its top leadership, which reversed some of the negative trends and brought the school into stable footing. National now has a pretty good reputation. Its model of distributed education, via many campus centers and distance learning, is not all that different from U of Phoenix. However, National is not as big an operation as Phoenix, so it is less of a threat to traditional schools (and, thus, is trashed far less often than Phoenix).

    Tony Piña
    Administrator, Northeastern Illinois University
     
  5. Bill Huffman

    Bill Huffman Well-Known Member

    Reputation is generally kind of tough to pin down because it is by nature subjective. My brother graduated from there and his degree has had fine utility. Some people have described great experience while others have had some complaints about the administration. It seems to depend on the locale.
     
  6. Lajazz947

    Lajazz947 New Member

    National University

    For whatever its worth a buddy of mine is in the Navy and attends classes on base in San Diego for a Masters in Management.

    He is a real intellect having attended LMU and Mount St. Mary's for two degrees in Theology, the latter one a Masters.

    He thoroughly enjoys the National program and he can really pick from quite a few schools so I would not hesiatate to consider it.
     
  7. novemberdude

    novemberdude New Member

    Nothing to add about National, but you have asked if there is another school with a DL MA in Management in your price range. I am aware that Bellevue University offers a MA in Management. Bellevue is RA and IACBE and generally seem to get good reviews for their DL offerings. I think the tuition costs about $11,000.

    www.bellevue.edu

    Good luck whateever you decide.

     
  8. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Tony is spot-on.

    National not only grew too rapidly, it did so while buying--not leasing--property. This decreased their flexibility tremendously and increased their long-term obligations. WASC didn't have concerns about National's academics, just its business practices.

    The breaking point wasn't a financial incident, though. Rather, it was one of power. National was (and still is) the 2nd largest private university in California. Their tremendous growth from very humble beginnings (keeping records in the trunk of the founder's Cadillac) had given them quite a feeling of chutzpah. When they decided to expand to Las Vegas--and, thus, outside of WASC--WASC said "no." National did it anyway. WASC had had enough. Citing the financial concerns--quite bona fide--they put National on probation. The founder and president (David Chigos) was ousted, along with some senior staff. Centers were closed and consolidated, some property was sold. But National kept chugging and was soon off probation.

    National and Phoenix are similar. National came first, but UoP soon followed. Both use a compressed schedule, but National's courses have the normal amount of contact time (compressed into one month for each course), while UoP has only 20-24 hours of contact time per course. Both rely heavily on part-time practitioner faculty, and both cater to mid-career professionals earning degrees in education, business, counseling, etc. UoP has doctoral programs, National does not. (NU once teased us with the possibility, establishing a certificate program that was clearly the coursework towards a DBA, but that got canned when probation hit.)

    I'm very proud of my National MBA, and the work/learning that went into it. Theirs is an exciting and luminating tale for anyone interested in this industry.
     
  9. abnrgr275

    abnrgr275 Member

    Joe,

    You might want to look into the MS in Management programs at Minot State University and Troy University. Both of these MSM programs appear to offer what you're looking for, are regionally accredited and are probably a little cheaper overall than the National University MA in Management program.

    The Troy program is offered completely online and you have the choice of several specializations, including one in Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness. Troy is pretty flexible and will allow you to transfer in up to 12 semester hours of related graduate credit, including up to 6 hours from a previous master's degree program.

    abnrgr275
     

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