new thread on CCU for protectoro2001

Hi Brian:

I am starting a new thread about California Coast University for you. I hope that abusers who whine when anyone calls them abusers will stay away. They know who they are.

Here's what I know about CCU in very brief summary. It was IMO a reputable unaccredited school for many years after a shaky start in the '70s. Recently it received DETC accreditation. Because DETC does not (yet?) accredit doctoral programs CCU dropped its doctorates in education, business administration, ? engineering, and maybe one or two other fields. It permitted students in those doctoral programs to finish them. Such doctorates remain unaccredited.

I share the concerns about limits on utility for NA degrees, although I think those limits are unfair and should vanish. If you are satisfied with a nationally-accredited school, I would not hesitate to recommend CCU.

As to your specific question about courses at CCU, I have no information for you. I hope this thread will provide a civil venue for you to get that information without political extremism intruding where it does not in any way belong.

Yours cordially,
Janko the Mad Priest

 

The other doctorate they dropped was in Psychology.

CCU was originally named "California Western University," grabbing that name when it was abandoned by an RA school. But CCU was forced to put it back and adopt its current monniker.

CCU was the first unaccredited DL school in California to have all of its programs meet California Approval, no mean feat back then. (Many schools had one or more programs Approved, while operating the remaining ones under the Authorized category.)

CCU did some questionable things in the beginning, like awarding its owner a doctorate and claiming accreditation from unrecognized agencies. But they've been improving steadily for many years, and I'm sure they deserved their accreditation by DETC.

If one is certain a degree from a DETC-accredited school will meet ones present and future needs, CCU would certainly be on the list.

 

Isn't there one or two posters on here who are taking classes at CCU right now that may be able to answer this?

 

Re: Re: new thread on CCU for protectoro2001

As a recent MBA graduate with CCU, I did find my final courses in the MBA to be more in-depth. Test questions were more difficult in terms of the vocabulary aspects delivered.

Final courses required 3 of 5 possible essay questions to be assessed in detail and submitted for grading as well. Although I found this requirement to be beneficial as it re-iterated the key elements of the course and allowed for a more thorough follow up of the course structure and core instruction. The added online course exam submission features also changed restructuring from the past formal coursework submission criteria to the following:

Courses were completed in 4 sections:

Tests 1&2 are submitted ( or faxed if chosen ) via online and a grade assessed.
Tests 3&4 are also done and assessed for grading.

A final examination is submitted and assessed upon completion and successful attainment of a acceptable grade of the previous tests.

Essay questions ( 3 of 5-6 choices ) are fully detailed and illustrate the elements learned of the question and dictate satisfactory assessment of the elements in the course.

Hope this helps a bit. I just had my brother take advantage of the tuition discount and prior to their tuition increase for the bachelor programs and he is now enrolled. I am sure his is different as well.

 

A few old threads on California Coast University are to be found here:

http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18611
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18412
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18280
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17527
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17481
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15693
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14605
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11848
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8830

Hope this helps!

 

Jeg er saa glad, etc.

Rich, Jimmy, JNelson, Ted: this is terrific! Thanks. I hope Brian sees this. Like you, Rich, I am tired of the inane squirrel attacks. This thread is a way of fighting back quietly. When the jerks wreck a thread, start a new one. It's working here--civilly, productively, usefully (thanks to you guys).

Best wishes to yuns, Janko

 

Well, well, well. Janko sure is chipper these days.

What a pleasent suprise.

 

I'm one of the few remaining doctoral students at CCU (Psy.D. program). I know, I know, it will still be unaccredited even though they are now DETC accredited. I have until Nov. 07 to finish the program. I suppose there's a chance they could be approved by DETC to reinstate doc. programs in 2007 but there are so many "ifs" that right now I don't think it would be worth it for me to stretch out completion till 07. The course work I've been doing is I'm sure quite different than what is required with the new degree programs. With my program, I work from a study guide, study the text, do some additional research, and write essays in response to questions. Thirty to sixty essays are required per course and these are graded on demonstrated mastery of content, clarity and quality of the writting, use of references not included in the textbook etc. Since I started the program, I've written hundreds of pages of this stuff.

 

I took a peak at your profile and saw that you are a school psychologist. Will you continue in this field once you've finished your degree program or do you have other plans?
Just curious.
Jack

 

Rob, a few things.

First, it's good to hear your degree program is going well.

Do these essay questions lead you towards your dissertation research? Can what you find be re-purposed, even if to support the development of your literature review? That would really help.

Also, is the deadline you face yours alone, or does it apply to all CCU doctoral students "in the pipeline"?

Finally, will your degree program lead to sitting for licensure as a psychologist in California. If so or if not, how will it impact your career.

Thanks again, and good luck with your studies.

 

And, as I have just located a couple more pages of notes on old DI threads of interest, here are a few more old Cal Coast threads.

http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9191
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9181
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9000

 

Jack;

I'll probably continue as a school psychologist although I may retire from full time in a few years and work in some other setting. I didn't pursue the degree for any licensing or job requirements, just a personal enrichment sort of thing for me. I might be interested in on-line teching some day using my RA Masters and Ed.S.

 

There is no dissertation requirement for the Psy.D. since it's considered a professional, practitioner's degree. Psy.D. programs around the country vary with respect to research requirements. Some do require a dissertation but I believe most require things like a research project or a literature review or an in depth case study. The deadline I mentioned is due to my starting in Nov. 2002. Five years is the mamximum time allowed to complete the requirements. The degree would allow me to sit for the CA license exam in clinical psyc. but I'm not interested in pursuing that. It probably won't impact my career as a school psyc. much. I'm not planning on requesting my employer put me on the doctoral pay scale. Anyway, the difference in pay between the Ed.S. (which I now have) and a doc. is only a few hundred dollars a year. I suppose one way it might impact my career is my recommendations to teachers, parents, and other community providers I consult with would carry more weight.

 

...If anyone has completed courses from Cal Coast, I would greatly appreciate some insight into their program....book requirements, course requirements, time span on completing individual courses, etc...

Hello Brian,

I earned a MBA from CCU in '87 and a DBA in '99. This followed an AS, BS, and MA from regionally accredited universities. The AS & BS were from a traditional B&M private university, the MA was an accelerated nights and weekends State university B&M program. In contrast, CCU was a state approved structured independent study program. This was just before the explosion of similar programs by regional institutions. After some research, I found CCU's program met my needs since I had an active career and a growing family along with a number of other distractions such as moves, changing jobs, and other interests. The point of all this is that I have been involved in education through the full spectrum of adult life (cloistered student, independent unmarried adult, married mid-career professional) through private and state universities, both regionally accredited and state approved (and subsequently nationally accredited), so I've witnessed first hand the goods and bads of post-secondary education in most of its modalities and types of vendors. Here are my observations...

CCU uses a low cost model which is reflected in their tuition (a good bit more now than when I went, but I believe still a cornerstone in their competitiveness). They expect you to do the work of studying and then demonstrating your cognizance of the subject without being lectured. You do have access to subject matter experts within each discipline should you have questions or research ideas that you might wish to discuss. I found this approach to be very different from the lecture lab and practicums that I was familiar with but interesting at the same time. I did find that with focus and motivation, the CCU approach offers at least as much opportunity to learn, maybe more for an adult, than structured classes and lectures. On the other hand, CCU is relatively small scale and does not have the depth of field of say a large university.

I found the CCU approach allowed for bursts of energy in studying and course accomplishment depending on your motivation and time availability. This was refreshing compared to traditionally paced programs although the overall pace at CCU is slow when you factor in all the interruptions of real life. Still, they turn tests and review comments around fairly quickly. Since all things are relative, the difference between their speed and say communications with a South African university like Pretoria seems light-years faster. This differs for everyone. They do have limits on program accomplishment which I believe is 5 years now. I don't remember specific course time limits but they do expect you to maintain progress. If your program lapses, there are additional fees for reinstatement. On one or two occasions I had issues with the tests but generally I thought them fair and comprehensive. They typically tested for cognizance. Many of the multiple choice questions, even though open book, required judgment and a calculated response. Some tests are now proctored. Essays were an integral part of the testing methodology (perhaps more so now) and were required to demonstrate understanding, calculations, and scholarly analysis and rationale. All doctoral course work and essays as well as final testing (which included 7 practical management issues requiring literature research and a significant and scholarly written solution), was evaluated by a doctoral committee. Mine included two doctorates from Harvard, two from USC, and one from Claremont.

I found the school to be forthright and fair in their dealings with students. When I checked with "the bureau" on school complaints a few years back related to other research, the BPPVE indicated there had only been 4 complaints against CCU the previous 5 years all of which were related to tuition reimbursements for one reason or another and were successfully resolved. The BPPVE explained that this was extremely low for any university. Don't expect CCU to bend with wants and wishes. I found them to be pretty strict when it came to procedures which is as it should be. When I was a student, they took their state approval very seriously. I was reminded of that several times as a rationale for telling me NO in response to several suggestions and requests.

As far as current rules and policies, I suggest downloading the school catalog and bulletin (on their website) and talking to a counselor.

Hope that helps a bit.

 

Great Thread! Thanks for all of the Posts!

Uncle Janko, thanks for starting the new thread. I appreciate the extra effort taken to try to help me with my questions. And, I would like to thank everyone else for the detailed posts to the thread. It is a lot easier to make decisions like this when you have valued input!

 

You're most welcome.

PS. Thanks to Kirkland for a terrific post.

 

Excavating a bit deeper into the degreeinfo.com archives, one finds:

http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8189
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7907
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7370
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6237
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6182
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5669
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5594
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4500
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3347
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3136
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3021
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1839
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1837
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1796
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1762
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1723
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1693
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1595
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1218
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1203
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1086
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=980

 

Awright awready, Ted.

 

Okay, Unc!

Your loving nephew,