Cheapest RA courses?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by BlueMason, Dec 14, 2005.

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  1. BlueMason

    BlueMason Audaces fortuna juvat

    I'm looking to complete some of my gen ed courses through other RA schools - LSU offers gen ed @ $229/course + books, does anyone know of other institutions which have similar prices? (Lower level i.e. Soc/Psy 100, Eng. Comp I & II...)

    The only con for LSU is that the exams are proctored rather than online, but to save some money I'd bite that bullet :)
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 14, 2005
  2. BlueMason

    BlueMason Audaces fortuna juvat

    Well - registered in Psy 2000 - total cost, $229,found the book online, shipped for $11. $240 for 3 credits - not bad, not bad at all :)
     
  3. TCord1964

    TCord1964 New Member

    I have heard Brigham Young University mentioned as a good source for low-cost online classes.
     
  4. TCord1964

    TCord1964 New Member

    By the way, I don't appreciate that little graphic which flashes my IP address, my ISP and the name of my web browser. Even if I'm the only one that can see it, it still seems like an invasion of my privacy.
     
  5. Mighty_Tiki

    Mighty_Tiki Member

    Cheap RA Classes

    I believe the cheapest classes that are RA and have been mentioned here are from CA Community Colleges if you are a resident. Outside of that the cheapest that I have seen are from Clovis Community College in NM. The cost for a 3 cr. class from them online is around $160 + books. They run on a 16 wk semester format.

    Clovis Community College
     
  6. BlueMason

    BlueMason Audaces fortuna juvat

    It's not meant to offend, but rather to remind people that you're not anonymous :) That little widget displays a mere fraction of the info you can obtain from people when they connect to a website.

    ...and is there really an expectation of privacy when you connect to a public forum such as this? - though this would be better addressed if it were in the off-topic discussions as it deviates from the original post.

    BM
     
  7. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Perhaps it only seems like it because you don't realize that that's how the Internet inherently works? It's like feeling angry at someone for mailing you a letter after you've sent them your postal address.

    If you're really upset about it, there's always Anonymizer.

    -=Steve=-
     
  8. TCord1964

    TCord1964 New Member

    No, that's not it, but thanks for the snide comment.

    I just don't see the point or purpose of putting such a graphic on this message board. Some boards freely display your IP address, and I choose not to post to them. I will simply not post to any more threads here originated by BlueMason.

    If I wanted my info splashed all over the place, I'd simply use my real name, street address, phone number and blood type when I post here.
     
  9. sentinel

    sentinel New Member

    I do not think BlueMason meant his comment to be interpreted as snide but rather as an informational response to your question.

    You will notice that only your ISP connection information is displayed on your screen. In other words, you will not see my ISP details nor will I see your information. The information is not persistent as far as I can tell.
     
  10. TCord1964

    TCord1964 New Member

    But how do you KNOW? For all you know, this info is being sent back to BlueMason.

    With all of the phishing scams and identity theft going on in the world, I don't think we need something like this on the message board.

    Also, my previous comment was directed toward Steve.

    My .02.
     
  11. hrudey

    hrudey New Member

    I would suggest reviewing the privacy policy of DanaSoft, who is providing the service:

    http://www.danasoft.com/privacy.php

    Of course, what conclusions one may draw from that document are, naturally, their own.

     
  12. DesElms

    DesElms New Member

    Ho! Whoa! Everybody... calm down.

    It's true that there is not really any such thing as anonymity on the Internet... not even when using an anonymizer service... trust me on this. However, there is a reasonable expectation of privacy here at DegreeInfo...

    ...and you'll all be happy to know that the graphic in BlueMason's signature does not in any way compromise that. It may feel like it but, believe me, no personal/private data is being transmitted to Danasoft or to BlueMason. The script that's driving the graphic in his signature does not work that way.

    Every time any of us visits a web site, there is a certain amount of information about us contained in the header of the HTTP "GET" request. The IP address through which we're connected to the Internet at that moment, as well as certain information about our web browser and the computer operating system we're using, is always present in what we send to web sites whenever we view them. Individually-identifying information is never included in any of it, but certainly our IP address and certain browser information and OS information is.

    Web site server logs routinely capture this information permanently, and web site owners are then able to view those server logs to determine, for example, what browser (and which version of same) most of their visitors are using; or what computer operating system (Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.) their computers are using. Where the web log viewing software contains a reverse DNS capability, the log's IP addresses of all the site's visitors can all be geo-located, generally, so that the site owner can see that a certain percentage of his visitors are from the US, and a certain percentage from the UK, or Germany, or Japan or wherever.

    In extreme cases, yes... a web site visitor can be individually identified... but usually only by police who can determine the individual identity of a web site visitor by simply getting the IP address of said visitor at the time s/he visited from the visited site's log; then going back to the internet service provider (ISP) that owns said IP address and asking said ISP which of its subscribers was using said IP at the precise moment that the visited web site's server log indicated said subscriber was visiting said web site. Subpoenas or search warrants or various other kinds of court orders are usually required, but it can be (and routinely is) done.

    This web site collects the IP addresses of posters and performs reverse DNS so that we (moderators and administrators) can always see the real IP address of a poster, who his ISP is, the precise time of the posting, etc. All forums software (not just the vBulletin software that this site uses) does that. It's routine. It allows us to see when someone's trying to sign-up under multiple usernames; it allows us to figure out who's attacking us when that happens; it would, if we were ever asked, allow us to help law enforcement hunt down a poster if there were any reason to do so (although I'd like to believe that Chip would not do so easily and would require of them a search warrant), etc. We keep that information very, very secret. In my opinion, any moderator or administrator who would divulge IP data to anyone other than another moderator/administrator and/or the site owners should no longer be a moderator/administrator. I'm quite certain that Chip, et al, buy-in to that notion. Therefore, personally-identifiable (or nearly so) data of posters here is extremely safe. And here's the important thing: The graphic in BlueMason's signature does not compromise any of that.

    JavaScripts and PHP scripts and PERL (CGI-BIN) scripts -- and scripts in all kinds of other computer languages -- that are able to capture that information from the header of a given web site visitor's HTTP "GET" request, and then display it back to said site visitor on a web page (or a part thereof) in said visitor's browser have been around pretty much forever. Such scripts may or may not also collect and log such data, but most of them do not. They don't need to. The server of the visited site automatically logs all of that data anyway. No special script is needed.

    In the case of the Danasoft script that BlueMason is using in his signature, it's the type that doesn't actually collect any of the data it displays. Rather, it merely "reflects" it back to the user whose data it is... and to no one else. Such scripts -- usually JavaScripts -- are available on script web sites for free... and have been almost since the beginning of the worldwide web. They're harmless, but the do sometimes give people the creeps... which appears to have happened in this thread. The creeped-out user thinks to himself something along the lines of: "Holy Crap! If this web site can see that about me, what else could it be collecting? What about my privacy!"

    And, of course, that's the whole point of such scripts!

    Or sometimes the script is used as a tool to determin how the user's browser is configured so that, for example, such things as whether or not cookies or javascript is enabled. Some web sites require that those two things be enabled in order for the user to navigate the site. Sites that require such things quite often contain a little JavaScript in the web page's header which quickly reads the header of the site visitor's HTTP "GET" request, and determines such things as the browser version and whether or not such things as cookies and/or javascript are turned on. If they're not, the script then redirects the user to a page that explains that said user is not really going to be able to use the web site until and unless s/he turns-on whatever it is that the site needs for the browser to have turned on within it. The script's purpose doesn't need to be to creep people out.

    The Danasoft script which causes the graphic in BlueMason's signature does not, believe me, collect any of our data and log it anywhere. All it does is reflect back to us certain info that our browsers always send to the DegreeInfo web site as the normal and natural part of our viewing its web pages.

    Now, all the above having been said, Danasoft did, however, collect personally-identifiable information about BlueMason when he signed-up there to be able to start displaying the graphic. That's his choice to divulge such information, and he must live with whatever are the consequences. But he is not also causing any of our personally-identifiable information to be collected or logged anywhere. Rest assured of that.

    It's a fact with which we must all live that there is not really -- not even when using an anonymizer -- any such thing as anonymity on the Internet. Period. And cute, little scripts/routines such as the one from Danasoft that BlueMason is displaying in his signature capitalize on that to give people the creeps. But, in reality, it's all quite harmless... at least in this case.

    The truth is, there are scripts on web pages that are quite potentially harmful, and intentionally so. None are on either the DegreeInfo or the Danasoft web sites, but they're out there on other sites. Such scripts do things like, for example, exploit a well-known security hole in Internet Explorer that allows the web site to collect and log the site visitor's email address. Sophisticated versions of this sort of script written in PERL and PHP (but mostlly in PERL, and contained in CGI-BIN directories) have been around forever, and are routinely used by porn sites. I've seen this at my clients' offices a million times. An employee visits a porn site and then, later that day or the next, porn spam starts showing-up in said employee's email inbox. The same thing can (and does) happen to home users... especially those using older, unpatched versions of Internet Explorer browser and the companion Outlook Express email client. Most responsible web hosting companies do not allow their customers to use such scripts, however... so except for outlaw sites like porn sites, or hacker/cracker sites, or serial number/warez sites, the average web surfer is unlikely to encounter such scripts on regular, legit web sites.

    I hope that puts everyone's mind at ease. Just relax. All's well. No more bickering, now... okay?
     
  13. BlueMason

    BlueMason Audaces fortuna juvat

    Excellent post from DesElms - as he pointed out, no info is collected from any of the users; as sentinel pointed out, the info displayed is seen by your eyes only ( it changes for whomever looks at a post of mine ).

    Let's move on :)

    Any other good, RA and chea..er.. fiscally responsible schools out there? :)
     
  14. Jigamafloo

    Jigamafloo New Member

    Glad to see your thread get back on track. Amberton University comes immediately to mind, at $200.00 per credit hour (plus books). RA, very student oriented, and very affordable.

    http://www.amberton.edu/
     
  15. techdiva

    techdiva New Member

    Cheap Credits

    The cheapest I've found isSan Juan College http://www.sjc.cc.nm.us/pages/1.asp
    it's about $37-$38 a credit hour anything over 12 credits is free. Also no proctor needed. Hope this helps.


    Debra
     
  16. japhy4529

    japhy4529 House Bassist

    Re: Cheap Credits

    Wow! That's insane! Too bad they don't offer an AA or AS online. I understand from reviewing the NCA website, that they do offer an A.A.S in Industrial Water Treatment online. Not sure how that works, nor do I want to find out!

    I can't get over it. $105 for a 3-credit online course from an RA school. That's crazy cheap! Of course, you have to factor in the cost of a textbook, but there is always half.com, ebay.com and amazon.com available for used books.

    I wonder how many of these courses Excelsior would accept in transfer? I know that the courses are RA, but I've heard Excelsior can be picky sometimes when it comes to transfer credit.

    - Tom
     
  17. CoachTurner

    CoachTurner Member

    My experience with Excelsior and transfer credit is that they are only "picky" when considering specific degree requirements such as "business law - lower level".

    They've transferred into my BS(LS) some pretty random stuff without question such as:

    Costume Construction and Costume Design (both upper level and 3 each)

    Motor Vehicle Transportation Management (lower - 6 hours) and Motor Maintenance Management (lower - 3 hours)

    a whole slew of performing ensemble credits with titles like "Marching Band" or "Concert Choir" for 1-2 hours...

    I'm one to always submit to Excelsior and let them sort it out...

    :D
     
  18. melissa21111

    melissa21111 New Member

    I am currently attending Peru State College and they are quite cheap. I believe it's about $114 per online credit plus books. I believe they do give out scholarships for some books..I got $250.
     
  19. jimnagrom

    jimnagrom New Member

    To put it in perspective, it's no different from driving and seeing a sign flashing your vehicle speed so you can see it.

    If you are offended...it's because you do not understand what you are seeing and what it means.

    You can continue to be offended...or you can increase your knowledge in this area - and you will no longer be offended.
     
  20. TCord1964

    TCord1964 New Member

    I'm only offended by condescending posts.
     

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