American Public University

Recently found the American Public University, headquartered in West Virginia, with administrative office in Manassas, Virginia. Anyone heard of them? They claim to be "affiliated" with a legitimate accrediting agency. They have a Master of Arts in National Security that looks interesting. Website appears to advertise that this is a school that many military people use...and is distance learning.

I found nothing on this university in Bears' Guide to Earning Degrees by Distance Learning, 15th Edition.

Please offer information if you are familiar with this school. Thanks.

 

American Public University and American Military University, part of the American Public University System, are currently nationally accredited (DETC) and are candidates for regional accreditation (NCA). We are hoping they receive RA status this year.

APUS (AMU, APU) is a legitimate school.

 

And discussed here quite often. I recommend a search.

 

They (APUS) will know next month (May).

 

APU/AMU is a great school I am current student there and just have one class left on the MA in Political Science. The instructors are great and the courses are rigorous. I really hope they get their RA

 

If they do get RA (I suspect that they will.) then it will be one of the few schools that have both RA and DETC. It will be interesting to see, in that case, if they decide to continue updating their DETC or if they let it expire.

I have to mention that they are privately owned and picked the name A Public U for some very strange reason that I don't understand.

 

I just completed a student survey that AMU sent me. It asked several questions about the name and whether we liked it or not. The same programs are offered at both schools, so I enrolled under AMU instead of APU mainly because of the name. One of the questions presented a listed of alternate names and asked us to rank how favorable we were of them. Makes me wonder if they are contemplating a name change.

The survey also asked us of our opinion about a number of other online universities, such as U of Phoenix, UMUC, Touro, NCU, and Bellevue.

Basically, I think it's indicative of them trying to figure out how to re-brand themselves to a larger market after obtaining RA.

-Jasen

 

"The survey also asked us of our opinion about a number of other online universities, such as U of Phoenix, UMUC, Touro, NCU, and Bellevue."


UOP, UMUC, and Bellevue all have campuses, so they are not online schools. I am sure it's a branding issue for when the become RA as all the schools you mention above are.

 

American Public University www.apus.edu was originally founded in 1993 as American Military University and was originally headquartered out of Manassas Park, Virginia. Sometime within the last few years, American Military University formed the American Public University System, which included American Military University, American Public University, and American Community College. American Community College has since been abolished, but American Public University System associate's degrees have been merged into American Military University and American Public University. If you look at their website real closely, American Military University and American Public University are really the same school with two different "faces" for marketing purposes. In essence, it started as American Military University because their original degrees were the BA in Military History, the MA in Air Warfare, the MA in Defense Management, the MA in Land Warfare, and the MA in Naval Warfare, though they have by now expanded their offerings quite considerably. American Military University started American Public University because it was thought that American Military University might sound, well, too military for some members of the general public, to whom American Public University is "pitched." That said, they do allow the student to pick the university name which will appear on the diploma, such that a member of the general public, if he/she so desired, could get an American Military University degree and a military person, if he/she so chose, could get an American Public University degree. American Military University/American Public University is accredited by the Distance Education and Training Council www.detc.org and is a candidate for accreditation by the North Central Association www.ncacihe.org . The move to Charles Town, West Virginia, was motivated by the fact that the Southern Association (which accredits schools in Virginia and ten other Southern states) is probably the most anal-retentive of the six regional accreditors when it comes to accrediting distance learning programs while the North Central Association (which accredits schools in West Virginia and eighteen other states) is the most progressive of the six regional accreditors when it comes to accrediting distance learning programs. The Bears' Guide, 15th edition, listing is on page 97, where it is listed as American Military University.

 

They have some nice programs. Maybe when they get RA they can offer federal loans and get more students interested.

 

APU

Thank you everyone for your input. After reading your inputs and more information I found on the Internet and at the APU site, I can see that they are a serious and accredited university. I also see that they have some first-rate instructors with impressive backgrounds. Given what some of you are saying, I would assume that they might change their name in the future. One of the reasons I didn't take them seriously at first (before doing some research) is that the name American Public University is rather generic sounding.

Thanks, everyone.

 

Re: APU

See! that name is wrong for so many reasons. It boggles my mind trying to guess how they decided on that? I can think of worse names but not any that would be serious. Al Qeda University, Moron State University, Burlap University, etc

 

Re: Re: American Public University

Another way to look at it is that SACS is the most academically rigorous and the NCA is the most academically careless - having taught at schools under both

 

Hi Jim,

I have to disagree.

That is a generalization, just because SACS is not as willing to accredit distance learning only schools as NCA is does not mean they are careless. There are plenty of top-notch schools accredited by NCA (Arizona State, Michigan State, Purdue, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to name a few)

 

Yup - and none of them were accredited recently. NCA is so well known for cashing the check and averting their eyes that UoP went out of their way to seek NCA accreditation thru their Illinois campus rather then their main campus.

 

Jim - What does that mean? I thought the main campus was in Phoenix (hence the name) which falls in NCA territory.

 

Re: Re: Re: American Public University

You could look at it that way, but you would be wrong. Ten of the Big Ten schools (of which there are actually eleven) - Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue, and Wisconsin - and two of the Pacific Ten schools - Arizona and Arizona State - hold their accreditation from NCA. And those, my good man, are not exactly crappy schools. Your half-baked accusations that UOP sought accreditation through its Illinois campus rather than its main campus in Phoenix in order to get the "easy" NCA accreditation doesn't hold water since Arizona is under the purview of the NCA. So, keep your facts straight.

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: American Public University

And your examples are not recent additions. Ted, I missed which schools and which regional accrediting bodies you have been FT tenured faculty at vs. simply airing an opinion(?)

 

Jim,

I too have been a FT faculty member at an SACS and NCA accredited university. And, as usual, you don't have a clue what you're talking about. Your sophomoric generalizations lead us all to believe that perhaps you’ve never set foot in a classroom. Let me assure you that both SACS and NCA accredited schools have their merits as well as their drawbacks.

Champ

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: American Public University

And I missed which papal bull extended infallibility to people who claim to have held full-time professorates at both SACS and NCA schools.