One institution vs. university system - confused

I know that frequently a university name actually stands for a whole system with several, relatively independent, institution as e.g. in the Cal State or UC system. I can see how it is important to get a degree from say, UW Madison rather than UW Point Place or whatever. So far, so good.

I have been talking with an advisor at Washington State University because I will likely enroll in a program in Professional Sales. I live in Portland, and the program is at WSU's branch campus in Vancouver (WA, not BC). Of course, I wanted to make sure that this is the 'real' WSU and asked about the relationship to the main campus in Pullman. The reply was, "WSU is one institution with its main campus in Pullman and branch campuses in Vancouver, Spokane, and Tri-Cities." Everyone is a Cougar, everyone belongs to the same alumni organization, etc. So far, so good.

However...I'm completely confused with how to know whether a campus is just a local branch or a largely independent institution. Size? Colors? Administration? Is that even important? Am I making things unnecessarily complicated?

 

What does the diploma state? If a school is authorized to award its own degrees then, in my opinion, it is a different institution, regardless of whether it is part of a "system". Further, in my opinion an individual should represent on a resume the name that is on the diploma.

So in the scenario you are researching ask what the diploma will state, or better yet ask to see one.

Branch campuses don't really matter so much as the school that is awarding the degree. Many large universities have a presence on a military institution but award the degree from the university. Troy University, for example, has evolved to issuing a degree in this fashion. The University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa) has several branch campuses that award the UA degree whereas The University of Alabama-Huntsville, and The University of Alabama-Birmingham issue their own degrees despite being part of the UA System.

There are many other examples.

Check the CHEA for separate accreditation.

I did a quick search at CHEA and only one Washington State University is accredited so most likely you will receive a WSU diploma.

 

Locate the appropriate regional accreditor's web site then check the list of accredited colleges and universities.

 

Thanks, you two. I should have thought of this myself. Well, according to the website (like Kevin already mentioned), WSU is one institution. I guess another indicator is that any site providing quick facts and numbers about the school, such as enrollment, operating budget, etc., list the total of all campuses. The distance program is taught by instructors from all campuses, by the way.

The certificates vary a little, as far as I know. The branch campuses say e.g. WSU Vancouver, the main campus simply says WSU. That doesn't bother me though.

 

My diploma does not mention anything about the 'couv on it. Just says Washington State University across the top with the school seal below. Hmmm, just checked my transcript and it does not have couv on it either. I do order my transcripts from the vancouver.wsu.edu website however.

On my resume I list it as BA from Washington State University, Vancouver, WA. It is nothing more than a branch campus. I live in Spokane now and WSU has a pretty good presence up here as well. I even took a Geol course through WSU distance learning. They shipped me this huge box of lab supplies so that I could complete the lab portion of the course. Went around to some of the creeks in the couv and took pictures, drew maps, collected samples, funny to take a science lab course through distance learning.

I enjoyed my two years there.

Good luck,

Cory

 

Yay, a fellow Coug! Strange that your diploma doesn't state the campus. Maybe it's different because you received a BA while mine is just a (standalone) certificate that is only available at the Vancouver branch.

I'm glad you had a good experience. I must say I was pretty much blown away by how nice that little campus is. I knew WSU was famous for building beautiful locations, but I thought that was only true for the Pullman campus.

 

I earned a certificate in HR Management and Personnel Psychology from WSU, Vancouver too....I'll have to dig it up and see what it says on the actual cert. Thinking back, I believe it does mention 'Couv on it. Does not matter though, still a pretty decent school.

I loved the campus in Vancouver. It really is a "looker". Of course, it also didn't hurt that the school was almost 70% female. With a coed ratio like that any class is interesting

 

Ah, chicks! I had completely forgotten about this very important aspect of college. That is definitely an advantage that distance students don't have. Not that it really plays a role, seeing that I'm grown-up and married now.

Yeah, it really doesn't seem to matter at all. I saw that all business programs at Vancouver are covered by WSU's AACSB accreditation, so it's really just a small difference on the certificate.

 

A simple example would be the Contra Costa campus of Cal State - East Bay (ne' Hayward) in Concord. It is part of the California State Univeristy - East Bay. All documentation refers to CSU-East Bay, CSU-East Bay is part of the California State Univeristy System.

The Contra Costa campus some times has it's own graduation ceremony and such, but it is not a seperate school (yet).

 

Has it been that long?

 

As greater Phoenix has grown from a hot desert outpost towards being a sprawling megapolis of four million people, Arizona State University has spun out a whole collection of remote sites around the area. But while they each have their own campuses and buildings, they haven't become new and inevitably less-well-regarded state universities. They are all insisting that they are integral parts of a single Arizona State. As a result, Arizona State says that it's surrendered other universities' concerns about growing too large and foresees no problem with enrolling hundreds of thousands of ASU students.

Washington State seems to be doing something similar. If the Washington State University branch campus in Vancouver was given its own autonomy and renamed Vancouver State University, it would probably slide down the pop-charts.

It's odd how a well-known school will start a bare-bones remote-site, which partakes in the originating school's prestige as a matter of course. Then as the remote site grows, expands and achieves its own institutional and academic identity, developments that we might normally think of as strengthening it, we see an accompanying decline in its reputation, since it's no longer free-riding on the original school's name.

 

Well, if there is such a development, it is probably far in the future. WSU in total has only around 25,000 students, and the Vancouver campus is tiny (3,000). Vancouver is growing rapidly, but there is also Portland State less than 10 miles away, which is expected to hit the 30,000 student mark within the next few years.

Well...five years, but marriage changes a man. Much like volcano nachos.

 

It's interesting to see how WSU's branch campuses in Vancouver, Spokane etc. seem to keep the name of WSU and aren't seen as separate schools whereas UW-Bothell and UW-Tacoma are seen as less prestigious. Then again, the UW is higher ranked than WSU generally, so maybe the branch campuses are further from the mark then WSU's branches are from the level of WSU itself.

 

In Massachusetts there are three campuses in the "University of Massachusetts" system. Each campus has it's own identity and reputation. I'd say that the Amherst campus is seen as being the most prestigious. It's the largest, offers the most programs and with just one or two exceptions, it is the only place you can get a doctoral degree within that system.

 

It's also an entirely different type of university. In the eye's of many, UW is associated with Seattle, and with Seattle only. WSU is much more "the working man's university." Former agricultural school, serving the whole state of Washington, etc.

And of course, UW is in Seattle. WSU is in Pullman. There are many reasons not to live in Pullman - not so many for Seattle.

 

There are five separately-accredited UMass campuses: Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and Worcester (= UMass Medical).

 

Ahhh

Separate accreditation...that's probably the difference between UW-Bothell/UW-Tacoma and WSU's branch campuses. But I'm too busy (or lazy) to look it up right now.

 

Ha! You're right. How could I forget Dartmouth? As for the medical school, I just never thought of it as being part of the UMass system but, of course, it is. Thanks for the correction.