I started this fall in the accounting program at Franklin University. I liked that it's entirely online and they offer both an associates and bachelors degree in accounting. There is one humanities class that I would need for the associates that is not required for the bachelors. It would take me all of next year yet to finish the bachelors since I already have a degree and transferred lots of credits. Anyway, I'm planning to update this thread with various comments about the experience. The classes are keeping me busy so I thought it would be easier to make short postings as I go. As I find/make time, some initial topics would include financial aid award letter/s, financial aid office service, Professional Foundations prerequisite class, and Student Service Associates. I will likely reserve comment on individual classes/instructors until the class is complete with grade posted. Best wishes to all...
Professional Foundations PF321, "Professional Foundations", is a 6 week, 2 credit hour orientation type course that all new Franklin students must take before any other courses. So you won't be starting a trimester with 2 or 3 or 4 courses...it will be just PF321. After that you can start into multiple other 12 week or 6 week courses for the remainder of the trimester. Depending which section you choose, classes can last 6, 12, or 15 weeks. The fall and winter trimesters have 3 of the 6-week sessions, summer trimester only has 2. They don't advertise the PF321 prerequisite and it came as a surprise when I found out...I assumed I would be starting several classes at once. The course teaches you how to use the online coursework, library, and tools but the main thrust is on plagiarism avoidance, and strict adherence to APA citation and referencing in paper-writing assignments (there is a proprietary textbook that you must purchase from their bookstore). There is also a teamwork project on the topic of teamwork, culminating in an online team powerpoint presentation. I haven't 'attended' any other online schools so I don't know how Franklin compares but I just thought it would be helpful to relate a few of these things. More later...
Financial Aid So I filled out and submitted the FAFSA financial aid form earlier this year for 2009-2010. I received a financial aid award letter ("based on information you provided on your Free Application for Federal Student Aid") from Franklin indicating my eligibility for a Pell grant of several thousand dollars in addition to student loans. After registering for classes, when payment became due, the Pell grant was suddenly withdrawn and I received a Revised financial aid award letter showing eligibility for student loans only. Nothing had changed with my application or my status. Are schools known to 'over-reward' financial aid to get students to enroll, and then downwardly revise the reward? I'm not saying this was intentional on Franklin's part, but in the best case it was sloppy work by the FA dept.
I've been pleased with Franklin's Financial Acctg, Managerial Acctg, and Intermed. Acctg I & II sequence; all the instructors were very good. The material and exams are rigorous and I feel like I'm getting an excellent foundation. They seem to have a bit more trouble finding good instructors for the Federal Taxation courses. My first one never showed up for the class and the course manager doesn't keep a very close eye on things...we had to email her to find out where the instructor was. We were fortunate to get a good replacement though. My 2nd Fed Tax instructor I didn't care much for.
