What's the scoop on Northcentral?

What's up with Northcentral U? They claim to be more "affordable" than other online universities, but, as the saying goes, do you get what you pay for? I've heard about some accreditation issues. Should NCU be avoided? Is it lower quality than say Capella or Walden?

 

They are not really as affordable as they used to be but still cheaper then Capella, Nova, and Walden (but I do not htink by much). As far as the accreditation issues, where did you hear this? If you listen to enough people you will hear just about anything you want. I can't speak for the quality comparisons and I think the only person that really could is someone who has attended or taught at both.

My advice is to do your own homework and find a program that works for you.

 

Here's a paste of the thread I read on this board that motivated me to ask for more info. http://forums.degreeinfo.com/search.php?searchid=562451

Northcentral University abruptly cancels all academic contracts.

In an indication of the continuing accreditation problems at Northcentral University (NCA’s recent vist provided for a “conditional” accreditation of 3 years rather than the standard normal accreditation for 10 years), the Provost/Dean Dr. Barnaby B. Barratt, announced on 5/7/2009 that all students under previous academic programs and catalogs would be “swept” into the 2009 academic catalog.

Most universities approach the catalog as a "contract" with the student - with both sides bound to the terms of the “contract”. Northcentral University, reminiscent of a 3rd world Libya, Bolivia, Venezuela apparently feels that “rule of law” is an unnecessary encumbrance.

What this means:

a. Regardless of the factors that went into a students decision to enroll at Northcentral University, the University has unilaterally changed the conditions of the academic contract and no refunds will be provided.

b. Future students can expect Northcentral University, having done this once, to do it again, so there is essentially no assurance that any program, once begun, will be completed as planned. Required classes, number of classes, time schedule, and costs of the program can be altered at any time for any reason by the University – something no other University in the US/1st world has done unless facing loss of accreditation or bankruptcy.

Secondary issues concern:

a. Academic competence of the Northcentral administration. "Oral defenses" of dissertations are now "Presentations, a celebration of learning". PT faculty continue to refer to them as "oral defense".
b. Shared governance issues – there was no faculty (all part-timers with no full time academic experience) input ito this decision. Apparently all the PT faculty and staff are afraid of retribution from Dr. Barnaby B. Barratt. The previous Dean abruptly left her position just prior to the announcement.
c. The legality of the policy change
d. Accreditation compliance – previous academic programs cannot be abruptly changed while students are still enrolled in good faith.

Articles that address the issue in more detail:

David Davenport, The Catalog in the Courtroom: From Shield to Sword?, 12 J.C. & U.L. 201, 202 & n.4, 206 & n.54 (1985).

Ralph D. Mawdsley, Commentary, Litigation Involving Higher Education Employee and Student Handbooks, 109 Educ. L. Rep. 1031, 1034 (1996).

 

I believe it makes sense to treat school comments and reviews in much the same way I treat restaurant and movie reviews on Yelp, etc.: take any given review with a grain of salt (unless you know and respect the reviewer): any given review, good or bad, could be from the owner himself, or his estranged wife, etc. But if there are many reviews, I look for a trend. If a whole bunch of reviewers comment on the dirty bathrooms or the wonderful salads or the non-responsive faculty (etc. etc.), that is useful, if not definitive, information.

That said, there are websites -- onlinedegreereviews.com is one -- that have large numbers of reviews of many schools.

For Northcentral (being careful you're not reading about North Central University, an entirely different school in Minnesota), there are 102 reviews. I tallied the first 50. Very few "in betweens" -- 30 were really good. 11 were really bad. (See http://tinyurl.com/yzw9m55) (Note: Northcentral was originally called North Central.)

So how does this compare with others? Of the first 50 reviews,
Capella: almost exactly the same: 11 bad, 32 good.
Walden: 22 bad, 24 good
U of Phoenix: 20 bad, 26 good

 

While that is all really good it does not really mean anything. When I had a concern due to other peoples opinions, I went to the source and called Institutional Accreditation by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA-HLC) and no issues were reported.

 

NCU used to be extremely inexpensive, but after they achieved regional accreditation, their tuition prices kept increasing -- to the point that they are no longer an in-expensive program.

NCU has never been placed on probation by the regional accreditators.

IMO their academic quality is all about the same.

 

Their quality (however that might be measured) may be similar, but their instructional design models are all quite different. A likely reason to choose one over the other is preference for program design.

 

From reading the site it shows HLC extended their accreditiation to 2013.

 

For what it's worth, the marketing folks use a rule of thumb of a satisfied customer will tell one or two people while a dissatisfied customer will tell ten or eleven individuals on average.

In this case, consider also that universities have rather complex service blueprints in the sense that there is no single meal, chef or server... There are hundreds of permutations and combinations in the online modality.

One student could say that a professor, course, or degree "sucks" and be completely correct given context of their experience; on the other hand another student may highly recommend a seemingly similar experience.

All that said, one might expect to see a "bad" experiences to be over-reported online, while "good" experiences should be under-reported.

 

That's an excellent point. Sad, but very true.

 

manipulated cash cows

NCU = the bottom of RA; I'd wait for CPU to return!

my 2 cents

 

LOL Good one. CPU sounds like a real "solid" school! Maybe I could get most of my classes waived because of life experience. I could have a PdD by Christmas! ;-)

Below is a paste from their court hearings:
http://www.quackwatch.org/04ConsumerEducation/News/cpu.html

Private postsecondary schools are regulated by the California Bureau of Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education, which approves schools to operate and ensures that training is relevant and practical. In 1996, after conducting a qualitative review and assessment of CPU's degree-granting programs, the bureau's predecessor agency (Council for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education) denied CPU's application for licensure. On June 10, 1997, this denial was upheld by an independent administrative law judge who concluded that CPU had: (a) awarded excessive credit for prior experiential learning to many students; (b) failed to employ duly qualified faculty; and (c) failed to meet various requirements for issuing Ph.D. degrees. When CPU continued to operate without legal approval, the California Attorney General sought an injunction (see "Sequence of Events," below).