Specific question: I have searched all around and have found a good number of very affordable MA programs online with a focus on Humanities, however, they all have failry rigid 'on-ground' style courses. Does anyone know of a program in this field that has a more flexible "do the work at your own pace" program? For example APUS, Fort Hayes both have the more rigid format..I don't want weekly manditory postings or the like...
You may want to investigate doing a British-style research degree instead. That way you could do your research whenever you wanted. Some UK schools offer this sort of degree in various disciplines via distance. Otherwise, here are a few more taught options to explore, I don't know to what degree they are "work at your own pace" ... like the CSUDH program sounds like it's mostly work on your own, but there are still assignments and due dates and so on: Salve Regina University http://www.salve.edu/graduatestudies/programs/ghm/ Tiffin University http://www.tiffin.edu/mhhumanities/ California State University, Dominguez Hills http://www.csudh.edu/HUX/ You may also want to investigate Master of Liberal Studies programs, check this thread: http://www.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?t=31086
I'm a graduate of the HUX program. I wouldn't really call it a 'taught' masters degree. It's similar to the London external programme, except that there aren't any examinations and everything is assessed by papers instead. (That difference might be more apparent than real, since the London exams are essays, I believe.) The class materials specify required readings which aren't typically provided. That's a minimum, since students are strongly encouraged to read more broadly as their own interests dictate. Bibliographic suggestions are provided. Professors are available and will communicate with students by various media if students have questions or something that they want to discuss, but if the student doesn't make an effort to contact the professors, they won't contact you, apart from writing comments on your papers. Communicating with them is like visiting professors on-campus during their office hours. Some of them won't like being bothered, while others are thrilled that you are interested in their subject and will absolutely knock themselves out to help you. All in all, the HUX program seemed analogous to taking an entire on-campus degree by independent study classes. Each 3-unit class typically requires about 30 submitted pages. (10 pages per unit is kind of a CSUDH rule of thumb.) These are usually divided up into two or three papers, 10 or 15 pages each, with due dates at various points in the semester. Broad topic areas are assigned, but there's usually a great deal of freedom for students to improvise as well, bringing their own interests and preexisting knowledge to bear. The professors welcome and encourage that. The paper due dates are the inflexible part of each semester, but students are free to budget the rest of their time as they see fit, as long as the papers are submitted on time. There aren't usually any other assignments or required discussion board postings. It's essentially a correspondence program.
The CSUDH HUX program is one of the earliest masters degree offered by an RA university (in the 1970s I believe - first by correspondance and later on-line). So I imagine they have worked out lots of kinks by now.
