I've been in this game since 1978. I earned my first (associate's) by DL the following year, followed by an A.A.S., two bachelor's degrees from Regents, a National U. MBA, and then a PhD from The Union Institute. At Union, I specialized in nontraditional higher education, turning a strong avocation into a foray into scholarly research. I remained a human resource developer, however, despite trying UoP for a year (plus two more as an adjunct). I had a decent military career, going up through the enlisted ranks a bit (to staff sergeant) before becoming an officer. I had a good run there, but got beat by the numbers game (large commissioning year group facing a serious drawdown) and out I went, retiring as a captain at age 36. A dozen years in the private sector was followed by another 6 as a GS-15 in the federal government. And yes, I recently successfully defended my thesis for a second doctorate. I have also earned the PMP and SPHR professional designations, and have taught for many schools as an adjunct. I guess I'm trying to say that I've been deeply engaged in this subject for as long or longer than just about anyone here--excepting John Bear, of course. So here are a few things I miss: The thrill of seeing new and interesting brochures from nontraditional schools (some accredited, some unaccredited, some straight-out diploma mills) arriving in the mail. International College. The old Union Graduate School. The Regents College Degree Program. Beacon College. The old 3-tier system in California under section 94310. Waiting for CLEP test results in the mail. Clayton University. Bear's Guide. Open University of America. Northland Open University and the Canadian School of Management. I'm looking at you, DETC. UWW. The Technikon of South Africa. Roy Fairfield. Columbia Pacific University. William Lyon University. La Jolla University. Beacon College. USIU and the University of Sarasota, separately. And so much more.
Antioch, Goddard, and Norwich operating as hybrid residential/nontraditional colleges. Upper-division colleges. Though per Wikipedia, here's a small revival now in Texas… The Annenberg/CPB-era golden age of TV telecourses. Mind Extension University and Canadian Learning Television could also have evolved into interesting things in a different world. Radio courses: Open College, from CJRT-FM in my hometown Toronto, produced 28 university credit courses enrolling tens of thousands starting in 1971, peaking in the mid-90s, into sometime in the 2000s, enrolling tens of thousands of students over the years. Library by mail for distance learners being a reasonably normal thing. The Board of Governors program in Illinois being a thing. As far as I can tell the BOG programs was successful, then any BOG mandate seemed to disappear with the BOG degree programs left with each individual schools. (Meanwhile sometime in the interim millions went into the "University of Illinois Global Campus," and that was a catastrophe.) There have been some interesting CBE tests long since retired. That inexplicable publishing company, you know the one, still has in press and advertised on their website – with 2010s copyright dates! – study guides purportedly for CLEP Afro-American History, and for DSST Introduction to Air Conditioning, Refrigeration & Heating. Have these tests been offered since the 70s? Excelsior's pared down their undergraduate liberal arts majors within the last few years. Was it in the 90s or the early 2000s that Brigham Young University's BGS, which had been available to a wider population, was restricted to former BYU residential residential students completing by distance? Bear's Guide, because it can't be said too often.
"Business Math!" in the words of Tommy Flanagan (John Lovitz) "Yeah! That's the ticket!" Awesome, thanks for the History Lesson! You gotta love the small print "Special booklets for Women".
I miss the days when a high school diploma was considered a ticket to high pay ("worth $80,000 over a lifetime") and respect. Before 1970 or so, most US adults (25 and over) did not have a high school diploma. So it was a qualification that really did mean something.
Note that if you do clip the coupon, it goes to: ICS Scranton, Penna. 18515 No street address necessary. That's because ICS generated so much correspondence that they were assigned their own zip code. You could just put "18515" on the envelope, and it would be delivered successfully. Even today, there is only one address in the 18515 zip code: 925 Oak Street, home of ICS and now Penn Foster. All of the other numbers in the 900 block of Oak St. in Scranton are assigned to 18508.
I'm absolutely confident that they would never do that. Why? Because then they couldn't pester me for alumni donations.
The oldest correspondence school that "you've never heard of" since 1890. Penn Foster now has over 140k current students and graduates 25k students per year out of their high school, career school and college. And yes I'm a proud PF grad. With technology they've modernized the way they offer their programs but it still has a correspondence feel to it, it's just faster with the internet. I'm still looking for that raise from $80 per week to $105 weekly. And I miss Bear's Guide as well.
