Forest Trail Sports University

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Kizmet, Jun 6, 2016.

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  1. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    "FTSportsU is a Private University that will open its doors for the first time in August 2016. The university is located in downtown Concord, NC. The university plans to field as many as 10 varsity sports in the fall. Waldorf University is the learning partner that will provide all records and degrees."

    Home | FTSportsU
     
  2. Michigan68

    Michigan68 Active Member

    I guess I do not understand their concept. They do not seem to be apart of a NCAA Division or the like.

    What am I missing?
     
  3. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    Hmmm. I can't be certain but the piece you might be stumbling on is the expectation that it makes sense. My initial expectation was that it was going to be a kind of specialty school like the US Sports Academy but then I discovered that they're offering lots of standard subject areas/degrees.:dunno:
     
  4. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    I'm sure there is an underlying business model that we don't get because we didn't attend the concept meeting.

    At its heart it looks like an attempt to draw in students who want to play college sports but arent actually getting picked up by a real university with an actual NCAA affiliation. Come here, play sports, earn a degree at the same time.

    They're academically partnered with Waldorf. And Waldorf does have an athletics program. Maybe they are doing some sort of weird satellite campus thingy to try to capitalize on that in a better market.

    It's really hard to say for sure without having reviewed the PowerPoint.
     
  5. Tireman 44444

    Tireman 44444 Well-Known Member

    The players are changing into their uniforms in the parking lot. The opponents are the Virginia Marlins, representing the University of Virtual Applied Athletics in Danville, Virginia. The crowd numbers three dozen, if you include the dogs sitting in the concrete grandstands, which are only slightly harder and grayer than the infield. In every way, the scene suggests the lowest possible rung of competition.
    Yet the rhythms of opening day -- muscles twitching, bats swinging, adrenaline pulsing -- are particularly exciting for the group of 20 college-age athletes gathering behind the third-base line. "It's liberating," says Nick Roets, 19, of Wingate, North Carolina. "We didn't know how this was going to turn out, but we knew that getting out of there was in our best interest."
    "There" was Forest Trail Sports University, which promised a new kind of college experience, focused on athletics. And these players -- they have named themselves the Renegades, but Refugees would be just as accurate -- are survivors of its collapse. Arriving last August at the for-profit program, which charged a tuition of nearly $33,000, they were consigned to an old hotel, without adequate facilities, staff or supervision, on a campus where the threat of violence turned out to be more common than classes.




    The downfall of America's first sport-only college

    Controversial ‘Sports University’ Draws Scrutiny From 2 North Carolina Agencies – The Ticker - Blogs - The Chronicle of Higher Education
     
  6. Gabe F.

    Gabe F. Active Member

    Sadly, there are other examples of this sort of thing. One of the more notable ones is the "College of Faith":

    The shady college football team that gets paid to lose games | New York Post

    “Faith†No More: NCAA Cracks Down on Non-Countable Opponents - HERO Sports

    Another example is The University of God's Chosen
    Dreams die hard at the University of God's Chosen - News - The Fayetteville Observer - Fayetteville, NC

    These "schools" are exploiting religious loopholes to operate and preying on the naive and the desperate. I think it's sickening. Perhaps I'll start the Pastoral Institute of Student Success just so I can hear chants of "Let's go PISS!". I mean why not? It's no more absurd than this garbage.
     

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