Athabasca U.S. Accreditation

Greetings to all readers:

I'm presently doing a number of things. Among them, my first and most important task is to obtain another bachelor's degree (if this is possible with ease), one which is accredited NOW so I can teach in the public school system. I do have a B.A. and it is a candidate for RA, but that shouldn't happen until '06. I'll be a great, great, great grandfather by then.

In short, I want to do the 2nd B.A. Athabasca is the first school to tell me, "we'll accept the whole degree," so I could go into their "second degree" policy immediately. However, as far as I can tell, Athabasca is still searching for US RA. Would rolling my degree over to Athabasca be a smart move since I'm just rolling it over to another "non-accredited" degree, or would it prove helpful in the U.S. since Athabasca is so widely recognized?

I have sent my info to Excelsior. They have not finished my credit review yet.

 

Athabasca is not what I would call "non-accredited." That's really like saying that any non-US school, such as Oxford or Melbourne, is "non-accredited." Their status is already the equivalent of US-RA, and their degrees should be recognized by US employers and RA schools. I believe that they are just pursuing RA accreditation so that they can better serve and appeal to US students. I'm guessing that it will make it easier for them to deal with US financial aid, and will also help US residents answer the "is it accredited?" question without needing to explain that it works differently in Canada (and really everywhere outside of the US jurisdiction).

 

Thank you Gary,

but doesn't the fact that it is now "seeking accreditation in the US" on the website tend to discount the degree, whereas before there was no question?

I'm also wondering about Deakin University, one of the members of the WADE (right?), including Athabasca and Open U. I read Bear's treatment of O.U. in his book, isn't that still technically "unaccredited?"

 

It doesn't discount the degree at all, at least in my mind. Athabasca is still a publicly funded Canadian university that is just as legitimate as any other government sponsored Canadian school. It's analogous to saying that Michigan State would be discounted if they sought approval from the Canadian government for some reason (not that I believe that's actually possible). I also haven't heard any issues regarding the validity or recognition of degrees from Deakin (Australia) or Open University (UK or HK). From what I understand, WADE is just an alliance between the member institutions. They are all recognized as RA equivalent schools, so I can't see any way that it would negatively affect them with respect to academic credibility.

 

Oh, BTW, out of curiosity I called Middle States a couple of weeks ago to ask about Athabasca's status with them. I was told that Athabasca is a candidate and is scheduled for review in 2004. I imagine that they will have full accreditation from Middle States at that time, but who knows. Again though, it really shouldn't matter for them as far as the recognition of their degrees. It's probably mostly just to facilitate US financial aid and to help them market their programs to US students. It will make it easier though to answer "yes," rather than "it's a Canadian school," when someone asks "is it accredited?"

I've never taken classes from Athabasca, but my wife is starting a grad program with them in January, so I've done a lot of reading about the school. I'm really impressed by the qualifications of the faculty in her area (educational studies). She's already let me know that we're taking a trip to Canada for her graduation, so I guess that I'll get to see it in person someday.

 

Thanks again, Gary.

 

No problem. One thing that I would recommend before pursuing a second bachelor's degree is that you check with your state authorities to make sure that you'll meet the requirements for the position you're seeking. It would really suck to go through all that trouble only to find out that you still don't meet the requirements, but would have if you'd pursued a slightly different path. I don't really know much about teaching qualifications for public k-12 schools though, I'm just cautious by nature. Maybe one of the many teachers who hang out here can chime in. Good luck!

 

Athabasca, Alberta is truly small town, Canada, maybe 3,000 population. The university got dropped there as political plum. It's not your typical university town - no students.

When in Alberta don't miss the drive between Banff and Jasper. They haven't made mountains like that in a million years.

 

Off topic, to Dennis

As I'd imagined! As I thought.

[/i]

When in Alberta don't miss the drive between Banff and Jasper. They haven't made mountains like that in a million years. [/QUOTE]

While I've only been to SuperNatural BC once, I long to return; I long to travel the Columbia Ice fields in summer, and explore Alberta, too.

I was reminded of this last Sunday when a retired newspaper editor reported in the Denver Post about his journey with his wife on the AlCan highway--another summertime adventure I long to experience!--1,523-miles in July, but taking 6,954 total miles.

He sums up how changed the experience has become since a buddy did it by Jeep twenty years ago: only 5 percent unpaved now, gas prices only 20 cents steeper than in Colorado! Services every 50 miles or so...

A serious expedition it is no longer...still stunning sights, yet almost tamed now.

--Orson

 

My wife has relatives in Edmonton, so we'll probably just fly into Edmonton, drive to Athabasca for the ceremony, and then drive back to Edmonton. It will probably be in 2005 by the time she finishes though, so we have plenty of time to plan the trip. We both grew up in Alaska, so we appreciate mountains. I always feel like there's something missing when there are no mountains around...

 

It's quite a nice drive once you get closer to Athabasca. The university grounds are particularly beautiful in the summer.

Darren.