Deeply concerned - increase in tuition costs

Hi everyone,

First of all I would like to start by thanking everyone here on this forum for their insight into the world of distance education and how helpful you all are. Thanks to this place and you guys I decided to take the leap into distance education and get a degree. I have a problem that is deeply concerning at the moment and I hope you guys can point me in the right direction.

Anyways I picked TUI(Tourou University International) because they were RA, had an "okay" curriculum, and were pretty cheap. I am currently finishing my second semester soon(two courses per semester 4 cred each). The coursework has been mentally challenging at times and I maintain an A average. I can't say that I am disappointed with TUI, things seem okay, the course work is okay, people are willing to help and things like that. Overall it has been a mostly enjoyable experience with a few exceptions.

These few exceptions that have occurred have made me almost totally lose my confidence in TUI and my current education path. The first thing happened at the end of my first semester, when TUI changed the curriculum for the CS degree, totally "fluffing" it into some CIS degree basically, although it wasn't any super curriculum before. I got over this pretty quickly because my aim is to take a very strong masters degree later. Now my third semester is about to start and I registered for 3 courses this time and I got sent a confirmation mail saying that I needed to pay $ 2,700.00. for these 12 credits.

What you might say is odd about that. I don't have any problem paying for my tuition but that $2,700 isn't exactly what I signed up for. When I started with TUI each credit was priced at $200, and I was paying $1,600 for 8 credits in my two previous semesters. Now they raised each semester credit up to $225!! Which means I am paying $300 more for the 12 credits than what I should have otherwise. I am sure that in some fine print somewhere they mention that they can raise the price any time they like and I am fine with that if it is done properly.

What pisses me off is that I had absolutely no idea that they had raised the tuition prices, no one informed me. I think they should have had the done the right thing and inform students about such a high increase in tuition. $300 matters a lot to me every 3 months and just hearing about this from a confirmation letter is devastating. I said that I am fine with increases if it is done properly but more importantly because if their is a good reason for it. Say if the course work improved, they fixed their web page ( which sucks by the way), or some kind of improvements! I have seen none and therefore I am fairly angry.

I think I have good reason to be angry because I feel violated and all of this makes me deeply concerned about what action I should take. I desperately want to finish a BS degree and then further my education. I am still fairly young(just turned 22) but I have a full time job and I just can't go the traditional route. So I need to start thinking about my options. would a "BA in 4 weeks" route be good for me? I don't have many previous credits other than a few certificates and experience, almost 0 other college credits. Should I switch universities? I don't mind paying money for something that makes sense. Should I stay with TUI and hope they don't change something?

So the question is, what should I do?

I apologize for the bad English and I appreciate any help,

Theodor Ragnar Gislason

 

My perspective is that in general people are best served by obtaining the quickest and most inexpensive RA bachelor's degree possible, and following that up immediately with a strong master's degree. Of course, you need to make sure to do your research, so that in planning your bachelor's degree you can include any necessary prerequisite/background/levelling courses that are required by the graduate program(s), but I think that using this approach most people could still complete a bachelor's degree along with a strong master's degree while spending about the same (anywhere from quite a bit less to not much more) time and money than would be required to just obtain a strong bachelor's degree through mostly coursework. It may sound strange, but when you look into things it generally does work out this way. However, if you'll need to take almost enough courses (for grad school prereqs) to meet residency requirements for a school other than TESC/COSC/Excelsior anyway, then you may as well get a degree from the school that you took the courses from. Many schools have tight restrictions on the number of credits they'll apply from exams though, so you just have to do the math to figure out how much time and money is required for each of your options, and then decide for yourself which one appeals to you most.

 

Hi Digit

I can understand your frustration at both the increase and the way it was implemented. That said, it is probably best to get over it and focus on what is important. Most of the Universities in Oregon have had a 5 to 15% price increase. The ones that did announced the increase 1-3 months in advance. Perhaps TUI announced it but failed to email current students? Not great planning on their part, but it happens. Is TUI still the best choice for you? Is there a better program at lower cost? Have you looked at the Troy State CS degree? In any event good luck.

 

Sorry to hear about the mess at Touro. I don't know anything about your field, so can't comment on that. I agree that lack of routine communication is a real problem. The many DL schools I have been talking to (with one exception) do not do a very good job of communicating policy information.
What might help would be a policy of e-mailing a sort of "press release" or news update to DL students once a week or once a month.
I sometimes wonder if fees don't get raised, in part, to play into the fallacy of "if it costs a lot, it must be good quality." Nothing wrong with having to pay for actual improvements, as you said, but it's tough to justify when there's nothing noticeable that improves and no citation of increased expenses for the institution.

 

Theodor,

Sorry you feel this way but the Bachelor degree program at $225 per credit is still a very good deal, compares very favorably with other RA programs, and that's the only tuition increase TUI did in 4 years (less than 3% per year and barely covering the cost of living increase). Furthermore, Master and Ph.D. degree program's tuition remained unchanged.

As for the enhancements I can list few: Shifting to a new and much larger premise, enhancing the grading and assignment system to a great extent, continuously increasing faculty and admin... to mention few.

I do however agree with you that an announcement should be made in a press release kind of thing to all students. Actually, come to think of it my brick and mortar university never did that Last session they started communicating a quarterly newsletter.. sure hope they continue doing so because it was quite informative.

If you have issues talk to the admin. or your advise. They are extremely responsive.

Eli
ABD, Touro University International

 

I am positive that Touro is not an academic institution that adheres to myths and erroneous beliefs similar to the saying "if it costs a lot, it must be good quality."

Allow me to refresh the memory here.. Couple of years ago, Touro took the initiative to announce a substantial drop in its tuition. I quote Touro's provost and chief academic officer stating:

"Remember that Touro University International is a not-for-profit educational institution. We have an obligation to meet our cost structure and provide for future developments with our tuition. However, we are not obligated to keep those tuition rates at a level to also provide a substantial profit element. We can pass those savings on to our students. We do not need to provide for stockholders or other investors."

In my case, Touro provided an exceptional educational experience and the tuition increase seems to me quite reasonable.

Eli
ABD, Touro University International

 

Eli, my statements were general. If I intended to assert that Touro specifically had done this or that, I would have said so. I'm sorry digit is having problems. I was impressed with Touro's website when I looked at it upon beginning my own investigation of DL. Having said that, I don't believe in Touro min shamayim--or anywhere else min shamayim, for that matter.
The burden of my post was and remains that many DL institutions are not so swift in the news department, and that many people believe that something isn't really worth having if it doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
If you don't believe that, mention the cost of a DL degree from a South African university and watch the reaction.

 

Re: Eli

It is good to hear that the increase in tuition is something that does not happen often. I am also glad to hear that some improvements were made that justified the increase. It would have made a big difference if I had been informed of the increase and they had explained what changes had been made and what had been added. If that would have been done well I never would have posted this message. I am also a critical person but I don't run over screaming to an advisor or admin right of the bat. I seek advice and that was the reason for this message. I was trying to get advice from more experienced people about a problem I was facing. My intention was always to bring this up with the people at Tourou.

 

Re: Re: Eli

I understand where you are coming from. As mentioned earlier two of my previous brick and mortar (traditional) universities never "justified" their increase in tuition. I do not think it is common practice to do so especially after four years of fixed tuition making it an average of (only) 3% increase per year.

What we have here is a small raise in tuition and as a fellow student I do not feel the university is compelled to justify to us. Costs do go up.. they have to pay bills like everyone else... the cost of energy, rent, salaries,technology, goes up over time.

Eli
ABD, Touro University International

 

Re: Re: Eli

OK, I am probably just in a really bad mood, so ignore the following rant. IF YOU ATTEND THE SCHOOL COULD YOU SPELL THE NAME CORRECTLY?! TOUROU?! OK, I feel better. Ignore the previous paragraph. Many thanks.

 

spelling is correct

You are in a bad mood and you are also wrong about the spelling.

The school is called Touro University International, and it is sometimes referred to as TUI or TouroU. For example the Web page for Touro University International is http://www.tourou.edu. So if they can have a domain name registered as tourou.edu then I can surely call them Tourou. The only thing I left out was the big U at the end that might have been appropriate.

Also I want to inform you of something that some people especially people that have English as their main language sometimes assume. They assume that people have excellent ability in English and should adhere to the same spelling and grammar rules that they themselves might live by. People like that sometimes forget that people live in other countries and speak and write different languages.

I for example live in Iceland and I speak and write in four different languages. 1. Icelandic, 2. Danish, 3. English, 4. German. Because of this I believe remarks about my grammar and spelling on a forum like this are less justifiable. I would gladly take such comments to heart if I had written the message in Icelandic or even Danish but not a third language like English.

Thanks,

Theodor

 

While I didn't feel compelled to call "digit" on "Tourou," I have to disagree with one thing. (Not the first language argument; that seems to make sense. I'd hate to post using only my halting Spanish.)

I didn't take "Tourou" to mean "Touro University International." I doubt if anyone here would, and I don't seem to recall it ever being referred to in that fashion. "TouroUI" would have communicated, though. "Even "Touroui," but that looks even dumber than "Tourou."

 

Wow digit, it's remarkable that you can converse in three different languages, even if English is only your third language!!!

 

If you are a tax-paying resident of the USA maybe Uncle Sam can contribute to your expenses. Check out Form 8863 on the IRS web site for info on Hope Credits and Lifetime Learning Credits. This is my first year that I have to pay for my education and I will certainly take advantage of these credits.