I'm considering pursuing a 2nd masters degree (1st was from Skidmore). The program I like is a Masters in the Humanities offered by CalStateU. Dominguez Hills. Given California's bad economy and its possible impact on education, I'm concerned that CalState distance learning programs might be cut or severely diminished. Anyone heard any rumors about the state cutting these education programs???? I'd hate to get started only to find my program jettisoned before I finish. Has anyone been through this particular program? Thanks for your replies. jab
My understanding is that this program is an extension program that receives no state funding and is self supporting.
The letter they send every time they increase tuition says it is self-supporting. I would not worry about that. On another note, I think that myself and everyone on this board that has gone through or is going through the M.A. in Humanities knows that it is rigorous. Yet US News and World Report just put CSU-DH as a Tier Four school in Grad programs. Ternahan
Hi, welcome to the group. As Ian and Ternahan have already said, CSUDH-HUX is self-supporting. It pretty much pays its own way and isn't directly subsidized by state funds. (I think that the state indirectly contributes by providing stuff like office space and work-study funding for some student office employees.) But cutbacks are unlikely to impact it nearly as much as more conventional programs. The CSUDH Humanities External Degree program was founded in 1974, so next year will be its 30'th birthday. (It's one of the DL old-timers.) It has more than 500 students enrolled each term, making it a large and successful graduate program by CSU standards. I don't think that there's much chance of it being terminated after all this time. Yeah, there are quite a few of us around here. I graduated in 2000. It certainly met my needs. I found it to be a very flexible and inexpensive way to earn a California State University masters degree. My biggest complaint was its low interactivity. But if you are prepared to work independently, and if you don't need a lot of hand holding, it will give you a lot of new and interesting things to think about.
I second what has been said here; I don't know much about state university finances, but everything I've heard has suggested to me that HUX is self-supporting. Good luck! Cheers,
Yesterday my mail contained a copy of CSUDH's alumni magazine. My eye was caught by a story by Ryan Brandt entitled 'Being All They Can Be: Humanities External Degree (HUX) students deployed around the world still find time to hit the books'. It says that there are currently about 900 HUX students, and of these, about 25% are military. The story interviews Navy Petty Officer Tristan Cajar in Bahrain and Army 1st Lt. John Nakata at Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo. Nakata says, "It's been more of a challenge than I anticipated. I'll set aside certain blocks of time, and then we need to act. Time for studying just gets pushed aside." Nakata has 'The Great Books of the Western World' collection stacked in piles in his small quarters, along with a 'Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy'. "They probably weigh a couple hundred pounds. But I knew that there wasn't a very good library that I could get to, and I wanted to complete my assignments as competently as possible." Jeffrey Crowsey, the director of Navy education programs says about sailor/students: "There are literally thousands of our sailors off the Arabian peninsula enrolled in courses right now... Then they have to deal with crew quarters where they are lucky if they can jump out of bed and not bump into each other. And regardless of where you are stationed, its very crowded and very noisy. This is not a Carnival Cruise by any manner." The story has a great socialist 'realism' style illustration showing two soldiers with stern determined proletarian expressions, one grasping a rifle and the other a red covered book. There's another story in the magazine about the CSUDH nursing department that talks about its bachelors and masters-level DL programs. In non-DL news, it looks like CSUDH will get some media exposure in October when it hosts the third place and championship games of the 2003 Women's World Cup.
Here is a good thread with comments from current and former HUX students: http://www.degreeinfo.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4730 - Phillip M. Perry (Graduating this summer from HUX) NYC
