My daughter received a letter from Charter Oak admissions today. Effective July 1, 2009 - all new Charter Oak Students must take a 3 credit capstone course. For out of state students - this adds $795 to the cost of the degree; and of course, you can't transfer in the entire degree now. According to the letter, Charter Oak is incorporating this change: "This is our way of ensuring that your degree aligns with the learning outcomes and standards established by our College and sanctioned by our accrediting agency, The New England Association of Schools and Colleges." Shawn
My daughter is still planning to earn her AA with Charter Oak - we were going to wait until August to enroll, but since it will be $500 less to enroll before the new course and the July 1 tuition hike, we are enrolling on Monday. Shawn
Given that COSC's letter hinted that this was being done at the behest of their accreditor , this may signal an upcoming shift in policy at the rest of the Big 3 as well. Are we about to see the end of the "test-out" degrees? If so, I think it's a real loss.
Don't be surprised - but I believe that Excelsior and TESC will have a similar requirement also. The RA's are focusing on Program Outcomes and measurement - "Can your graduates do what you say they can?" Without some type of capstone course, the school can't demonstrate this for someone who transfers most or all of their credits in. Shawn
Thomas Edison State is the only Big 3 school with a good name. The other 2 schools sound like a retirement home and some cough syrup. Back to the topic , what a shame.
Excelsior college included a policy like that for their Business degrees, you need to take a Business Policy class with them and the policy if I am not wrong is over a year old.
Okay, let's not get carried away. First of all, didn't already Excelsior institute some sort of information literacy requirement that is nearly impossible to fulfill without taking their course on it? Second, how many people really do a degree through one of the Big Three (four if you count Athabasca's BGS program!) without taking any additional courses at all? -=Steve=-