Mr Randell, NCU loosing credibility among DL students

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by jaiho, Jul 27, 2010.

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  1. jaiho

    jaiho New Member

    Respected Mr Randel & Co.

    My due appologies incase I accidently pulled trigger on NCU.

    You might have come across some recent posts where some student's grieviances were outrightly brushed aside by NCU authorities.

    Do NCU have any real intention of generating actual Doctorate graduates.I think otherwise.You invest lot of money only to be get struck in the end with no probability to return back or any other option.

    NCU loosing reputation among DL students inspite of it being RA.

    Now lets weigh options.

    Bad Reputed RA School Vs Simple DETC School with no bad repo.

    Even with RA Doctorate, If a school have imensely bad reputation among academia then school graduates are at disadvantage.

    Such graduates often face a question from employers & peers that why your school indulge in such activities.

    your esteemed introspection is hereby requested.
     
  2. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    I believe you are ill informed. Many I have talked to have had very positive experiences with NCU. In fact, I have rarely communicated with someone who actually went through the entire program who did not like it and I have been in contact with many. NCU is far from perfect, but it is a good program despite what some say.

    NCU has recently tightened their dissertation requirements and that has left some disgruntled students, but it has served to improve the quality of their program. I believe that their reputation will slowly improve because of this.

    I feel qualified to say this about NCU even though I just dropped out. I did this for financial reasons and not due to issues with the quality of the program.
     
  3. james_lankford

    james_lankford New Member

    I have never pointed out grammitcal errors or poor spelling in someone's post on the internet, but if you're going to frame your post in the form of a professional communication and complain about the school making it difficult to obtain a PhD, then your post better have perfect spelling and punctuation.
     
  4. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    I believe this OP post is translated from another language. But I still agree with your sentiment.
     
  5. okydd

    okydd New Member


    NCU program is a fair amount of work over 12 week. The same course load over 16 weeks then that may be a different story. Would I recommend NCU? No, I can’t. I have to be fair. I drop the program. Be it ROI or bad customers, it does not matter. It was enough of an issue for me to have withdrawn. On the other hand I will not encourage anyone to DETC doctorate but I also would no discourage

    My grammar and spelling is crap. Working hard and with help friends, spell check and grammar check I can bluff my way.

    JL- my Creole English check said you have at least one spelling error.
     
  6. Ian Anderson

    Ian Anderson Active Member

    I worked for a top US company (Fortune top 20) and their view of DL doctorates (they funded students to attend NCU and Capella amongst others) was that dissertations usually revolved around work related topics that occasionally saved the company (or their customers) substantial amounts of money. This philosophy also applied to many masters programs including some done through the oft criticized University of Phoenix.
     
  7. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    Yes. I have posted here a number of times to say that many businesses are not a discriminatory toward online degrees as some on this board claim.
     
  8. mcjon77

    mcjon77 Member

    I definately looks like they intend to generate actual doctorate graduates, considering that NCU granted 100 doctorates last year.


    If a person is going for a university teaching position, even a "bad reputed"[sic] RA School is a better choice than a DETC school.


    NCU does not have an "imensely[sic] bad reputation". At worst it has the reputation of being a for-profit online school that grants a bunch of doctorates and has lower admission standards. It's reputation in general academia is probably no worse than University of Phoenix or Cappella.
     
  9. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    Holy cow, I sincerely hope not!
     
  10. Cyber

    Cyber New Member

    NCU's shortcomings are some of the same for other DL programs, and I believe DL education as a whole is responsible due to non-face-to-face instruction as well as inability for professors to really teach/train students as is the case in face-to-face. That said, DL as a whole, specifically, doctorates from the NCUs, Capellas, U of Phoenix, Waldens, TUIs, Jones International all suffer the same problems namely: the limited utility of the degree, questions and doubts from potential employers, public bias etc. So to argue about which internet school or program is good/better and worth the investment of time, money and the risks of low utility boils down to individual student's ROI or their perception of program value. The fact that NCU may be struggling to perfect their operation doesn't necessarily mean that it is worse than another DL program because they all suffer from the same fate. What I have come to learn about DL doctorates and high ROI is that it serves the student well when they've secured a career where getting an internet doctoral degree can only enhance. For example, if you want to teach, if you can't teach with a master's degree, pouring money and other resources into a DL doctorate may be a very risky business. However, if you're adjuncting already, or teaching at a low-tiered college, getting an internet doctoral degree will have a very high ROI (regardless of what that means to an individual student). Bottom line: a DL doctorate should be pursued based on an individual circumstances - getting one from NCU is not worse than getting one from say Capella, if low or no ROI is not part of the students' success mix. If it works for you-get it!
     
  11. obecve

    obecve New Member

    Checking your grammar before you write someone to complain about their doctorate might increase your own credibility...
     
  12. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    Well said!
     
  13. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    Well, there is no need to respond to all the questions. This post covers it quite well especially this line - Bottom line: a DL doctorate should be pursued based on an individual circumstances - getting one from NCU is not worse than getting one from say Capella, if low or no ROI is not part of the students' success mix. If it works for you-get it!

    I did not go for a PhD based on some "ROI model". I did it because I wanted to and took 6 years because at that rate tuition assistance covered 98% of the costs. My investment was the time spent sitting in a hotel while traveling working on papers instead of watching "The Building of the Hoover Dam" on Modern Marvels for the sixth time. :cool:
     
  14. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    If I had your tuition assistance, I would still be at NCU.
     
  15. mcjon77

    mcjon77 Member

    :D I was not trying to knock NCU. I only mentioned UoP because, as much as people malign the value of an UoP doctorate, I know multiple people who given tenure track teaching positions in part because they were currently enrolled in UoP's doctoral program. The universities were not Harvard or Yale, but they were RA state universities with good benefits.

    My point was that if a UoP PhD can open up those kinds of doors I see no reason why an NCU PhD couldn't do the same.
     
  16. bing

    bing New Member

    One thing, if you are an NCU student don't drop out and try to return. I was laid off at my company and lost tuition assistance. I then recently got another job that would pay tuition assistance. The time lapse was about two months(but I did have a leave off absence in there while my work situation was shaky). When I returned to NCU 2 months later, I sent my email to the returning student person and was readmitted to NCU.

    I found that just after two months NCU required me to now take many extra courses for my PhD program. The amount of extra courses essentially makes it a wash for me to go with another school or continue on with NCU. Now, I am looking at Dakota State, Indiana Wesleyan, or a brick and mortar DBA closer by me. I need to look at Cappella, or maybe going back to Newcastle for a looksee. I had initially been accepted into Newcastle's doctoral program a few years back. I am nearly at ground zero so I might even look at another master's program instead.

    I think NCU must have no trouble finding students in the economy now. They do not seem very keen on working with me anyway. So, some schools are doing fairly well. Fortunately, my boss told me to go find whatever program I am interested in and they will give me tuition assistance if it fits. NCU does have a number of titled PhD or DBA programs to choose from which makes them attractive to many.
     
  17. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    I think that while you were gone, they increased their doctoral requirements from 54 to 60 units. I'm not sure if the timing affected you but it happened in January or February, right after I signed up there. I think you were a victim of the timing involved, not any kind of penalty. They should have let you continue on with your program at 54 units, but I know they had that increase in requirements for all new learners. However, I'm not surprised that they didn't help you; they are not known for good customer service.

    Poor service or not, I still stand behind the quality of their program. I moved to a different school for my doctoral studies, but it was for other reasons.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 17, 2010
  18. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    That's OK. Knock it all you want. :) I was sort of joking because UoP has a poor reputation as of late.
     
  19. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member

    Isn't this a good sign instead of something negative? My understanding is that NCU has open admissions for its PhD. If anyone from the street can register as a PhD student, isn't normal to expect that not all of them would graduate? Isn't this something that should give credibility to the school?

    Most schools that have more strict admissions policy that require GMATs, high GPA, etc have only a graduation rate of abot 50% so it would be expected that NCU should have at least 50% but perhaps a lot less as its accepting pretty much anyone with a credit card.
     
  20. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    I concur. This is true whether you agree with open admissions or oppose it.
     

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