NCU Customers Service

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by okydd, Feb 11, 2011.

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  1. okydd

    okydd New Member

    I have dealt with NCU twice since I quitted the PHD program. On both occasions the customer service was excellent. My guess is that NCU is reading degreeinfo. I still think quitting NCU was one of my best financial decisions. Since then I have discovered many things that I am very passionate about. It looks like I may be at WNMU for a while. Also a PHD is still in my plan. And I will have money to spare, not bad. I wish NCU good luck - Better lake than never.
     
  2. b4cz28

    b4cz28 Active Member

    I heard NCU ate babies as well............
     
  3. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    b4, I deleted my other post. I'm tired of ranting about NCU. But they do eat babies.
     
  4. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    That is just not true...unless the babies are doctoral students,
     
  5. truckie270

    truckie270 New Member

    Seriously? There is no profit in eating babies........
     
  6. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    I'd like to hear more about the lake. Swimming?

    :joke:
     
  7. RBTullo

    RBTullo Member

    You know how it is, eat just one baby and they throw it up at you forever.

    Rich
     
  8. okydd

    okydd New Member

    I meant to say better late than never with good customer service from NCU. Anyway, I was just wanted to report that recently I had two good customer service experiences. I guess being positive about NCU does not work. Maybe I am just trying to feel good about myself concerning NCU so I can move on with other things.
     
  9. rmm0484

    rmm0484 Member

    Remember, it is not you, it is them. There are better to increase yields without pissing off the revenue stream, (to continue the lake analogy).
     
  10. Cyber

    Cyber New Member

    The truth is that they all lurk around degree info to see what is being discussed about them. In my opinion, it is a smart think for them to do. After all, majority of the issues are bent toward them improving, as well as opening up opportunities for interested learners.

    Does that mean that if a school that we (degree info members) have been critical of (NCU, for example) were to offer special discounts to degree info members; especially, discounts for many of us that withdrew from their doctoral programs, that some of us would not accept it and return to complete our studies? I think many of us would snatch-up such opportunity. I'll accept such offer in a snap.

    Is there the possibility of that happening? I don't think so. The quest for hyper-profits would not dare allow any online school to charge any student cheaper tuition even if doing so may actually increase enrollment. Todays' capitalism - you know the type that crashed the real estate market, suggests that you should make the most profit within the shortest possible time from as few your customers as possible. Why? Just in case the source of money crashes and not longer exists - so you're not left out of the "jackport," which online doctoral tuition rates have seemingly become.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 12, 2011
  11. Abner

    Abner Well-Known Member

  12. Abner

    Abner Well-Known Member

    Very true brother Cyber. The pursuit of hyper profits has demolished the human aspect involved in business and higher ed. The CEO's and Board of Directors make grotesque amounts of money while paying their line staff make low wages. What happened to "trickle down"? The student suffers as well. In a time when we need to provide affordable education, the unemployed American worker is being shut out from the pursuit of higher ed.

    Abner
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 12, 2011
  13. Cyber

    Cyber New Member

    "Greed" is what happened to it. By the way, there is no such thing as trickle down. It's just a word that the rich uses to pay lower taxes. If a company pays you $20. You probably make $300 for them. Employee contributions are not worth more than 5 percent; 9.7% if they like you. If you are really good at bending over backwards, and they like it, you may get 11.799% while the managers take all the credit for the work, as well as, make 900 percent more than the folks that actually do the work. If you don't like that, start your own business, and then do whatever you like with it (including paying people nothing, or charging your customers excessive rates even when you know your customer service is in the gutter). Some of the greed that is in display today are just disgraceful. Even schools that teach people business ethics and corporate social responsibility indulge in these high-tuition rip-offs.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 12, 2011
  14. Abner

    Abner Well-Known Member

    Oh, I agree. The trickle down theory/movement changed this country for the worst. There is simply no "trickle down", only "trickle up". There was a time in this country when companies made good profits, and they passed on the good fortune by giving fair/good living wages to the worker (1 income household), and you know what? The economy was at its best. Trickle down killed the 1 income household in America and has progressively changed the tide for the worst.

    Abner
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 12, 2011
  15. rmm0484

    rmm0484 Member

    I am surprised that some entrepreneurial school would not jump at the opportunity to scoop up all of the ABDs and offer a degree completion program. It could be a hybrid between the traditional PhD programs and the dissertation only PhDs offered in the UK, SA, and Australia. I believe that Dr. Pina has mentioned this topic before.

    Also at NCU, resignation is the new leave of absence. Someone at the nculearners social network on Yahoo Groups mentioned that there is an NCU policy that a learner could leave for 180 days and return to the same program, but after that, they were at the mercy of whatever program requirements were in existence when they returned. Of course, since there is little policy and program stability, all NCU learners are at the mercy of whatever the school chooses to require. Several learners at the nculearners board reported being in resignation status, and one even received a nice letter about returning from the NCU President (mine must have gotten lost in the mail).

    Learning about the letter shocked me, because I was under the impression that NCU was careening ahead on the path to ever higher profitability with callous disregard for students and for their own reputation. IMHO, NCU 2.0 is a Harvard case study waiting to be reviwed. My own customer service experiences have been mostly dealing with a series of academic advisors who had varying degrees of concern and competence.
     
  16. DBA_Curious

    DBA_Curious New Member

    So here's my take on NCU.

    They may be asking themselves if their industry is 'mature' as in what are the growth prospects. Think about this for a moment - they're a school with no real academic reputation to speak of that offers a niche opportunity for someone to complete a RA doctorate. Their only value proposition is the ability to offer a RA doctorate via online channels and the very industry in which they work (for profit education) is coming under heavy fire. When UOPX cuts back on their incoming classes by 40%, you can believe things are changing.

    From a purely profit-minded orientation, I believe they are engaging in short-term profit maximization techniques because they don't necessarily believe their runway is that long. They're going to find the maximum revenue they can generate from the smallest amount of people and they're going to stay there until the industry shakes out. There's no reason to have hundreds of graduates every year if they can make the same amount from dozens of graduates. In addition, if they don't slow their output, they're going to flood the market with adjunct applications from their school making their product less valuable.

    I can tell you that at a small B&M college near me, a recent opening resulted in three apps from Capella degree holders and three apps from NCU degree holders. That's unusual and it prompted the college to research NCU. As soon as they discovered that NCU was online-only, it went on 'that list'.

    I don't think the niche opportunity is with NCU any longer. I also don't think the niche opportunity is with gathering up ABD's and helping them over the finish line. I think the niche opportunity is with specialized education. For instance, CA is facing a crisis in education because they can't hire enough PhD CPA's to teach.

    Why wouldn't the AICPA work with a B&M University to develop an accounting-only PhD program with strict intake requirements and very high tuition. The program would serve a limited market, the research could be focused and the school could quickly gain a market relevance.

    NCU is never going to be thought of that highly until they start producing research. It's the means to an end and the end is being questioned (just how many NCU grads are going to be adjuncts?).
     
  17. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    LOL, I couldn't watch the whole video. When he spiked the baby doll, I started laughing so hard that I aggravated a cough that I've been fighting all week :biggrin:
     
  18. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

  19. b4cz28

    b4cz28 Active Member

    I was thinking about this and in no way should Randall1234 feel like we are attacking the validity of his Alma mater. I'm only making fun of what appears to be a case of sorry customer service. I believe Randall has done something I can only dream of doing. (It's going to get corny in here) You're a Randall1+2+3+4=10in my book!

    It must suck to log on and see people talking smack about a school where you earned a PhD.
     
  20. truckie270

    truckie270 New Member

    I just vomitted in my mouth........
     

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