Touro Uni....No TUI ... No I mean Trident University International

I have been researching a little on Trident University and got information from a couple of sources that they "MIGHT" be in trouble with their accreditation. First a former recruiter told me that they had their accreditation review in April and it didnt go that well however he said that they might still maintain it. I emailed WASC but they really did not give me alot of information and told me to make sure I research about Trident before applying. WASC's committee will make its results public in mid July. The way it sounded was that there was no formal visit done when WASC took over accreditation from the Middle States. But I could be wrong. Further there were no public complaints filed with WASC. There were many complaints that WASC said is "non-public". So with that in mind anyone thinking about applying to Trident University I would wait until the fall semester that way atleast the accreditation review committee will have a ruling.

 

I was contemplating TUI for upcoming coursework but between rumors of grade inflation and now this. . . I'll wait a bit and see.

 

I would not be too alarmed. These are only allegations and not facts. As a graduate, I do know that the institution did have a formal site visit as soon as they became a stand-alone (after separating from Touro College). I have heard the recent re-accreditation went very well, and that they are in great shape. I know the OP meant well, but often these kinds of rumors are not fact, and should be discounted.

 

From my perspective, it seems REALLY hard for a school to lose it's regional accreditation once it has it. I've seen some schools given warnings and come close, but few actually had their accreditation revoked. Of those that were revoked, virtually all that I remember were due, in large part, to very serious financial issues.

 

Hiwassee is a good example. The Advocate and Democrat - News Story

 

I completed my MS-ITM from Touro (non-profit) in 2004 and I will complete my MBA shortly from Trident (stupid name but better then TUI University). I would not say there is grade inflation but the program is not overly difficult or unreasonable. I have turned in some papers that were not so great compared to other papers and my grade was hit accordingly. I have finished most classes with an A but finished the last one with a B and probably this one will be a B.

I looked for comments on WASC website but could not find any. Do you have a reference for these rumors?

 

I think that if Touro (original name) didn't lose its accreditation over the "cash for diplomas" scandal four years ago, in which the Director of Admissions and nine others were indicted for selling transcripts, diplomas and physician assistant certificates, then it would, indeed, take quite a bit to put accreditation in jeopardy. (The NYTimes story on that: http://tinyurl.com/ytuwbj) A major subset of schools that actually lost regional accreditation are the 'traditionally black' schools, almost always for financial woes, which seems more important to some accreditors than academic woes.

For the record, when TUI got its Middle States accreditation, I phoned the person I knew at Middle States (Robin Dasher-Allston) to say, in effect, congratulations on creating the first-ever regionally-accredited totally non-resident doctoral program. "Oh, no," she said, "This isn't the first; there are others." "Such as...?" I asked. "Such as Walden and Capella," she replied. I pointed out that those were not 100% non-resident. She had nothing to say.

 

I have no problems with Trident or its programs. It is RA and that in itself is huge. As you can see I made no attempt to "fly" any false information against the university. I just received the information and wanted to pass it on to people thinking about admission into TUIU. I dont know much about the whole grade inflation thing but I have heard rumors about such things in the past. Again rumors are indeed rumors so its we that choose to take them as a joke or seriously. As I said in the first post they will probably keep the accreditation. FYI I also think they are the first 100 percent online university that is WASC accredited.

 

Fielding's doctoral programs are not 100 % online.

Fielding Graduate University

 

Did you/do you hear of anyone flunking classes?

Most of the rumors I'm familiar with come from a degree review site many folks here have bashed. I've found that said site requires you to have your BS filters on, but there's still useful info if you dig.

Admittedly, it seems like some of the comments are written by competitors, even responding to their own comments. . .

 

I have not heard of anyone flunking. But I never asked either. I just make some assumptions that at a graduate level people just do the work. Come to think of it, you can look at the number of posts in the threaded discussion and do a "student count". There are less at the end.

 

Haven't you done without a Touro long enough?

 

Was this for me? What do you mean?

 

LOL, I think Ted was referring to the old commercial for the Toro lawn mowers and snowblowers.
YouTube - ‪Toro Riding Mower commercial - 1970's‬‏

 

I guy who started his Ph.D. at the same time as me recently (last week) informed me that he did not pass his qualifying / comprehensive exam and will be allowed to retake it one time.

 

I seem to remember reading more about accreditation revocations due to financial issues as well. My question would now be. . . has anyone heard of academic findings (e.g. papers/degrees being sold or whatever) putting accreditation at risk? Or do those things just generate a nasty line in the renewal report?

 

I found something like what I was looking for. . .

Letters warned Tech of accreditation trouble | Lubbock Online | Lubbock Avalanche-Journal