Most of the threads for CSU are very old, so I thought I'd start one. This school is on my son's short list for undergrad because they have a BS Business with a concentration in hospitality. That has been an exceptionally difficult major/concentration for me to find for some reason (RA / NA aside). I'm probably 95% sure an NA degree would work for his career, it worked for mine for almost 20 years in that field, however, I also sent his transcripts to Franklin University and Charter Oak. The upside is that they are both RA, the downside is they don't offer hospitality. So far, here's where we are: Typical credit distribution, 36 UL required. Current tuition is $225/credit but $202 if you are associated with one of their 2500 learning partners - it's a straight 10% off tuition discount. It's also a 2-minute form to sign up, but so far I haven't been able to get StraighterLine to sign up, but Studycom is on there as a backup. Their initial academic evaluation of my son's credits is curious. They initially took everything in his Alternative Credit Project Ecosystem section of ACE, but not the original sources of credit. In other words, his SL courses all have ACPE prefixes. The issue here is that ACPE closed down, so he doesn't have many credits there. After sending an email asking for reevaluation, they gave him additional credit. In short, everything except his major, which is what I was looking for. IMO, it's impossible to transfer in UL credit because their UL credits all have LL names. This is a nifty trick I think, not sure if it's worth worrying about. As an example, Introduction to Hospitality is UL in their catalog, but since the rest of the world numbers that LL, any transfer credit is unlikely to work. It's worth pointing out that their UL courses would probably be "downgraded" if he transferred elsewhere for that reason. So, his eval leaves him 13 UL classes, and they are on a 4-term-per-year system, so this is going to be a 6-7 term process for him taking 2 courses per. We are very close to pulling the trigger. All in, he'll be under $8,000. If anyone can think of anything to add or consider, I'm all ears.
Hi Jennifer, Obviously, you are an expert in this area. The only thing I would recommend you to let him start his program with most the prestigious RA institution as he could. He is young, he has a long-term career; you will never know what advanced degree he needs in the future. With the NA degree, undergraduate might limit him from getting an advanced degree in his career field. What if 10 years from now he is able to find a leadership position in Hospitality Management pays $200,000.00; which requires an MBA from an RA school? In my experience, to this day I still wish I attend top school for an undergraduate degree. There are plenty of good RA schools offer Bachelor degree in Hospitality. URL: https://thebestschools.org/rankings/best-online-bachelor-hospitality-management-degree-programs/
APUS might come out cheap after transfer credits: http://www.apu.apus.edu/academic/schools/business/bachelors/hospitality-management.html
I've already thought of that lol. My husband teaches for Johnson and Wales and just finished his MBA in hospitality using employer reimbursement via distance learning, our son can do the same (my hubby's BS in hospitality was from an NA school too) if he wants, the benefit extends to him as well. I very much appreciate your suggestion though. If I find something else before enrollment later next month, I'll consider it. As for prestigious RA for undergrad- not happening. He works 50 hours per week and has zero interest on anything F2F. If F2F were an option, his undergrad from Johnson and Wales could be free- and in this field, they are top notch. There's no way.
I can't remember when, but APUS really turned me off when they started capping alternative credit (CLEP, ACE, etc) at 30. It's been a few years now, but they used to be better. If they still accepted 90, he'd be there in a heartbeat. I really really like that school.
I realize that it isn't bargain barn level, but Johnson and Wales has an online degree in hospitality that comes out to just around $40k, something which could probably be knocked down quite a bit if you transferred in the non-hospitality coursework from another RA school. My understanding is that J&W has a solid reputation in the hospitality industry though I also recognize that everyone has different goals and there are more ways to be a rockstar than merely getting the best piece of paper you can find. That said, $40k is very different from $8k. While not an insurmountable amount of money, even if taken as debt, it could be justified if the J&W name is able to command a higher starting salary than CSU. At this level, it doesn't even have to result in a job that pays THAT much more for it to be worthy of consideration. I say this, as always, with the caveat that the individual drives their career more than these defined paths. A shitburg employee won't get ahead even if they have an ivy league degree and a highly skilled, highly motivated person with an NA degree, or even no degree, will likely outearn them when all is said and done. The more affordable thing that pops into my head is just getting a degree in general studies (or anything, for that matter) and then tacking on a certificate. Cornell has an online, non-credit, certificate in Hospitality Management. https://www.ecornell.com/certificates/hospitality-and-foodservice-management/hospitality-management/ At $3,600, it's expensive. But you do get a piece of paper (that you have to print yourself, btw) from Cornell's School of Hotel Administration. That plus a degree in a non-hospitality field might be an interesting way to go. If you did the full pay option at Penn Foster, he could get a B.S. in Business Management for just around $8.5k with the added bonus of ACE recommendations that he could parlay into an RA degree in a pinch. Just some thoughts.
Thank you, but we have employment benefits through my husband at J&W that would allow my son to attend undergrad for free if he attends F2F - something he won't do. They offer DL undergrad, but that's not covered in his benefit AND they won't accept his current credit. J&W is not transfer friendly at all. My son would be bumped down from "senior" to "freshman" and essentially starting over. Also, thank you for the reminder about Cornell certs! I looked into them years back for myself and had forgotten all about them. That's something I might line up for him next summer. EDIT to add - since posting, I've also stumbled back onto edX's micromaster's option. They have an International Hospitality program for CHEAP that could be done in a year or less too.https://www.edx.org/micromasters/hkpolyux-international-hospitality-management It's fun planning this all for him. When I walked this road in the late 80's, mine was all back of the house. He's doing it with an emphasis on front of the house. I think he is interested in a Club Management internship too, which has it's own professional association and ed opportunties. He's not nearly as eager to collect credentials as I am, but CEUs et al are absolutely fine in this field, so if you come across others, please feel free to share!!
I've heard about the family benefits not covering DL options, it seems to be the norm when it comes to employee benefits in higher education. A colleague of mine at both Rutgers and Cornell told me that they have some nice employee and employee family tuition benefits that don't cover the online programs at all. I can understand it from a benefits management perspective but it's kind of a bummer for the student. It sounds like your son has the right idea with the internships and a hell of a lot more career focus than I ever had when I was traditional college age. I'm sure he would rock the world with an NA degree just as readily as RA. If he DOES go with a bachelors in hospitality program then there are some cool specialty certs through Cornell, as I'm sure you've seen by now, that could really expand that education nicely. The only other new thing I can think of would be this: https://www.granite.edu/degree-programs/bachelors-degrees/service-and-hospitality/ It requires an RA associates in hospitality management or a closely related field, but it's a way to go. Granite State is one of those schools that I pretty consistently forget about then, when reminded of them, say "Oh, yeah! I should look closer at them..."
Thanks I'll check that out! J&W *used to* cover any degree fully when my husband first started his contract 6 years ago. They are very generous, covering 100% for him, me, and our kids on our campus- they also are part of the Tuition Exchange which has a type of "reciprocal" arrangement with a bunch of other colleges... but, they tightened up 2 academic years ago. My hubby's MBA was going to be 100% covered, but even though it's in-house, he did it as a DL and they changed it to 75% of DL graduate programs. They eliminated the DL undergrad benefit for degrees in-house BUT they still have them through Tuition Exchange, however, I'm not going to chase those down. They are 99% traditional and expensive liberal arts colleges. I'll check out Granite. I also looked at Sullivan (Anthony Pina, if I'm getting his name right) was a regular here for a long time and I think he heads that program (?), however, the cost is WAY (!) out of our budget for this degree.
Granite State looks GOOD! They accept StraighterLine and Sophia- he has a lot of credit with them. They do, however, require an associate degree first. That might not be a deal breaker, I think he's getting one through Pierpont's AAS BOG program, but we've heard it takes forever and he only just sent in his transcripts.
Is he studying hospitality out of interest? It's not needed to work in the hospitality field. With a business administration degree with a concentration in hospitality management, he at least has a business administration degree that can be used in a wide variety of fields. If he simply gets a degree in hospitality management, then his employment options will be limited if he decides to change careers. Hospitality management is not a very popular degree because the demand and necessity just aren't there.
