Can anyone help?

Can anyone tell me anything about Tiffin University? Has anyone heard if the school is legit? I have been accepted into the Masters of Criminal Justice program but I am still leery about online schools.

 

I haven't done the research on this school and do not intend to do the research necessary to answer this question with certainty. I'll only say two things. 1) If you're not sure that it's legitimate then it probably isn't. 2) Wouldn't it have been better for you to ask this question before you applied for admission?
Jack

 

Certainly it's legitimate. NCA accredited etc.

It's not known as an "online school."

 

http://www.tiffin.edu/

I'd never heard of it, but it certainly looks legitimate to me. It's regionally accredited and has been in existence since the 1880's.

Tiffin's got an attractive physical campus that apparently they are proud of. So it's not a virtual school that only exists on the internet.

I just looked at their CJ program:

http://www.tiffin.edu/livepages/148.shtml

It looks kind of interesting, actually. I like the specializations that they offer.

Only you can decide if you like their combination of courses, delivery format, price and so on. But I wouldn't worry about its legitimacy. It looks like a good program.

Thanks for letting us know about it.

 

Tiffin University is a private bricks and mortar university with a real presence in Tiffin, Ohio, two counties south of where I live, and branch campuses in Cleveland, Fremont, and Lima that was founded in 1888 as a business school. They offer their MBA and MCJ degrees online.

For more info, www.tiffin.edu

 

Thanks to all of those who were nice about helping out. To Jack..the fact that you were as rude as you are shows me whatever education you do have is a waste of time since you can't even use manners!! I have researched the school and it appears to be legit. However, a professor once told me that if a degree is obtained online, it's not valued on the job market. I just wanted to see if there were any other students that had heard of the school. Or maybe even receieved a degree from that university. That way, I could find out if the school had a good reputation. But your nasty reply was a reminder of just how rude and immature other people can be these days!! To the rest of the folks that helped me out, I do appreciate your replies. I figured that with the website and the fact that you can get government financial assistance, it had to be legit. Just wondered if anyone had heard of it. Was hoping there were some alumni online that could let me know it's a good school with a legit rep. Thanks all!!

 

Re: Re: Can anyone help?

Oh! Their online MBA is accredited by the Association od Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP).

 

How nice, another satisfied customer.
Jack

 

1. Your professor is probably wrong about online degrees not being valued on the job market. There is an older study (1978) by Carole Sosidan and Laure Sharpe entitled _The External Degree as a Credential_ that found a high level of satisfaction among external students and a high level of acceptance of external degrees. By the way, maybe Rich Douglas could help with this one. He has a PhD in Non-Traditional Education from the Union Institute and University and his dissertation, if I recall correctly, dealt with just this topic.

2. Well, having a website doesn't necessarily guarantee that a school is legit. Many outright degree mills that just want to take your credit card number in exchange for a useless piece of paper exist only on the Net. Tiffin certainly is legit. The fact that one can get government financial aid is a pretty good sign that a school's legit.

 

Easy, there, newbie. I understand why you feel the way you do, but Jack's a nicer and more helpful guy around here (and elsewhere in his life, I'm quite certain) than you're giving him credit for. There are just some people in life -- and I consider myself to be one of them, as well -- who notice absurdity and just can't help pointing it out with eyes rolling toward the ceiling and head shaking in disbelief. Checking-out a school after one has applied there is... well... it's just silly -- or, at least, it clearly seemed so to Jack. It did to me, too. Jack just beat me to pointing it out... a happenstance for which you should, perhaps, count your blessings since Jack's typically more diplomatic than am I.

Aw, toughen-up and quitcher bellyachin', already! Enough whining! Maybe this will teach you a lesson in appearance and anticipation thereof. I've asked dumb questions, too, but I've learned to preface them with an acknowledgement of their dumbness and an explanation of the reason I'm asking anyway... an explanation similar to the one you've just offered, above, for example. Had you bothered to explain it that way in your thread-starting post you might not have been called on the foolishness of your situation by someone who, like me, doesn't suffer fools.

Now, if we can move past your form complaints and get to the content, two things:

1. Any time you have a question about any school -- regardless whether it's a brick & mortar institution or a distance learning one -- the very first thing to figure out is whether it's accredited by an agency approved by the US Department of Education (USDE) and/or its Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). Though the USDE has an online database of accredited institutions, it's relatively new and has suffered some accuracy problems. So, though it's actually not quite as complete (because it approves fewer accreditation agencies than does USDE), the CHEA database is the first place to look-up a school and see if it's accredited. If it's accredited by any CHEA agency, then it's categorically "legit." However, if that agency happens to be one of the six regional accreditors, then it's not only categorically "legit," but it's also met the very same minimum quality standards as virtually any other college or university in the country, regardless of its course delivery method. To search the CHEA database, click here.
   
2. As for what that professor once told you about an online degree not being respected in the job market, s/he is wrong. A distance learning degree from a regionally-accredited institution is identical in content (not method of delivery, obviously, but in content) to its residentially-delivered/brick-&-mortar counterpart. Accreditors don't allow sub-standard content (or delivery method) for distance learning degrees. In fact, where an accreditor sets forth special standars or requirements for distance learning coursework, it's to ensure that the distance learning delivery method is as effective as the in-person, residential, brick-and-mortar method. The key is to make sure that the institution -- or at least the degree -- is accredited by a USDE- and/or CHEA-approved agency. If it is, then any distance learning degree from it is as good as the identical degree earned via more traditional, in-person methods.
   
   That said, the very same kind of ignorance exhibited by the professor who told you that is also out there in the workplace. That's 100% of the reason why I tell people to never indicate on one's resume that the degree was earned via distance learning methodology. It's not misleading or unethical to leave that particular detail off one's resume. It's actually no more the employer's business how you earned the degree than it is your employer's business what your credit rating is... or your underwear size, for that matter. If an accredited institution grants the degree, it doesn't matter if you earned it while hanging upside down, naked, and singing the University of Wisconsin fight song in pig latin. If the institution says you earned it, then you earned it. End of discussion. How is nobody's damned business! It's time that distance education students learned this. I'm, personally, sick to death of the credibility issue that already exists regarding unaccredited versus acctredited being further complicated by the issue of delivery method![/list=1]Hope that helps... that is, assuming you can get past my rudeness.

 

Unless, of course, your employer requires you to hold a security clearance of some level, then your credit rating is, with justification, their business. Although I don't know about the underwear size . . .

(Iway amway ustjay eingbay away itbay ontrarycay erehay orfay unfay!)

Eerschay,

Adrienneway

 

Being a new participant on the board doesn't make someone into a target.

Being a DL student can be kind of an isolated existence and many prospective DL students don't really know their way around issues like accreditation.

I think that it's natural for new DL students to want to verify the wisdom of their choices and to seek a little reassurance from other people who are successfully doing the same thing that they propose to do.

I think that Onthefence's question was understandable. It's certainly not foolish to want to run your DL program choice past a group of people with some experience in these things.

Nobody needs to be taught any lessons.

But I really would like to extend Onthefence an apology for the way his/her first post on Degreeinfo was treated.

Don't get down on Degreeinfo. People here will grow on you (like fungus!) and you will start thinking of them as your virtual DL friends. Their bark is way worse than their bite. So shine'em on, shrug'em off and don't worry.

Anyway, welcome.

 

Thanks BillDayson!!

 

No GMAT/GRE required either.

 

Onthefence, good luck with your studies!

 

Yes, it's legit. I've seen the place. It's there. Not renowned, but there.

Despite its funny name, it's bigger than a lunchbox.

And Jack Tracey is a fine gentleman undeserving of our new poster's bile.

 

Jack is a very nice guy.