Appollos University accredited by DETC

I don't remember if this was previously reported, thought I'd make sure . . .

Apollos University Accredited by the DETC - Business Wire - SunHerald.com

 

The DETC accreditation surprised me, if only because the university address is a service (Regus Premier Business Services) that does mail forwarding, phone answering, and rents offices and conference rooms short term. But that's what Barrington (later University of Atlanta) had as well, so it must be OK with DETC.

 

Didn't UoA just lose their DETC accreditation.

 

From the DETC website:

Apollos University

17011 Beach Boulevard, Suite 900

Huntington Beach, CA 92647

USA

Phone: (714) 841-6252

Fax: 1 (866) 287-1938

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: Apollos University

Founded: 2005

First Accredited: January 2012

Accreditation Renewal: Fall 2014

Category: Degree Granting


Offers Master of Business Administration, Master of Science in Organizational Management and Doctor of Business Administration.

Subjects:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
•Business
•Business Administration
•Doctoral Degrees
•Organizational Management


Founded in 2005 and accredited in 2012. That seems pretty good to me.

 

Not quite, ShotoJuku. It looks to me like the owners, Rarefied LLC decided to let the accreditation expire (next year), stop enrolling new students and teach-out the current ones. I think maybe U. of A. didn't turn out to be the money-maker they hoped and this is their way of resolving the problem - closing the school.

That company also owns Iverson Business School, which has been sued by disgruntled former students - and a Beauty school that received "Stimulus" funds of about $600,000, despite a high loan default rate (between 30% and 40% at different times).

There's a thread on the whole deal, including the lawsuit against Iverson Business School, here - http://www.degreeinfo.com/general-distance-learning-discussions/41166-detc-giveth-maybe-taketh-away.html

You can find their beauty school story here: For-profit colleges reap big benefit from stimulus *| ajc.com

It's about three-quarters of the way down. Rarefied LLC's school is called Royal Beauty Careers.

Johann

 

Yeah, not bad at all. Especially as Apollos only applied for accreditation in 2010 and made it through pretty quickly, all things considered. And -- (a plus in my book) it was approved by the (former) BPPVE in California in 2005, when it enrolled its first student.

I'll accept Dr. Bear's comments on its premises, but Apollos U. must be doing something right. The BPPVE wasn't known for approving bogus doings. Some forum-posters maintain that the DETC has occasionally accredited schools that acted as bad apples right up until the day of accreditation - and I won't contradict those posters. I just don't see this school as one such egregious example.

They are up-front enough to state that their admin. offices are open during office-hours Mon - Fri. Site-visits are part of the DETC process, aren't they?

Can't see where Apollos is hiding anything here. I wish 'em good luck. So far, they seem to be on a seven-year roll.

Johann

 

Any thoughts on their DBA program?

 

It's very inexpensive for a legit doctorate of any kind. 60 units for about $9,000. Don't know of any accredited North American school that can beat that. Not a doctorate I'd consider if I wanted a University teaching career afterwards, nor one I'd expect would make me as sought-after by employers as one from just about any RA school - particularly if the RA school's program was AACSB-accredited.

That said, it's 100% legit - and would reflect a great deal of credit for much difficult and high-level work. Hey, I'd respect it - what more could you ask?

If you just want a legit doctorate to

(1) Advance your knowledge
(2) Show you're smart and hard-working enough to achieve this major accomplishment

-- Well, for $9,000 and all known and unknown kinds of work (especially the dissertation) -- it can be yours. And knowing you on-line for the past few years, I'm positive you have both the smarts and determination it would take. If you decide on this one, let me be the first to wish you success, Future Dr. ShotoJuku!

Johann

 

I should have added - maybe the Apollos DBA wouldn't carry the weight of an RA doctorate - but the least expensive RA program you could find would be oh - maybe 3 times the price Apollos charges. Of course, the field opens up somewhat, once you get to 5 or 6 times the price!

Johann

 

This DBA actually suits my needs, and perhaps wants as well, so I have submitted my application.

 

I'm sure that people will be interested in hearing about your experience with this school. Please keep us updated.

 

Congratulations ShotoJuku. You are a true pioneer. Best of luck in your quest.

 

ShotoJuku - I see you've already applied, but I just got some info from another forum and you might want to check this stuff out before you send any tuition cheques:

Apollos (yes, it is DETC accredited) operates from the California address (premises owned by DaVinci group - a "virtual office" firm) and this address in Nashville, Tennessee - 1001 Valley Cove Ct. a 4-bedroom residence. At the Tennessee address is the Apollos Education site: Apollos Education. Seems to be a non-profit that has now founded and owns this school. Nothing wrong with that, I guess. At least, we can assume the DETC found nothing wrong with it.

Furthermore, the Valley Cove Ct. address also hosts Madison Education Group Inc - an educational holding company, and Madison School of Professional Development - a non-degree-granting school. There seems to be a LOT going on at that address. Maybe someone is wearing many hats. Proceed with caution, my highly-educated, black-belted friend!

Madison sites are: Untitled Document and Madison School of Professional Development (MSPD)

 

Hi Johann,

Interesting indeed and I'm not quite sure as what conclusions to draw from the many faces that reside out of the two addresses except that they all seem to be interrelated in someway. What I found super attractive about AU is of course their new DETC accreditation and the low-low-low (current) DBA tuition rate of $150.00 per credit which is something I can afford.

I've seen this before with other recent DETC schools that once their accreditation status changes so too does their tuition rates and I've missed out on those opportunities then and would hate to miss out yet again.

 

As always, ShotoJuku, you're right. I remember when Cal. Miramar U. was DETC-accredited; tuition practically doubled overnight. I just wanted you to have fresh info as it came to light. A bit strange, how an ostensibly non-profit do-good org. (Apollos) now founds a for-profit school. Well, maybe some of the profits will go towards their good works. We can hope so....

As always, I wish you success.

Johann

 

Fresh and certainly worth cautiously considering.

 

I wonder if anyone is close enough to do a drive by; I'm a bit concerned about the who dual loacation thingy going on - the virtual one in California and also the main office (house) in Tennesse; all of their written correspondence goes there.

One other thing that stands out greatly is that the very few students (2) from the USA blend in to the balance of the students as if they were the red-headed stepchildren amoungst a sea of students from Vietnam, Ghana, and Saudia Arabia.

Thoughts?

 

I'm just speculating here, but maybe the owner didn't think that he had much chance of getting this thing licensed by the TN authorities. But given the upheaval in the BPPVE/BPPE, he could make it work if it had a California address.

The BPPE lists its physical address as DaVinci. The question then is precisely what is located at that address. If it's just a mail-forwarding address, it suggests that the BPPE never performed a site visit. Would the BPPE knowingly approve a school physically operating out of a different state that was simply using a California mail-drop as its physical address? Is that even legal according to California law? Would they list the mail-drop as the school's physical address in their own BPPE listing?

And then there's DETC. It's hard to imagine DETC accrediting a doctorate-granting university that operates out of somebody's private residence. It's even harder to imagine them accrediting a school that fails to inform its students where it's physically located. And where did DETC perform their site-visit, if there was one?

I'd really like to hear the BPPE's and DETC's versions of what's happening here. There may be a good explanation and everything might be perfectly fine. On the other hand, it could be a real scandal. I can't say at this point, but at this point it doesn't exactly smell right.