Deciding on a Online University that fits-suggestions please

I am looking for an online university that is best for my situation. I am newly divorced, single mom of teenagers. I have no previous college credits. Would like to focus on a degree with a career path in mind. Ideally, double majoring in Business marketing/public relations and human resource. Because I'm attending college later in life, having the option for an accelerated program is a plus. Of course, cost is always a factor as well. So far I have spoken to University of Phoenix, Ashford, and Western Governor(WGU doesn't offer double majors). I don't want a university that will make me work towards an associates first. Any suggestions on these or any other online university that is a good fit for me would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 

Absolutely do not attend University of Phoenix. They are expensive and have a bad reputation. There are cheaper options than Ashford University. No one jump on me, but Thomas Edison State College does offer double majors. You can also get a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in some business field like marketing and get an undergraduate certificate in another business field like human resources. If you are comfortable with testing, TESC accepts an unlimited number of CBEs (credit by exam) and transfer credits. If you are uncomfortable with testing and have some money to spend out of pocket, TESC accepts ACE and NCCRS approved courses from very cheap sources such as Saylor, ALEKS, Penn Foster, and Straighterline. There is a way to complete the BSBA for around $5,000. A member of another forum put together a plan using the cheapest options.

 

Please do not, I mean do not attend university of Phoenix, Ashford, and any for-profit college. For-profit colleges tend to be ridiculously expensive, and they have bad reputation. You could find far better and cheaper alternatives out there. For starters do a search here for the big-three, TESC, COSC, and Excelsior. Check your local state colleges, many of them have online options. Check Arizona State University, I believe they do offer double majors. Hopefully NMTD--a member here and an ASU student--would chime in with her experience. Again, stay away from Phoenix.

Welcome to DegreeInfo. Many new members wonder why their posts don't show on time. Here is why:
New Users Ask: Where did my posts go?

 

thank you for your quick replies. I came across some things that made me question the for profit schools as well. Thanks for that info. So much to think about. I will check out the ones you recommend. Will non profit schools accept me in a Bachelors program without college credits and not an associates? Do they also accept the cheaper course transfers like ALEKS? I would love to learn the best and cheapest options out there. Thank you so much for this info. Its really helping me!

 

Hello, Andrea,

I attended Arizona State University and my senior year was taken online after my husband and I left the state. For a state university, it is a tad pricey. I believe they are charging $5,000 per semester for in-state, undergraduate students, but I am not familiar with their online degree rates as I was not classified as an online student - I paid about $3,000 per semester at the time.

Frankly, I felt that my education from ASU was adequate. In my experience, my classes were designed by the actual professors who taught them and also held Ph.D.s. These were not facilitated courses taught by master's-level people who are only grading papers for classes pre-designed by other people (which is likely what you will find with a for-profit college). If you choose to go to ASU or any other non-profit school (public or private, just as long as it is non-profit), your eventual piece of paper is going to be worth more than one from a for-profit institution. If you have any more questions about ASU, I'd be happy to answer the if I am able.

Unless you're independently wealthy, have an employer who is paying your tuition or you are able to qualify for grants, you're going to rack up a pretty penny in student loans. You should be aware that for-profits charge significantly more money for educations that may or may not be taken seriously in the workplace. I would suggest checking each school's reputation with BBB. I have looked at a few for-profit, online universities and the horror stories I have read scare me to death. If you're going to accrue debt, your diploma had better be valuable enough to help you repay it. Just keep that in mind.

I wish you luck. Divorce is tough and immersing yourself in something positive afterward is a great feeling.

 

Other than your in-state universities, some of the cheapest options for business administration are Fort Hays State University, Peru State College, and Columbia College. TESC's Comprehensive Tuition Plan is also not bad. At 36 credits per year, it comes out to be cheaper than Columbia College. I would have recommended Chadron State College too, but they only have a degree completion program.

 

The best advice I can think of for a newly divorced mom is to go into the medical field. Nursing is always a solid choice...even if you have to go through an LPN program and work your way on up when you can. There are no DL programs for this (at least not for your initial nursing training) but there are DL options for advancing your nursing education.

A friend of mine works in human resources for a large health care system in Tennessee. Her job is to recruit nurses. She has a heck of a time getting nurses because the demand is so strong. She told me just last week that nurses "go where the money is." Right now RNs are making $30 an hour in the Nashville area (where she lives). But many of them are moving to Memphis where they are raking in $47 an hour.

 

If you're going to earn a bachelors degree, you'll generally have to take all of the classes you'd need for an associates degree, so you probably shouldn't write that off. In fact, it would probably be cheaper for you to get those classes done at a local community college. Many of them actually offer online courses that would allow you to complete the associates, and many of them have articulation agreements with four year universities. Even if you chose to hop from the community college to an online school, you'd still have an associates degree that would most likely transfer in.

-Matt

 

I agree with the above posts that say the University of Phoenix is expensive. However I knew several people who obtained degrees there because of their many local facilities in So California which were convenient and avoided commutes. These people used company paid tuition.

If you live in California the Community Coleges there offer lower division courses for low tuition costs (I took several on-line courses at Coastline CC).

Clovis CC in NM has affordable courses and does offer business degrees at the AA level.

But also check with CCs in your neighborhood (I took several weekend and evening classes at CCs)

Don't avoid an AA degree; if you take the appropriate courses they usually equate to the first two years of a 4-year degree.
Online Degree Programs

You should also look into taking CLEP and DSST exams - many universities have a limit on how many credits they will accept but the big three schools generally accept more credits.
CLEP Exams | CLEP
http://getcollegecredit.com/assets/pdf/DSST_Exam_List.pdf

 

Thank you so much everyone for all the helpful info! I will keep looking into all this. I want to get started right away. I don't want to waste time and money on the for profit online degrees if its not going to be considered valuable in the workplace.
I recall referring to IGETC. Taking classes that would be considered transferable and basically killing 2 birds with one stone as Ian Anderson mentioned. I'll have to get that info again.

 

Koolcypher, your signature says you have a BA from Barry University. Barry University is not-for-profit, but their tuition is extraordinarily high. They wanted to charge me 3k for one 3-credit graduate-level class towards a M.Th.

It seems that their online tuition is significantly cheaper than their in-resident tuition -- and all for the same degrees? Here is their undergraduate tuition information:

Barry University
$445 one-credit (online): Tuition Information : Admissions : Online : Barry University, Miami Shores, Florida
$845 one-credit (part time in-resident): Future Students for Barry University

Barry University is an example of a not-for-profit university that has extraordinarily high prices, just as for-profit University of Phoenix charges high prices. What gives?

 

Have you tried looking at options locally? Try your community college, universities in your state, or if you are near a military base, try the base education centers, often programs are offered for working adults either in an online environment or a fast paced traditional environment.

 

Barry University is a private university, I think your are missing the picture here. All universities are expensive, look at Harvard's tuition rates, look at the university of Miami or other private universities, they are expensive. Now here is the kicker, way for it...my total bill for attending Barry University $3000. That's it, for all four years! But, but, but how is this possible? You say. One word: SCHOLARSHIPS! The private non-profit universities give out scholarships, if you have good grades and the college wants you, then you get a hefty scholarship package. I doubt the university of Phoenix will offer me or any other student a scholarship. My total bill for attending three private universities, Barry, Chatham, and TCU $5000. Combining scholarships, grants and post 9/11 GI Bill. So I have paid a total of $5000 for over $150,000 worth of education, not a bad deal. Now I doubt the same could be say about the for-profits.:nono:

 

Those are good points concerning scholarships. Barry wanted to charge me 3k for one graduate-level 3-credit class, but with a special diocesan scholarship, it brought the cost down to $800 per class -- and with a church scholarship, it brought the cost down to $400 per class.

I too used scholarships and tuition reimbursement programs to get a low-cost education e.g. received tuition reimbursement of 75% for a masters degree (state university) and only paid 9k for a for-profit doctorate at NCU (NCU no longer has that scholarship, which was used in conjunction with employer tuition reimbursement). Paying 9k for a for-profit doctorate is extremely inexpensive.

For the first time in my life, I'm paying full price for a MPA degree at APUS, but since they accepted 15 graduate-level transfer credits, I only have to pay full price for 7 of their classes to get a MPA degree through them.

 

I agree scholarships do help, a lot. Although they are harder to obtain at the graduate level, nonetheless they are available. Good points on employer help, and transferability of credits, every little bit helps. Congrats on your MPA, I had a buddy of mine that did his through AMU (American Military University), he was happy about the experience.

 

Don't forget that many private, nonprofit universities offer tuition remission, and a small stipend to attend their doctorate degrees. So in essence they pay you to attend. I know this is not a fair comparison, all of these doctorate programs are not online, and the online for-profits cater to a whole different demographic--professionals with full-time jobs and families--thus the comparison is apples to oranges. However, the truth is that one could earn a doctorate degree for free. However, the trade off is salary, which in essence is kind of paying for it. Oh well, nothing is free. Sorry about my rant, and for the original OP for staying off topic.

To the OP, explore scholarships available to you. Believe it or not some colleges or states will offer grants to single mothers going back to school. The key here is to look for them. Good luck to you!

 

University of Phoenix is now offering up to a $10,000 scholarship. If one could get the whole $10,000, it'll reduce the total cost of their business degree from $59,750 to $49,750. Books are included. Strayer and Devry are now offering scholarships too; they are also really expensive. For comparison, APUS (one of the cheapest RA for-profits) will cost about $30,000 without any scholarships and with free books. The state colleges I listed above are around that cost and lower, but books aren't included. Fort Hays State University should be $21,840 not including books.

I've only worked for two employers that offered tuition reimbursement, but the amount offered was very low.

 

I completely agree with you. In today's age no one should be taking the Phoenix route. Maybe 10-15 years ago, nowadays far too many solid schools offer a cheaper and better alternative.

 

I agree, for some reason I got the feeling I shouldn't attend Phoenix, so I kept looking. I really need to find something I can do online at my pace as I am literally a single mom, no help from the ex as he moved out of the country. So I am constantly running around with the kids and this way I can run around with a laptop too. Need to find the best option for someone like me with no college credit. OH! and the best way to brush up on my skills so I don't have to waste time on non credit courses. That what I forgot to mention. Very important too. Thanks for your help!