Which "Learn at your own pace" College/University is Best?

I am wanting to sign up for a "Learn at your own pace" college/university. I am in the research mode now. Which "Learn at your own Pace" School would you recommend?
I want a school that has good accreditation that will be accepted.
I need a Learn at your own pace school due to my work schedule. I don't want to sign in to a online class at a specific time and I don't want a timeline on homework.
I attended Penn Foster years ago, I loved the way the lessons were most always multiple choice, test were multiple choice and it was learn at your own pace, but It's DETC Accredited and not sure how it would look to employers or how the credits will transfer. I also found Ashworth College, but it also is DETC Accredited.
Which school would you recommend? Must be "Learn at your own pace"

 

You do not indicate what program level you are interested in so I am assuming undergrad. You indicate that you want "good accreditation," but suggest there is something inherently wrong with DEAC (formerly DETC) accreditation. So I am assuming you are solely interested in regional accreditation. You do not specify why you need the degree, so we can't tell you why accreditations other than regional may in fact be better suited and in some cases much cheaper. I think you are going to be hard pressed to find a regionally accredited program that enables the student to go at own pace. Most regional programs will require you to log on at certain times, make postings, or in some cases log in for lectures. There may be exceptions, but I do not know of any. Moreover, the programs typically have to be completed in 8-16 weeks in accordance with the semester timeline. DEAC schools typically have much greater flexibility being that they are designed with people like you in mind.


If you provide more information you will probably get better advice.

 

Is not ncu.edu learn at your own pace..Northcentral University..

 

If there was a RA school offering a whole degree in this format and anywhere near Penn Foster price point, this board would know about it. Closest thing is competency-based degrees (WGU, Patten, NAU, Kaplan Open College). but these charge per term - the longer you take, the more you pay.

What you can do is emulate this with the Big Three assessment colleges (Thomas Edison State University, Charter Oak State College, Excelsior College). All three offer regular online classes - not self-paced and not that affordable. However, all three share an important characteristic - they do not limit the amount of credit they take in transfer or by testing. In some cases, this means you can earn an entire degree without taking one class from that college. You can pick self-paced options that are affordable to earn credit:
- many Penn Foster classes are approved by ACE (American Council of Education), and therefore can be transferred to TESU, COSC or Excelsior;
- Saylor Academy has free general ed classes, some of which are approved by ACE and NCCRS. You pay $25 for a proctored final to get 3 college credit;
- online classes from FEMA are free and good for free electives;
- ALEKS is an online math tutoring platform with some ACE-reviewed classes. $20 a month;
- big one - standartized testing: CLEP, TECEP (from Thomas Edison), UExcel (from Excelsior), some other colleges
- there are RA colleges that have individual courses in self-paced format. Louisiana State University was affordable, last i checked;
- portfolio assessment - allows you to document learning you got on the job for college credit;
- some industry certs are worth college credit (usually through ACE).
There are sample plans online on how you can earn a degree from, say, TESU through testing and cheap outside classes, from scratch, for about the same price (or less) than at Penn Foster. Add to this college credits you already have, and this is an option that is hard to beat.

Here is the link to Saylor blog on how you can earn an ASBA degree from TESU:
Update: An (even more affordable) open course option for the ASBA | Saylor Academy
Apparently they lifted the idea from a guy on "that other forum" (I believe he might also participate here); his original plan is even cheaper. There are full plans for the BSBA in General Business and some other degrees, completely or largely by testing and other nontrad means.
P. S.: seriously, can we just mention "that other forum" by name or URL?

 

I don't think so. The website boasts of the "weekly starts", which usually don't mean self paced. Plus, it's not that cheap anymore, at $1,296 per course.

 

There's nothing inherently wrong with DEAC. Yet my friend, who tries to use Ashworth degree here in Canada, battles her professional regulator since last April, and had to threaten Court action. This is AFTER I help her do all imaginable due diligence, and actually getting a letter from Dr. John Bear trying to talk sense into them. Things would be simpler if it got the "recognized" nod from WES. Like it or not, RA is just safer.

 

I am not suggesting there is anything is wrong with DEAC. To the contrary, I have one DEAC degree and working on another. I was alluding to the OP's comment about DETC not being "good." Sorry to hear about the problems experienced in Canada, though.

 

But you are right, RA tends to be safer.

 

Without turning this into an Na/RA debate, let me just say that there is no one size fits all solution.

When it comes to licensure, there are plenty of RA options that will leave you in the lurch just as readily as an NA degree. For many people, in many situations, an NA degree is perfectly fine and they will never experience any issues with its utility. There are situations where people with an RA degree may face limitations with their degree (such as people with a UoP degree who run into an interviewer with strong negative feelings toward UoP).

Your industry matters. Whether you need a license to do your job matters. Your future goals matter.

"Acceptance" of a degree is not a binary function (I.e. Accepted or not accepted). There are often caveats and nuance. As I stated earlier, if we search LinkedIn for people with NA degrees I am confident we could find at least a few people working as staff at well established universities with their NA degrees. But those same schools might not hire a person as faculty with those degrees. So role and level also matter.

But your degree is only a piece of the puzzle. It ties in with your experience, your skills, your certifications and how well you are able to build rapport with your interviewer, your coworkers and your managers. Networking gets people jobs far more often than the degree listed on your resume.

 

The NA vs. RA debates almost always center around two things. First, there's the crowd that did degrees at NA schools and insist--against all evidence to the contrary--that there's no difference in the two forms of accreditation. This kind of denial only stiffens in the face of that evidence, so it's a pretty futile exercise.

The second argument often centers around the magnitude of the difference. In this one, we hear holders of such degrees offer up their personal testimonies. In fact, these arguments only solidify the fact that the difference does indeed exist, but each situation is different. (In other words, some/many/most people do quite well and don't experience any limitations.) We don't know to what extent this exists, nor whether or not the gap is closing, widening, or staying the same. John Bear did a survey of admissions officials and registrars (AACRAO) in 2001 and I did one with HR managers in 2003. They were very different surveys (mine was for my doctoral dissertation), but I did the statistical analyses on both. The difference was very real back then. It would be interesting to see how that might have changed over the subsequent years.

No where is it argued that there are qualitative differences between the learning experiences had at these two types of schools. IMHO, that's because many/most participants on this board are WAY more interested in the degree than in the education leading up to it.

I'm heartened by DEAC's real efforts to improve in this area, as well as its efforts to explore programmatic accreditation, something I've been advocating for years.

If you do a degree at an NA school, great. You've done a legitimate degree from a school with recognized accreditation. But be prepared in case your degree excludes you from consideration in some situation(s).

Finally, there is almost no financial case for doing a degree at an NA school. In almost all cases, RA alternatives are available at similar costs. But if cost is an issue and you can find an inexpensive NA program, you might want to consider it.

 

The discussion is fascinating, but I bet the topic starter came for advice.

Based on the little we know, I think your best bet is BSBA in General Business from TESU, achieved through combination of testing, transfer, portfolio, and credit sources like Saylor, Penn Foster, ALEKS and the like. Other worthy options exist, but you won't go wrong with TESU. Disclosure: my wife is an Excelsior College alumna, while her best friend graduated from TESC, both partly on my advice, derived from the information from this very forum. Both are satisfied with their degrees; EC degree led to CPA and CPA CA designations.

 

I think the Big 3 is his best bet, I said that like 3 times in the other thread. Since he asked about a self paced program I will again suggest Patten, Hodges, and WGU. Preference to WGU, but because of performance and rase of use...not price.

 

And then there are the people who insist on constantly rehashing the same survey results which were based upon some flawed assumptions and refuse to admit potential limitations in said evidence or to simply re-conduct said survey.

Of course, I'm unaware of anyone saying "there's no difference in the two forms of accreditation." The debate is quite a bit more nuanced than that. Of course, the entire situation is entirely more nuanced than that (even if some people want to divide the issue into a convenient dichotomy whereby we can say "RA = good" and "NA = not good.")

Anyway, to the OP's question, the Big Three is definitely a safe bet.

If we're going to focus on Regionally Accredited and "self paced" then you should likely also look at Western-Governors University, Patten University and Capella's FlexPath. Be aware that the self-paced options are not cheap and financial aid is typically not available for them (in terms of Title IV, employer benefits may be an option).

Some Penn Foster credits are ACE recommended (check first) which means they are likely to transfer to the Big Three. You can also peruse the ACE and NCCS catalogs for specific courses through other providers that might provide you with some cheap and self-paced options. Again, your best option will continue to be the Big Three.

Penn Foster also states that they have an articulation agreement with WGU, Herzing and Charter Oak (one of the Big Three). So even without ACE recommendations this may provide an interesting pathway from a Penn Foster associate's degree to an RA bachelor's degree at an RA school.

 

What "flawed assumptions" are those? I would welcome your SPECIFIC criticisms, if you actually have any. As for limitations, I've been very clear about them for years (it's addressed in the dissertation, as is de rigueur in such things), as well as the need to re-examine the question. In fact, my post above even notes how old the data are, and that we don't know if the situation has changed. Thus, I don't understand you objecting to something I've already noted.

Really? It's been going on for more than a decade. I agree it's more nuanced, which I also brought out in my post. But there are others who've argued quite the contrary.

Depending on where one stands, one could certainly conclude that national accreditation is a bad thing. I don't, but it isn't an unreasonable position for some to take.

I would really appreciate it if you didn't attribute to me things I didn't say or do. I would also appreciate that if you have objections to something--like the research I did on this topic--you be specific about your criticisms instead of sweeping it away with an unsupported generality. I was very even-handed in my post. It would be nice to see the same.

 

Most of the RA schools offering competency-based programs are either participating in Title IV or are in the process of obtaining approval. You can receive financial aid for competency-based programs at WGU, NAU, SNHU's College for America, and Capella. I haven't checked for Hodges, Brandman, and University of Wisconsin (I think they do have approval, but they're expensive). Patten has chosen not to participate in Title IV.

Stanislav, I'm a she. I echo everyone else. Testing out at the Big 3 will be the most flexible option.

 

I pointed this out the last time our discussion took this course.

Employers do not look at accreditation, generally speaking. I can count on one hand the number of companies I have encountered which actually have a process in place for even checking that a school is accredited. The bulk of third party background check companies also do not check for accreditation. They only contact the school and confirm graduation (which, incidentally, is how people with diploma mill degrees make it through the process).

So, without first establishing how many employers actually check accreditation, getting their opinions on accreditation is kind of a moot point.

Consider this:

Let's say I present you with all of the injustices and labor abuses I can find with Foxconn. Then I ask you "How likely are you to purchase a product that is made with components manufactured by Foxconn?" You might justifiably say "Not very likely." And I could then use that survey to show how people won't buy iPhones.

The inherent flaw, however, is that most consumers don't check the source of every component of their electronic equipment. They only know that Foxconn manufactures iPhones because it was a big splashy thing in the news. They have no idea that a boycott of Foxconn would also mean a boycott of Dell, HP, Acer, Motorola (which manufactures components that you might find in almost any electronic device).

So yes, if we ask an employer what their thoughts are on ACICS or DEAC, they may very well form an opinion. They may very well even say that they would never, ever, under any circumstances hire a person with a degree from a school accredited by one of those agencies. However, if those same employers don't actually check for accreditation, those opinions tell us nothing.

I am not saying no one has ever said such a thing. I'm only saying I have not seen it. I have seen you react rather strongly to anyone who even hints at the fact that some people in some roles might not experience the limitations of an NA degree.

But, if you'd be interested in an experiment, let's create a fake resume that matches a job posting perfectly. Let's create three versions; one with a degree from the University of Phoenix, one with a degree from Grantham and one with a degree from say, the University of Virginia. Limit distribution to only West Coast employers (to limit any interference from UV's geographic influence) and let's just see how many calls for an interview we get. I don't normally propose sending bogus resumes and wasting the time of other HR people, but if NA degrees and UofP are both as despised as some would have us believe, then 2/3 of the "applicants" would get summarily dismissed by either screening software or by a person well before a phone interview was offered.

I've shared my specific objections before with you in other threads. It is impossible for me to know if you are intentionally ignoring them or simply missed them innocently.

 

Just for information I took two online geology courses at Coastline College in CA which were not self paced. Each of the courses included a few quizzes and two exams with a week to complete each. I mention this because I was also working very long hours plus a long compute. I spent less than 30 minutes per week on the first course (received an A). Then for the second I had even less time and just took the quizzes/exams cold using info from the previous course (I got a C). So depending on your age and knowledge some courses can be completed in minimum time. I also took one CLEP exam (English) which as I recall was one hour one Saturday. My point being is that many courses can be completed in a very short amount of time.

 

Since you've attended Penn Foster, and I've been attending off and on since 2009, the course structure has evolved to now include: (1) Webinars (2) Discussion Boards and (3) Research Projects, depending on the course. So it has become more "online" oriented. Yes there are still the multiple choice tests as you're proceeding through the course and the proctor exams at the end of each semester are still essay and timed, an hour per course. I still scramble to answer the questions within that time frame. The reason why I'm offering this? Certainly for your own edification, but also for others that are interested.

So OP you've heard from multiple board members over two threads. I presume you're like most of us; you listen to other's opinions, dispose of those that don't apply and make your decision accordingly. You know best what you want to get with your degree. I wish you well.

 

Before ruling out an NA school like Ashworth or some other, the first thing you want to do is find out if the field you're entering has any degree designation preferences that may affect you down the line. In general, you usually find restrictions that invalidate an NA degree in medical/mental health professions, but even then it can vary by state.

If you do decide on NA, you have tons of options outside the more well-known and larger programs like Penn Foster an Ashworth. There lots of NA schools outside of the DEAC realm, but few will offer the type of flexibility you get in the DEAC section.

AFAIK, the cheapest DEAC program (and perhaps cheapest of all NA programs) is Nations University. It's a Christian school and currently runs at about $960 per year, total (excluding books). It's 100% at your own pace just like Ashworth and Penn Foster.

 

Now that you bring up Nations University (which is even more flexible than Penn Foster and Ashworth since they don't charge by semester), there is also University of the People (DEAC-accredited). University of the People, technically, is tuition-free. All you pay for is the final exam at the end of the course. Therefore, you aren't penalized at all for going extra slow. It truly is pay-as-you-go. However, University of the People only offers degrees in business administration and computer science and doesn't accept transfer credits. But, then again, Penn Foster only has bachelor's degrees in business management and criminal justice, and Nations University only offers one bachelor's in religious studies. Since the OP is looking to improve his or her job prospects, a degree in religious studies probably wouldn't help. Plus, a degree in business administration will probably be more in line with his or her work experience.