Rutgers Mini-Master of Public Administration™ (Mini-MPA™) Certificate

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Life Long Learning, Jul 5, 2020.

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  1. Life Long Learning

    Life Long Learning Active Member

    I have researched over 30+ Mini-MBA (Business) options in the university world. Rutgers has the only Mini-MPA (Public Administration) program that I have seen? I used the GI Bill to pay the $2,500 tuition. I am in the last week.
    https://celg.rutgers.edu/mini-mpa-certificate
     
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  2. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Rutgers has experience with mini-stuff. Remember those $25 Rutgers skill certificates a few years ago? They cancelled them and now all we have left is the old threads. I don't know what happened - maybe Rutgers officials found they cost more than $25 to administer - or they felt the certs cheapened the hallowed Rutgers name. I have no idea. Too bad. IIRC, about a week's mild effort and you had a $25 genuine Rutgers wall-hanger - but no credits.

    Now the mini-programs take four weeks and cost a hundred times as much! You get three whole credits for $2,500 IF AND ONLY IF you sign on for the full-size MPA degree. Otherwise you can console yourself with zero credits and a handful of CEUs which mean nothing to most people.

    Doesn't seem to be much of a value proposition, especially when you think of the old certs. Then again, maybe you need an MBA to justify it - and I don't have one to get in the way.
     
    Last edited: Jul 5, 2020
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  3. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    I'm surprised - and not pleasantly. It appears that 3 credits for $2,500 actually represents a serious discount. The full distance MPA program costs as follows:
    Tuition: 42 credits @ 1256 each = $56,942
    On-line fee per course @ 300 per = $4, 200

    So, excluding other fees, books and incidentals the degree costs $61,142. You could take the mini program for 2.5K and reduce the overall cost by about $1500 OR you could have bought 2,545 Rutgers skill certificates or 204 ENEB / Isabel 1 Master propio MBA degrees instead. No wonder the US has a student loan crisis!

    C'mon Rutgers! How about one of those Groupon deals? :) Online education should NOT cost more. Lower cost is supposed to be one of its main advantages.
     
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  4. Asymptote

    Asymptote Active Member

    Interesting. Thanks, Johann, for pointing out the credit scheme. I was wondering if this Rutgers “mini MPA” might somehow be leveraged into an Excelsior MPA (which allows up to 27 credits!?). Apparently, it might not be very leveragable?
     
  5. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Right - leverage only at Rutgers itself. A single-purpose, "dedicated" lever. Maybe they should have had the Engineering Dept. working on it. They do levers.
     
    Last edited: Jul 6, 2020
  6. Life Long Learning

    Life Long Learning Active Member

    I do not do these for graduate credits. Rutgers should not sell any certificate for $25. Its bad business for a brand name.
     
  7. Asymptote

    Asymptote Active Member

    I’m with you on this. I am. I like Rutgers. I do. But that time they paid Snooki $32 large to speak on campus? I guess that was good business for the brand name?
     
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  8. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    That's probably exactly why they stopped. That said, it was true before they even got started. I never understood the rationale for them - if such there was.

    "But we gotta buy us a bunch of 'em, Mabel! Why? Because they're CHEAP, that's why!" :)

    If I suggested that Rutgers should resume them - I was just playing with their heads. Oh, yes - I feel entirely safe in doing that. :)
     
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  9. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member


    From the wiki: "In April 2011, Snooki was paid $32,000 to speak at Rutgers University. Topics she spoke about included what being a celebrity is like and what she thinks is important in school, including the advice: "Study hard, but party harder". Some students complained the school's money would have been better used on speakers other than Snooki. Rutgers spokesman Steve Manas responded that the extension of the invitation to Snooki resulted from canvassing by students, who indicated whom they wanted to invite. Over 1,000 people attended Snooki's engagement."

    Well, I suppose they could have hired that guy who ran Trump University....but why? Obviously, Snooki was who the students wanted - and the school listened. Remarkable how things turned out later for Snooki. From hard partying with JWoWW and the other Jersey Shore imbeciles to Mom of three, living with her husband in a really nice home. Seen it? -wow! And I'd call it good choice - not extravagance. She's had quite a few successes and well-paid gigs - and obviously learned a lot. And she now knows her ancestry - that's a fascinating story too. It's all in here:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snooki

    Not the worst decision Rutgers ever made - by far. That honour probably goes to the $25 certs. :)

     
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  10. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    Or, a brand new Honda Civic and 1,333 bottles of Buffalo Trace bourbon.
     
  11. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    Hogwash.

    Schools that have solid brand names don't sully their brand names by providing accessible education. Period.

    Cornell has cooperative extensions in every county in New York State (including the five boroughs). They offer certifications in composting, for crying out loud. Is it bad business for Cornell's brand name to offer a Master Composter certification alongside a top tier J.D.? Not really, because Cornell is a land grant institution that has an obligation to provide services to EVERYONE in the state who might benefit, not just those who can shell out the six figures for a degree.

    Rutgers is a state school. It's a well respected state school, largely, because it's the most prominent in the State of New Jersey and is physically near NYC which puts its alumni into one of the strongest labor markets in the world. But it's still a state university and there should be absolutely no shame in state universities offering low cost education.

    The claim that this is bad for the brand is the exact same criticism that was leveled against schools when MOOCs first became a thing. If MIT just gives away knowledge then why are people paying for it? Folks reasoned. The answer is simple; the knowledge is free (or cheap) but the degree is not. It's the same reason people audit classes and that does not seem to detract from credit seeking students.

    As for why they stopped offering $25 certificates, it isn't a mystery folks. It's not a situation where some poor Dean had to admit defeat for his ill conceived plan. Many colleges had a go at offering cheap education for all. Then Coursera and EdX really began to make headway and it made little sense to bear the full expense when you can participate in a larger platform that does all of the marketing and maintenance for you.

    You can still get a sufficiently cheap credential from Rutgers through Coursera: https://www.coursera.org/rutgers

    And, believe it or not, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, will survive even if people find low cost education to be unseemly.
     
  12. Life Long Learning

    Life Long Learning Active Member

    I do think it's bad for Rutgers corporate and personal branding. Rutgers has a good brand. That's why many pay $5,000 taking their many 18 Mini-MBA programs. Folks would not pay $5000 to a community college for the same program as they lack that level of a brand. It's the reason Harvard Executive Education brings in about Half a Billion last year. It's all about the brand.

    MOOCs are from a third party. Email MIT and see if they know who you are? I have alumni status with the Harvard Kennedy School taking their EE but not from their Harvard MOOCs and I have both. Credentials directly from the university is real. I have tons of MOOCs and they are not.

    Education and Branding is not the same.
     

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