Top Rock University, Unaccredited Competency-Based BSBA

https://www.toprock.org/

Interesting idea. Their only offering is a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. Unaccredited, but state licensed in Hawaii.

It reminds me of a mix of WGU and Quantic. The program appears "canned", you proceed through the material as given.

There's a mix of lectures and projects you need to complete. There's no specific time period to complete them in, but each project you submitted is graded and you can proceed when you've earned a passing grade, like WGU. There is no group work but like Quantic you're in a cohort, called a Team.

There are two pricing options:

• Flex Track, which is self-paced and expected to take about 2 years to complete for a one-time fee of $5000 (or a monthly fee of $500 for a year = approx. $6000)
• Hyper Track where modules are scheduled, you're expected to spend 40+ hours a week, and graduate in 6 months at a price of $2500 x 6 months = $15,000 or approx. $13,000 upfront. Similar to WGU you meet regularly with a coach (I think WGU calls them advisors or mentors?) to ensure you're on track.

I like the idea of project-based learning. They'll be eligible to apply for DEAC in June 2022 and haven't made the decision yet. The say they were offered ACICS but declined because they didn't want to change their curriculum or processes to comply (I assume the lack of actual instructors may have gotten in the way.)

I think it's a cool concept.

 

That's as may be, but I think the price is rather high for a canned-curriculum, UNACCREDITED degree.
UotP offers an accredited one for MUCH less. And UotP is considered very likely to be Regionally Accredited (as per the traditional definition of RA). It has achieved Candidacy with WASC - a very good sign. UotP - hate the name but love the school!

 

Also, there WAS Hellenic American (RA) and that smokin' $3000 MBA deal. The School is still there, naturally, but I think The Deal Is Gone.

"The deal is gone
The deal is gone away
The deal is gone, baby
The deal is gone away
You know I missed the deal, baby
And I'll be sorry someday"

(Apologies to the late, ultra-great B.B. King.
The Man! )

 

"State Licensed" in Hawaii means nothing much at all in academic terms. It's almost all about consumer protection. There has to be a refund structure, proper accounting of moneys, real courses existing etc, openness and general honesty. It IS a means of avoiding degrees-for-payment scams or somebody walking off with your money or (really) false advertising. That's it. A VAST improvement from the old days, in this State - but in no way intended as a guide to academic excellence. Wasn't the point.

 

I should note, if my Bachelor's were revoked or something and I were a student considering getting a Business Admin degree, this would not be the school for me because of its accreditation and price point relative to better schools as we've talked about.

But I like innovation and competition will hopefully drive down their prices or expand their offerings into something compelling.

 

Don't worry, Dustin. I called Athabasca --- not going to happen. EVER!

 

$6k for unaccredited is pretty high. You can get a BABA at UMPI for almost half that. It's very much based mainly on papers and projects, not exams.

 

John Bear said in his 6th edition (1980) that a bachelor's from an unaccredited school was a bad idea; there were already too many good accredited opportunities. I don't see where that's changed (except to be more so) in the intervening 40-plus years.

 

Exactly - unless, possibly, your interest is Buddhist religious studies. Still some good opportunities there. Most of the other niche stuff - e.g. the famous jet-pilot school, is now accredited, or in the process. Or else, gone. There are always a few start-ups who say they'll become accredited. Some actually do - e.g. Quantic and WorldQuant. Always a wait-and-see game, to me.

 

Enough folks have done WGU degrees in one term to know it’s possible and not a fluke… and they don’t charge you extra for trying to go faster. In fact, the exact opposite; WGU and UMPI are cheaper if you go faster.

Interesting that their website labels themselves as similar to WGU, “Competency-based programs like Top Rock's or similar ones at other schools, like Western Governors University, can be faster than credit-based programs.” Kind of glances over that one of those is RA and ACBSP and the other basically has a business license, doesn’t it? Who would pay 12,994 USD for they hyper track?

 

When I was 20, I considered going to ITT Tech because it seemed like they had a good program based on the commercials. (Ah, to be young and naive.)

I saw "Credits earned are unlikely to transfer" on the fine print but didn't know what that meant except that I wanted to finish my degree so I didn't think transferring was relevant.

Someone like 20-year-old me who was told they could get a Bachelors degree in 6 months of full time work, while completing projects that they could list on their resume, might find that compelling because I don't even know what questions to ask.

A less charitable view is that unaccredited schools prey on the information asymmetry of the average student.

 

And when you were 25, they went bankrupt. So you'd probably have had your degree -- but not your school. Degrees from even good schools can be viewed by some as problematic, when the awarding school goes under. And I'd never have put ITT in that 'good' category. Not for a second.

Don't have any regrets, Dustin. What you did is several orders of magnitude better. Enjoy!

 

And as predatory as ITT was, they still held USDOE recognized accreditation. Top Rock doesn’t. And an unaccredited school offering a discount for upfront payment for your entire degree? That add to what feels scammy here.

 

Yes, ITT held USDoE-recognized accreditation, just as you say: ACICS. Accreditation as problematic as many of its member schools. No more ITT - and ACICS is no longer recognized. Good riddance to both. Can't really say which was worse.

https://www.chea.org/us-department-education-ends-acics-recognition#:~:text=Education Department Ends Recognition of,to accredit colleges and universities.

 

When I was 20 I had been counseling dozens of people per week regarding their pursuit of higher education for almost 3 years. I was up to my ears in nontraditional degree programs and accreditation issues, not to mention my own Regents programs. My involvement in this field goes back to 1978. In other words, I'm not 20 anymore, either.

 

Anyway.

As much as it may have rocked... Toprock.org is down. Still, an interesting concept!

 

The real college that "rocks" is Slippery Rock. Or as we called it, Slimy Pebble. But it is a real, RA school. It was just our rival school. LOL

https://www.sru.edu/

 

Unaccredited scene keeps fading. St. Sophia Ukrainian Orthodox Seminary was often mentioned in this context. Considering how tiny it is, I was sure it will always remain unaccredited - and an example of an unaccredited school whose degrees have clear utility. Shockingly, they appear to pursue ATS accreditation now.

 

I know another University with "pebble". Said to be slimy, too.

 

Back in the days before ESPN, one of the networks carrying NCAA football would announce the scores during a televised halftime. They always made it a point to announce the Slippery Rock State result.