Ashford University: So far so good

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by friendorfoe, May 19, 2007.

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  1. TCord1964

    TCord1964 New Member

    Ha! I stand corrected. It looks like they updated the Fujita scale in 2007. My local TV weather man had better get with the times. They still use the good ol' F-scale each spring when the twisters blow through the Sooner State.

    I suppose they have changed the Richter scale, too. Hmm....
     
  2. recruiting

    recruiting Member


    Tell that to UoP, my wife took a few classes there and it was a bad experience, from the hard sell, to the big push, to no follow up on concerns. That was 5 years ago though things may have changed? :eek:

    Peace
     
  3. Bruboy

    Bruboy New Member

    I was getting a new security card the other day when the gentleman that was processing my information got a call on his cell phone. I heard Ashford mentioned during his conversation. I asked if that was Ashford University and he said "You heard of it". I said yes and that I was a supporter of online eduction and we compared educational experiences.

    Mike told me that he was very happy with Ashford, that he found the coursework quite challenging and was overall happy with his program, a B.S. in Social Sciences. He did mention to me that once he was unable to complete either an assignment or test online due to internet access, what he described as a problem with the availability of the school's website. This resulted in a D+ for his course grade.

    The reason he had preceived the phone call was due to a financial aide error. It seems that Ashford had two loans for him, his tuition was paid by one loan and he received an $8,000 check in the mail. He wanted to return the check and have the second loan cancelled and return the check. It appeared that Ashford was cooperating. He did mention that it had taken Ashford three days to return his initial call.

    I would like to add that Mike stated he had attended evening classes at Rutgers for three years and said for him it was a waste of time and he hadn't learned a thing. He felt that he was learning much more at Ashford.

    Just thought I'd submit this report from the field.
     
  4. jcbmack

    jcbmack New Member

    Ashford University Offers Top Education

    It is true that they do change advisors often. I have had 4 different Academic Advisors over the course of 9 classes. I am currently majoring in both Psychology and Social and Criminal Justice at AU and I love it! I have around a 3.73 GPA and yes I comment on other Ashford discussion boards as well. My name is Jacob. I received my A.S. degree from a traditional college, Nassau Community College where I took honors courses and graduated top of my classes with honors. I have also taken and aced courses at Stanford University after moving to California and have taken courses through Harvard's Extension Program. AU offers a top notch and quality education with very high standards placed upon the research papers. Contrary to some dubious claims, AU is fully accredited, based upon a brick and mortar school and the actual degree does not state it was earned online. The degree is equal to a degree earned in a state school. I did my research on Phoenix, Kaplan, AU, Capella, and numerous traditional Universities. I could not afford to attend Stanford full time and though I loved the college, AU offered me far more flexibility while still providing academic rigor. The open book objective assessments are a bit quirky and easy, however, the discussion forums and the essays/research paper standards more than make up for this. The proquest and other references in the AU library are outstanding.
    Ultimately there are dumb and lazy students everywhere: Berkely, Harvard, Cornell, Yale, community college, and the same goes for online based institutions. Also unless you are in honors classes many students looking to obtain an associates degree have trouble academically, forming proper sentences, solving mathematical problems, or stating a coherent argument. In my honors classes I met far sharper students in community college and at AU, Harvard Extension, and Standford, I met more motivated and intense students, as a rule looking to earn bachelor's degrees. Education is what you make of it and some professors are more difficult and grade more stringently than others. Some have one masters degree, while others have two and a PhD. This is life and these are the facts, you can go to a top notch college and pay 100,000 dollars a year and still not learn very much.
     
  5. jcbmack

    jcbmack New Member

    Other Universities

    Many colleges that are more selective use tuition costs as a major deterrent to many potential students. Standardized scores can be another one, however, though appropriate in some cases, they do not tell the whole story of the student or skill set. Not being able to pay for a top University is not an indicator of potential student performance, general intelligence or knowlegde/ability in a given course or major whatsoever. I respect Harvard, Yale, Columbia and Cornell for example, but I do know that the education offered in science or psychology can be found at virtually any accredited University. I also know that US News' college rankings are biased when Harvard is named the number one college, this is just simply not true. Ashford University still requires new students to take a comprehensive set of English exams and plagiarism quizzes as well. For those who do not pass a mandatory introductory English class is
    assigned by the fourth class in. This is to ensure that basic grammar and writing skills are developed and reinforced. As someone who has federal loans, scholarship money, and a decent job, I could still not afford to attend some of those brand name Universities full time, but as someone who has done well in both brand name colleges and AU I can tell you that AU is a better value for your buck and as long as you apply yourself you will obtain an equal education to any Ivy League, top 50%, or tier 1 school. US News considers AU to be tier 4, well, AU does have laxed enrollment policies, however, you still have to enter with a minimum of 2.0 GPA from another college (very standard) and must take the entrance exams, and you still have to pass the coursework which do become challenging as you move forwward into upper division courses.
    I also notice that MIT has been lowered in the rankings by US News and that other reputable Universities actually received lower tier rankings; seems very suspect to me. Not all AU students cofuse its and it's, there and their, accept and except, and we know not to begin or end a sentence with a preposition. Not only that, but when there are these errors in a research paper the professors promptly point them out and correct them along with any APA errors and typographical errors. AU is am extremely writing intensive University. Every five weeks a new 8-10 page research paper is due for those working towards a bachelor's degree. There are usually 2-3 page essays assigned before the research paper, then a draft and then the final paper. The discussion forums are grades stringently, so those who write poorly receive either little or no points.
     
  6. NMTTD

    NMTTD Active Member

    STAY...AWAY...FROM...THIS...JOKE...OF...A...SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!! Omg I went here for 8 classes in 2011 and I regret it everyday with every fiber of my being. Hate, hate, hate this place. DO NOT GO HERE!!!! Seriously. Im totally not kidding. I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to bump it up because I really want anyone who is thinking of going here to RETHINK it. Please.
     
  7. graymatter

    graymatter Member

    Any reason for your intense feelings? I just finished the new faculty training. I've been quite impressed. As adjunct for 5 universities (on the roster for 7), it appears that things are really well put together. Academics (psychology) appear strong. Resources seem top-notch.

    I'm interested in hearing more about your experiences.
     
  8. NMTTD

    NMTTD Active Member

    Oh lawd. My experiences. Ok then. I attended in 2011 and completed 8 classes. During that time, I had what might amount to the worst educational experiences of my life. The materials are sub par. When you use the "Ashford specific" ebooks they only give you 5 chapters of the book to work with. I bought a few text books (at my own expense since they AUTOMATICALLY CHARGE you $75 for the ebooks wether you want them or not. And you cannot opt out of them) and was stunned to see that the actual text books had 10, 11, sometimes 12 chapters in them.

    There's almost no interaction and communication with the instructors. You can only communicate with them through the Ask Your Instructor page, and they were known to take up to a week to respond, even though they are suppose to do it within 24 hours.

    The financial aid department is HORRIBLE. They tried to double charge me 3 different times for classes that showed up in my portal as PAID IN FULL. And since I was getting student loans and tracked the money (I got emails letting me know when the money was disbursed) I knew they had the money. And come on, when your student portal shows you have a $0.00 balance owed and shows the disbursement was made and on what date, and then 2 days later it shows you owe for a class that was already paid for, its a problem. Once can be overlooked as a glitch. But 3 times??? Come on, now.

    The advisors changed more often than most people change underwear. And with no notice. On any given day I could log into my portal and see that I had new advisors that had no idea about me, my situation, and in some cases how to even do their jobs. All of the advisors are students at Ashford who have made it very clear (but actually saying it) that the main reason they are there is because they get free education as a perk for working there.

    Many, many students there are 1 step away from illiteracy. Seriously. The lack of grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc is staggering. Even at the masters level. I just don't understand that at all.

    Ashford's plagiarism policy might be their funniest joke yet. I had a student in my 5th class who stole my work and passed it off as hers. Literally word for word. I reported it to my instructor and nothing was done. How do I know nothing was done? Because she remained in the class and continued to steal my work. So I reported it to my academic advisor. Still nothing was done. How do I know? Because she was in my next class with me and STILL stole my work. So I reported it to that instructor and my academic advisor and then contacted the registrar's office and asked that they send my complaint along to the proper channels (they refused to give me any additional info on anyone I could contact myself, so I had to ask that they pass it along for me). Nothing was done. Long story short, she remained in that class, AND THE REST OF MY CLASSES, and continued to steal my work.

    Ashford continued to raise tuition costs while eliminating services for students. They have never offered .edu email addresses or student id cards. BUT, they use to offer tutoring. Now? Nope. Oh, you have to pay more, but you get less.

    I had 2 different instructors that took over 2 weeks to post final grades. That is a blatant violation of Ashfords policy. They are suppose to be posted within a week. So when week 2 came and went, I contacted the instructor and my academic advisor. 4 days later, the grades were posted. REALLY? Why did it take so long, and take me contacting people, to get my friggin grades?

    I have more I can say. I could go on and on and have this post be a mile long. Their assignments and "quizzes" were sub par and a joke. They had an instructor who's degree was in psychology teaching a communications class. Another had a degree in IT and was teaching a sociology class. REALLY? Not even teaching degrees. And not degrees in the fields they were teaching. Just any random degree apparently will do. And it showed in the lack of knowledge in the subject matter. As I said, I cold just keep this going on and on and on. But I will end it here. I got my 8 classes and ran as fast and as far as I could. Not all RA schools are created equal. And just having a RA does not make the school a good one.
     
  9. graymatter

    graymatter Member

    Thanks for sharing your experiences. A few reflections (not points of contention, just reflections)...

    1. Several schools use e-books now and charge for them. Clearly, its an opportunity for them to make money - but I've also facilitated courses for a school that had tons of problems with students not getting their texts until the course was already several weeks in. I imagine that the goal was to simplify the process, not just to bilk you out of cash. Its frustration for me as a faculty member. In fact, I have purchased (used on amazon or ebay) ALL of the text for the courses I teach because I do better with the hard copy.

    But that frustration is not unique to Ashford.

    2. I am surprised at the problems with instructor communication as that point was emphasized in the faculty training. There are some classes that use TAs, a variable that I imagine would be more difficult to control. Again, though, I've read that complaint about other online programs.

    3. Financial Aid isn't a concern of mine as a faculty member (or a student as I paid cash for my education) but that's another common complaint. I was recently at a conference and spoke with a rep there from a school that has DL programs. I mentioned financial aid concerns and he said that the issues are generally not directly related to the university itself or their staff but they are blamed as the "middle man" er, "middle person." Again, I'm not well-versed on FinAid issues - just noting his observation.

    I did have a student (not Ashford) who recently sent an email to the entire course roster complaining about her FinAid experience at that school. Nice.

    4. Advisors. Super-common complaint. Liberty also employs students almost exclusively in that role. Rarely do you get the same person on back to back days. In some programs, there is no longer even an assigned adviser - you just get which ever student answers the phone. The son of a friend has that job (at Liberty) and we were talking about the program I'm completing and he mentioned some terribly inaccurate information. Clearly this is an issue that should be addressed - but again, not unique to Ashford.

    5. Student competency is always an issue in education in general - but it certainly seems more glaring in online education. I've had students from each of the schools I've worked for that really caused me to question the school's motivation behind accepting a student with such limited skills. Again, not unique to Ashford.

    6. Plagiarism. That's puzzles me as it was another point of emphasis during the faculty training. I always use the plagiarism tools on assignments and such. I've been frustrated about how other schools have been lenient in handing out a penalty for blatant academic dishonesty (one program I've facilitated for issues and student an incomplete and required me to regrade second submissions on 5 papers after the student had clearly purchased all of them and submitted them as his own).

    7. Posting final grades was always a concern for me as a student so I understand and do my best to get them in in just a few days. That isn't always possible. At the risk of sounding melodramatic, my youngest daughter passed away on February 27 - final grades were due for a course that week. I notified the school (and emailed the students) and told them that I would do my best. I ended up being a few days late. I don't know the reason for the tardiness in your Ashford experience (because, as you noted, that is against policy), but it could have been something significant.

    8. I've done faculty training for: Liberty, University of Phoenix, South University, Grand Canyon University, Indiana Wesleyan University, and now Ashford. I found their training faaar more rigorous than the others. I was sent my first course packet and found the academic content faaar more rigorous than the others (except perhaps some of the graduate courses I've facilitated for GCU).

    But I thank you greatly for your feedback. As I noted, I've not yet been assigned my first course but I expect to know when that will be by next week.
     
  10. LearningAddict

    LearningAddict Well-Known Member

    Experiences vary. But, Ashford doesn't exactly have a sparkling public reputation, and given that very similar complaints like the ones made by NMTTD have been made before (some even worse), I have to come away with some belief that these experiences are not all that uncommon with the school. Granted, when you're talking about schools that take in lots of enrollments, you're bound to have some bad cases, and it makes sense that many schools of its size and approach would have similar cases. But in my opinion, if 30 schools of similar stature are all doing similar things that are bad for the student, it doesn't somehow take gravtiy away from the negative position that students are being put into, nor does it absolve the one being focused on.

    I myself thought about attending the school to brush up on some things I felt I could use refreshers on and the programs looked quite attractive at one time, but after speaking with a school advisor I decided to go elsewhere. Looking back on many of the horror stories I've read over the years, I can see that my instincts were not at the time heightened without some merit.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 11, 2012
  11. NMTTD

    NMTTD Active Member

    My problem was ignorance. Ashford was my very first experience ever in DL. I had no idea about researching and accreditation and all that. The program offerings and descriptions sound wonderful, so I was an easy mark. But once you actually get in there, well, its a whole other thing. I cant comment on other schools. I can only comment on the ones I have gone to. I've attended 3 traditional schools and 2 DL schools. 2 RA and 3 NA. And I have had 1 bad experience with NA and 1 bad with RA. So I can honestly say that other than the fact that NA is valued less (which I dont like or agree with) I dont see a real benefit of RA vs NA. Its beyond me why Ashford still has RA when its SO CLEAR that they are not giving their DL students the same quality of work as their campus students. I know this because I contacted 3 different tradional students, showed them our assignments and quizzes, and they literally laughed at me and said they wished they could get away with doing my work and still get a degree. They said we were paying a lot more then they are for way less education. I really felt that if I had to go against one of the campus students for a job, I would lose out because I really didnt know as much as they did. Leaving Ashford was a really easy decision. One Im so glad I made.
     

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