Auburn Montgomery-MLA Program.

I don't know if this school has been mentioned before, my apologies if it has. Auburn University at Montgomery offers several online programs. The Master of Liberal Arts seems like a fun program with several areas to chose from. Areas such as English, Spanish, History, Philosophy, Archaeology/Anthropology, and so on. Here is the link Auburn Montgomery MLA program.

I have several burning questions. Is Auburn Montgomery part of Auburn University? Or a completely different university? According to this Wikipedia entry, it is a branch campus of Auburn University, therefore, part of Auburn University. How do branch campuses work? Are the students considered alumni of the parent university? Pardon my ignorance on this subject, I've always wanted to know. For example the University of Phoenix has several campuses through the country, therefore, all of these campuses are branches of the original Phoenix, AZ campus. So as a result all graduates are University of Phoenix alums, am I reading this correctly? Hopefully others with far more knowledge on the subject can chime in, thanks.

 

It's a completely different college.

 

That is what I thought too. The thing that confuses me is the "branch campus" monicker.

Further edit, from the school directly "Auburn University at Montgomery, a separately accredited institution, is one of two campuses which comprise Auburn University as a whole." You are right, a completely different college that is part of Auburn University.

 

The term "branch campus" is not precisely defined. It generally indicates that there is a historical relationship between two institutions, but does not tell you exactly how close that relationship currently is.

In practice,"branch campuses" often start out under the accreditation of a parent institution, and then eventually get their own separate accreditation as they grow. So the status of a "branch campus" commonly changes over time, which makes it hard to offer a precise definition.

The University of Phoenix currently holds regional accreditation (from NCA) as a single entity. So all branches represent the same institution.

In contrast, Auburn University and Auburn University at Montgomery currently hold regional accreditation (from SACS) as two separate entities. So AUM is a separate institution, although it could still be regarded as a branch within the Auburn University system.

 

Makes sense, thanks for clearing it up.