California Coast University Accreditation?

I recently emailed CCU and asked how their accreditation process was going. I was told by the admissions office that they were not seeking accreditation and they wanted to know where I was told that they were. This was quite curious. Why did they terminate their accreditation application? Could they just be another degree mill? Does anyone know of this?
Chuck S.

 

I was also not aware that they were seeking accreditation. I would be immensely surprised if they were because they would have to give up many of the things that have made them "successful."

For my money, they are not a degree mill. They do have California state approval. Are they academically rigorous? Not even close, but a few of the low-end RA schools are probably not much better.

Probably the only accreditor which they would stand a chance with might be DETC (because of the DL aspect) and it is likely that DETC would require them to shut down their doctoral programs (although not necessarily). Since those doctoral programs are their bread and butter, it's unlikely that Cal Coast would be interested.



Tom Nixon

 

And where were you told that they were?

For nearly 20 years, they claimed accreditation from the National Association of Private Nontradtional Schools and Colleges, a legitimate but unrecognized agency. When NAPNSC was turned down by the US Dept of Education for the 6th or 7th time, in 20 years, CCU (which had been, I think, a main financial supporter) bailed out, along with California Pacific U.

 

Maybe one of the Threads referred to accreditation

Not sure where I heard of their accreditation maybe someone mentioned it in one of the threads. This interested and curious. sensed a stoke of recalcitrance when I mentioned to CCU their accreditation status. They claim that they have been serving students fo more than 29 years.
I believe CA. is one of the states that hve somewhat loose secondary education requirements. Although it moved PWU and PCU and some others out of CA. to HI. I wonder if CCU is actually in CA or are they operating out of another state. I wish our legilature would soon ban all these degree mills and business's acting like colleges. It seems to b the least they could do.
What do you think.

 

Sorry for Mispellings

Sorry for th mispelled words. My wife is rushing me out the door to get something to eat. Perhaps the legislature can do something with the better half's also

 

Schools such as CCU don't need or want accreditation, and I would submit that seeking and attaining legitimate accreditation would actually hurt them, both academically and financially.


Bruce

 

How would accreditation hurt CCU academically?

 

I believe that Bruce was referring to likely damage to the business side, in particular the entrance and graduation requirements are currently an advantage offered by CCU. For example, a Kennedy-Western graduate would not be admitted. They would probably have to beef up the graduation requirement some so that they couldn't offer as quick of a degree. Oops that wasn't the question, as Gilda Radner would say, "never mind".

 

sorry

 

I used to have a cordial relationship with CCU founder Tom Neal, and have reported on some of the candid comments he made to me in the early days (to the distress of owner Tom Neal Jr., who apparently monitors this group, and said some very unkind things about my reliability in this matter).

I remember Neal Sr. lamenting the fact that he had gone ahead with NAPNSC accreditation, claiming that the higher standards NAPNSC imposed on them were cutting down on enrollments.

One favorite Neal moment. I was visiting him in his office (yes, they are really in California), which was decorated with a good deal of Confederate memorabilia, flags, poster of a slave sale, muskets, etc. (Neal was from the deep south.)

He mentioned proudly that then-superindendent of public instruction Wilson Riles would be visiting him that afternoon. I made some comment about wondering how Riles would feel about the decor. Neal did a double take, and said, "Oh my god, you're right. He's colored, isn't he."

(I have no idea what happened after that, and neither gentleman is around to ask.)

 

Ouch.

Nosborne, JD

 

That sucks.

Veritas,

Michael

 

If memory serves me correctly, CCU has been in the same building on Main St. in Santa Ana since it started in 1974. In my limited contact with them over the years, regional accreditation has never been one of their goals. They attract a specific audience and have apparently been quite successful doing so while avoiding the problems that have plagued Columbia Pacific and others.

I am actually most interested in the development and early years of CCU (back when it was California Western University). My dissertation research is looking into the development and institutionalization of distance learning in higher education. Even though I am looking at RA institutions, CCU/CWU may make an interesting appendix.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Tony Pina
(Ed.D. Candidate, La Sierra University, Riverside, CA)

 

Mr. Pina -- back when I kept my own files, one of the largest was on California Western/California Pacific, including probably the world's only copy (even Neal didn't have one) of their very first little 8-page blue catalog, with a Cherokee incantation on the cover, and the mention of Ernest Sinclair, soon to go to federal prison for California Pacifica U. And a scathing article on them from the New York Times. And an equally unflattering two-part series on them from a Long Beach newspaper. My guess is that they were not disappointed, in retrospect, to have lost the lawsuit with the other California Western University requiring them to change names. They moved only once, as far as I know, from the initial small offices to the current building.

My files all went off to New York when I sold my copyrights to Pearson five years ago (to the World Trade Center!), but I believe most or perhaps all of them came back to California when Ten Speed purchased the rights from Pearson.

If you wish, I could go to Ten Speed and have a look. I think that interaction should be by private Email. I'm at [email protected] (and you'll get a spam filter message back, and have to click one more time).

John

 

Dr. Bear,

You are--as we on this forum all know--a gentleman and a scholar. I shall take you up on your kind offer.

Tony Pina

 

A Funny Thing!!

I just received a curious and and unexpected response from my application to CCU. I am a retired state police officer with 28 years experience and retired with the rank of Deputy Commissioner. I attended over 3,000 plushours of continuous documented education during my tenure. I suggested that CCU provide me credit for life experience and also my training. I also sent them $1,000.
Their response to me was that I would be required to take 14 basic courses and 10 major courses. I would only be given very minimal credit which I would prepare a complete portfolio to obtain.
This was unbeleivable to me. I thought they would just handout a degree once the money is received. Could CCU actualy be changing or is this something that should be expected. This is definitely not a degree mill.
Any response???

 

WHY CCU?

Chuck,

Why did you pick CCU? Did you consider applying to one of the 'big three'?

Which degree are you working on?

I'm guessing (if this is for a bachelor's), CCU is going to award you around 48 transfer credits. This would equal about 16 classes.

Do you know if the American Council on Education (ACE) has evaluated any of your police training? If so, it might be worth your time to research some other schools.

 

Re: A Funny Thing!!

No, it's not a degree mill. It's also a for-profit business. What is the benefit to them of you taking fewer classes? None that I can see.

As to credit for life experience, in my opinion it sounds like they gave you exactly what it deserved. Nothing. Now if you can take that experience and show how what you did meets the requirements of college level courses and you can show proof (in some way), then you're in business. It sounds like they will let you do a little bit of that.

Sounds to me like you might be better off with TESC or one of the others.

BTW, 14 courses isn't bad. I took about 42 to get my BA.



Tom Nixon

 

Wait a Minute!!!!!!!!!

Wait a minute, Tom. Do you mean that one doesn't deserve a certain amount of life experience credit just for being alive? A prospective student should get some many credits for each year of productive contribution to society shouldn't they? Maybe 6-9 credits per year? Think of all the neat things one could get credit for:

* Learning to tie one's shoes.
* Putting Pop Tarts in the toaster.
* Shaving with one's left hand (when one is right handed).
* Documented hours one has spent in the mall.
* Time spent on DegreeInfo.

The possibilities are unlimited.

 

Re: A Funny Thing!!

In my opinion, an excellent sign of a degree mill is a place that gives degrees or claims to credit large portions of a degree program for life experience. The real way one gets credit for life experience is to show that you have learned what is required for a specific class. This is done through examination or portfolio. Now sometimes classes taken during ones career can be turned into college credit but this is really only common for the military. That is because an agency can take a detailed enough look at the class and evaluate it and enough people are going to have taken that exact class to make the investment worthwhile.

As a side note, there are RA alternatives that will apparently accept more life experience generated credits than CCU. That is because generating credits for life experience is not a highly profitable model. But it requires academic rigor per course for it to be real otherwise you're being victimized by a degree mill.