Trident University - DBA

Discussion in 'Business and MBA degrees' started by felderga, Apr 22, 2019.

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  1. felderga

    felderga Active Member

    First it seems my post regarding my philosophical dilemma with attending Liberty U - DBA program was recently deleted (my issue stems with Jerry Falwell Jr and many of his personal views). I am very conflicted thus I have decided to keep open my search. So far I've been accepted into Columbia Southern, Capella (DHA) and Liberty. I like Capella the best but I'm not a fan of the cost which had me settling for Liberty.

    So now Trident University''s DBA program has caught my interest. For one cost is reasonable. Secondly, the program allows transfer of up to 3 MBA courses which can help to lower cost even further. Third my company is a Trident partner which would give me 10% discount which means I'm looking around $27K or less to complete in roughly 2.5 years. Also the dissertation is more of a doctoral project which I've been told that I should be able to do my research around Health Informatics and cost outcomes. I've seen positive post of their PhD programs in the past posted here . Lastly the program is regionally accredited (but it is up for review this year).

    https://www.trident.edu/doctoral/dba-business-administration/about-trident-dba-doctoral-program/

    So my only concerns with Trident now have to do its recent sale to Career Education Corp and its pending accreditation review with WASC. What scares me is that Career Ed Corp looks a bit shaky and may strip down Trident University in the process of merging them with American InterContinental (which has a limited graduate and military background student base).

    https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2019/03/14/career-education-corp-buys-online-university
     
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2019
  2. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    CEC is not looking good. There's a reason why they only have two schools left. CEC just agreed in a settlement to forgive $500 million in loans that it gave to students. They were sued by 48 states and DC over deceptive recruiting practices. Red states usually don't go after for-profit colleges, so the allegations must have been bad.
     
  3. Phdtobe

    Phdtobe Well-Known Member

  4. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    All you have to do is join a CERT team or the Civil Air Patrol to get a 25% discount at Liberty University, but I can understand why someone would avoid the school over moral concerns. Some people have said that Jerry Falwell Sr. changed, but that's not true. A couple of years before he died, he partially blamed gay people for the September 11th attacks. His son is also anti-gay; he's just better at keeping his worst beliefs to himself. But, for some reason, he gave millions to a good-looking pool boy he barely knew.
     
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  5. JBjunior

    JBjunior Active Member

    The real question is what happened to the other thread?

    In there, I shared a few thoughts including that I would avoid Trident for some of the reasons you mentioned.
     
  6. felderga

    felderga Active Member

    Would've like to have seen your comments regarding Trident. I have some time to decide as I'm not planning on starting until fall at the earliest (if I choose Capella I will have to wait until next winter for their offering of a $10K doctoral scholarship for Kaiser Permanente employees).

    Trident would be nice as I'm located in Southern California and family could attend my graduation without any extra travel cost. Capella's Minnesota graduation would give me an excuse to revisit Minneapolis and finally tour Prince's estate.
     
  7. chrisjm18

    chrisjm18 Well-Known Member

    I think it was accidentally deleted. I had a thread accidentally deleted recently. As you can see, DI is overrun daily by bots and spam posts, so the moderators have to be constantly deleting posts. (That's my guess, lol)
     
  8. chrisjm18

    chrisjm18 Well-Known Member

    I've seen a few prominent anti-gay, conservative, family men being exposed in the news. Like, Phdtobe said on another post: " It hurts me a lot when students are being put in awkward positions to constantly defend their institutions." That may be the sad reality of a Liberty education. I can't speak on it but I will see. My degree is only for personal achievement and nothing else... well, maybe the skills I 'll learn will help me to be a good juvenile justice advocate/program/policy guy but I don't think the degree itself will be needed for any of those positions.
     
  9. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    If my only choices were Liberty and Capella, I'd probably choose Liberty for a better education and a lower chance of getting screwed. However, I think the Capella name would come with less controversy even though it's a for-profit school.

    Even with the federal government backing off, the for-profit college industry is unstable. Capella/Strayer appear to be doing well financially, but you never know what's going to happen in the future. There are lawsuits over them stalling students in their doctoral programs, so that should be concerning for someone looking to become a doctoral student. At traditional schools, you can just sign up for one credit hour per semester while working on your dissertation if you don't want to be half-time or full-time. Capella charges a lot while students are in the dissertation phase, which is why some students have ended up spending six figures.

    Trident University doesn't even sound like an option. It seems imminent that they're going to be absorbed into American Intercontinental University. AIU and its sister school, Colorado Technical University, are among the worst of the worst when it comes to scamming people and having bad student outcomes. If you look at my latest thread in the military sub-forum, you will see that less than 50% of CTU students make more than the average high school graduate!
     
  10. felderga

    felderga Active Member

    Again this degree like many others seeking doctorates is mostly for self-fulfillment. I'm blessed to work for one of the best and largest HMO in the country. I don't this degree will help me obtain a larger salary in the near term but maybe in 8-10 years as I near my goal for retirement (and possible post-retirement teaching and consulting work). Hence cost is my #1 priority along with a program that has (or allows for) a healthcare management research focus. I really don't care about taking another class in International Business Ethics.

    If Trident can somehow remain independent I think I will seriously consider it as its the cheapest option ($16K total cost after my employer reimbursement kicks in which is $0K cheaper than Liberty). I haven't found a huge amount of complaints like the ones mentioned earlier about CTU or AIU. I'll need to watch and see if there is turnover in Trident's leadership and Business School Faculty. I'm again a bit fearful that I will have a diploma from a school whose name will not be in existence ten years from now.

    Capella has the healthcare admin curriculum that appeals to me the most as its a DHA program instead of a DBA. But I'm also fearful in getting screwed in the dissertation process like many others.

    Liberty meets the brick and mortar campus and mostly likely to be around 20 years from now test. Currently I'm having to fight a bit to get transfer credit for a similar health care management that I took at Minnesota which fulfills a MBA level required class that's needed for the Health Management specialization. Also I'm 50+ and not joining the civil air patrol so I won't get the 25% discount. I don't think I could get my organizations HR to contact Liberty to join their corporate partnership program so no extra tuition discount for me. Also I've found Liberty to be really no different than Capella or any of the other large for-profit universities in that you have no real access to faculty during the admission process. Trident has at least provided me with contact information for being able to reach to business faculty.

    So surprising thru all of their potential negatives Trident is now my front-runner...or at least for this week.
     
  11. felderga

    felderga Active Member

    btw...meant to say Trident after employer reimbursement is $10K cheaper than Liberty or Capella...
     
  12. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    I believe most adult members of the Civil Air Patrol are over 50 or at least over 40. I'm in my 30s, and I'm one of the youngest members in my squadron. All you need to do is attend a couple of meetings, fill out an application, and pay a membership fee if your state has one. There are no physical requirements; you just need a clean background.

    The article you linked to makes it clear that Trident will be merged with AIU. Forget about 10 or 20 years; the school won't be around next year. You're planning to enroll in AIU. Trident is practically gone already.
     
  13. Phdtobe

    Phdtobe Well-Known Member

    It’s too bad for Liberty, because they are doing a few things good. I will put Liberty in the camp of hypocrisy. One study has placed Liberty at the bottom of the barrel on spending tuition back on students.
     
  14. chrisjm18

    chrisjm18 Well-Known Member

    I think that's true of schools that operate for-profit like online divisions. They spend a lot on advertisement and a little on their students and the many poorly paid adjuncts.
     
  15. LearningAddict

    LearningAddict Well-Known Member

    I have no issues with gay people, but if an institution keeps to the letter of the Bible, expect anti-gay positions because the Bible is crystal clear against homosexuality (Leviticus 18:22) no matter how today's generation feels about it. So personally, I wouldn't go to a Christian institution expecting their brain trust to have different views than the Bible itself.
     
  16. felderga

    felderga Active Member

    Actually I don't have a problem Christian institution upholding and instilling what they believe to be the letter of the law in the bible. What I have as an issue is their leadership ( in this case Falwell Jr) throwing stones at some but giving others a big pass for the sake for politics in a manner that demeans and hurts others. I don't subscribe to the tenants of the Mormon church but I don't think I would be conflicted with earning a degree from BYU. At the end of the day I may still choose Liberty but it won't be an easy choice.
     
  17. felderga

    felderga Active Member

    Here is information I found in the SEC 8K for Trident's sale to Career Ed Corp. This sale doesn't complete until the end of the year. My guess is the Trident's administrative staff will get combined with AIU. Trident will still exist at least in name only as a somewhat separate entity
    that's part of AIU.

    Item 1.
    Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement.

    On March 8, 2019, Career Education Corporation (the “Company”), through a new indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, entered into an agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of Trident University International (“Trident”). Trident is a regionally accredited university offering online undergraduate, master’s and doctoral programs with a strong focus on graduate programs. Trident is owned by Trident University International, LLC (the “Seller”).

    Upon the closing of the acquisition, we intend to combine Trident with American InterContinental University (“AIU”) to enable the combined institution to continue serving existing and future students with a broader range of program offerings and resources. To leverage Trident’s experiences and success, we would continue to offer distinct online programs and curriculum under the “Trident” name. Trident had approximately $46 million in revenue and approximately $9 million in EBITDA during its last fiscal year ended June 30, 2018. On average, Trident had approximately 4,000 students that were registered for courses during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2018. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2019, subject to necessary regulatory approvals and customary representations, warranties, covenants and closing conditions.

    Under the terms of the agreement, we have agreed to pay a cash purchase price in the range of $35 million to $44 million depending on Trident’s actual financial results measured in terms of its revenue and EBITDA during a 12-month period prior to closing.

    https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1046568/000119312519071985/d720182d8k.htm
     
  18. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    Most Christian schools are not like Liberty University. They wouldn't discriminate against Democratic students. They don't have leaders that are so politically-involved and openly supportive of an adulterer and pathological liar. As felderga said, Jerry Falwell Jr. is a hypocrite because he runs a hostel that is known for a lot of premarital activities and even homosexual activities. University of the Cumberlands is worse, however, since they will go as far as expelling students for mentioning that they are gay on social media. Most Christian colleges aren't like that either.
     
  19. Marcus Aurelius

    Marcus Aurelius Active Member

  20. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    Did the Bible change? Is adultery no longer a sin? I don't remember reading anything in the Bible that said that homosexuality is worse than adultery. I remember that the punishment for adultery was death. Jerry made the decision to no longer endorse the campus Democrats because they go against the "sanctity of marriage." But, the man he supports has been married three times and cheated on all three of his wives, and his entire party supports him.
     
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