Tuition increase @ Excelsior... AGAIN

I would like to inform those individuals who are currently working towards a degree at Excelsior College, that they increased their tuition AGAIN for the 4th time this year!

Now I am in the Master Liberal Studies program "trying" to get finished, but they are going to bankrupt me eventually.

For a three-credit semester course at the graduate level - the tuition is now $1145.00 + books, etc. ($382 / hr)

It was 30 days ago...$1035.00 + books, etc. ($345 / hr)

In May, a three semester course was $990.00 +books, etc. ($330/ hr)

Back in March, for the same three-hour semester courses was $900.00 +books, etc. ($300 / hr).

This is getting insane, to make matters worse - they HAVE NEVER informed their students at any given point or time (via mail, email, or their website) that a tuition increase going to happen.

Now, I cannot get the information on the undergraduate tuition...but it seems like the average is about a 9-10% increase.

I called them today about the tuition increase without notification, they indicated that they do not have the resources to notify ALL students of Excelsior College...but students can clearly see but registering for classes each term what the costs will be for each class.

To me, that is the dumbest cop-out excuse I ever heard.

I am a little upset, because I am paying for this out of my own pocket, and I applied for scholarships for next term as well. Though, if I am lucky, it will cover 35% of the tuition for my next three classes.

Plus, not to mention by the time I enroll in my thesis course, which is 6 semester hours (and currently costs $2188.00), it will increase another 2-3 times.

With being so close to completion of my Masters degree... it may appear that I will not be able to afford to finish through Excelsior College. It certainly sucks that they are not a title I school where federal loans or grants are available...

 

Thanks for the info....*scratching Excelsior off my list*

 

Tuition increase.........seems to be contageous. RA schools may eventually price themselves out of the market to a lot of people. The best thing that could happen to tuition would be a federal legislative move by the government to define, limit or oversee accreditation so that schools that are NA become (more) equal.

My .02

 

It's all about supply and demand. Word has gotten out about Exelsior College and hundreds of students are flocking to the school to get degrees. The demand for RA degrees at Exelsior College is going through the roof, so the only appropriate thing to do is to raise the tuition to whatever the market will bear. The market keeps demanding more degrees (business is increasing at Exelsior), so they are able to continually raise their tuition rates. Excelsior is no longer a hidden no-name school known only to a few. It is becoming big and it is becoming big business.

And there's nothing wrong with that. It's the capitalistic American way. I like that, but then again, I already have a BS and an MA out of the way.

 

The B&M i take classes at has raised tuition 100% in 4 years -- by comparison, Excelsior is dirt cheap.

In fact, a review of out of state/private school tuition and a variety of colleges will reveal that Excelsior may well be a bargain even if they raise tuition another 25% and won't be priced out of the market for several hundred percent....

Those are just my observations though.

 

I'm not being sarcastic, but look on the bright side. They couldn't raise tuition if the degrees were of poor quality.

 

Good! Here is a smart man who understands that universities are businesses like any other!

 

No doubt about that...but FOUR tuition increases in ONE year? And with no advance notice of the increase? Sorry, but I don't think Excelsior is for me.

 

i am considering transferring to Fort Hays ...... i believe i can still accomplish my over academic goals and not be flat broke.

 

Noby how many hours do you need to go at Excelsior?
You know the problems at Fort Hays.... you will have the hell beat out of you on transfer credits
Best, Gavin

 

I also have noticed that Excelsior is growing...though I have noticed in the last year or so, as they become bigger their quality of customer service in their business office, student services, and fiscal offices are becoming disorganized.

I had registered for two classes recently, and are almost finished (i have three weeks left) and they are hounding me to sign approval forms that I signed from the beginning...and then they dropped me from the classes because I told them I already signed them and they needed to go look for them themselves (it has to be in their records).

They re-enrolled me, and attmepted to charge me a re-enrollment fee...I told them to stick it where the sun don't shine, and they need to get their sh*t together and pull their heads out of their a**.

They used to be on the ball with communications (email and phone calls), but you can never get anyone to respond in a timely manner.

With the exception of the advisors...they are becoming more discombobulated as the months go by.

 

Gavin

I need to complete three core courses, that totals to 9 sem hours.

Then my thesis course which is a 6 sem hour course.

What type of issues are occurring at Fort Hays?

 

Noby,
At one time Fort Hays use to tout they would transfer up to 15 hrs of credit, I had six hours approved and had to scratch and claw for them to accept 9 hours! If you jump ship, you will be facing the same malasie that you are experiencing now but much, much worse, look at some of my old threads on Fort Hays...those folks simply dont care! Examples: They have haughty first time ever teaching professors who hand grading assignments to a grad student located somewhere in China; Classes you want to sign up for that meet your degree requirments are quickly closed from a complaint by an instructor because you crossed some invisible boundry of political protocol because you didnt observe a unknown structure of "checking in with them for approval" the list goes on etc. etc... look at my earlier comments on Fort Hays. After a while at Fort Hays, you would have thought Excelsior had problems, not to mention having to rebuild your graduate program from a whopping six-nine hours of transfer credit.
Noby, I'll be very frank, if Fort Hays paid me to go there I would still tell them to stick it! They had a bum of a professor and still defended his antics! Hey if you dont believe me, look at http://www.ratemyprofessor.com and you will see many students, on and off campus at Fort Hays having to deal with real world rejects!
Stick it out with Excelsior if you can!
best, Gavin

 

colleges may be businesses, and I understand going up on tuition annually, but going up every few months is excessive and a good way to run off students.

Now the problem comes with the fact that at most universities, students are stuck -- not just every college takes transfer credit even if they do offer the degree you are interested in.

 

Yes, Excelsior did raise tuition, but I just noticed on their web page that they are starting a new program where if you take a minumum of two classes a year from them, they bump the yearly enrollment fee down from $1,000 to $295. Since my employer reimburses for classes but not the enrollment fee, that is a good deal for me.

 

What are the classes like at excelsior? Are they basically correspondence courses or are they traditional, instructor led courses? If they are good classes that may be the way to go.

 

I just finished taking my first two classes at Excelsior: Financial Accounting and Database Systems. This was the first time I ever took classes that were 100% online. Overall I am pleased and signed up to take 3 more on 9/1. As far as the class structure and interaction goes, just like in a B&M school, the instructor makes all the difference.

In my Financial Accounting class, the instructor posted the inital syllabus and intro message describing the class structure and then that was pretty much all of the interaction the class had. The course consisted of reading the book and taking a total of 10 quizzes which were untimed and not proctored. End of class. I do have to say that he would answer any questions quickly because I e-mailed him once and he responded that day.

With Database Systems, there was quite a bit of interaction. The instructor communicated frequently, class members posted on the discussion board, there was a weekly test, a weekly assignment, a midterm, final, and final database project. All of the tests/exams were untimed and not proctored. This instructor was very quick to answer any questions posed on the discussion board or sent via e-mail.

I hope this gives you some idea of what the classes are like at Excelsior.

Nadine

 

Thanks, that was very helpful!

 

Yes, but this is only for those who major in the following programs:

AAS/AOS Business and Technology $495 $145
Associate in Science (AS) in Business or Technology $895 $245
Bachelor of Science in Business or Technology $995 $295
Bachelor of Science with a major in Criminal Justice $995 $295

The first figure represents the "standard enrollment fee", the second is the "tuition plus enrollment fee".

My question is - why can't Excelsior offer this program to all Excelsior students, instead of limiting it to the Business, Tech and CJ majors??? This makes no sense, unless they don't have two courses available for each major. In this case, they should step it up. I understand that their "bread n' butter" lies in awarding assessment degrees, however they should expand the course offerings a bit to allow everyone to participate in a reduced enrollment rate. My $.02 on the subject anyway.

- Tom

 

Hi Nadine,
I have a question, were the midterms and finals unproctored as well?
Thank you much for the Info.
Pilot