UNEM

I have not seen any feedback concerning the UNEM Ph. D. programs. However, Dr. Bear seems to have high opinions concerning the UNEM programs.

Is there anyone currently enrolled in a UNEM Ph. D. program?

Incidentally, I have been informed that a UNEM Ph. D. program costs in excess of $16,000.00, without any assistantships.

It seems to me that the UNEM program is more expensive than certain Australian and/or South African Ph. D. programs.

One thing that really bothers me is the UNEM web site. It appears to be designed by a beginner! At least the MIG site is more informative and professional, although it lacks .edu in their web address.

 

Unfortunately I do not believe that we have heard from anyone enrolled. I believe UNEM has been discussed on this and aed. You may want to do a search. If I remember correctly there seemed to be some uncertainty and then I think the discussion was concluded with the fact that it appeared they were accredited. They could do without pictures of the campus on their web site.

I would assume that if UNEM is applying for a Federal Student Loan code they must be recognized correctly in Costa Rica.

If $$$ are an issue you may want to see how things go with NCU (under 8,000 for a Ph.D).

North

 

The lack (or inclusion) of .edu doesn't say much--but it may now that there are going to be more controls regarding who gets such a domain. Anyway, it's even less relevant to foreign schools. For example, South African schools use ".ac."

Regarding UNEM, I had a very cryptic, hour-long conversation with their U.S. administrator a year and a half ago. It sounded like they had permission to offer the degrees and not much else. But UNEM is properly listed and approved in Costa Rica. It meets GAAP. Of course, there is more to the acceptance of such a degree, especially for an American earning a degree from a school in Costa Rica.

The cost has gone up a few thousand in the last year, and is as expensive as many other foreign programs that might be more marketable after graduation.

Yes, the website is amateurish, but a slick website doesn't guarantee everything else is well run!

I don't believe UNEM students are eligible to get Federal Financial Aid. When I looked at the website, I saw a statement saying they were participating in the Veteran's Educational Benefits program, which is an entirely different matter.

The website lists no faculty, no courses/competencies, no in-depth information of any kind. Be very sure this program will meet your needs before you undertake it.

Rich Douglas

 

My impression is that they are not eligible for Federal Benefits. The site says they are pending.

I would also be surprised if they indeed are allowed to participate in VA Benefits (at least for the distance program). The way the VA appears to have dealt with the growth of foreign DE programs is to require that they have Federal Loan approval first (ala Berne U).

North

 

Rich,

Would a GAAP degree from any other country, e.g., Mexico, South Africa, etc., pose the same challenge for US students? Or is this something unique to UNEM/Costa Rica?

Russell

 

Hi, Rich!

Excuse me, Rich, but are you saying that it is better for an American to earn a degree in Mexico than in Costa Rica assuming that the prospective shools in both countries are similar in respect to price, faculty, prestige, etc.? If it is so, I don't understand the logic at all. This is like saying that for an American it is better to earn a degree in Ireland than in Britain. This shouldn't be the case since both countries are similar and both are in Europe.

The same can be said of Costa Rica and Mexico. Both countries are in Latin America and, just in case you didn't know, Costa Rica and the whole Central America used to belong to Mexico when Iturbide was ruling in Mexico. In the same way, I think that Ireland used to belong to Britain as well.

You could reply mentioning the fact of proximity. I think, Rich, that I don't have to mention that Mexico feels closer to Central America than to the United States due to historic and cultural reasons. Then again, would a Mexican say that it is better to get a degree in Guatemala than in Costa Rica due to Guatemala's proximity to Mexico? I don't think so.

I will be eagerly awaiting for your response.

Cordially yours,


Karlos Alberto Lacaye
[email protected]

P.S.: You could also mention travel expenses to Costa Rica. Just in case you don't know, it is actually much cheaper to travel from Miami to San Jose, Costa Rica than to Miami to Mexico City, Mexico.

 

I took a look at NCU's web site. I did not see a PhD for under $8K. Here is what I found.

* 96 Credits Required for the PhD. If one has a Master's, with say at least 48 credits, then the tuition would be 48 * $165/sem hr = $7920. Some Master's degrees may have less and some more.
* Dissertation fee: $1200
* Total = $7920 + $1200 = $9120 is a near minimum.

Obviously, the key is having plenty of Master's credits before you begin this program. I looked up a few Master's programs in psychology at large RA schools and they have between 36-42 credits for the MS in Psychology. Indiana Univ requires 38 credits for the Master's in psychology. So, you would have to pay over $10K for an NCU PhD in psychology if you had an Indiana Master's.

The maximum NCU PhD cost would seem to be just over $17K.

Bing

 

A review of the literature indicates that AACRAO considers the Costa Rican equivalent of each degree to be the expected credential for admission to higher degree programs in the U.S.

My comment was targeted more towards the acceptability/marketability of degrees from Costa Rican schools when used in the U.S., especially from small schools. I would expect the same regarding degrees from small Mexican universities, too . And I would expect a greater level of marketability for schools from schools based in other Anglo countries, especially the U.K. This is just an opinion, based on cultural and language similarities more than anything else. I don't have the empirical data to support this, nor will I be trying to measure it. Sounds like a good project for someone's dissertation, though.

The comparisons between MIGS and UNEM are fair. There has been much more information about MIGS available--that's been both good and bad! But it looks like a similar situation is set up with UNEM: the distance programs are administrated from Georgia and in English on behalf of the main campus back home. (I can't seem to find a website for the Private Colleges and Universities Authority in Georgia, so it's hard to confirm that UNEM is listed there .)

Rich Douglas

 

No, I am not trying to draw a distinction between the value of a degree from a Costa Rican university compared to one from a Mexican University. Geographical proximity might be helpful, along with American familiarity with Mexico. The same cannot be said about Guatemala, nor Costa Rica. But looking back at my post, I didn't even mention any such comparison between the two systems (Costa Rica and Mexico).

Rich Douglas

 

Dear Rich,

Thank you very much for your response.

All the very best,


Karlos Alberto Lacaye
[email protected]

 

Mexico and the U.S. have had a long relationship, not all good, not all bad. But kids in the U.S. tend to learn about Mexico in school. A great deal of the territory the U.S. now holds was once Mexico. Mexico's population is approximately half that of the U.S., dwarfing the Central American Nations. More immigrants come to the U.S. from Mexico. NAFTA has begun to break down the barriers between our two countries even further. None of these things can be said about the U.S. and Central America. If nothing else, we've finally gotten our hegemonous butts out of there (El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama)! No, I think its safe to say that the U.S. has more understanding of things Mexican than anywhere else in Latin America. But that's not saying much.

Rich (Che) Douglas

 

Hey, Rich!

Kindest regards,


Karlos Alberto "Mr. Caballero" Lacaye
[email protected]

 

Hello again, Rich!

I think that you are confusing the issues. Nationally speaking, yes, people are more familiar with Mexico than with other Latin American countries. What I am saying is that in some areas of the United States, people tend to know more about other Latin American countries than about Mexico. Aside from the case of Miami with Cubans and Nicaraguans, I can also mention the case of New York with Puerto Ricans and Dominicans.

About kids learning about Mexico, well, here in Miami kids learn about Cuba although not as a required subject. Of course, nationally speaking, more Mexican immigrants come to the United States than from other Latin American nations. Notwithstanding, specifically speaking about Miami, we have had the most immigration from Central American contries in the last ten to tweny years. Before that, there was a progresively growing immigration from Cuba.

About NAFTA, yes, this should make the United States, Canada, and Mexico closer. However, if I understand correctly, Chile is also part of NAFTA. Moreover, the meeting in Quebec were canalized towards the economic unification of all the Americas which should take place about twenty years from now.

Rich, I might be completely wrong, but I have the impression that you have close Mexicans friends or something like that. Alternatively, your living in San Diego might have made you closer to this culture.

Best wishes,


Karlos Alberto Lacaye, who was and still is a genuine social democrat "contra" from the original SDP offices, Costa Rican wing, and who got an honorific diploma from the party.
[email protected]

 

I'll keep this short. I'm glad NAFTA will bring ALL of the Americas closer together. Yes, there are parts of this country that are more familiar with other parts of Latin American more than with Mexico, but I still feel the country most Americans are most familiar with is Mexico. Finally, while I grew up in San Diego, I've travelled--and lived all around--the country and the world. California, Nevada, Texas, even Northern Virginia, they all have strong Mexican influences and populations.

According to the U.S. Census, people born in Mexico but living here in 1990 totalled 4,298,014. From Cuba: 736,971. Costa Rica: 43,530. All of Central America (except Mexico): 1,133,978. I'd say the those figures are pretty illustrative.

Rich Douglas, who counts Maximum Pro Counsel Duke as one of his personal heroes.

 

Hey, Rich!

Rich, if you have any other opinion to share, I would be my pleasure to listen to it (or read it). Otherwise, thank you for your long coversation with me.

Take good care of yourself.

Sincerely yours,


Karlos Alberto "El Caballero" Lacaye
[email protected]

 

My apologies Bing for not specifying the conditions related to my statement. The statement revolved around a couple of factors.

i) I was basing the number of credits on my own circumstance (a 48 credit hour M.A.)

ii) I was only considering the cost of the tuition (which I had looked at some time ago). As you point out this is even now $7920.00 (ie under 8,000).

The program is still reasonable at $10,000 under the circumstances you mention (fewer credits) and if NCU becomes accredited. Most other DE Ph.D.'s in Human Services are far more expensive and have added travel costs for residencies which significantly increase the overall costs.

Hope this clarifies things.

North

 

If they get accreditation they probably won't do a totally non-resident program. OR, they could pull a Touro. However, Touro had a lot of academic insiders pulling for it from the Cal State system from what I heard. I don't know if NCU has the same.

If they fail to get RA then they might do DETC. What do you think? Would they even try to get DETC?

Bing

 

Just to say that I find your insights into the Latin American culture, history, governments, etc. to be very insightful. (And when you disagree with me you're damn polite about it! )

 

I have a bet with Wes that either (1) NCU has to add residency requirements to their doctoral programs in order to get candidacy, or (2) candidacy will be denied all together. I hope he's right, though. But no free-standing school in the U.S. has ever been granted candidacy with a 100% non-residential program. Touro is affiliated with Touro College and got in that way. (And, it has been often repeated, possibly by mistake.)

The DETC does not accredit schools that award the doctoral degree. They are conducting a pilot program to accredit first professional doctoral programs, but they're not in a hurry.

First, I think they're struggling with what is and is not a first professional degree. A J.D. or Doctor of Optometry is obvious. But what about an Ed.D. or D.B.A.?

Second, they seem to be focusing their doctoral trials on foreign schools like IMC. (Although, they haven't accredited IMC's doctoral programs.)

Third, it looks like DETC may be moving from a model of accrediting entire institutions to picking and choosing which programs in a particular school to accredit or not.

The DETC's accreditation of degree-granting institutions is a very recent thing. Established as the National Home Study Council in the mid-1950's, they set out to establish consumer protection controls on correspondence schools. By 1980 they were accrediting a few very non-academic associate programs and exactly two bachelor's-granting schools. None of their accredited schools offered the master's. Now there are a bunch of schools awarding degrees at the associate's, bachelor's, and master's level, along with a few who also happen to offer the doctorate (outside of DETC's accreditation, though).

I've noted before that I believe no DETC-accredited school has ever gone on to regional accreditation. If true, what does that say regarding the academic nature of such programs? And nothing should be more academic than a doctoral degree.

Rich Douglas