Why a non-RA school?

Re: Re: Re: Re: Warning: I have strong opinions on this subject

With the increasing flexibility and the RA schools in Florida costing so much less than FMU, it is hard for me to imagine choosing FMU over less expensive and more prestigious schools like Florida State, the University of Florida, University of South Florida, University of Central Florida, etc. Of course FMU may offer something very specific that the others do not.

 

Of course, I now realize that I may be arguing from a point of significant advantage over many others here in the forum, and that is that I live in Florida. Tuition rates in Florida, as I have come to find out, even from big name schools is much lower than in other states.

After Googling a bit, I just found and read this report a few minutes ago, and you may find it interesting:

http://www.oppaga.state.fl.us/reports/pdf/0412rpt.pdf

So, based on those costs I find it even more difficult to justify the kinds of tuition rates that an FMU charges.

 

When Rich Douglas was still on this board, this would be the place where he'd quote his HR survey results. And Dr Bear's registrar survey results. And DETC survey. Degrees may be "merely a piece of paper to gain entrance to employment", but some of them perform better at that.

Good news for NA crowd.

...and get certified as a CPA in the state of Florida (anywhere, really). And get into some grad schools.

This amounts to very good answer to the initial question of the thread. You pursue NA degree because it satisfies your needs. I don't argue with that. Still, others pursue NA degrees because they didn't exersise due dilligence. An article about FMU illustrates that.

 

However,

Your original question was:

Quote - Faxinator
Why a non-RA school?
With so many RA schools offering degrees online, and many at such reasonable prices, why would anyone choose a non-RA school, other than not understanding the difference?

Do the schools you mention offer 100% self contained online degree programs? Do they require the student to periodically go on campus? Do they require the student to sign in at certain times to engage in forum discussion?, or to school bulletin boards?

For example, my wife took an online class from our local community college. It was so much trouble, she ended up dropping and just taking the class in person.

Just my two cents,


Abner

 

Is there any RA institution that offers a 100% self paced, independent study degree program? Not individual classes, I'm asking about an entire degree program.

 

Ah! Brevity at it's finest.




Abner

 

Abner, I am not really following this thread, but if that degree you are pursuing satisfies your professional goals at your goverment career, then that is it. I am sure you have done your homework and you know better than anyone else why you took that decision. Your posts here unambiguously show your integrity, your intelligence, and your willing to improve yourself. I am sure you will succeed in whatever you desire with or without any degree.

 

I don't know. If anyone knows of such a program, I'd like to hear about it. There may be some people seeking a degree who might desire a program like that. It may not be the majority, but I can imagine there are some out there looking for such a program.

 

Some do, some don't, I am guessing. All of the programs I considered had complete degree programs that could be accomplished 100% online. I eliminated all non-RA schools from consideration right away, so all of the programs I considered in depth were RA schools.

My SPC online degree program doesn't require me to go on campus at all. I'm not required to sign in at certain times, with one exception: my public speaking class, in which I have to make a speech online. Due to the necessity to have the speech viewed by the instructor and the class, I have to schedule a time to deliver my 3 minute speech.

I could have avoided that as well, if I had chosen a communication class other than public speaking to fulfill those 3 credits.

None of my other classes require me to be online at a certain time.

 

After considering your question further, I believe that I know of three offhand: COSC, TESC and Excelsior. All are RA instituions, all are essentially self-paced since you can assemble your courses yourself and complete them at your own rate, and as far as I can tell should be able to be accomplished through indpendent study.

I don't think that's what you were looking for, however, because I think you have a specific example of an NA program in mind that you can cite in order to chalk up a point for NA over RA. But I do think those fit the idea of what you're asking.

Personally, I think a person should choose the program that best fits their situation. In my case, in a very general way of speaking, I'm mostly looking for the piece of paper that comes at the end.

 

I am in no way looking for points and I do not champion NA over RA at all. I never have. I believe that everyone needs to do their own research and decide what program fits their life best and go with it. The program I enrolled in is a 100 percent fit for my life.

Several people have posted their reasoning for enrolling in an NA program and instead of saying "Cool. You found something that fits into your life, congrats..." you keep harping on the 'but RA is much cheaper... or more comparable and better than NA" kick.

I don't know if it's intentional or not but your posts have the subtle implication that anyone who chose an NA degree program over an RA one is either stupid, ignorant, didn't do their homework, or is too lazy to shop around for a la carte classes in multiple institutions so they can go RA all the way. I'm just pointing out that that is just not the case.

P.S. whatever happened to Rich Douglas anyway?

 

Thank you kind sir! I will have to admit I am quite flattered by your comments. You are one of the brightest scholars I have come across. So, once again, thank you for your kind comments.

Take care JLV!


Abner

 

Ah, on that we agree!


Abner

 

You'll have to point that out to me so I can understand what you're saying. I do know that I refuted the argument that was advanced that RA schools intentionally maintain an elitist attitude so that they can charge higher tuition than NA schools because, as far as I can tell, there are RA schools that are more respected and cheaper so that argument doesn't seem to hold up.

The FMU discussion is a prime example in which you have an NA school charging double or more the tuition of more respected, more widely accepted RA schools in the same state.

Of course all of this is limited by my own frame of reference.

Personally, here in this forum I'm interested in opinion. I'm interested in reasons why a person chose the route they chose, and if the consideration of RA entered into the equation at all. And if all things come out equal and two programs are almost identical, does the accreditation issue become a deciding factor?

Where someone I don't know chooses to obtain their degree isn't really isn't important to me and I don't pass judgment on them based on that. I mean, in the grand scheme degrees of any sort really don't mean much to me no matter where they were earned.

For instance, when I'm interviewing job applicants, while it may be nice that they've got a degree, I don't talk to them about it in the interview process. Instead, I want to hear about their experience in the field I'm hiring for. And when evaluating those applicants, if one has a degree and another does not, it doesn't automatically earn them any extra points when I sit down to make a hiring decision.

I know I'm not alone in that, but of course this is a discussion forum ABOUT degrees!

In fact, one of my previous employers (we employed 7,000 workers) issued an edict that any position description that had a degree requirement associated with had to be re-written to allow for equivalent experience to eliminate the degree requirement. So if a job opening had a Bachelor's Degree requirement, four years of experience meant no degree was required to qualify.

I value experience much greater than a degree, so when degrees carry the value I assign to them, whether they came from an RA school or an NA school really doesn't matter too much.

I general, I like people--even those I don't know or only know through posting in forums--to be happy, and to be happy with their decisions in whatever area of life they may come.

I can't answer that question, I'm not familiar with Rich Douglas. I do know of Oliver Wendell Douglas and Lisa Douglas, however!

 

With so many RA schools offering degrees online, and many at such reasonable prices, why would anyone choose a non-RA school, other than not understanding the difference?

Well, I don't mean to be rude here but, with this very sentence you are not looking for an opinion. This is a statement and not a question. It can be interpreted as the old flogging of the RA or no way myth, a la very numerous old threads here. Let me ask you a question.... Since you posted this Faxinator, what exactly is the sine qua non difference between RA and Non - RA, but still accreditted by a recognized accreditation body, school? Is it the acceptance of credits? Is it the acceptance in the job market? Is it the acceptance in academia? Is it the perception of the school amongst the publc? Will one have feelings of personal guilt if they are getting a degree from an NA school? Will one feel like they are lying on a resume because they have a non RA degree listed? I would like to know these things. I have attended both NA and RA schools and I can tell you that an education is an education. One has to do the work no matter which school that they attend, if you don't it will haunt you regardless of where you obtained your credentials. I do agree with a few of your points such as the experience being just as or more important than a degree. But, lets face it, we live in a credential crazy society. It is very hard to even get your foot in the door at a lot of corporations without a degree. Again this maybe a regional difference, but here in the Northeast, you can find it hard to even get an interview at a lot of jobs without a Bachelors. As far as your argument about FMU, it is a fallacy. FMU is no more an academic college than your local trade union. To compare it to the likes of UoF or Florida State is like comparing apples to eggs. It is a career school plain and simple. If you look at the schools that ACICS accredits they pretty much all fit this bill. That in no way reflects on ACICS recognition as a national accreditor. You are also arguing that FMU is way to expensive for what they offer. Why? Because you are not willing to pay it? What about UOP or any of the other for profit RA schools? Are they not just as expensive? This is a capitalistic society, they are free to charge what they feel is a fair and adequate price. I am not saying that it is right, and they should have some sort of full disclosure as far as transfer credits (ex. - ITT Tech, advertises in it's commercials "limited transfer of credits"), but these schools provide a service to a niche market, the bottom line to all business plans. Overall I am trying to figure out if you really want anyone's opinion or are you just looking to reaffirm your choice to attend the school that you chose. If you are looking for the first reason then by all means keep on writing in this discussion because it has made some interesting points. If you are looking for the latter, then drop the troll routine and let it die out because this argument has been beat ad nauseum. If your interested in this topic as an argument just search by username Rich Douglas. There was many a fiery debate with him over this topic.

Justin

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Warning: I have strong opinions on this subject

And your point being? One could say AIU is much more expensive than one of the big three. Why would one choose AIU over the big three?

I am not sure where the direction of this thread has gone. The discussion over FMU is interesting, but does not beg the original question. An overpriced school is an overpriced school. Is it your intent to find NA schools that cost more than RA schools? If so, what does that prove? The original statements made by some of the other gentleman, were to effect that many NA schools are more reasonable, and flexible than many of the RA schools. That is all. If someone wants to pay too much for ANY degree, that is on them.

take care,


Abner

 

Yes, I'm interested in opinions. No, my choice doesn't need any affirmation at all, because I made the right choice. It was the right choice because it is the choice that is best for ME and no one else.

If you look back at the first page of this thread, you will see the sort of replies I was looking for: people saying why they would select a non-RA other than not knowing the difference. In other words, what are the things about the school they choose that are important to even IF they understand accreditation.

It wasn't until jagmct1 made a comment about the alleged elitist attitude of RA schools (also page 1) did the thread turn away from the general sort of discussion I was interested in.

jagmct1 is more than welcome to express his opinion on the matter, and I am happy to discuss it with him, but you can see that it was at that point that the thread turned a bit away from the primary intent of my initial post.

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Warning: I have strong opinions on this subject

No, its just the way the discussion has turned. Finding NA schools that cost a lot more than RA schools is very easy, there are plenty of them. Likewise, there are plenty of NA schools that cost less than RA schools.

I'm just interested in opinion.

 

You need to define the "difference"

If you look back at the first page of this thread, you will see the sort of replies I was looking for: people saying why they would select a non-RA other than not knowing the difference. In other words, what are the things about the school they choose that are important to even IF they understand accreditation.


What is the difference? Last time I checked having recognized accreditation by a DOE recognized accreditor was the same in every conceivable way. This goes for RA, NA, even PA to some extent. So in order for us to post an opinion you need to tell us what you perceive the difference to be between the different accreditations if there is one.