Why are you so negative about Northcentral University (NCU)?

Links

http://www.rbequity.com/news/ncu-holdings-1-16-09.pdf

http://www.rbequity.com/

 

Expect tuition increases that exceed inflation for the foreseeable future. I would have thought a 100% virtual school, with the exception of the palatial headquarters in Arizona, could lead the way in keeping the cost of an education at the doctoral-level to a reasonable fee. With the recent change to their doctoral degrees (51 credit hours and a masters-level degree required for admission) the cost of a PhD or DBA should be well under USD15,000.00.

Thankfully, APUS (AMU & APU), another 100% virtual school save for their headquarters in Virgina, have held steady their tuition over the years.

 

Yes, NCU's tuition has reached the same level as all the rest of the online universities, to include TUI, Capella, Walden, UoP, et al. NCU isn't more expensive then those universities, but NCU certainly isn't any less expensive!!! I thought about going back to NCU for another specialization, but alas, I'm priced out of their market, due to their tuition increases. I was never able to afford Walden or UoP -- and now I can't afford my own alma mater.

 

So you're going to let one guy turn you away from the school of your choice?

 

Also, Canadian schools don't require any of those tests as far as I know ... at least, the ones in Ontario don't for entrance into bachelor's programs.

 

Maybe for a doctorate but neither of my masters degrees required any tests.

 

Please sign up asasp

I bought some Rockbridge Growth Equity, LLC, stock today.

I'm a BIG fan of NCU, PLEASE SIGN UP ASAP

Thank you.

 

So in response to the original poster's question, some people are just trolls.

 

I'd call it, willing to make a buck......

joking.....

(I should go into politics) SO ARE YOU FIRED UP!

 

I apologize if I am little slow, but you are saying that your main objection to NCU is that they are owned by a company that makes money? I'm missing something here I think.

Or are you upset that they do not require a standardized test for admission?

Full Disclosure: I am not now, nor have I ever been, a student at NCU.

Just curious.

 

A little research helped me a bit:

Students Call for More Disclosure on University Hedge Fund Investments

Frustrated by the opacity of universities' hedge fund investments in terms of their social and environmental impacts, students request dialogue with hedge fund firm.

SocialFunds.com -- Students at Duke, Stanford, Yale and other universities unveiled a campaign yesterday demanding disclosure on the social and environmental impacts of university hedge fund investments. This campaign comes on the heels of Duke University’s unrelated announcement last Saturday that it has adopted new socially responsible investing (SRI) guidelines that authorize its asset managers to practice shareowner action by such means as dialoguing with companies and filing shareowner resolutions.


The campaigning students, who consider themselves stakeholders, point out that universities have increased the allocation of their alternative investment portfolios to 42 percent, which is up from 28 percent in 2001. This is according to the Commonfund, which pools more than $30 billion in investments for universities and other nonprofit institutions. While hedge funds may increase returns, they also decrease transparency, as they are not regulated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) like securities and mutual funds are, with requirements to publicly disclose information.

The students have targeted Farallon Capital Management, which is one of the largest US hedge funds and deals with more than 10 universities. The group sent a letter to Tom Steyer, Farallon's senior managing member, requesting dialogue and disclosure.

"We have always been responsible investors and take that obligation seriously," said a Farallon spokesperson, who could not confirm whether or not Farallon has a policy for assessing the social or environmental impact of its investments.

The student group launched a website documenting what it considers ethically questionable investments conducted by Farallon with university investments.

"I think there's been a growing recognition over the last few years that there needs to be some kind of consistency between universities' social missions and academic values and the actual operations of universities in the realm of investments," said Justin Ruben, a graduate of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Mr. Ruben, who is also a member of Yale's Graduate Employees and Students Organization, co-signed the letter along with 18 other students representing 12 organizations at 5 universities.

"The reason we're addressing Farallon is because we found out about these instances of inconsistency between what we were learning in the classroom about the environment or social justice and the lessons universities are teaching through their actions and investments," Mr. Ruben told SocialFunds.com.

The website provides information about Farallon's Baca Ranch environmental debacle, which prompted Yale to sell the land and donate the profits of $1.5 million (after promising $4 million) to the Nature Conservancy to avoid negative publicity (see related SocialFunds.com article). It also profiles Farallon's investment in the Cordevalle Golf Club in Santa Clara County, California.

"It echoes the Baca Ranch story: there was local opposition and heavy local lobbying by Farallon to steamroll that opposition, but ultimately Farallon agreed to a series of environmental mitigation conditions that they then disregarded," said Mr. Ruben.

A 1996 memo from the Santa Clara County Planning Commission stipulates that Cordevalle construct ponds as habitat for two threatened species living on the site, the California Tiger Salamander and the Western Pond Turtle. A 2003 California Department of Fish and Game report documents that ponds still had not been built as of July of that year.

"It's clear that we only know about a tiny fraction of Farallon's investments, and a number of the ones we do know about raise a whole set of ethical questions," said Mr. Ruben. "It would be shocking to me if that wasn't true of some of the rest of their investments as well."

"But it is precisely to answer that question that we've asked them for dialogue, because we don't want to presume anything," he continued.

"We intend to respond once we've had a chance to review this," said the Farallon spokesperson.

Similar requests for dialogue with Yale's Office of Investments have been stymied.

"They haven't spoken to us or replied to any of our requests, which is galling, because we're students," said Mr. Ruben.

Yale does not consider itself beholden to disclose information about its investments to student stakeholders, according to Yale spokesperson Tom Conroy.

"Yale doesn't disclose beyond what's required," Mr. Conroy told SocialFunds.com.

Mr. Conroy pointed out that disclosure about the university's investment strategy could adversely affect investment returns, and furthermore that some investments stipulate confidentiality agreements that prevent the university from disclosing investment details.

"We understand that they have concerns about wanting to protect their strategic advantage, but clearly there's a need for more information than we currently have," said Mr. Ruben.


The IRS is examining questionable practices at college endowment funds across the country. PLUS: Whistleblowers who raised the red flags about Harvard Management.

excerpt:Harvard University was firmly perched in the pantheon of top-performing endowment funds, its Harvard Management Co. routinely came in for criticism for giving its managers outsized compensation packages, as well as for following investment strategies that seemed more suitable to a hard-charging Wall Street firm than to a tax-exempt charity.

 

Here it is "core purpose"

Example:

UOP & Capella (education)
NCU (Equity group - core value? Rockbridge is affiliated with other businesses including Quicken Loans, One Reverse Mortgage, Title Source, ePrize, Veritix and the Cleveland Cavaliers)

AGAIN: Northcentral University is a good example of a school that will bring down the standards of regional accreditation - my 2 cents

 

I don't understand, how does the fact that NCU is owned by a company affiliated with other things mean that NCU's core purpose is not education? That's a non-sequitur.

If you're going to repeatedly make a claim (you are essentially claiming that NCU should not be accredited, since you claim they "will bring down the standards fo regional accreditation") you need to back it up with facts/evidence, not just attacking the company that owns it (ie, ad hominem attacks).

 

So it's all about Lebron James correct? I blew it last semester and now you have it out for this school??? lol

Seriously, NCU was one of the schools I was looking at and don't see "Equity group" as making this school bad. In my opinion, the MBA program is a little more expensive than others schools I was looking at. As for their DBA program, I'm not sure you can compare NCU with a school like Capella because the tuition difference is significant. I guess if someone is looking to pursue an DBA for example and wants more support from the school they would look at Capella. If they want to do more individualized study they would select NCU?

One of the reasons that attracted me to NCU was the fact that I have the option to work at my own pace and finish in 12 weeks or less than 12. At 16k for the entire program, I just couldn't see paying that kind of money when looking at schools like APU and Chancellor that would cost me 9,000 to 9,950 for an MBA. Now, if I'm looking for a DBA and know that I will not get the same type of support as Capella, but it would cost me around 25k I can't see how NCU would be a bad school. It's all about choices and what you want to get out of the program.

 

It appears that the same few For-profit schools are discussed in this forum.

According to the US dept of Education these are the types and number of 4-year degree granting institutions in the USA in 2006/7:

Public ...................................643
Private Not-for-profit ............1,533
Private For-profit ................... 453

Source: http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d07/tables/dt07_255.asp

I bet very few posters can name more than a handful of For-profit schools.

I make no conclusionsfrom these numbers - I just thought it interesting.

 

So, maybe they should buy H&R Block and then offer a "3 unit class" for getting your taxes done; then you can get that 10 dollar off coupon for Quicken Loans, and your Mom & Dad can get a 10 sec. reverse mortgage with free tickets to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

 

Another fan:

http://www.ripoffreport.com/Colleges-and-Universities/Northcentral-Univers/northcentral-university-on-lin-fcfmc.htm

 

Are you going to respond to 03310151? If those students succeed, we may find out that Harvard, Duke, Yale, etc. may have invested in NCU.

Also, is your only reasoning behind why they will "bring down the standards of regional accreditation" their open admission? Lots of schools have open admission; are they just as much of a threat to the standards? Just curious...

 

It all stated with this:

Doctor Doctor
Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 10

Why are you so negative about Northcentral University (NCU)?

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Tomball et al.?


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