WHY does California appear to have so few degree completion opps?

The question that started this thread was: WHY does California appear to have so few degree completion opps?

The California State University is the largest public system of higher education in the United States. It operates 23 campuses, employs 16,000 faculty and enrolls roughly 325,000 students. It grants more than half the bachelors degrees awarded in the state of California. The CSU has more than 1.2 million alumni out there.

Sounds kinda major to me.

If you want DL snob appeal, then perhaps you are right in looking elsewhere.

But that raises the unpleasant question: CAN a part-time undergraduate DL "degree completion" program have the prestige of a full-time, on-campus liberal arts degree program, offered to highly selected traditional age students? I wonder.

Even if the answer is 'yes', do places like TESC or COSC fall into that class?

I just counted 74 degree programs at the bachelors through the doctoral levels. If you'd like, I'll take an hour or so and list all of them for you, either here or on a new thread. Are there any states that offer more DL programs than that? I don't know, maybe there are. But if so, would that justify attacking us for not being number one?

74 DL degree programs. These are offered by a wider range of institutions than one finds most places, ranging from 'top tier' places like USC and Pepperdine to innovative specialized graduate institutes of a sort that are unusual elsewhere.

If there really is some baleful bureaucratic not-a-conspiracy operating here in California tring to quash non-traditional forms of education, then it must be singularly inept and impotent.

 

Hi Bill

We are really not communicating. We are true looking at this from 2 different views. Perhaps we are both correct?

I understand the CSU system has done a wonderful job creating programs. I understand private universities are filling the gap. These are great opportunities! However, why shouldn't adult learners have a chance at a BA/BS from the truly top tier of CA schools? Is there a BA/BS program from any of the UC schools?

I am not speaking of TESC/COSC/Excelsior. I am speaking of first rate universities NYU, Penn State, etc.

Again, it seems like top tier CA academia is pushing off this now 100+ year old innovation because it interferes with their view of the world. Perhaps I think of CA too highly and expect too much. I just think of it as a state that truly cares about education, and in this one aspect I am truly disappointed with their lack of achievement.

If it is any consolation, I am also disappointed in the poor performance of U of Oregon from my home state. DL has to be a part of the future of any university. The ones that ignore it are doing a disservice to the people they serve and who support them.

 

Bill - This wasn't an attack on the UC / CSU system, just an observation. Of the 74 - there are NONE / ZERO that offer a PhD in Business (DL or not) in the Sacramento area. That is my point, I know a little off discussion from the previous postings, but I see the point in that CA is somewhat off the mark in opportuntities -

 

Is there ANY metropolitan area in the United States where educational institutions offer programs in every imaginable subject at every level? Doesn't happen. Even New Yorkers are going to occasionally find that they will have to travel to find something (like agriculture).

It's a logical non-sequitur to move from the observation that your subject isn't offered at your level in Sacramento, to the assertion that there is something wrong with education in the state of California. You seem to me to be trying to judge California by standards of perfection that don't apply anywhere on earth.

 

Unfortunately your analogy does not work - if New York may not offer an Agric. degree is much different than Sacramento (capital of the 5th largest economy in the WORLD) not offering a PhD in BUSINESS.

I see states like Utah, who is offering distance DL AACSB programs, but just for their state, since these pilots are coming from state funds.

I went to a CSU school for my undergrad, and they accepted NO DL transfers, and it did not matter what the school's creditentials were. This is very disturbing. I met with the dean asking for an explaination, and he said that they will not accept DL courses (though they have DL courses offered at their college). Accreditation did not matter.

I was an evening student, and one of the courses REQUIRED was never offered in the evening or via DL. I asked if I could take it DL at an accredited university, then transfer it in, and was told NO. I was told that they do not cater to the "non-traditional" student. I probed to find out if there had EVER been a student that was evening student graduated, and it was explained that there was a couple of degrees offered at night, but not in my concentration. ARGHH!!

I can only go by my experiences, and I have been in schools in George, Oklahoma, and California. It seems that the schools in CA are not flexible, and there is nothing we can do about it.

 

It is disturbing, especially given the number of "hybrid" courses finding their way into the curriculum of traditional schools. If my online chemistry class requires 12 lab sessions at the college and proctored testing in the Testing Center, is it DL?

The practical side of me, though, wonders how the dean would know the difference. None of the DL courses I've taken have come from DL-only schools, and none of the transcripts have any notation of the medium involved.

 

Dennis - The way my dean knew is that I was requesting pre-approval to take certain courses for a transfer. I didn't want to take the course, then not have it accepted. One of the blocks were the "Day and time" of the class. My guess was that they were trying to see if the classtime was equivelant to their courses for unit credits. I put "DL", since there was no on campus time. That flagged it and started the contriversary.

 

Kristie,

I work for a CSU (San Bernardino). I was not aware that there were problems with acceptance of DL courses for transfer. I'll have to speak with my dean/

Tony Piña