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Technical Colleges: Are Their Degrees Worth Anything?

18 Sep

My first thought is, no.  Why would someone want to pay big dollars for a degree from an online and/or national college?  It’s like a cookie cutter university…

The idea seems foreign to me…with community colleges and public universities available, why would anyone coose the technical college route?

I did find some dirt on Phoenix here & here, but are ITT and Heald legitimate?  Also, I know U of Phoenix has a big office in downtown Honolulu.  I’ve also slightly recall reading that UoP stocks are actually doing quite well.

What do you think about them?

 

 
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  1. D

    September 18, 2006 at 5:58 am

    I am a master of nothing, just remember this as I give my opinion.

    I looked into the University of P. My take is it is a great asset to the learning community, but an institution that costs 4x’s as much as a local university. Thus, I believe they are in a business only for themselves and not for the betterment of man.

    At the time I inquired they were looking at a price of $265 per credit hour or there abouts. I then went to our local college’s website and low and behold they have an internet based learning as well. What is their price per credit hour – $65.

    This all leads me to believe that the uneducated person without the full scope of information is being swindled and led to an early debt future. All for the easy provided learning schedule and flowing registration process.

    Kind of like the easy system of pay day loans.

    Please accept my apologies for any UoP lovers, but remember this is just my opinion.

     

  2. Maria

    September 18, 2006 at 8:35 am

    I respectfully disagree about UOP. Granted it is not a “traditional” university, it is more concentrated learning and lacks all the “social” stuff. It does cater to working adults who cannot sacrifice their jobs to go back to school to finish their degrees.
    Of course, all “colleges” produce bad eggs but at UOP you just happen to pay more for it. What happens out in the “real” world is up to the student.

     

  3. udandi

    September 18, 2006 at 9:19 am

    it seems like more opportunities are opening for people who are full-time in the workforce, but looking to pursue a higher degree.

    I believe there is a PF blogger who just finished or is about to finish his masters through UofP :)

    a former coworker got his Masters (IT related, but I don’t know the title) from UofP and he took a lot of flack from people in our office who had Masters from traditional universities, not to mention the friction he created because he was working on his classes during work hours.

     

  4. LAMoneyGuy

    September 18, 2006 at 9:27 am

    I am working on the CFP through the College for Financial Planning. They are a division of the Apollo Group, UoP’s parent company. My take on these online types, don’t go for your bachelor’s degree. Consider it if you are looking at a specific area of expertise that will help you advance your career.

    In my case, I am not getting a degree of any type, but have the option of continuing for a Master’s in Financial Planning after my CFP work is complete. We’ll see how motivated I feel.

     

  5. Andy

    September 18, 2006 at 10:03 am

    I work for a very large public university, so I’m a bit biased believing that public universities and community colleges offer a cost-effective education. :wink:

    I will say that Univ. of Phoenix is meeting a huge need, and has developed a great model for educating non-traditional students. If public universities and community colleges want to be around 10 years from now, they need to do a better job catering to the non-traditional student.

     

  6. freedumb

    September 18, 2006 at 11:17 am

    Interesting feedback everyone.

    I guess they do really fill a void for non-traditional students. Even myself, as I’m looking to do some continuing education, find it difficult to mix classes with work. It would be extremely tempting to sign up for something that works around my schedule.

    I do agree, that public univ need to make sure they provide for these other students…

     

  7. Kate

    September 18, 2006 at 2:23 pm

    I live in Denver and all our public universities offer classes for working adults (both on-line and in classrooms). I got both my undergraduate and master’s degrees while working full time. The thing that would make me nervous about UoP is the transferability of the credits to a more traditional school if you didn’t finish the degree there. Also, in the finance world, people tend to roll their eyes at degrees from non-traditional schools. Something to think about, anyway.

     

  8. D

    September 19, 2006 at 4:25 am

    That was exactly my point although I don’t think people got the jist. You CAN receive this education through your local schools

    for less money
    on your schedule
    online

    Just thought I should clarify, why pay 4x’s as much.