My Ashford University Experience : open university

Routines and Rhythms: The keys to your success

Cajun — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 01:50:00 GMT

I’ve said it before I’ll say it again, two things you need to be successful as an online student, especially one who is also professionally employed, is good scheduling and time management skills. The thing that I use to meet the rigors of...(read more)

So I'm Considering a Doctorate Degree

Cajun — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 20:56:00 GMT

First up, I've written about them before and I'm doing it again, but the Harrison Middleton University's College of the Humanities and Sciences has the best looking all around liberal arts doctorate programs I've seen. I love the concept of performing your research based upon readings from the Great Books, many of which have shaped our way of life in the Western World. Some of these works have influenced everyone from Marx to the framers of the United States Constitution to Einstein. I love the concept, I love the idea of the program.

The cost is very reasonable at just over $16K and of course I love the idea of being "Doctor Cajun." However there is a con, the degree seems as if it would have very little practical use as a credential in the "real world" even though the education gained from this program may prove invaluable indeed. So the inner pragmatist within me keeps shouting "something else, find something else" so I continued my search.

Found at http://www.chumsci.edu/pages/degree/doctorarts-coursework.asp

My search eventually landed me on Northcentral University's Web site. This school offers a deep law enforcement discount placing the degree program squarely within my predefined "affordable" range and the idea of a PhD soothes my inner pragmatist because of its utility in teaching and academia. I've made no secret of it; if at all possible I would love to teach college management, leadership and criminal justice courses. I am passionate on the subject matter, I am interested in the topics and because of that, I am gifted in those areas.

NCU has concentrations that are in areas of interest to me such as in Criminal Justice, Homeland Security, Homeland Security: Leadership and Policy and a strange but interesting offering in Business, Corporate and Campus Security. Holy cow!!! On top of that if I choose 18 hours in electives towards Organizational Leadership that will be added to the transcript as a secondary specialization. So it would read something like Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration with a specialization in Criminal Justice and Organizational Leadership…not bad, eh?

Another consideration is that NCU is accredited by the ACBSP and is regionally accredited by the NCACS which would turn into a weighty teaching credential.

I'll have to start really weighing my options again. In all honesty if I could have any job on the planet, right at the top of my list somewhere would be a college professor or instructor in criminal justice, management and leadership, I've just never considered that to be a practical goal but now it looks like it could actually happen one day…maybe.

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Pondering a weak economy in the face of graduation

Cajun — Sun, 25 May 2008 18:26:00 GMT

I keep hearing on the radio and television about the woes to come for our economy. So far in North Texas we really haven’t seen a lot of the impact from the so called recession but we have started to see some larger businesses begin to brace themselves for the impact through budget cuts, some hiring freezes, etc. One thing I never would have thought would have any impact upon my marketability after I graduated was the price of oil and gas. It looks as if perhaps I was mistaken as we are all in some way or another tied together. Since the price of oil and gas seems to be rising at an astonishing rate, businesses who rely on these commodities to conduct business have had to take measures in other areas to compensate for the greed that seems to be the modus operandi for big oil. These cutbacks are coming in the form of doing less with more in terms of employee staffing, higher cost for pretty much any good such as a basket of groceries to feed our families or raised taxes so that we can keep our police and fire departments running. Just think of what filling the gas tank of a fire truck at $4.50 a gallon would do to a small town’s budget. However the consumer is only realizing maybe a 2 – 3% raise in pay per year.

How does this translate into educational concerns? Two ways. First is the inflation rate seems to be getting a little momentum driven by the excessively bloated oil companies driving everyone else’s prices up. So your dollar will be worth less today than it was yesterday and at this rate worth less tomorrow than today. This is likely to translate over to higher tuition costs. The government is likely to find a “solution” by working out some type of higher financial aid cap or something to better enable students to pay what they shouldn’t have to pay in order to get an education all while going tragically into debt. By the time many students start looking for a return on their investments for earning that degree, the margins for gain will be reduced. In other words, an MBA making $72,500 today isn’t nearly the same as an MBA making $72,500 10 years ago when the price of the MBA has climbed from $10-20K for a program to $35-60K and taking into account the sluggish hiring combined with the reduced value of the dollar. It kind of just takes the wind out of your sails for a moment.

The second way this translates into an educational concern is the marketability of the graduate after hiring. Our businesses are outsourcing at every given opportunity, the loyalty employees saw from their companies in the form of pensions and retention is all but gone, the baby boomers are retiring quickly and surely many of whom will likely begin to tap mutual funds, 401Ks, etc. leaving less money moving in the open trading markets which may lead to bankruptcies, company reductions, who knows what else. So basically I’m just pondering the future of this economy and how it will impact graduates. How will our greed today impact our ability to maintain tomorrow?

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19 Weeks to go before graduation...

Cajun — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:48:00 GMT

I can hardly believe it. Here I am looking at the schedule for my next class and realize that I have only 3 courses left. Including this week which is half way over I have 19 weeks left of school and then I’m home free. I am wondering about the commencement ceremony though. It will be in mid December in Iowa. I can drive 14 hours to get there or pay between $250 to $700 a person and fly to a major city nearby (within 2 hours of a drive) and rent a car to drive the rest of the way in. I’m thinking about just driving there, but then I’ve grown up in Louisiana and Texas my whole driving life and have never really been subjected to an Iowa snow. So road conditions are a concern. Either way I guess I’ll be doing some amount of driving though.

Or I suppose I could put on a cap and gown, head down to a local pub and attempt to set the world’s record in downed Irish car bombs in a 4 hour span with some of my closest friends in tow. But then who would want their parents to watch that? As for the pictures…

19 weeks really doesn’t feel like it is that far away. Okay I realize I have an entire summer’s worth of work still left to do, but after 7 long, long, long years of college, realizing that you only have 19 weeks left in the foreseeable future just feels so soon. I wonder if I’ll suffer that post partum depression type of thing after I finish up? I remember after my BS the first 2 weeks that I didn’t have coursework to do I was seriously so anxious that my wife almost had me put on medication. I just felt like I had to be doing something but didn’t know what. Has anyone else felt like that?

I can say one thing; this is the closest I’ve ever been to a graduation date without plans to keep going to school afterwards. I’m a little freaked out about the whole thing actually. But hey, the very day I complete my last assignment I will be ending every single email with my name and “MBA” at the end. Only for a week, but hey, I’ve got to be a little obnoxious or I just wouldn’t be being me.

I do plan on doing one thing if I do nothing else, I’m writing a book on distance education or more specifically getting a degree online. I’m planning on filling it with practical yet entertaining advice, maybe a little story here and there and even perhaps an interview or two with HR type people. Whatever it is I’m not going to try to rehash everything Dr. John Bear has written on over the years but instead try to write on things from the viewpoint of the student experience. Who knows? Either way I’m going to attempt something.

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Devry, University of Phoenix and King of the Hill…some advice for UofP and the like

Cajun — Wed, 07 May 2008 06:01:00 GMT

Many of you may not have heard of the animated television show King of the Hill, suffice to say it is a show loosely based upon a character from Beavis and Butthead. At least I think it’s based off of him, Tom Anderson.Anyways so I’m eating lunch tonight at work and on a television in the room is this cartoon show where a young elementary school kid is trying to get into a good college by earning extra credit doing a work study. Hey I didn’t say the show was realistic. Anyways, so this kid’s protégée gets fired and all of a sudden the kid starts panicking and said, “oh no, now I’ll have to go to the University of Phoenix or DeVry!” Now the cartoon had my attention. I was a little taken aback at the remark, especially from a cartoon of all things and honestly I felt the little remark really betrays a lot of ignorance on the part of many people out there.

Here’s my take. DeVry and University of Phoenix are both regionally accredited schools with a large amount of students and an open enrollment policy. Both schools have had students which have seen tremendous success and both schools have had students fail out, drop out, get frustrated and quit, etc. This is all part and parcel of having an open enrollment policy.

Now here’s the good news. DeVry and University of Phoenix were both leaders in regionally accredited distance learning programs. No they were not the first and they probably are not the best but University of Phoenix is without a doubt the biggest. They have provided an opportunity for many people to earn their degree who may not have been able to do so otherwise. They have also demonstrated to probably more schools than will admit it that distance learning can be not only viable for students but healthy for the school’s budget as well, opening yet even more doors. In the case of University of Phoenix, they were somewhat to be partially credited for the paradigm shift in higher education to where distance learning programs are now considered okay for the most part. Heck, even some Ivy League schools are slowly but surely coming on board. So let’s give some credit where credit is due. DeVry and University of Phoenix have demonstrated that a full time working adult can also be a successful student and good for the school.

Now here’s the bad. Because of the extensive, extensive, extensive advertising campaigns both schools are a household name. Because of the open enrollment policies many people correctly assume the school is easy to get into. Unfortunately many people also incorrectly believe that it is then likewise easy to get a degree from these kind of schools. Ignorantly believing that easy enrollment must equal easy coursework. Additionally because both schools are a household name many people assume they know something about the school and have thus formed an opinion based upon the advertising, their assumptions, something they heard, hearsay, speculation or just because. Like most assumptions in life, many of their assumptions do not even resemble the facts. Either way, fair or not each of these schools carry a reputation that potential students should keep in mind. It’s not fair, it’s not right and it certainly isn’t enlightened on the part of those who would discriminate against these institutions but it is a reality and must be considered.

Now here’s the ugly. The guerilla warfare recruiting tactics combined with open enrollment and exceedingly high tuition rates have really hurt the reputations of these schools in many academic and professional circles. Additionally the constant, shameless and almost intrusively spam like advertising online, through email, through television or even by purchasing exclusive naming rights to a football stadium have caused many and sometimes rightfully to believe that these schools are shamelessly for profit. Some of these marketers must not realize that we, the American people know that they are there. But these schools aren’t selling hot dogs or beer. We don’t need the constant barrage of advertising crammed down our throats daily. Seriously, I haven’t gone a single day in probably years where I haven’t seen or heard a University of Phoenix advertisement in some form of media. Lastly the boiler room recruitment tactics of the University of Phoenix has earned them some well deserved criticism from academics, professionals, students and the press. I once inquired at the University of Phoenix and had people calling me 18 months after I had already enrolled in another program. They were positively relentless and some of the recruiters became somewhat terse whenever I didn’t want to enroll right away even giving me the proverbial hard sell.

It is a shame that these schools have these reputations amongst so many people and it is unfair to the students. To the point that employers are specifically naming these schools in their “do not bother to apply if you have a degree from…” is shameful. So rather than criticize I am here to help.

So here is Cajun’s plan to set the University of Phoenix and DeVry back on track and in the good graces of the public.

My number one, at the top of the list, highest priority is to LOWER YOUR TUITION. Let’s face it guys, we all like to make money but Harvard you ain’t. In fact your tuition is right up there with some really big name competition and yet, your schools reputation hardly justifies such an expense. I know, financial aid is easy to get and you guys get more than most, but seriously get some realistic tuition rates within the budget range of your average middle class family without having to take on $60K in debt in the process.
Cut back on advertising. See, you can still hit your margins by cutting back costs and therefore lowering tuition. I think I can be reminded that your school is still there if you did the occasional ad. I don’t need emails, pop-ups, digital ads in the margins of every newspaper and magazine webpage in America or television and radio daily and nightly running. Trust me, the whole friggin’ world knows you’re there.
Do some charity for once. Sure you’re for profit. But look at it like this, it’s really good P.R. that helps the reputation of the school and guess what, it can even work like advertising but in a good way. I know you guys like advertising. Don’t forget that many of these charities are tax deductible. Hey get crazy, have students working at a homeless shelter or faculty participating in the Big Brothers and Big Sisters programs. Give scholarships to orphans and children of disabled vets. Give the occasional academic scholarship or even just make a donation here and there.
Build some relationships with other schools. Don’t view everybody as “competition” but instead form some partnerships with non-profits. I don't know, sponsor some research or something.

Well that’s it for now. Anymore and I’ll have to start charging consulting fees. Like you guys would listen to little old me anyways right? Still, when you’re right, you’re right.

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