"
I'm not a driven businessman, but a driven artist. I never think about money. Beautiful things make money." --Lord Acton
In my four years at Kaplan, I have been lucky in the sense that all of my materials are provided for me. That includes books, software, and everything else I needed. The only things I have purchased on my own have been an APA-format template for Microsoft Word, and other general odds and ends. But looking back, I didn’t ask the right questions when I first signed up. There are tons of questions everyone should ask before signing up for the four-year hitch, but I wanted to touch on a few of the more important ones, and elaborate on the ramifications of not asking.
Question 1: What is the total cost of the program, and do I have to buy anything extra?
If you fail to confirm this information, you could possibly be blindsided with unexpected costs down the line. There’s nothing like setting a budget for education and finding out later that you need to spend $300 - $500 on something like Microsoft Office. Furthermore, not all schools supply books and other materials in the price of the class like Kaplan. You will need to know if this is the case, and line up a solid source for your books.
Question 2: Do you accept transfer credits?
Transfer credits are a very tricky topic. I know that there are some smaller schools (i.e. community colleges) that work with the larger local universities so that transfer credits are generally accepted. But if you have previous college credit, you will want to make sure the online school you choose will take those credits. Otherwise, you can plan on starting over with no credits in the program you decide on.
Question 3: Is your school accredited?
This is a no-brainer. There have been countless discussions on this, and I won’t go too much into it. Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions, or post to the eLearners forums.
Question 4: What is the typical schedule for the classes? Define “at your own pace”.
A lot of schools promote an education “at your own pace”. I do believe this is misleading. Online education allows you to do the work at any time of the day or night, and from whatever location you happen to be in if you have Internet access. But there is still a schedule to keep. At Kaplan, classes are 10 weeks long. Each lesson is one week long. In that week, you will have a (usually) mandatory online seminar at a specific time, and your assignments and message board postings need to be complete and turned in at the end of each week. Everyone needs to understand the meaning of “at your own pace”. Ask the school about the schedule and requirements. This will give you an idea of how it affects you.
If anyone has any questions, please feel free to e-mail me at sdavis@WheelCipher.net