I recently received some questions from a potential distance education student asking me about my Kaplan experience.  I am pleased that my work here has raised some awareness about Kaplan and has caused people to write me with questions.  If anyone has any questions about Kaplan that I haven’t covered here to your satisfaction, please feel free to e-mail me at sdavis@WheelCipher.net.  I thought I would share the latest QA session with you here.

Hello Scott,
 
I read your blog about Kaplan and you had some really great things to say. I am concerned about an online school for a couple of reasons. One, Kaplan talked about being validated by the Committee on National Security Systems and their standards for the following certificates. I was a bit confused as I want to get my BS in Management and was curious, if you knew, what one had to do with the other?
 
Second, I understand an online education, at least for the program I want to start is upwards of $60k. Is that normal?
 
How did you feel about the classes? Were your credits transferable? What was your overall feeling of the process? Did you get a certificate at the end?
 
Thanks for any help you can offer to me on this very difficult journey of going back to school after 20 years!

First of all, I would not be concerned about anything.  The CNSS is a government agency that certifies certain programs.  For instance, Kaplan probably offers a certificate in law enforcement or other field that requires certification in order to make the program legit for the students.  It's a type of accreditation, if you will.  Much like academic accreditation, certain programs in all fields of education and business have some "authority" that can vouch for the validity and stringent rules of the program.  This is also done to ensure quality.

I would have to say that 60k for any undergrad program is a LOT.  What program were you looking at?  I know that in my 4 years at Kaplan (A.A.S. Information Systems, B.S. Management), I came in at just under 40k.  That's a lot, too.  But online education is not cheap in some cases. 

As far as how I feel about the classes: I have written a lot about my classes, and those thoughts are shared in all of my postings.  Overall, I am very happy with the course material, the delivery method, and my overall experience.  Some people who are not familiar with online education may have opinions that the curriculum is not as rigorous as on-campus institutions.  I can attest that it is rigorous, and my education at Kaplan provided a great foundation on which to build.  It's not Ivy League, but it's not marketed as such.  It's a good education that is targeted at adult learners with work experience.  It's targeted at people who want to expand their career by getting a quality education.

In regards to credits being transferable, I had no credits to transfer.  I am guessing that if I had some, they would have been tough to transfer since each school has its own criteria and academic equivalent.  If you are looking to get some credits, I would suggest that you pick a school, pick a degree plan, then look at the list of required classes.  When you have done that, get with your academic adviser and see if you can CLEP any of the required classes.  I do remember asking this question of the folks at Kaplan, and they were unable to give me a concrete response as to which CLEP tests would apply to classes in my degree program.  Hopefully you can get a little more out of them.

Overall, I am very happy with my experience at Kaplan.  I did receive my diploma at the end of my Associates degree, and I will be receiving my diploma for my Bachelors degree when I finish that in October.