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This is Terry's account of how he got started at Penn Foster College, as well as his ongoing studies towards his online Marketing degree. Read about the various pitfalls of balancing homework with family, as well as his two jobs, personal life, and volunteer work.
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There are 11.5 million AFL-CIO members in the United States. When they want to earn labor-related degrees, they have the opportunity to be served by the National Labor College, the nation's only accredited higher education institution devoted exclusively to educating labor leaders, members and activists. The National Labor College is teaming up with The Princeton Review and Penn Foster College to offer distance learning programs to union members. The new online initiative is tentatively called the College for Working Families. According to a press release issued by the National Labor College, "the College will retain majority control of the joint venture, and will
continue to be solely responsible for the integrity and quality of the
programs of the new College for Working Families. The joint venture is
subject to the negotiation and execution of definitive agreements among
the AFL-CIO, the College and The Princeton Review which are currently
expected to be completed during the first quarter of 2010.
Implementation of certain anticipated programs may be subject to
regulatory approvals." The press release mentions expanded offerings for the National Labor College, which currently offers two degrees: a Bachelor of Arts in Labor Studies and a Bacheor of Technical and Professional Studies. Beginning this fall, the college is expected to also offer programs in criminal justice, education, business and healthcare. The cost of programs at the College for Working Families will be about $200 per credit hour. Some in labor have questioned the practice of a non-profit regionally accredited institution teaming up with a nationally accredited for-profit online college. National Labor College officials have responded by saying Penn Foster faculty would not be used in the new College for Working Families, and that faculty hired for the college will be union members. The National Labor College's president recently resigned, calling the expansion plans and partnership with Penn Foster College the crowning achievement of his two years at the college. An interim president was appointed earlier this week.
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I have now attended two different DETC accredited schools, Penn Foster College and Andrew Jackson University. One of the things that attracted me to both of these schools was price. When I first enrolled at PFC, the degree programs were about $55 per credit hour. I enrolled at AJU under its "sponsored tuition" program, so there was no tuition. I only had to pay a $400-$500 per semester fee. Those are great prices for a college education. But those ultra-cheap degrees seem to be disappearing. Since I first enrolled at Penn Foster, under its former name of Education Direct, the price of tuition has nearly doubled. Andrew Jackson University discontinued its sponsored tuition program on January 15th. It now charges tuition for its programs, although at $45 per credit hour for undergraduate programs, it's still a very good deal. Sure, as time goes on schools must increase their tuition prices to cover their expenses, but the "ultra-cheap" degree programs seem to be disappearing. At one time, Ashworth College had an MBA program which cost about $3,000. That's right, the entire MBA was $3,000, and the books were included in the tuition. That amount wouldn't pay for one semester at many other schools. Aspen University once charged $4,500 for its MBA program. That same program now costs $300 per credit hour. What effect will this have on DETC accredited schools? Like I said, the main thing that first attracted me to DETC accredited schools was the price. Now that the cost of attending these schools matches or exceeds the cost of attending a regionally accredited college, many student may now simply opt to attend a regionally accredited college. Credits from regionally accredited schools more readily transfer to other regionally accredited schools, while students with a degree from a DETC accredited school may find their credits won't transfer to a regionally accredited school should they want to pursue additional studies in a graduate degree program. In the past, when the degrees were ultra-cheap, they may have been willing to restrict themselves to the few regionally accredited schools which would accept their credits. Now, they have less of an incentive to do so. Some DETC accredited schools may be pricing themselves out of their target market. They may be able to offset this by offering programs which most regionally accredited schools don't offer, but many of the DETC accredited schools have already heavily invested themselves in Criminal Justice, Business and Health Care oriented programs. If a student can find a similar program at a regionally accredited school, they may just opt for that school instead. I'm still a fan of DETC accredited schools. I just hope they will continue to find ways to compete in the crowded distance learning marketplace.
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Penn Foster has unveiled two new career diploma programs: Optician and Legal Transcriptionist. According to a press release issued by Penn Foster, the Optician program "trains students to obtain employment as an optician (also referred to
as an ophthalmic dispenser). Students are taught the responsibilities
of an optician, including choosing frames and lenses for a given
prescription and dispensing contact lenses under the supervision of a
licensed practitioner (if legally permitted to do so in their state of
residence). Additionally, students will be prepared for the National
Opticianry Competency Examination (NOCE), which is administered by the
American Board of Opticianry (ABO), as well as the Contact Lens
Registry Examination (CLRE), which is administered by the National
Contact Lens Examiners (NCLE)." Information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that most employers prefer licensed opticians, as many states now require such licensing. Job prospects for Opticians are expected to be very good as Baby Boomers age and need contact lenses and glasses. Penn Foster says the Legal Transcriptionist program "prepares students to obtain employment as a legal transcriptionist.
Students learn the skills required of a professional transcriber
including drafting pleadings, discovery documents, and appellate
procedures; using legal libraries to perform legal research; and
revising completed transcriptions." The BLS says job prospects for Legal Transcriptionists is expected to be "excellent." The cost of tuition for both programs is roughly $1,200.
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It appears Penn Foster College is moving ahead with graduate degree programs. The school recently added bachelor degree programs, making it competitive with a similarly-priced online school, Ashworth College. But, while Ashworth offers several graduate degree programs, PFC did not. It looks like that is about to change. There is now an active Penn Foster College web site called The Dagget Graduate School of Education. The school offers two masters degrees: the Master of Education in Teaching and Learning and The Master of Education in Educational Technology. There are also two graduate certificate programs: Teaching and Learning and Educational Technology. The tuition is $265 per credit hour, slightly higher than the graduate tuition at Ashworth College. Still, the entire program is under $10,000, which is still a pretty good deal for a graduate degree program. Oddly enough, there doesn't appear to be a link to the graduate school from the main Penn Foster College web site. So far, it appears these education degrees are the only graduate programs available through Penn Foster College. I hope that will change soon. I think PFC should also consider offering graduate programs like an MBA, an MS in Marketing or Public Relations, Criminal Justice and perhaps some type of health care field. Of course, PFC might be trying to offer programs not available at similarly-priced schools, but I find that there is a definite lack of affordable Marketing or PR graduate degrees in the marketplace, and hope that they will consider offering these types of programs. MBA and Criminal Justice programs are plentiful, but they are plentiful for a reason. There are plenty of students willing to enroll in these programs. It will be interesting to see if PFC expands its graduate degree programs in the near future.
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I'm the moderator of one of the forums here at eLearners, the Penn Foster College forum. From time to time, I will see a question on the forums or receive an email from a student asking about an unaccredited school. Is it any good? Can I use a degree from an unaccredited school to get a job? Can I use it to obtain a graduate degree from another school? When I ask a student why they would consider getting a degree from an unaccredited school, the answer is almost always "because it is affordable." The answer is rarely, if ever, "because they have a great program that perfectly fits my needs." Sure, the program at the unaccredited school may be cheaper than programs at nationally or regionally accredited schools, but what is the REAL cost of earning a degree from an unaccredited school? First, there is the cost of the student's time. Why put in years of hard work to earn a degree only to find out later than it has little, it any, utility? There are some exceptions of course. There are religious schools and seminaries which are unaccredited but may very well meet the needs of student planning to go into the clergy. However, these are rare exceptions. The fact is, most employers require a degree from an accredited institution for their prospective employees, and the HR departments do check. This is especially important if you work in a job field which requires a license or certification, such as health care or education. Many states have laws which forbid the use of an unaccredited degree to obtain a job. In Oregon, job seekers are required to disclose on their resumes if their degrees have been obtained from an unaccredited school. If they do not, they could be charged with a criminal misdemeanor. Suppose a student earns a bachelor's degree from an unaccredited school and later decides to earn a graduate degree from an accredited school. Their options are virtually non-existent. There are some schools which make exemptions for degrees from religious-based schools, but they are definitely in the minority. Just because a school is unaccredited doesn't mean they are degree mills. There have been some noteworthy schools which operated without accreditation for a time. Bob Jones University is one that comes to mind, but even that institution has gained accreditation. I believe Andrew Jackson University originally operated without accreditation for a time, but they are currently nationally accredited by the DETC. They likely found that in order to compete in the marketplace, they had to have accreditation. There may very well be some great, affordable programs being offered by unaccredited schools, but with the many fantastic and affordable degree options being offered by accredited schools, is there really any good reason not to go with an accredited school? I cannot think of any. Although the unaccredited school might seem like a great bargain on its surface, it may ultimately cost the student lost time, lost money, and lost opportunities for employment, licensing for certain jobs, and further education at the school of their choice. That is why you will only find programs from accredited schools listed here at eLearners.
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