Hi,

First of all, I am really glad I found this site. Its really nice to see a lot of help from the members here. thanks a lot for your time and help.

I am from India and I am a legal resident of USA (on L2 Visa). I live in NJ. I have found my interest towards web designing/logo designing field, so I have been researching the courses and colleges here. During the research, I came across the online colleges and courses related to web design. After visiting eLearners.com, I really understood some important terms like accredation, financial aid, benefits of online education etc. which made my realize that there are lots of other criteria that should be taken care of while choosing the college. I have got information from Devry University (online) and Art Institute of NY (on campus) so far. Does anyone have thoughts/input about these colleges? The course material in the aforementioned colleges seems to be good. But after going through some posts in this forum, I feel that Devry is expensive but what I heard from Devry is that they will make sure of 100% financial aid before I enrol into college. Is it okay to do in Devry in case I get 100% financial aid?

In my general research in the internet, there are lots of colleges providing online education. I am confused now as to how to select the colleges if all are accredited, providing equal course details and fee. Well, a few have a combination like web design and interactive media, web design and multimedia and only web design and only graphic design courses. Based on my interest (i.e web design and logo design and want to enhance my creativity skills and have a good career), how do I select a college and course? I am new to US education and please pardon me if I ask any silly questions. Do you recommend any other college? what would be the best place to search for the best colleges (online education) for web graphic design course?

I really want to do education in the field which excites me more than anything else and doing the education in USA will be a great oppurtunity for me. I would like to choose the best college which trains me for pursuing a career in the web graphic design field. I am looking forward to get the list of colleges recommended by you which is best based on quality of education, fee, accredation etc.

Really appreciate your time and looking forward for your reply.

Best,

JN.

Please include Art Institute of Pittsburg (online division) in my current list of schools and please provide input on that college too. Fee is pretty expensive in this college too. Is it worth the education they provide?

BTW, I am looking for an Associate degree(~2 yrs course) in web design related courses. FYI, I already have a Bachelors degree (which is a 4 year program) from India.

Best,

JN.

 

Okay, I have further shortlisted the online colleges which have my course of interest:

1) Devry

2) Art Institute of Pittsburg

3) Westwood Collge Online

4) Penn Foster College

Out of these 4, only Devry is regionally accredited, others are nationally accredited. Which one do you recommend? Please share your thoughts. Thanks a lot for your time. Expecting your reply.

 Best,

JN.

I'm not an artist, so I'm pretty hesitant to offer an opinion on which school is "the best".  I suppose were I in your situation I would contact the HR departments of the sorts of places you might want to work eventually, and ask their opinion.

Since you mention financial aid, though, I can at least say that as someone with L-2 visa status that I don't think you're eligible to participate in U.S. federal financial aid programs, which are limited to citizens, permanent residents, refugees, and asylees.  That may affect your decision.

-=Steve=- 

Of the 4 Penn Foster is likely to get you the highest return on investment.  Devry is simply too expensive and you do not qualify for financial aid as Steve said.  At least that is my understanding.  The other two schools are also expensive but not necessarily better than Penn Foster.  I'd give a long hard look at PF.

Hi Steve,

Thanks a lot for your reply. I expected your reply as I see your comments in almost all the posts that I read. Really appreciate it.

Yes, you are right about the financial aid. I submitted FAFSA last week and came to know that I am not eligible for federal aid.

Based on the further research, my field of interest is further nailed down to only 'web design' and not with graphic design combination. So, the list of colleges (offering Associate degree in web design) is narrowed down to

* International Academy of Design and Technology (IADT) online

* The Art institute of Pittsburgh (online division)

The course material is good and close to what I want in both the colleges but the fee is very expensive (47k) in ArtInstitute. So I had to drop the college from list and the left one is IADT. IADT fee is also high (36k) but I am left with no option.

I also found "Rasmussen college" recently but dont know about the reputation. I mean, I never came across that college during my research, so thought its not popular. Correct me if I am wrong. The course material doesnt impress me too.

* I am quite impressed with IADT programs and course catalog and I would like to know the opinion about IADT online school (from current students or alumni or anyone heard about this school)

* I would like to know any links which give information about aid/scholarships for international students.

Thanks a lot for your time and help.

Best,

JN.

Hi Cajun,

Thanks for taking time to reply for my query. As I've explained to Steve, I have more clarification towards my field of interest now and its 'web design'. Unfortunately, PF doesnt offer the web design course.

Could you please check my last response and let me know if you have any thoughts.

Really appreciate your time!

Best,

JN.

According to this http://www.rasmussen.edu/accreditation/ Rasmussen looks like a real winner.  Regionally accredited and if you can afford it, a much better choice than the other two alternatives you were considering.

If you're specifically interested in learning about web design, are you sure you need a degree program?  You might do just as well to take courses that may not necessarily be for credit on things like HTML and CSS, JavaScript, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Flash, and so forth and not try to shoehorn that into the format of a degree program.  There's some useful training offered by IWA-HWG (the merger of the International Webmasters Association and the HTML Writers Guild) that you may find directly useful and that is reasonably priced:

http://iwa-hwg.eclasses.org/

-=Steve=-

Thanks, Cajun.

Hi Steve,

I couldnt reply for this earlier. Your suggestion makes perfect sense to me. I will really think about it. Thanks a lot!

Just for comparison/research, do you know/recommend any similar programs like IWA?

Best,

JN.

Hi,

I can't speak for the other schools but I attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh Online for Graphic Design.  This program in my opinion was not for me because it mainly focused on design by drawing by hand.  Don't get me wrong, that's a good thing as it relates to sketching out ideas on paper but not something I want to do all the time.  I am more of a computer designer and the bulk of the classes they offered were drawing by hand.  

Then the tuition cost is fairly high which help me in my decision to transfer to APUS and major in Computer Info Systems with a focus of graphic/web design.  APUS is also regionally and nationally accredited.  I think it just depends on how you like to design, for me drawing was not my thing so I chose to leave.  Other then that, the Instructors weren't so bad but I will tell you the student support sucks or it did to me atleast.

Hi,

Really appreciate your reply.

I totally understand as I too am not into drawing  by hand and want to do design in computer and that understanding has helped me chose web designing. I will remember about your suggestions.

Thanks for your time.

nethajij:

Just for comparison/research, do you know/recommend any similar programs like IWA?

No, although there's a certification organization for webmasters that's been around since the dot-com boom.  Not sure if they offer concomitant training, but you could check them out:

http://www.ciwcertified.com

-=Steve=- 

sgw4daw:

 

Then the tuition cost is fairly high which help me in my decision to transfer to APUS and major in Computer Info Systems with a focus of graphic/web design.  APUS is also regionally and nationally accredited.  I think it just depends on how you like to design, for me drawing was not my thing so I chose to leave.  Other then that, the Instructors weren't so bad but I will tell you the student support sucks or it did to me atleast.

That might actually be a good idea.  If you ever get out of web design you would have more opportunities with a major in CIS than you would in graphic/web design.