A little over a year ago, I began searching for colleges that offered a BS in Computer Science degree entirely online. I found six (Florida State, U of Illinois, Chico State, Regis U, Franklin U, and Mercy College).  I've tentatively decided on either U of Illinois or Regis, but I'm not entirely happy with either of them for a number of reasons.  I'm still working on my prerequisites at a community college, and at the time I started, I figured that when I was ready to transfer I would have a few more options.

In the interim, I've tried everything I can think of to find additional online BSCS programs, and there simply aren't any.  I haven't spent as much time searching for programs in other fields, but my impression is that the situation is the same at least for other sciences, such as math and physics.  While the number of online courses in general does seem to be growing, I haven't seen any real growth in online degree programs, at least at the undergraduate level.  In fact, in a few cases a google search for an online program would link to a dead page, and a search of the site reveals that the program is no longer offered online.

Maybe I'm just frustrated because I will soon have to start selecting elective courses, and choosing the wrong ones to transfer could cost me a couple of semesters.  But I had really believed that online education was about to enter a major growth phase, and I'm not sure why I haven't seen at least the beginnings of this, even in such a short time frame.

Is there substantial growth in online degree offerings in other fields that I haven't noticed?  Am I expecting too much too soon?  Or has the prophesied explosion in online education simply failed to materialize?

 

 

You didn't list Baker College, and they have a Bachelor's program in Computer Science that's pretty well priced.  What about them?

-=Steve=-

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B.S., Info Sys, Charter Oak State College
M.A., Educational Tech Leadership, George Washington University
Doctor of Health Education, A.T. Still University, in progress

I hate to accuse anyone of being too picky ... but what were your issues with U of I and Regis? What is it, exactly, that you're looking for?

-h 

Online education has entered a large growth phase. This is particularly true if you add in all of the many online courses now offered by traditional universities. That being said, that large growth phase just may not meet your specific needs. You can point in any direction and find business degrees, information systems, English, and so on.

What you may be experiencing is a lack of computer science programs. It has always been this way for that field. Yes, there are some true computer science programs, but many, many more in related fields such as information systems and the like.

How important is it to you that the degree actually says "Computer Science?"

 

Tom Nixon

http://BestOnlineHighSchools.com

You also did not mention Troy University.  http://www.troy.edu/ecampus/programs/ugdegreeprograms.htm 

MartyS:

A little over a year ago, I began searching for colleges that offered a BS in Computer Science degree entirely online. I found six (Florida State, U of Illinois, Chico State, Regis U, Franklin U, and Mercy College).  I've tentatively decided on either U of Illinois or Regis, but I'm not entirely happy with either of them for a number of reasons.  I'm still working on my prerequisites at a community college, and at the time I started, I figured that when I was ready to transfer I would have a few more options.

In the interim, I've tried everything I can think of to find additional online BSCS programs, and there simply aren't any.  I haven't spent as much time searching for programs in other fields, but my impression is that the situation is the same at least for other sciences, such as math and physics.  While the number of online courses in general does seem to be growing, I haven't seen any real growth in online degree programs, at least at the undergraduate level.  In fact, in a few cases a google search for an online program would link to a dead page, and a search of the site reveals that the program is no longer offered online.

Maybe I'm just frustrated because I will soon have to start selecting elective courses, and choosing the wrong ones to transfer could cost me a couple of semesters.  But I had really believed that online education was about to enter a major growth phase, and I'm not sure why I haven't seen at least the beginnings of this, even in such a short time frame.

Is there substantial growth in online degree offerings in other fields that I haven't noticed?  Am I expecting too much too soon?  Or has the prophesied explosion in online education simply failed to materialize?

 

 

 

 

In addition to what the others said, I'll saythat your assumption lacks the perspective of time.  See distanceeducation is not a very new thing, but online education is a fairly recentphenomenon.  When I started my educationabout 7 years ago, online offerings were pretty thin, some were incrediblyexpensive and some required supplemental videos, cds, etc. 

Within the past few years things have really taken off, standardized for themost part and have gained a lot more acceptance in professional circles.

 

Now in answer to your concerns, what exactly arethey?  Also sometimes finding a programthat is 100% perfect can be difficult.

 

Thanks for the replies, everyone.   I suppose that I should be happy to have the opportunity to get a degree online, since that's my only realistic hope of getting a degree at all.  But comparing the programs available at the few colleges that offer online BSCS degrees to a lot of strictly B&M programs, the differences are rather glaring.

I'll try to address everyone's questions:
 

SteveFoerster:

You didn't list Baker College, and they have a Bachelor's program in Computer Science that's pretty well priced.  What about them?

-=Steve=-

The Baker program is a BCS. I think it would difficult to be admitted to an MSCS program with this degree.  I believe the BCS is designed as a terminal program, much as the MCS is.  The math core is substantially weaker than most CS programs - I think that this is one of the major advantages of the BSCS; it's a rigorous, math-heavy program that prepares you for a lot of jobs that may not necessarily even involve a lot of programming.  They require Math for Business, Trig and Discrete Math whereas I need Calc II just to graduate with an AS. 
 

helenh:

I hate to accuse anyone of being too picky ... but what were your issues with U of I and Regis? What is it, exactly, that you're looking for?

I'll answer your last question first, since this is, I think, what motivated me to post this.

I'd love to have the luxury of looking at a program and asking questions like "How respected is this program?" "What kind of depth does it offer?" "Who are the profs? What kind of research are they involved in? What important papers have they written?" "Where are recent grads working now?" For most of the colleges offering a BSCS online, the answers generally sound like "Not very," "Not much," "Never heard of 'em..."

U of Illinois admits students (20 each Fall and Spring) into a cohort program.  While I'm admittedly not familiar with the concept, my impression is that I wouldn't be able to progress at my own pace.  Also, being rather more competitive than the admissions at similar colleges is something of a disadvantage (I'm currently maintaining a 4.0, but I don't know what else they look at and it would suck to apply, then have to wait a few semesters to be admitted).

The main issues that I have with Regis, at least in comparison with the other options, have to do with comments by a couple of people here a few months ago.  They said that the profs were unresponsive and the coursework was very easy.  You may have gathered by now that I'm not looking for easy.
 

tcnixon:

Online education has entered a large growth phase. This is particularly true if you add in all of the many online courses now offered by traditional universities. That being said, that large growth phase just may not meet your specific needs. You can point in any direction and find business degrees, information systems, English, and so on.

What you may be experiencing is a lack of computer science programs. It has always been this way for that field. Yes, there are some true computer science programs, but many, many more in related fields such as information systems and the like.
 

 You're right, there are a LOT more BSIT and similar degrees than BSCS (for that matter, there are more - and substantially better - online MSCS than BSCS programs).

How important is it to you that the degree actually says "Computer Science?"
 

Critically... please see my response to Steve above.
 

harris30:

You also did not mention Troy University.

Troy's is a BS in Applied Computer Science.

 

Cajun:

In addition to what the others said, I'll saythat your assumption lacks the perspective of time.  See distanceeducation is not a very new thing, but online education is a fairly recentphenomenon.  When I started my educationabout 7 years ago, online offerings were pretty thin, some were incrediblyexpensive and some required supplemental videos, cds, etc. 

Within the past few years things have really taken off, standardized for themost part and have gained a lot more acceptance in professional circles. 

Thanks for the perspective... this is what prompted my comments at the top of this post.  Sometimes I think I should just be grateful for the opportunity and get on with it.  And yet, every few weeks I spend a couple of hours trying to find another program...

Now in answer to your concerns, what exactly arethey?  Also sometimes finding a programthat is 100% perfect can be difficult.

 

 Hopefully I answered the first part somewhere above; if not please say so.  Really, I'm not sure what 100% perfect is, but I do know that I'd love to be able to take any of 50 or so B&M programs I saw that seemed far better than what's currently available online.

 

Thanks again to everybody who took the time to respond... I don't post here much, but I read the forum several times a week.  You guys are great.   

MartyS:

The Baker program is a BCS. I think it would difficult to be admitted to an MSCS program with this degree.  I believe the BCS is designed as a terminal program, much as the MCS is.  The math core is substantially weaker than most CS programs - I think that this is one of the major advantages of the BSCS; it's a rigorous, math-heavy program that prepares you for a lot of jobs that may not necessarily even involve a lot of programming.  They require Math for Business, Trig and Discrete Math whereas I need Calc II just to graduate with an AS.

Hmm, does it say it's meant to be terminal?  I ask because it's unusual or Bachelor's degrees to be purposefully terminal, and you really can't tell just from degree nomenclature.  You're right to consider graduate admissions early if you know that's a goal, but don't overestimate how hard it will be to get admitted, even into a good program, if you have a good GPA and good GRE scores.

But yes, Baker's BCS's math deficiency is more problematic.  Do they offer the higher level courses you want as electives perhaps?  I only ask because their tuition rate is particularly reasonable and I've from online students of theirs who are happy with them.

Also, at one point I think Eastern Oregon University had an online Computer Science program, but I don't see it on their list of online programs.  I'm pretty sure they did/do, though, so maybe it would be worth it to contact the department and ask?

-=Steve=-

---

B.S., Info Sys, Charter Oak State College
M.A., Educational Tech Leadership, George Washington University
Doctor of Health Education, A.T. Still University, in progress

SteveFoerster:

MartyS:

The Baker program is a BCS. I think it would difficult to be admitted to an MSCS program with this degree.  I believe the BCS is designed as a terminal program, much as the MCS is.  The math core is substantially weaker than most CS programs - I think that this is one of the major advantages of the BSCS; it's a rigorous, math-heavy program that prepares you for a lot of jobs that may not necessarily even involve a lot of programming.  They require Math for Business, Trig and Discrete Math whereas I need Calc II just to graduate with an AS.

Hmm, does it say it's meant to be terminal?  I ask because it's unusual or Bachelor's degrees to be purposefully terminal, and you really can't tell just from degree nomenclature.  You're right to consider graduate admissions early if you know that's a goal, but don't overestimate how hard it will be to get admitted, even into a good program, if you have a good GPA and good GRE scores.

But yes, Baker's BCS's math deficiency is more problematic.  Do they offer the higher level courses you want as electives perhaps?  I only ask because their tuition rate is particularly reasonable and I've from online students of theirs who are happy with them.

Also, at one point I think Eastern Oregon University had an online Computer Science program, but I don't see it on their list of online programs.  I'm pretty sure they did/do, though, so maybe it would be worth it to contact the department and ask?

-=Steve=-

No, it doesn't say that it's designed as a terminal degree; that was my own assessment based on the missing "Science" in the degree title and the math deficiency.  I know that graduate school admissions can be very competitive, but I want to leave the option open.  I was not able to find a course listing, so I don't know whether they offer advanced math courses.

I took a quick look at Eastern Oregon's program, and I was initially put off by the inclusion of "Multimedia Studies" in the program description.  However, on closer inspection, I was intrigued by some of the course offerings in the Computer Science concentration - they have some hardcore CS courses that look interesting. Compiler Design was recently dropped by Regis and isn't offered by U of Illinois (Chico State's is the only online program that offers it); same with Artificial Intelligence (Florida State and Chico State offer this one).  No other online program offers Numerical Computation.  The rest of the program looks solid as well, despite the few required Multimedia course.  Thanks for the tip.  I'm going to look into it.

 

 

 

It doesn't look like Eastern Oregon offers the BSCS online.  Also, I decided to revisit Chico State's program, and was greeted with this notice:

Unfortunately, admissions to the Chico Online Computer Science MS and BS Degree programs have been suspended. Unless you have already applied and been accepted into the program, you will not be able to matriculate at this time.

 

I wonder why they discontinued the program?

Cajun:

I wonder why they discontinued the program?

I don't know.  I read somewhere recently that there has been an upsurge in undergrad CS admissions, and I know that U of Illinois is still filling their classes. 

I really expected that there would be more online programs now than there were a year ago.  Now I'm starting to hope that the programs that are available now will still be there when I'm ready to transfer...

MartyS:

Cajun:

I wonder why they discontinued the program?

I don't know.  I read somewhere recently that there has been an upsurge in undergrad CS admissions, and I know that U of Illinois is still filling their classes. 

I really expected that there would be more online programs now than there were a year ago.  Now I'm starting to hope that the programs that are available now will still be there when I'm ready to transfer...

 

I wouldn't sweat that.    Online programs work so well in some cases that they have actually saved some schools and been a huge boon to others.  It's been rumored that Peru State College was able to get back into the black via online course offerings.  

Cajun:

It's been rumored that Peru State College was able to get back into the black via online course offerings.

If that's true, it really says something about how overpriced most schools are, since they're just about the least expensive regionally accredited school that offers online programs!

-=Steve=-

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B.S., Info Sys, Charter Oak State College
M.A., Educational Tech Leadership, George Washington University
Doctor of Health Education, A.T. Still University, in progress

In the first place, before you did decide to pick a college for your online degree you must've got to study the pros and cons of the different colleges in your list.