Bad Bad Vibes from WGU (and an Intro of sorts)

[cookderosa]

Human rights violation, you say? Bahaha.. I just can't. I have nothing useful to contribute to this thread.

this thread lost its usefulness a while ago.

[Rustydroid]

 TESU and COSC don't care if you enroll or not. LOL

That's very true apart from some random ads and some scholarship info TESU hasn't bothered me to enroll. I actually had to call them several times because i was showing up as not enrolled and my corporate discount was not working.

[jsd]

i don't know how i fell through the WGU cracks, but after i contacted them about enrolling i was never bothered by them about enrolling in the months it took me to finally enroll (though I've heard plenty of people complain about aggressive enrollment tactics similar to other schools that make me feel i'm in the minority). and now that i'm an alumn, they've never once bothered me to donate. TESU did ask for a donation, and I even gave them one, but i never heard anything after that. It's like I've won the no-hassle lottery.

[Merlin]

i don't know how i fell through the WGU cracks, but after i contacted them about enrolling i was never bothered by them about enrolling in the months it took me to finally enroll (though I've heard plenty of people complain about aggressive enrollment tactics similar to other schools that make me feel i'm in the minority). and now that i'm an alumn, they've never once bothered me to donate. TESU did ask for a donation, and I even gave them one, but i never heard anything after that. It's like I've won the no-hassle lottery.

I signed up at WGU a few months before I planned to start so I could ask questions and such, but I was never hassled by WGU to enroll. Maybe I wasn't bugged since I was enrolling for a master's degree and not an undergrad degree, and I technically couldn't start until I finished my BSBA. All in all my enrollment counselor was pretty cool and helpful. My program mentor has been amazing, so overall I've had a pretty good experience with them.

I also didn't get bugged by TESU, other than a call asking for an alumni donation (which I didn't do either).

[jamshid666]

I didn't feel harassed by my enrollment counselor when I signed up for WGU. When I found out that WGU would not accept any transfer credits after I started classes, I informed the enrollment counselor of my plans to take classes from StraighterLine and to take a couple of certification exams and gave her my estimated timeline to finish and we scheduled a call after I expected to finish. I didn't receive any calls from her until the scheduled date and it was all good to go. In my opinion, the most annoying part of the whole process was waiting for WGU to get all of my transcripts as they wouldn't let me start any classes until they had received everything.

[Marquette_Wildcat]

I am sure people here are not strangers to the subtle (and in other cases not-so-subtle) cheap sales parlor tricks that the over-priced higher education industry has become. Take this semi-brief tangent-prone rant for what you will coming from a jaded Ivy League dropout. I can shatter your illusions about the quality of an Ivy League education (that ultimately led to my flunking and dropping out) but that's another story for another day. After years of cursing the value of higher education, I began doing business internationally where certain visa types I required needed some check-the-box Bachelors degree. So I need a degree. Alas, here I am. Though I think we need to start calling this industry for what it is: a scam, a predatory human rights violation.

Fast forward to WGU, an online university easy to seduce vulnerable working adults. Now, I think it's fair to say that many of us have arrived at WGU and the "Big Three" later. By later I mean, tens of thousands of dollars later when you transfer in your overpriced existing college credits from elsewhere. At this point, we're tired, slightly cynical, and vigilant. We're not interested in being cajoled into paying into a semester-semester system any longer than we have to. The luckiest of us all arrived here sooner rather than later. You don't exactly see websites such as these on billboards or digital ad networks. 

I had just around 90 college credits evaluated for WGU in a very compatible program. They approved just under 60 credits of this amount for transfer. Then I got thinking of pivoting my degree program entirely to a tech degree if this was the best I could do. So I did that, now WGU has accepted just under 30 credits out of the original 90. I dug and found about ACE, TESU, and finally this website. Unplugging from this Matrix is complete as it were.

When I was on the phone at WGU with an Enrollment Counselor, the first thing you note is the very subtle condescending shepherd-to-sheep like tone. "I know what's best for you, do this, etc etc." They're playing a numbers game. They don't have to focus on quality education so long as they have this turn-key DIY education system that provides the only commodity that matters to their customer base: the degree and employability (hence the generous tech certs some degrees come with, generous, but in the end still outsourcing the education elsewhere). 

The biggest tell was when my Enrollment Counselor flat out asked me when I said I wanted to delay my enrollment and take Saylor Academy courses first: "And why do you want to do that?" (they do have a Transfer Pathways page detailing what they accept and don't accept). Why do we want to do that? This was incredulous at the time. Why? Did he mean: "Why do you want to save money and not cut me a few dollars more in commission?" Add to this, the very asinine and inflexible policy of not allowing you to transfer ANY outside credits after enrollment. And why should they? How many other colleges will accept their "credit units" if you wanted to transfer out? You don't have these options. And they are really hoping you do not find this out before you enroll, but I did. This is entrapment. If they had it their way, they'd keep you on a 12 credit semester-semester hamster wheel doling out the $3000 something tuition every 6 months. I honestly would not be surprised if they limit how many credits you can amass in a single semester going forward. 

Everything I've said is reinforced after reviewing BBB complaints and commentary from role model WGU alumni such as Codebueno on YouTube (just finished his WGU CS degree in 6 months and 79 credit units) and Beau Carnes who finished in 6 months and 76 credit units: http://carnes.cc/wgu.html

Beau remarked: "Students have weekly calls with their mentors to help keep them on track. Whenever I shared my goals with my mentor she tried to encourage me to be a little more reasonable. Well, instead of being more reasonable I decided to set more ridiculous goals."

Summary: I didn't enroll at WGU and am not enrolling. I'm going with the big three which I also understand is becoming stricter. I can't honestly say I wouldn't give WGU a go if I didn't have 90 credits or more time. If I only had say 30 college credits or less and more time and went with all the ACE credits people amass here I'd probably still go with WGU but understanding I'd have very little prospects for a good graduate school as I slightly want that door left open. I just frankly have no patience left for institutions that will not recognize what I already spent thousands of dollars for. Rant end.

So you can get your 90 credits evaluated, and they may only except 60 of them? Or even worse 30? Sounds pretty shady! Kind of defeats the purpose of testing out of 90 credits prior to enrolling if they aren't even going to except all of them. Think about it. You could be out hundreds of dollars(SL, SDC, etc.) if they don't end up excepting them all, even worse if you went to a traditional university. May force me to reconsider WGU and go with one of the Big Three. Interesting.

[Life Long Learning]

Transfering in up to 114 of 120 is why they are called the "Big 3."  Since 1971, RA (Accredited) the gold standard makes them hard to beat.

[mysonx3]

I am sure people here are not strangers to the subtle (and in other cases not-so-subtle) cheap sales parlor tricks that the over-priced higher education industry has become. Take this semi-brief tangent-prone rant for what you will coming from a jaded Ivy League dropout. I can shatter your illusions about the quality of an Ivy League education (that ultimately led to my flunking and dropping out) but that's another story for another day. After years of cursing the value of higher education, I began doing business internationally where certain visa types I required needed some check-the-box Bachelors degree. So I need a degree. Alas, here I am. Though I think we need to start calling this industry for what it is: a scam, a predatory human rights violation.

Fast forward to WGU, an online university easy to seduce vulnerable working adults. Now, I think it's fair to say that many of us have arrived at WGU and the "Big Three" later. By later I mean, tens of thousands of dollars later when you transfer in your overpriced existing college credits from elsewhere. At this point, we're tired, slightly cynical, and vigilant. We're not interested in being cajoled into paying into a semester-semester system any longer than we have to. The luckiest of us all arrived here sooner rather than later. You don't exactly see websites such as these on billboards or digital ad networks. 

I had just around 90 college credits evaluated for WGU in a very compatible program. They approved just under 60 credits of this amount for transfer. Then I got thinking of pivoting my degree program entirely to a tech degree if this was the best I could do. So I did that, now WGU has accepted just under 30 credits out of the original 90. I dug and found about ACE, TESU, and finally this website. Unplugging from this Matrix is complete as it were.

When I was on the phone at WGU with an Enrollment Counselor, the first thing you note is the very subtle condescending shepherd-to-sheep like tone. "I know what's best for you, do this, etc etc." They're playing a numbers game. They don't have to focus on quality education so long as they have this turn-key DIY education system that provides the only commodity that matters to their customer base: the degree and employability (hence the generous tech certs some degrees come with, generous, but in the end still outsourcing the education elsewhere). 

The biggest tell was when my Enrollment Counselor flat out asked me when I said I wanted to delay my enrollment and take Saylor Academy courses first: "And why do you want to do that?" (they do have a Transfer Pathways page detailing what they accept and don't accept). Why do we want to do that? This was incredulous at the time. Why? Did he mean: "Why do you want to save money and not cut me a few dollars more in commission?" Add to this, the very asinine and inflexible policy of not allowing you to transfer ANY outside credits after enrollment. And why should they? How many other colleges will accept their "credit units" if you wanted to transfer out? You don't have these options. And they are really hoping you do not find this out before you enroll, but I did. This is entrapment. If they had it their way, they'd keep you on a 12 credit semester-semester hamster wheel doling out the $3000 something tuition every 6 months. I honestly would not be surprised if they limit how many credits you can amass in a single semester going forward. 

Everything I've said is reinforced after reviewing BBB complaints and commentary from role model WGU alumni such as Codebueno on YouTube (just finished his WGU CS degree in 6 months and 79 credit units) and Beau Carnes who finished in 6 months and 76 credit units: http://carnes.cc/wgu.html

Beau remarked: "Students have weekly calls with their mentors to help keep them on track. Whenever I shared my goals with my mentor she tried to encourage me to be a little more reasonable. Well, instead of being more reasonable I decided to set more ridiculous goals."

Summary: I didn't enroll at WGU and am not enrolling. I'm going with the big three which I also understand is becoming stricter. I can't honestly say I wouldn't give WGU a go if I didn't have 90 credits or more time. If I only had say 30 college credits or less and more time and went with all the ACE credits people amass here I'd probably still go with WGU but understanding I'd have very little prospects for a good graduate school as I slightly want that door left open. I just frankly have no patience left for institutions that will not recognize what I already spent thousands of dollars for. Rant end.

So you can get your 90 credits evaluated, and they may only except 60 of them? Or even worse 30? Sounds pretty shady! Kind of defeats the purpose of testing out of 90 credits prior to enrolling if they aren't even going to except all of them. Think about it. You could be out hundreds of dollars(SL, SDC, etc.) if they don't end up excepting them all, even worse if you went to a traditional university. May force me to reconsider WGU and go with one of the Big Three. Interesting.

It's not shady. At any school, you don't just need to get the right number of credits - you need to get credits in the right subjects. If you take the right courses, you will have no waste. But a lot of people either don't plan ahead or change their plans and so end up wasting credits. But that's on the student, not the school

[Merlin]

So you can get your 90 credits evaluated, and they may only except 60 of them? Or even worse 30? Sounds pretty shady! Kind of defeats the purpose of testing out of 90 credits prior to enrolling if they aren't even going to except all of them. Think about it. You could be out hundreds of dollars(SL, SDC, etc.) if they don't end up excepting them all, even worse if you went to a traditional university. May force me to reconsider WGU and go with one of the Big Three. Interesting.

That is not a problem with WGU being shady, it is more of a problem with the assumptions being made by the student. It also shouldn't happen to anyone on this forum who takes the time to learn the requirements of their chosen degree and plans their courses effectively.

Anyone who is doing the work to "test out" of credits towards earning a degree at WGU (or the big 3 for that matter) needs to spend some time to determine which classes are applicable to meet the various degree requirements for whatever program they are pursuing. Otherwise, they are just wasting their time and money taking classes that may or may not work towards their chosen degree.

In cases where the credits are evaluated but not used towards a degree, the credits are often acceptable but they are not appropriate to meet the requirements of a specific degree program so they are ignored. In many cases, those credits may still be used towards meeting the requirements of other degrees though. This happens to people who transfer between colleges all the time. Particularly for those who change degree programs or when the two colleges in question have different approaches to the requirements of a given degree program. It also happens to people when they don't put in the time to do the research, or make assumptions (perhaps based on old posts on this forum) about what courses they should take to meet degree requirements at the big 3.

Either way, in 99% of the cases, when credits aren't accepted toward a non-traditional degree it isn't the school's fault. If a college wants to keep its accreditation, it cannot accept courses that don't meet the requirements of the chosen degree program. That is pretty much the long and short of it. If a student wants their credits to be accepted at a chosen school, they need to do the research and make sure to take the right courses.

Also keep in mind that schools may change their degree requirements at any time (TESU does this a lot), so what qualifies for meeting a degree requirement today may not work tomorrow. So you always need to keep checking to make sure that your assumptions remain valid and accept that things may change. In the case of TESU or other big 3 schools, this means you need to make sure to get the credits evaluated and added to your degree transcript ASAP so you're not disappointed by a future change.

[JoshDosMil]

Yikes, I think the problem is a combination of lack of planning and an unrealistic expectation that the school would help you get credits from anywhere but itself. I actually went though this exact same process between excelsior, cosc, and wgu (I had NA credits so TESU wasn't an option) but quickly realized that nobody was going to be any real help, so I did my own research between here/reddit and made out with a "check this box" BS like a bandit.

I will say my enrollment counselor was a pure salesman, very pushy and persistent. Don't let a counselors motivation cloud your own, I just avoided my counselor until I was ready to send in my ACE credits for evaluation (I did this 3 times before enrolling).

As for as planning goes, you as the student and person paying for the program are the responsible party. It is important to do your own research regardless of school, WGU has very strict degree plans so transfer credit only works well with careful planning. Generic credits will not transfer well to any WGU program as they don't have many general ed classes. If what you have is a random assortment of credits or a ton of gen eds - about 5 minutes of research (I research buying a new toothbrush longer than that) would tell you that WGU isn't a good option for that type of transfer.

Having said that, if done correctly they are generous with transfer credit, as long as it is a similar class name to what exists on their degree plan. I took many SDC/ACE classes that were not listed on the "wgu transfer pathway" but every single one of them transferred anyways (some LL even transferred in for classes that usually require UL).

For details you can search out my past post from a couple months ago, the short story is I knocked out a bunch of ACE classes and transferred 90 credits to WGU and completed in like 3 or so months for a total cost of under 5K (that includes all money spent on alternative credit, paperwork, and supplies).

In reality none of these schools are going to go out of their way to try and help you get credits from other sources, in my experience none of them are particularly helpful in any way- so that bit is up to you and if done correctly all 4 schools are good options.