Big 3 mentioned on Forbes

[bjcheung77]

This thread just heated up! Like the weather, I'm in shorts & T and just yesterday, I was wearing an extra shirt and pants....
So much information going on in this one... Anyways, gonna grab some popcorn and watch a movie...

[sanantone]

I like TESU. I only think the TESU Emergency Management Degree is way overrated. One degree program does not make it a bad institution. You take it too personal?

The Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness degree is not rated at all. It's just there. Hardly anyone here has cared to pursue it or emergency management degrees, in general. It is true, though, that you've expressed general hate for the school just because they messed up on your evaluation. Most of the times when you're criticizing TESU, the topic at hand has nothing to do with their homeland security program. I don't take it personally; I just find it odd that you're trying to praise the Big 3 while bashing TESU at the same time.

[Exfactor]

When they were the cheapest of the Big 3, they had an amazing amount of students enroll as that was the easiest school to obtain an RA degree. This was just a few years ago, I will guess less than a decade. Once they bumped up the pricing, and added extra requirements, they lost a bit of popularity. This seems the same way TESU is heading, hopefully not.

Excelsior College still has the largest amount of students enrolled out of all the Big 3. This forum is not a reflection of students enrolled at these schools. Testing out of degrees is no longer the bread and butter of Excelsior College. This was revealed in the "State of the College" announcement. Students at Excelsior College are seeking actual courses, instead of CBEs. The college enrollment is increasing; as well as a demand for more and more courses to be added to satisfy their students needs.

The school is currently offering face to face courses at its campus in Washington D.C, and will soon be opening a campus in New York City, where they will also be offering face to face courses, and well as job training, and certifications. The college is more popular than it has ever been.

[TrailRunr]

Military credits aren't progressive. Military credits are a scam on the taxpayer. Do you ever wonder why University of Phoenix is so friendly with military credits? It's not because they are progressive.

Why do you think there are overpriced for-profit schools and fake non-profits barely downrange from large bases such as in San Diego? Entice those soldiers with college credits for military experience in exchange for federal and military money from taxpayers. What does military experience have to do with business, IT, economics, health professions, general education requirements, etc? Nothing. It's irrelevant. That's why military credits don't really help you graduate outside of the mills. Many schools have an aversion to accepting ANY vocational credits, so they won't take military even for free electives. That's not an anti-military thing.

[Life Long Learning]

They are a for-profit machine of the Educational-Government Complex.

Military credits aren't progressive. Military credits are a scam on the taxpayer. Do you ever wonder why University of Phoenix is so friendly with military credits? It's not because they are progressive.

Why do you think there are overpriced for-profit schools and fake non-profits barely downrange from large bases such as in San Diego? Entice those soldiers with college credits for military experience in exchange for federal and military money from taxpayers. What does military experience have to do with business, IT, economics, health professions, general education requirements, etc? Nothing. It's irrelevant. That's why military credits don't really help you graduate outside of the mills. Many schools have an aversion to accepting ANY vocational credits, so they won't take military even for free electives. That's not an anti-military thing.

[Life Long Learning]

The fact that Excelsior (who accept tons of military/vocational credits) graduates make more $$$ than most brick and mortar University educated graduates speaks poor of the B&M model. That's why my office could care less about where one graduates from. Give a B&M $100,000+ for a piece of paper and they may have a good sports team, but the student will be a fast food qualified skill level graduate?

Excelsior College graduates 81 at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy Class 64 (2014).
Excelsior College » Excelsior Grads Presented with Degrees at Black and Gold Ceremony

I bet these 81 received a ton of progressive military credits. They are proven leaders and will do much more in the future!

It's early I need some coffee at Starbucks from my Oregon graduate barista.hilarious

Military credits aren't progressive. Military credits are a scam on the taxpayer. Do you ever wonder why University of Phoenix is so friendly with military credits? It's not because they are progressive.

Why do you think there are overpriced for-profit schools and fake non-profits barely downrange from large bases such as in San Diego? Entice those soldiers with college credits for military experience in exchange for federal and military money from taxpayers. What does military experience have to do with business, IT, economics, health professions, general education requirements, etc? Nothing. It's irrelevant. That's why military credits don't really help you graduate outside of the mills. Many schools have an aversion to accepting ANY vocational credits, so they won't take military even for free electives. That's not an anti-military thing.

[sanantone]

While veterans just returning from war and leaving the military are temporarily at a disadvantage when it comes to seeking employment, in the long run, military tend to have very low unemployment rates. Honestly, all they need to do is check the box with an accredited degree. The quality of the program they attended does not matter. They get veterans' preference for many federal, state, and local jobs. A lot of students at Excelsior and the Big 3, in general, are looking to become officers in the military. So, they aren't out there competing with non-military job applicants. They practically have high-paying jobs waiting for them in the military. Plus, some government contractors tend to mostly hire former military members.

I have no problem with veterans' preference, but I've seen, first-hand, how much of a boost it gives applicants. For example, I took a civil service test for a police officer position. I scored high enough to be ranked #6. After veterans' points were added, I was dropped down to #12. Normally, a couple of people will fail to get through the background check process causing the department to go further down the list, but since they were only looking to hire a few people, I had no chance of going further in the process due to my ranking. Almost everyone at the top was in the military even though some of them did not initially have the highest scores.

This forum is not representative of students at any of the Big 3. TESU is also expanding its on-campus offerings, and most of their students do not test out of their degrees. TESU has started one doctoral program and is looking to create more while also expanding their masters offerings. COSC is designing programs specifically for workers in Connecticut. One has to realize that they have very different markets. As public schools, TESU and COSC do not advertise very much nationwide while Excelsior does. I see Excelsior web ads all the time. As publicly-financed institutions, TESU and COSC's target market is people in New Jersey and Connecticut. Their in-state tuition rates are low. So, they are attracting financially-conscious locals who can't get discounts because they're in the military and probably aren't receiving much, if anything, in tuition assistance from their employers. But, if I had to choose between any of them for completing a degree more traditionally, I would choose TESU due to their non-resident tuition under the Comprehensive Tuition Plan. Excelsior is $510 per credit hour, and that is something I could not afford without going into a lot of debt, even with the Pell Grant. 120 credits with them will cost $61,200 while four years at TESU with their flat rate would cost $37,408.