How do you feel about your online college?

[korben996]

Hi, I'm a second-year college student and recently signed up for InstaCert to pass a few CLEP exams that I noticed at my testing center my university would accept. This will allow me to get about 22 credits which will put me on course to graduate earlier than I would otherwise. In fact just today I scored a 74 on my first CLEP!

In any event, after reading a lot of threads here I noticed a significant portion of the regulars here are graduates or soon-to-be graduates of online schools like TESU, COSC, Excelsior, etc. with a multitude of exams/classes under their belt from CLEP/DSST/ACE/etc. I have several questions such as why did you decide to attend your online school, how do you feel about it and do you think it has/will help advance your career? What made you decide in an exclusively online school over a more typical university, especially with so many traditional universities offering their own distance education programs? Do you feel as though you're cheating yourself out of an education by taking the "easy" route? Do you think future employers will believe you did? Did you choose it because you just needed the diploma? Have you experienced or perceived any type of prejudice or received differential treatment because your chosen school is unorthodox? Do you think your degree is worth "less" than a degree from a regular state school? Would you have preferred to go to a traditional public/private university?

I don't mean to be doubting anyone or their chosen path of education, I'm genuinely curious about this. I can totally understand wanting to avoid your average public university tuition of $10-20,000/year. I'm just intrigued since I see so many of you going the online route. I'd love to hear from you. Thanks for your input!

[davewill]

No problem. The basic answer will be the same for a lot of us, time and money. I've got two kids going to college, and paying big bucks for my education at the same was a complete non-starter. The time issue is both calendar and the time commitment. I could not afford to put my career on hold, and I didn't want to take 5 years to get it done.

I've got a successful career, but needed the degree for a couple of potential employers who had policies that required a degree. A lot of the people here have a lot of experience, and can pass these tests and online courses with much less instruction and study time than a college student with no experience would need. I was also really interested in pursuing a Master's, but you can't do that without a Bachelor's. The Master's will be online for the same reasons the Bachelor's was. The only difference is that I will be taking more calendar time with it because the material is more advanced and much of it is new to me.

[alzee]

My answers, like my choice of schooling, will be non-traditional... and possibly blunt. Here goes!

how do you feel about it

I really don't feel any particular way about it. It's a little cheaper and a *lot* faster than a brick & mortar option.

and do you think it has/will help advance your career?

Hell no. I have 20 years experience already, in a field (IT) where degrees always play 3rd fiddle to experience and industry certifications.

What made you decide in an exclusively online school over a more typical university, especially with so many traditional universities offering their own distance education programs?

I'm not interested in a "program" but that is an accurate description. If those colleges let me complete my degree as quickly and cheaply, then I would consider them, certainly. I've completed about 70cr at this point in 5 months, and I've only taken two online courses -- the rest has been pure CBE (Credit By Exam).

Do you feel as though you're cheating yourself out of an education by taking the "easy" route?

Yes and no. I know full well I'm not actually getting an education, but an education is not my goal, a degree is my goal.

Do you think future employers will believe you did?

Maybe. I don't care. I'm not seeking this degree for career reasons.

Did you choose it because you just needed the diploma?

Yep!

I can't answer your remaining questions as I'm not actually a graduate yet.

[Outis]

Do you feel as though you're cheating yourself out of an education by taking the "easy" route?

I'm not convinced that CLEP/DSST exams are any easier or harder than a butt-in-seat class at your average state college. I am convinced that CLEP/DSST exams are at least equivalent with any state or private school that is unranked. Of the 2,000+ colleges campuses in the US, I would only consider around 10% of them worth my time to sit on campus.

How do courses (especially lower level) assess what you've learned? A mid-term and final exam, typically. What is a CLEP/DSST? A high stakes exam covering all of the material that would be included in a mid-term and final. However with exams, it is completely up to you to remain accountable. You won't receive emails from academic advising, professors, or TA's about missing class or late homework - you just fail the exam.

[TrailRunr]

I have 20+ years of IT experience with 15 years to go until retirement. I also have a previous BA degree from a public Ivy. Skills and experience trumps all paper including IT certifications and degrees. Nevertheless, a BA in CS is necessary to get past HR for the last promotional technical position I can go for or the next managerial position. Unlike some here, I'm not doing this for personal enrichment. I'm doing it to advance my career. I already know the degree works because I used it to recently get that promotion to the last technical position with an "expected graduation date." With just 15 years left in the workplace, spending 4-8 years part-time to earn a traditional BA CS degree is not happening. This time around, I'm not getting much of an education with my second BA with a few exceptions. From beginning to end, it will take me just 9 months to earn 60 credits needed for my program (80+ credits when you add credits that don't count in the program). Honestly, I learn a whole lot more from noncredit MOOCs. Most of the homework is pointless busywork, and the amount of work isn't that much anyway. The liberal arts capstone at TESU is a waste of time and money, and I spent the minimum amount of time necessary to get an A. I did not even bother to buy the required textbooks. Instead, I used RMP to look for the easiest mentor. None of the few courses where I'm learning anything are discussed here. I'm learning a foreign language in-person at the local community college to learn rather than to rack up credits. I also don't have much need for a good alumni network anymore since I've been networking for many years on my own. My employer pays for a good chunk of the tuition I've spent. My employer doesn't know Thomas Edison State University is any different the locally respected San Jose State University. They don't know it's an online degree, and I'm not volunteering that information. I know that was a lot of rambling, but I hope that helps.

You didn't mention your age or background, but I think folks fresh out of high school should seriously consider a more traditional path involving community college and an affordable traditional 4-year school. I learned far less for my 2nd degree than my first.

[Prloko]

Hi, I'm a second-year college student and recently signed up for InstaCert to pass a few CLEP exams that I noticed at my testing center my university would accept. This will allow me to get about 22 credits which will put me on course to graduate earlier than I would otherwise. In fact just today I scored a 74 on my first CLEP!

In any event, after reading a lot of threads here I noticed a significant portion of the regulars here are graduates or soon-to-be graduates of online schools like TESU, COSC, Excelsior, etc. with a multitude of exams/classes under their belt from CLEP/DSST/ACE/etc. I have several questions such as why did you decide to attend your online school, how do you feel about it and do you think it has/will help advance your career? What made you decide in an exclusively online school over a more typical university, especially with so many traditional universities offering their own distance education programs? Do you feel as though you're cheating yourself out of an education by taking the "easy" route? Do you think future employers will believe you did? Did you choose it because you just needed the diploma? Have you experienced or perceived any type of prejudice or received differential treatment because your chosen school is unorthodox? Do you think your degree is worth "less" than a degree from a regular state school? Would you have preferred to go to a traditional public/private university?

I don't mean to be doubting anyone or their chosen path of education, I'm genuinely curious about this. I can totally understand wanting to avoid your average public university tuition of $10-20,000/year. I'm just intrigued since I see so many of you going the online route. I'd love to hear from you. Thanks for your input!

If you read my early posts, I was obsessed with school prestige as though somehow what an adcom thought of me equated some value to my self worth. After I got over myself, I went the non-traditional route CLEPing over 60+ credits, transferring military credits and doing regular courses. I now make a six figure salary, am completing a very competitive MBA program and just received and accepted a job offer from one of the top institutions in the country with a promotion, pay increase and my own office. Do I cry myself to sleep at night over my education choices? Not one bit.

I was accepted to several "regular" schools, but didn't have the luxury of being unemployed and partying for 4+ years. You may think this is some "easy" route, but my earlier life was nothing but difficult and completing my degree took a lot of studying and sacrifice.

The only other person I knew personally who looked down on my education was my "Ivy League" nephew who dropped out of college and is currently working as a server in a restaurant.

So I'm a little curious myself. Besides trolling a backhanded inquiry at the forum members, was there any sincerity to your post?

[dfrecore]

I don't think taking a CLEP/DSST is the "easy" way out. I got A's and B's on my major courses at a private 4-yr university, without spending a ton of time studying for them. But, later, after I needed a few additional business courses, it was very "easy" to take the Intro to Management and Intro to Marketing CLEP's because I'd already learned much of the material. But if you want to compare, I would have been able to go to my local CC and take those courses and pass them "easily". So, I don't know that I did anything special there - it would have been easy either way I did it. I just decided to do it more quickly and cheaply than 16 weeks at the CC.

I think that this will help my career because I've been out of the workforce for 15 years, and plan another 5. So this degree, plus the MBA I plan to pursue next, should help me overcome the hurdles I would face anyway. I have a far larger problem with having my resume be 20 years out-of-date than what school I attended!

I also can't imagine that an employer would know or care that your degree was gotten online, or through non-traditional means, at least for my field. I'm not planning on working in finance, or for some very large firm - I just want to work at a small to medium-sized company that only cares that I can get the job done. Wherever I got the degree from, they shouldn't care (and if they did, I probably wouldn't be interested in working there since that's not something I care about - we would have incompatible values). I also think that most employers only know a few schools. The ivies. The local state schools. But for each state, that's only a handful of schools. For instance, I'm in CA - an employer here will know all the CSU & UC schools. But U of Minnesota or FL State U (I just made those up) - they don't know the reputations of those schools. They can't possibly know the reputation of all 3,000+ colleges in the U.S. And honestly, I don't think they really care much.

As for traditional universities offering their own online courses - they still cost the same as if you were to take them butt-in-seat. And my biggest issue - a 16-week semester. I really, REALLY hate that! I mean, a LOT. I found that I just could not sustain my interest in a course for that length of time. Once I found some schools who had 10-week terms or intensive 4-weekend courses or the 8-week summer term, I did much much better. Mostly A's at that point. My GPA on non-16-week terms was 3.6, while my GPA for 16-week terms was 2.8.

Just my personal experience. But hope it helps.

[ndelco]

I can't answer many of your questions because I am just beginning my journey but I will answer some. I finally decided it was time for me to do something I want to do and not do something just to make enough money to support my family. I currently do sales and I do not enjoy it. My end goal (for now) is to teach English to students down here in Latin America. I won't make a lot of money unless I work constantly but money isn't my goal. We moved here to immerse our children in another culture. One good thing about Latin America is that you can live very cheaply and still have all of your needs met. Technically, I can work now for some companies without a degree but I will be making pennies and I don't think that would be worth my time away from my kids. With ANY degree and a TEFL/TESOL certificate I can make a lot more money here. My education for teaching English won't come through TESU or COSC but instead will come through the TEFL/TESOL course. Many current overseas teachers don't have any type of college degree and use only the TEFL/TESOL cert and make good money. I have had countless Spanish teachers help me and even more friends help me with Spanish. In return I have helped some with English. I find it very joyful to hear someone speak a sentence in English that I helped them put together and to watch the gears turning and the correct words to come out. When I enrolled in college out of high school I wanted to be a teacher so it's always been an interest of mine.

Part of me is concerned with how people will view a degree from TESU, which is where I intend to enroll. The other part of me thinks that nobody will even know what or where TESU is. I was born and raised a little over an hour from Trenton where TESU is and I had never heard of it until this forum. It is a state school and has the second most attended nursing program in the state after only Rutgers which is THE school in NJ. Everyone goes to Rutgers. That's a pretty legit claim to fame if you ask me. Nursing is a huge field and to have the second most graduates in a state is a pretty big deal. One reason that I am leaning towards TESU is because the name sounds better to me than COSC. I know it's superficial.

Another big reason for me is the price. Like I said, I have a family and it's decently large. We have already adopted one daughter and plan to adopt more and adoptions cost money. I can't just go blowing thousands of dollars on a degree. That ship has sailed for me. I can get a legit degree for around $5,000. The local community college I was close to signing up for before this forum was going to cost over $2,000 per semester so I would be at over $8,000 just for the associates through them. I don't feel like I'm cheating myself out of a degree because I likely wouldn't have finished a degree any other way because of cost. I haven't studied for any exams yet as I am just starting with the free stuff and am currently pushing through ALEKS. I will have (assuming I can pass Stats through ALEKS :confused a semester's worth of credits for $20. I could have close to two semester's worth of credits if I choose COSC and use FEMA and Beginning Algebra through ALEKS for the same $20. I am about to begin the Study.com program for one year and 72 credits for just under $1,000. Remember that I said one semester or 12-15 credits was going to cost over $2,000 at my community college. I will have close to 90 credits for a tiny sliver over $1,000. And these won't just be wasted credits. They will all work into a degree plan.

So those are my reasons. Since I live in a different country, obviously physically going to a classroom isn't possible for a US degree. However, even if I was still at home, I think online would be more beneficial with my situation. Being able to be home and not miss things because of being at school is very important to me.

[bluebooger]

CLEPs and DSSTs are sometimes the easy way out

so many times I've come on here and read a post where someone is bragging about how all they did was use the InstaCert flash cards the night before the CLEP and then went in and passed it easily

that actually pisses me off when I read that

hey, if someone wants to exam cram and forget everything a week after the test I guess that's their choice
there are plenty of students at "real" schools that do that too

but I certainly don't think its anything to brag about

I would think someone would have enough intellectual curiosity to pick up a book or watch a couple of youtube videos

I realize people are busy, but are they so busy they can't watch a "crash course" video ? or read a "dummies" book ?

it's crap like that that gives independent study a bad name

I studied my ass off for the CLEP Intro to Psych even though I'm sure its one of the exams that's cram possible

brag about studying, brag about actually learning something, then brag about passing -- even if its just by one point
nobody should brag about exam cramming their way to a degree

[hsfamfun]

Everyone has a different life situation, just like your classmates at college. I am a homeschooling parent who has been out of the workforce for seventeen years as I have homeschooled my children. Of those children, one is in the Honors Program at a state college and is on track to graduate a semester early in December of 2017. He has loved every minute of the college experience. He both lives and works on campus. My youngest son is a senior in high school and really does not want to go to college for four years. He has earned 7 college credits and 14 ACE credits so far and is registered to take more during his senior year, but he is just not interested in putting four years of his life into going to college traditionally. So, does that mean that he does not want a college degree? Not at all. Every person is different and each person has different motivations and goals. So, we are looking at Distance Education programs for him. Currently, he is looking closely at a degree program from Liberty University. Do I think he is cheating himself by not looking for a residential college experience? Not at all. I am proud of both of my sons and am glad that they are interested in getting an education.

I am even looking around for myself since I have been out of the workforce for a long time. I have a traditional BS and Masters degree, but am looking at certification programs and graduate certificates or other programs to bring my education more up to date. Technology today literally brings education to our fingertips and this forum is full of inspiring people who take full advantage of that every day.