In your opinion, who should not earn a degree from the Big Three?

[ronaldemail1]

As a student you need to take a serious look into your strength and weaknesses, and also follow whatever proper advise that applies to you.

The truth is that there is more than one good answer depending on the person.

[eriehiker]

I grew up in a small city/working-class/industrial area. It was an area of old-style union Democrats. I had a friend who tried to apply to Harvard and the counselors told him that no one from the school goes to Harvard. He ended up going to the University of Chicago and climbed Denali many times.

I went to the University of Michigan and it was worth every penny to live with people who did amazing things every day. I ended up running Muslim/Jewish/Christian dialogue groups, became president of the interfaith student council and helped rewrite the university policy on religious holidays. In my career, I am now president of the teachers in my district and have had a long career teaching, learning and leading. I negotiate contracts, develop policy with my superintendent and board and use all of the skills I learned at the University of Michigan.

I ended up graduating from U of M with $15,000 in debt and consolidated the debt with a one percent interest rate and then I paid it off as slowly as I could because the rate was so good. I think that in-state tuition at the flagship public school in a state is the BEST deal out there in terms of school. This is what I would recommend to pretty much anyone who is young and doesn't have a lot responsibility.

Of course, I went back and picked up degrees from TESU so that I can shift careers in a few years and also because I wanted to learn more. The Big Three are also fantastic. I especially love them because I can tell the graduating seniors in my high school that if they ever get in a bad spot later and need to graduate from college for $5,000, they can come to me and I will show them how.

[ChilliDawg]

Well, everyone else has done a great job of answering your question.  I have an applied example for you.....

I have worked in I.T. for a long time without a degree.  Many others here have done the same thing (Merlin, Quignogene and a few others).  Most of my buddies in the I.T. field do not have computer related degrees.  A lot of us kids from the 1980's came out of high school or maybe the military, already programming in ADA, Cobol, etc.  We were building Lantastic LANs in our homes when we were kids.  It was a different time and place for sure. Employers would snap us right up.  Once we got into that first job, we started building professional social networks and accumulating Industry standard certifications.  Those things helped us to stay in the industry for a long time and climb the payscale without a degree.  In the past decade, I have been starting to fear my advancing age, and am seeing a lot of hiring managers with degrees, that demand degrees of their applicants.  So, I took advantage of tuition reimbursement and started collecting credits from here and there.  Then, I discovered this forum and all of the really smart people here and they guided me right into two Associates degrees and a BALS(Thank you, all).  I proverbially "checked the box".  I am having so much fun with it, I will probably go on to a second bachelor and then a grad degree in C.S.  Obviously, I am the type that it works for, and it works VERY WELL.

Last year, my oldest son gradauted high school.  He won a scholarship to a Liberal Arts college, but I ushered him away from it. He wanted to follow in my footsteps and do the TESU thing.  I adamantly discouraged him.  Especially, with aspirations to be an Engineer.  He narrowed his choices down to UNF and Embry-Riddle, and eventually settled on UNF School of Engineering.   There is no way he could pursue those dreams following my path, and no way I would encourage it.  I think he just wanted to sit around home and do things "online" while splitting his time playing games.  Another example of how age and focus can play a role in why we select methods of earning credit.  I am old and bored with TV and games.  Learning is fun.  I tend to focus better at this age.  He needs to go to class, socialize, and most importantly.....be in Engineering labs, etc.  He is now entertaining getting more into Nuclear Engineering.  He pointed out that TESU has a Nuke Engineering program.  How does that work?  Will he be in the shed building Molten Salt and Breeder reactors?  Turns out, TESU works with the NAVY on that program, and much of the applied experience comes from Navy schools.  He plans to stay in brick and mortar institutions.

My wife has her BBA in Accounting from a Brick and Mortar college, and is presently a Finance Admin for a State College. She went to school the old fashioned way. Dorm rooms, 4 years straight, and out with a student loan. She wants to go back to school for a Grad Degree, and do it the TESU way. I call her approach "The Hybrid". LOL

Three scenarios from the same household.  Vastly different needs and requirements to succeed. Big 3 are definitely not for all.

[MNomadic]

Just wanted to point out that that TESU does not have a nuke engineering program. It is nuclear engineering technology. It was designed around the curriculum of enlisted Navy nukes to transfer in from there. It is of no use to people outside the nuclear field.

[ChilliDawg]

That program was just an example. Simply indicating that certain fields have hands on stuff that cannot happen without significant lab time. It sounds like a fun program. I always thought that Navy nukes would be cool. Work at King's Bay or something.

My son is considering the Nuke program at Univeristy of Michigan - Ann Arbor or Texas A&M

[dfrecore]

Your wife should NOT do a Master's degree at TESU - crazy expensive. Instead, if she wants to do a non-trad method, she should look at WGU.

[ChilliDawg]

I have shown her the info on WGU and she is considering it. She also looked at SNHU.

[natshar]

The latest idea to captivate me has been understanding our obsession with technology and its impact. I've been reading books on the subject and I've realized that there is a lot value in-person connections, conversations and communities. The big 3 don't really provide that, which can be a bad thing if someone is in a space where they don't have those things in place already. I can see why TESU is designed for adults and mostly admits students over 21.

I will say that using CLEP, DSST, ACE, NCCRS, test outs, etc. can be helpful anyone wanting to speed up their degree or finish it quicker no matter where you go. But the more I'm learning, the more I realize the big 3 is not always the best option to earn a degree. It can be good for some people, but not for everyone.