Online grads sue USC

[dfrecore]

Appreciate all of your points and even the mention of one of my favorite cost-value education degree offerings from ACE. The only thing I would mention is that a degree from USC, even if in teaching, through the alumni opens you up to considerably much higher income opportunities than, say, ACE or the countless cheap options shared in this forum.

I am not endorsing USC, and I have connections that have degrees from USC in business, law, social science, and education, with each of them living well even with our classically overpriced cost of living in Cali. I think the thread is stuck on the example: I earned a degree in teaching and only can work in teaching, and in that example, the only option for teaching should be the cheapest. However, if someone made the poor decision to choose to teach with big payday aspirations, USC would at least provide one to pivot in their career, leverage the alumni and secure a position that pays closer to one's income desires.

Complaining about ROI or income while being a teacher is a tired soapbox that no one listens to. (no one here is doing this; I am just reconnecting with the initial article)

I'm not sure that a USC master's in teaching opens you up to many opportunities to actually teach; and if it does, you are still 100% tied to the pay scale of the school you're teaching in; so really, it could only possibly open up opportunities to do something other than teaching.  But, I'm here to tell you, the online school is not giving you these same opportunities; USC alumni are generally snobs, and they're not going to be impressed with someone who wasn't walking around on campus for classes.

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Isn't the California State University system relatively cheap? Of course, it's not as prestigious as the UC system, but it's still decent. Private universities are expensive in every state, but some are very generous with scholarships and institutional grants.

The CSU-system schools have good reputations throughout the state; and it's less than $5000/semester for a master's degree.  The UC-system schools are $7-10k/semester, or $6k/quarter.

I would say that as an alumni of any of the UC or CSU schools, you will have just as easy of a time getting a teaching or social work job (or advancing) as someone from USC. Easily.  Going to a local CSU or UC in the area you are working in is MUCH easier to meet others in your field than doing the online USC degree for 1/10 to 1/5 of the price.  

And for an MSW, FT students get an $18k stipend from the state - so your degree is 100% paid for right off the bat if you choose your school wisely (and by wisely, I mean anything that costs less than $18k/yr).  This would apply to literally every state school in CA that has a program (there are 23 CSU's and 9 UC's).