Opinions on Ashford?

[sambam0812]

Now that I’m finally towards the tail end of my bachelors, I’ve been looking around at different HIM and HCA masters degrees to find programs I like. I was looking at Ashford’s master in Health Care Administration, and I like the courses and of course love the price. They don’t accept federal aid, but I was thinking of pairing it with a graduate certificate from my local university so I could leverage federal funding that way. 
I used their parent school, Penn Foster, to get my certificate in medical billing and coding, so I’m assuming the class format will be similar. I’m just not sure how similar the content itself will be.

[eLearner]

It appears you may have Ashford confused with Ashworth.

Ashworth is fine. Ashford is a disaster.

[ROYISAGIRL]

Now that I’m finally towards the tail end of my bachelors, I’ve been looking around at different HIM and HCA masters degrees to find programs I like. I was looking at Ashford’s master in Health Care Administration, and I like the courses and of course love the price. They don’t accept federal aid, but I was thinking of pairing it with a graduate certificate from my local university so I could leverage federal funding that way. 
I used their parent school, Penn Foster, to get my certificate in medical billing and coding, so I’m assuming the class format will be similar. I’m just not sure how similar the content itself will be.

Ashworth is pretty good, I did a Veterinary Assisting Certificate through them and really enjoyed it.

Sent from my SM-G981V using DegreeForum.net mobile app

[Kab]

I think that as eLearner said before he confused the two Ashes:


But in Ashworth is a MBA in Healthcare Management:
https://www.ashworthcollege.edu/masters-...ement-mba/
and a MSc in Healtcare administration:
https://www.ashworthcollege.edu/masters-...istration/

In ashford is a MHA:
https://www.ashford.edu/online-degrees/h...nistration

Anyway both have something similar...one is NA and the other RA.
The price is different too...

The question is how well accepted will be a NA Master in Healthcare admin. by the employer.

[eLearner]

I think that as eLearner said before he confused the two Ashes:


But in Ashworth is a MBA in Healthcare Management:
https://www.ashworthcollege.edu/masters-...ement-mba/
and a MSc in Healtcare administration:
https://www.ashworthcollege.edu/masters-...istration/

In ashford is a MHA:
https://www.ashford.edu/online-degrees/h...nistration

Anyway both have something similar...one is NA and the other RA.
The price is different too...

The question is how well accepted will be a NA Master in Healthcare admin. by the employer.

I'm not sure how much it will matter for a healthcare admin mainly because to be an HC facility head, your experience is going to be the biggest deal unless you're competing for the job with people of comparable experience, and then if they have degrees from more well-known places you may lose out in that case. I doubt the majority of people in a position to hire for that role have much of an understanding or a care about the NA-RA debates we have on degree boards, and then factor in the number of NA schools turning out licensed and working Nurses every year.

That said, Ashford has a VERY bad reputation and they earned it. That can often kill you before you even start, so even if the desire for an RA degree were there by the hiring manager it may not matter once they see that name.

[sambam0812]

It appears you may have Ashford confused with Ashworth.

Ashworth is fine. Ashford is a disaster.

Ah, yes. I was working on a paper and basically got 4 hours of sleep before I posted this....yay school!

---

I think that as eLearner said before he confused the two Ashes:


But in Ashworth is a MBA in Healthcare Management:
https://www.ashworthcollege.edu/masters-...ement-mba/
and a MSc in Healtcare administration:
https://www.ashworthcollege.edu/masters-...istration/

In ashford is a MHA:
https://www.ashford.edu/online-degrees/h...nistration

Anyway both have something similar...one is NA and the other RA.
The price is different too...

The question is how well accepted will be a NA Master in Healthcare admin. by the employer.

I'm not sure how much it will matter for a healthcare admin mainly because to be an HC facility head, your experience is going to be the biggest deal unless you're competing for the job with people of comparable experience, and then if they have degrees from more well-known places you may lose out in that case. I doubt the majority of people in a position to hire for that role have much of an understanding or a care about the NA-RA debates we have on degree boards, and then factor in the number of NA schools turning out licensed and working Nurses every year.

That said, Ashford has a VERY bad reputation and they earned it. That can often kill you before you even start, so even if the desire for an RA degree were there by the hiring manager it may not matter once they see that name.

My bachelors will be in HIM and I plan on getting my RHIA, so I'm more looking to expand my future employment possibilities. The RHIA more than anything will make the statement IMO and then an MS or MA (depending on where I go) would just be a box ticker, regardless of who actually provided it to me.

That being said, I tend to steer away from HCM positions and BA/MA programs on the whole, simply because I feel like they're business degrees with healthcare sprinkles, whereas BS/MS programs are actually focused on the meat of healthcare.

Looking at the *actual* Ashford, I think I once upon a time got a call from them cause I clicked a button somewhere...they were very annoying for like 3 weeks (I guess until the new term started). Also way more expensive, even in comparison to my bachelor's.

[sambam0812]

Now that I’m finally towards the tail end of my bachelors, I’ve been looking around at different HIM and HCA masters degrees to find programs I like. I was looking at Ashford’s master in Health Care Administration, and I like the courses and of course love the price. They don’t accept federal aid, but I was thinking of pairing it with a graduate certificate from my local university so I could leverage federal funding that way. 
I used their parent school, Penn Foster, to get my certificate in medical billing and coding, so I’m assuming the class format will be similar. I’m just not sure how similar the content itself will be.

Ashworth is pretty good, I did a Veterinary Assisting Certificate through them and really enjoyed it.

Sent from my SM-G981V using DegreeForum.net mobile app

Yes, what I’m trying to figure out is if their degree format is similar to their technical diploma program, at least content wise (e.g. if I have a small bit of prior knowledge am I going to be able to breeze through the courses or will I still need to apply myself to actually take away something?).

[eLearner]

Now that I’m finally towards the tail end of my bachelors, I’ve been looking around at different HIM and HCA masters degrees to find programs I like. I was looking at Ashford’s master in Health Care Administration, and I like the courses and of course love the price. They don’t accept federal aid, but I was thinking of pairing it with a graduate certificate from my local university so I could leverage federal funding that way. 
I used their parent school, Penn Foster, to get my certificate in medical billing and coding, so I’m assuming the class format will be similar. I’m just not sure how similar the content itself will be.

Ashworth is pretty good, I did a Veterinary Assisting Certificate through them and really enjoyed it.

Sent from my SM-G981V using DegreeForum.net mobile app

Yes, what I’m trying to figure out is if their degree format is similar to their technical diploma program, at least content wise (e.g. if I have a small bit of prior knowledge am I going to be able to breeze through the courses or will I still need to apply myself to actually take away something?).

All of Ashworth's programs follow the same independent study format, but in the the Masters programs you are assigned a mentor (or so I've been told by an executive level officer of the school).

[ss20ts]

Have you looked into WGU?

[bjcheung77]

Ashworth (NA) got bought out by Penn Foster. Ashford (RA) got bought out as well recently. If you're taking courses at Ashworth, they are very similar to the Penn Foster ones, they were both competing against each other before Penn Foster decided to buy out their biggest competition.

But I wouldn't take courses at Ashworth as the transfer to other programs would be somewhat restrictive, if they had comparable programs at Penn Foster, I would take it there instead ONLY if those courses were ACE recommended for credit.

Ashford doesn't have anything going for it right now, they closed their only campus a couple of years ago and completely downsized and went online... I still don't know how they fetched so much for their sale... it was like 250 million...

TLDR: Skip them both, unless they offer the only available programs in your field that you're interested in and don't mind the "NA" or "No Name For-Profit"