UoPeople WASC Accredited 2/14/2025

[somethingdudesomething]

However, I still think for the price, the school is an ABSOLUTE bargain, (especially if they keep it after RA), it literally changed my life and opened so many doors for me (which I think it is their original mission).

How is it a bargain when you can get a degree from UMPI for $1700 which is an established well known school? I know which one I would rather have on my resume and it is not the commie named one.

Erm if you're comparing it to UMPI YourPace for 1 session, UoPeople would still be cheaper if you were transfer 90 from sophia, with 30 credit remaining 117 bucks each for each 3 = 1170 (+ Sophia cost). So that's not really a point to contend, I dont' disagree with you on the name as stated earlier.

Are peer reviews really so big problem (besides most students annoyed by them)? I only did one class, no clue about rest. But peer reviews formed only small part of the final grade, so I didn't even bother asking professor to regrade low marks that were result of cultural differences (the well known 5/10 - great job, people from some countries simply have different cultural patterns engraved). Does the influence on the grade increase later on?
University of Texas I believe has or had peer reviews, there must be others as I have read these complaints elsewhere too.
There are RA universities that don't have any proctored exams.
BSc degree with 75% credits transferred is $1415 (less for those who enrolled earlier, they don't increase fees for old students). UMPI for $1700, not everybody can devote the time or has preexisting knowledge etc. to manage it in 1 term, also they don't have eg. CS degree (yet), not sure about others.

I still refuse to call them "Peers", they are "other student reviews", and it has been absolutely hell. In fact one of the main reasons they failed their WASC acred last visit was their stubborness (while really it's just financial interest) to keep them, they had to scale them back significantly.
1) Other "students" 3+ will reply and rate your discussion post (every week), most of them will say something very nice and yet give you a 7 or 8 (it's kinda a stupid model really cause you are asking yoru "competitors" (eventhough there is no competition) to be fair to you. (this is about 5%-10%) of the course grade.
2) Other "students" will rate your assignment every week, this is actually a huge problem cause instructors don't, assignments are the core of the courses and most "students" are not equipped not linugistically or progammatically capable of doing so.
Furthermore the rubric sometimes could NOT be vaguer, and heavily APA focused even in UL CS classes, and is structured like this:
:Rate 1-5 the student APA adherence:
Most people would give you 1-5.
3) Your OWN GPA suffers if you spot a plagisiarizer, cause you get 90/100 for your own assignment grade and 10/100 you get for grading another 3 students assignments, so if I spot a plagi, I 0 them on all answers (as the uni asks to), but then the others don't, ergo my score deviated a lot so I get a 5/10 grade for grading.
This got so bad in my latest years that the Uni removed the plagiarism complaint tool alltogether, and asked us to complain to our instructors instead. Obviously this overwhelmed the already underpaid instructors, and mostly destroyed their response relationship with you (and the few other class "nerds" like myself) that didn't like this.
4)   ok I'll digress here cause this is dredging up a lot of repressed vietnam level memories xD.

[Tomas]

If even assignments are rated by student, then I understand, that is not good. It wasn't part of my UNIV101, that's why I underestimated this rather important detail.
Reading the forum it seems student grading was phased out for some courses, someone even mentioned first few CS courses were without it. Will see how much they have changed that (or rather were forced to change).

[TaraD2020]

I’m a student finishing up this term. I don’t regret my choice! I transferred 90 credits combo Sophia and Coursera, and received a partial scholarship.  My degree cost is $1,300!

[Ares]

There is no way to maintain a quality educational experience when you pay lower than minimum wage, have to rely on third world instructors and then count on the good will of the instructors to volunteer their time. Sounds like a recipe for disaster. Something is very wrong with their RA accreditation acceptance. I wonder how many of the established schools who share the same accreditation feel about being compared to a school that graduates students based on the peer-review of potentially other D students. If I was one of those schools I would not be happy about it. Maybe we should ask them?

Exactly. Many Universities currently use graduate students, post docs, and lecturers to teach classes and pay them equivalently less than minimum wage. It is completely unacceptable, but not a unique phenomenon. The US has normalized the exploitation of teachers.

Riiiiiight... Comparing students who completed a Bachelor's degree and met the more stringent requirements to get into graduate school is the same thing as D level high school students. Teachers are not exploited in almost all cases they are overpaid.

[NotJoeBiden]

Riiiiiight... Comparing students who completed a Bachelor's degree and met the more stringent requirements to get into graduate school is the same thing as D level high school students. Teachers are not exploited in almost all cases they are overpaid.

Who is saying a college grad going to grad school and high schooler are equivalent? This is not an argument anyone is making.

Teachers are exploited. You just showed an example of such and I showed others. Many people on this board can talk about their personal anecdotes of said exploitation. There are entire studies about this widespread exploitation leading to poor outcomes for students.

[bjcheung77]

I’m a student finishing up this term. I don’t regret my choice! I transferred 90 credits combo Sophia and Coursera, and received a partial scholarship.  My degree cost is $1,300!

Yes, I remember your post/thread, I just can't find it right now! There was a detailed plan and how you go there, I'd like to see that for some people to reference as a starting point. Essentially, I've been telling people to start with CLEP or Sophia.org to get the max transfer of credits, then complete the rest at U of People, or any other institution they want to attend as long as they take ACE...

[KSoul]

It’s always fascinating to observe the dynamic discussions within this community. The threads often reveal a spectrum of perspectives, from those celebrating the win of gaining another affordable, regionally accredited resource for credits, to others who lean into skepticism—sometimes without direct experience or connection to the institution in question. As someone who has now taught four classes at UoPeople (with two currently in progress), I can confidently say that the experience has been gratifying.

What stands out most is the diversity and determination of the students. While it’s true that some students may rely on AI tools (a trend that is undeniably pervasive across all educational institutions as we approach 2025), what I encounter more frequently are bright, curious individuals who actively engage with the material. They flood my inbox and chat boxes with thoughtful questions, seeking clarity, and expressing genuine appreciation for the feedback provided. This level of engagement is a testament to their commitment to learning and growth.

For many of these students, UoPeople represents more than just an educational institution—it’s a lifeline. The fact that UoPeople is now regionally accredited adds significant value to their choice, making it a viable and respected option for achieving their academic and professional goals. It’s inspiring to think that this institution has the potential to transform lives in profound ways, offering opportunities to those who might otherwise be excluded from higher education.

On a personal level, the experience of teaching at UoPeople has been equally enriching. The flexibility of remote instruction aligns with the evolving nature of work and opens doors for educators to contribute meaningfully from anywhere in the world. Over time, this could become an increasingly valuable avenue for those seeking remote academic work opportunities at other RA universities.

Seeing more discussions highlighting the positive aspects of these new opportunities would be refreshing. As the DegreeForum community continues to grow, celebrating the addition of strong, accessible options like UoPeople can inspire long-time members and newcomers to pursue their goals confidently. A recommendation would be to move away from this narrow bias of Academic Preachers and focus on the wins—for students, educators, and the community—and continue to build a supportive environment that empowers everyone to succeed.

[Heartstrings]

A recommendation would be to move away from this narrow bias of Academic Preachers and focus on the wins—for students, educators, and the community—and continue to build a supportive environment that empowers everyone to succeed.

I personally like to hear all perspectives of someone's experience not just the positive. Focusing only on the wins doesn't assist when there needs to be improvement. It is like telling someone to just be quiet and accept whatever bad situation that there is. Understanding how something is wrong can make improvements for even better success in the future.

My experience teaching there was negative and my attempt to be a student there was even worse. Just my experience and opinion. I saw somewhere where someone had once asked if UoPeople is legit. The person answered barely legit. Which I think is the best way to explain. They meet all the requirements but something is just off with them. Again my opinion.

[midnite123]

Awesome timing, I've been looking at the MEd Advanced Teaching and didn't apply to it until as I would have thought it may take a little longer for RA status!  They've not updated their own website to reflect this... Hmm, these can now be used for transfer credit to other RA institutions that only accept RA credits for transfer.

Hi,

That is the same thought that went through my mind!
Maybe we can use some of these  RA courses for transfer purposes!!!

---

Hi,

How long does it take to complete UOP courses?

Would anyone rate some of their courses as easy?

Thank you1

[somethingdudesomething]

Awesome timing, I've been looking at the MEd Advanced Teaching and didn't apply to it until as I would have thought it may take a little longer for RA status!  They've not updated their own website to reflect this... Hmm, these can now be used for transfer credit to other RA institutions that only accept RA credits for transfer.

Hi,

That is the same thought that went through my mind!
Maybe we can use some of these  RA courses for transfer purposes!!!

---

Hi,

How long does it take to complete UOP courses?

Would anyone rate some of their courses as easy?

Thank you1

A course is 9 weeks (9th is just the exam week, so nothing to do beside taking the exam):
Each week you:
1) Post a discussion forum post, replying to an existing instructor question, once posted you need to also reply and grade 3 of other students posts, the same will be done to you (how much this has been scaled back as per WASC requirements I have no idea).
2) "Maybe but about 5/8 weeks minimum" this week you have an assignment, usually a 2+ pages APA paper answering a question or solving a problem, next week 3 students will give you a mark out of 90, you will do the same for 3 others, the remaining 10 is given based on how "close" your grade of the 3 were to other 9 grading the same 3 you graded.
3) Each week you have a self quiz (that can be taken multiple times to show all possible questions and answers).
4) "Maybe, Minimum 3/8" a Graded quiz (these are important 30% of the grade iirc), multiple choice, usually include some of the self questions, sometimes NOT AT ALL (looking at you redesigned OS2  ).
5) Each week you have a learning journal (usually your learning experience, sometimes but rare it includes a problem), this is graded by the instructor, out of 10.
6) Week 9 is final exam, iirc 50-70% of the exam, sometimes proctored sometimes not (you will be told on course declaration). Mind you in my later years they started changing the exams due to them being static already and well known on studoco or whatever, that proctored or not, the time limit is so severe compared ot the mostly "new" and curveballs questions, if you didnt' study you won't get a good grade, there is simply no time.
Difficulty, depends on course tbh and what grade you want, due to the above A+, A is a LOT of work, C+ is just coasting I feel totally doable.