VUL introducing new doctorate in May

[sanantone]

They've also been telling prospective students that they've been accredited by TRACS for decades. They were initially accredited in 2005. That's not even two decades. LOL.

The school was founded in 1886. It appears that 2005 was the first time they had accreditation recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. They only relatively recently became federally recognized as an HBCU. It appears this school has a very long history of being an unaccredited seminary. For comparison, Howard University became regionally accredited in 1921. Going into SACSCOC territory where one would expect more problems with an HBCU becoming accredited during Jim Crow, Spelman College has been regionally accredited since 1932. VUL's status as an HBCU is dubious.

VUL's campus became locally recognized as a historic building in 2009. They applied to be nationally recognized as a historic location in 2010 and received the recognition in 2011. Now, they want the historic place status removed so they can construct new buildings.

https://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-xpm-2...story.html

https://www.blackpast.org/african-americ...rg-1886-2/

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Here's more information on their financial problems in 2013 and 2014 that put its TRACS accreditation at risk.

https://richmondfreepress.com/news/2015/...7146926723

[newdegree]

This person received an email in July informing them to pay before receiving their acceptance letter.

https://imgur.com/a/t6FUj1q

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This is from two years ago, so they've been doing this all along. Some people are being dishonest.

Congratulations! Virginia University of Lynchburg and the School of Business and Professional Studies have received and approved your application for admission to the Doctor of Healthcare Administration (DHA) program.


We request that you work with our Business Office on an acceptable payment plan for the DHA program; Layton Smith may be reached at 434-941-5537 or 434-528-5276 x1109 to complete this essential step. You may also call the Financial Aid Director Romena Morgan at 434-528-5276 x1105.

When the payment process is complete, we will issue a formal letter of acceptance. Please contact us if you have any questions.

Best Wishes,

Rex Hammond

They ask you to contact the Business office to set up a payment plan or to advise them if you use using financial aid loan or a private loan.

[sanantone]

This person received an email in July informing them to pay before receiving their acceptance letter.

https://imgur.com/a/t6FUj1q

---

This is from two years ago, so they've been doing this all along. Some people are being dishonest.

Congratulations! Virginia University of Lynchburg and the School of Business and Professional Studies have received and approved your application for admission to the Doctor of Healthcare Administration (DHA) program.


We request that you work with our Business Office on an acceptable payment plan for the DHA program; Layton Smith may be reached at 434-941-5537 or 434-528-5276 x1109 to complete this essential step. You may also call the Financial Aid Director Romena Morgan at 434-528-5276 x1105.

When the payment process is complete, we will issue a formal letter of acceptance. Please contact us if you have any questions.

Best Wishes,

Rex Hammond

They ask you to contact the Business office to set up a payment plan or to advise them if you use using financial aid loan or a private loan.

If you're not utilizing financial aid, they're asking for the first installment payment before sending an acceptance letter. The email in the image I linked to is clear, and it's from July 2022. It even gives instructions on how to submit the initial payment. This is not what colleges and universities typically do. After you've received your formal letter of acceptance, then they start sending information on setting up financial aid or a payment plan.

[newdegree]

This person received an email in July informing them to pay before receiving their acceptance letter.

https://imgur.com/a/t6FUj1q

---

This is from two years ago, so they've been doing this all along. Some people are being dishonest.

Congratulations! Virginia University of Lynchburg and the School of Business and Professional Studies have received and approved your application for admission to the Doctor of Healthcare Administration (DHA) program.


We request that you work with our Business Office on an acceptable payment plan for the DHA program; Layton Smith may be reached at 434-941-5537 or 434-528-5276 x1109 to complete this essential step. You may also call the Financial Aid Director Romena Morgan at 434-528-5276 x1105.

When the payment process is complete, we will issue a formal letter of acceptance. Please contact us if you have any questions.

Best Wishes,

Rex Hammond

They ask you to contact the Business office to set up a payment plan or to advise them if you use using financial aid loan or a private loan.

If you're not utilizing financial aid, they're asking for the first installment payment before sending an acceptance letter. The email in the image I linked to is clear, and it's from July 2022. It even gives instructions on how to submit the initial payment. This is not what colleges and universities typically do. After you've received your formal letter of acceptance, then they start sending information on setting up financial aid or a payment plan.

Makes sense what you are saying, only reason I can imagine they do this is because people start the program and then back out. I don't understand why the school wants payment before an acceptance letter is sent but if that is how they choose to do business it's their policy I guess. From my understanding, each cohort has 100 students so maybe it is like a deposit?

[sanantone]

This person received an email in July informing them to pay before receiving their acceptance letter.

https://imgur.com/a/t6FUj1q

---

This is from two years ago, so they've been doing this all along. Some people are being dishonest.

Congratulations! Virginia University of Lynchburg and the School of Business and Professional Studies have received and approved your application for admission to the Doctor of Healthcare Administration (DHA) program.


We request that you work with our Business Office on an acceptable payment plan for the DHA program; Layton Smith may be reached at 434-941-5537 or 434-528-5276 x1109 to complete this essential step. You may also call the Financial Aid Director Romena Morgan at 434-528-5276 x1105.

When the payment process is complete, we will issue a formal letter of acceptance. Please contact us if you have any questions.

Best Wishes,

Rex Hammond

They ask you to contact the Business office to set up a payment plan or to advise them if you use using financial aid loan or a private loan.

If you're not utilizing financial aid, they're asking for the first installment payment before sending an acceptance letter. The email in the image I linked to is clear, and it's from July 2022. It even gives instructions on how to submit the initial payment. This is not what colleges and universities typically do. After you've received your formal letter of acceptance, then they start sending information on setting up financial aid or a payment plan.

Makes sense what you are saying, only reason I can imagine they do this is because people start the program and then back out. I don't understand why the school wants payment before an acceptance letter is sent but if that is how they choose to do business it's their policy I guess. From my understanding, each cohort has 100 students so maybe it is like a deposit?

Acceptance isn't the same as matriculation. Normally, a school will send out more acceptance letters than available spots knowing that not all of the accepted students will decide to enroll. For programs that expect there to be more students enrolling than spots, they'll ask for a deposit to reserve a seat in the program after the acceptance letter is sent.

[PurpleReign]

This person received an email in July informing them to pay before receiving their acceptance letter.

https://imgur.com/a/t6FUj1q

---

This is from two years ago, so they've been doing this all along. Some people are being dishonest.

Congratulations! Virginia University of Lynchburg and the School of Business and Professional Studies have received and approved your application for admission to the Doctor of Healthcare Administration (DHA) program.


We request that you work with our Business Office on an acceptable payment plan for the DHA program; Layton Smith may be reached at 434-941-5537 or 434-528-5276 x1109 to complete this essential step. You may also call the Financial Aid Director Romena Morgan at 434-528-5276 x1105.

When the payment process is complete, we will issue a formal letter of acceptance. Please contact us if you have any questions.

Best Wishes,

Rex Hammond

They ask you to contact the Business office to set up a payment plan or to advise them if you use using financial aid loan or a private loan.

If you're not utilizing financial aid, they're asking for the first installment payment before sending an acceptance letter. The email in the image I linked to is clear, and it's from July 2022. It even gives instructions on how to submit the initial payment. This is not what colleges and universities typically do. After you've received your formal letter of acceptance, then they start sending information on setting up financial aid or a payment plan.

Makes sense what you are saying, only reason I can imagine they do this is because people start the program and then back out. I don't understand why the school wants payment before an acceptance letter is sent but if that is how they choose to do business it's their policy I guess. From my understanding, each cohort has 100 students so maybe it is like a deposit?

Acceptance isn't the same as matriculation. Normally, a school will send out more acceptance letters than available spots knowing that not all of the accepted students will decide to enroll. For programs that expect there to be more students enrolling than spots, they'll ask for a deposit to reserve a seat in the program after the acceptance letter is sent.

Sorry, this isn't worth quibbling about as I don't think this was a real issue for those enrolled. Also, the VUL DHA program, in reality, is an open program as long as you can provide evidence of completing a master's program (I wish they would screen out some who don't have a healthcare background or have plans to work in healthcare / social work).  I did however hear other issues around not getting a bill on time or being double billed which caused some undue stress and is more of a reflection of the university being understaffed. Again, this is a professional doctorate, not a Ph.D. or a rigorous one that you'll find at a RA university.   Nobody should have those expectations or do those types of comparisons.

[sanantone]

They ask you to contact the Business office to set up a payment plan or to advise them if you use using financial aid loan or a private loan.

If you're not utilizing financial aid, they're asking for the first installment payment before sending an acceptance letter. The email in the image I linked to is clear, and it's from July 2022. It even gives instructions on how to submit the initial payment. This is not what colleges and universities typically do. After you've received your formal letter of acceptance, then they start sending information on setting up financial aid or a payment plan.

Makes sense what you are saying, only reason I can imagine they do this is because people start the program and then back out. I don't understand why the school wants payment before an acceptance letter is sent but if that is how they choose to do business it's their policy I guess. From my understanding, each cohort has 100 students so maybe it is like a deposit?

Acceptance isn't the same as matriculation. Normally, a school will send out more acceptance letters than available spots knowing that not all of the accepted students will decide to enroll. For programs that expect there to be more students enrolling than spots, they'll ask for a deposit to reserve a seat in the program after the acceptance letter is sent.

Sorry, this isn't worth quibbling about as I don't think this was a real issue for those enrolled. Also, the VUL DHA program, in reality, is an open program as long as you can provide evidence of completing a master's program (I wish they would screen out some who don't have a healthcare background or have plans to work in healthcare / social work).  I did however hear other issues around not getting a bill on time or being double billed which caused some undue stress and is more of a reflection of the university being understaffed. Again, this is a professional doctorate, not a Ph.D. or a rigorous one that you'll find at a RA university.   Nobody should have those expectations or do those types of comparisons.

I've applied to non-competitive doctoral and master's programs. Everyone is pretty much the same. The acceptance letter gets sent first. Having open admissions makes it more unusual to require upfront payment. Deposits are normally seen at elite MBA programs, for example. It's not a big deal; it's just one of VUL's many strange practices. I find the misleading information on the utility of RA vs NA to be more concerning.

[KSoul]

I had an exchange with VUL Dean of Business and Professional Studies, Dr. Hammong, on how likely we can expect new business doctorates in the year. He confirmed there are no immediate plans to initiate a new business program.

That's unfortunate and helpful to know, as those are hoping for something soon.

[ss20ts]

I had an exchange with VUL Dean of Business and Professional Studies, Dr. Hammong, on how likely we can expect new business doctorates in the year. He confirmed there are no immediate plans to initiate a new business program.

That's unfortunate and helpful to know, as those are hoping for something soon.

This is definitely different from what they were saying in the past. I know they've hit some bumps in the road with the DHA program and graduates which got pretty ugly.

[KSoul]

I had an exchange with VUL Dean of Business and Professional Studies, Dr. Hammong, on how likely we can expect new business doctorates in the year. He confirmed there are no immediate plans to initiate a new business program.

That's unfortunate and helpful to know, as those are hoping for something soon.

This is definitely different from what they were saying in the past. I know they've hit some bumps in the road with the DHA program and graduates which got pretty ugly.

I've only read a small collection of graduates complaining about diplomas and transcript delays over the last year, which one would imagine several universities had shortcomings trying to balance the pandemic and processes. Most read a little theatrical to me, and I am open to understanding that if I had graduated, I might have a heightened sensitivity to waiting for an extended period. Outside of one professor, I have never read anything negative about the program and learning journey.

Talking with VUL  back in Mach 2022, I agree this is a different tone to the likelihood of anything coming soon. Their DHA offering is substantial, so they should do just fine even with no new additions.