Opinions on Ashford?

[sambam0812]

Have you looked into WGU?

Yes; for +/- $15k I could get the Ashworth no-name masters AND the RA grad certificate I want, and save about $10k.

[eLearner]

Have you looked into WGU?

Yes; for +/- $15k I could get the Ashworth no-name masters AND the RA grad certificate I want, and save about $10k.

If you have the time and the ambition, you could get a WGU Masters finished in 6 months or less for $4,000 or less.

[ss20ts]

Have you looked into WGU?

Yes; for +/- $15k I could get the Ashworth no-name masters AND the RA grad certificate I want, and save about $10k.

How long are you planning on being in grad school? If you have the time and the drive, you can complete a master's degree in 6 months at WGU and that's less than $4200. 

Ashworth is a for profit school. WGU is not. WGU is RA. Ashworth is not. Ashworth does not offer financial aid and WGU does.

There's some shady things that have happened at Ashworth that show up in a Google search. 

Comparing the 2 is like apples and oranges.

[eLearner]

Only thing I'd say about Ashworth not offering financial aid is, to be fair, its prices are very inexpensive and very much less than most other schools in the United States, and considering that they do offer a very low monthly payment plan, it's actually a lot cheaper than what you'd get even with financial aid in most cases in the long run. Its graduates never leave with debt, and I don't know of any schools RA or NA, non-profit or for-profit who can say that.

They did have a very minor issue with the FTC, but that was really just the FTC using them to make an example because the claim they were sued on was questionable at best and something most schools could be sued for. Just a bunch of students who overreacted in my opinion.

[sambam0812]

Have you looked into WGU?

Yes; for +/- $15k I could get the Ashworth no-name masters AND the RA grad certificate I want, and save about $10k.

How long are you planning on being in grad school? If you have the time and the drive, you can complete a master's degree in 6 months at WGU and that's less than $4200. 

Ashworth is a for profit school. WGU is not. WGU is RA. Ashworth is not. Ashworth does not offer financial aid and WGU does.

There's some shady things that have happened at Ashworth that show up in a Google search. 

Comparing the 2 is like apples and oranges.

WGU's MBA in healthcare admin is 11 courses or 36 CUs. They assume 3 courses per term, so that's 4 terms. Their cost is $4180 per 6-month term, so that's $4180x4= $16720. I work full time, and I live alone so +/- 20 hours a week in school is all I can mentally, physically, and financially afford to do at a single time. Plus, its an MBA and I want an MSc. At Ashworth, I pay for one semester and get the other three free! Yes, Ashworth and Penn Foster have always been looked down on a little bit, but I did my AAS through PF, and my certificate for Medical Billing and Coding, which is what got me to where I am now. No they don't transfer credits at all, but I've never had a problem with their customer service, billing practices, or quality of education. A 10 month certificate got me a certification where they suggest you have a minimum of 2 years direct contact with the actual job, when I had zero actual experience.

[ss20ts]

Only thing I'd say about Ashworth not offering financial aid is, to be fair, its prices are very inexpensive and very much less than most other schools in the United States, and considering that they do offer a very low monthly payment plan, it's actually a lot cheaper than what you'd get even with financial aid in most cases in the long run. Its graduates never leave with debt, and I don't know of any schools RA or NA, non-profit or for-profit who can say that.

They did have a very minor issue with the FTC, but that was really just the FTC using them to make an example because the claim they were sued on was questionable at best and something most schools could be sued for. Just a bunch of students who overreacted in my opinion.

A payment plan IS debt.

[Thorne]

Only thing I'd say about Ashworth not offering financial aid is, to be fair, its prices are very inexpensive and very much less than most other schools in the United States, and considering that they do offer a very low monthly payment plan, it's actually a lot cheaper than what you'd get even with financial aid in most cases in the long run. Its graduates never leave with debt, and I don't know of any schools RA or NA, non-profit or for-profit who can say that.

They did have a very minor issue with the FTC, but that was really just the FTC using them to make an example because the claim they were sued on was questionable at best and something most schools could be sued for. Just a bunch of students who overreacted in my opinion.

A payment plan IS debt.

True, though the debt from Ashworth is minimal compared to many schools. All of their undergraduate programs are $1,100 for a six month term, which is basically about what I spent taking 5 courses per term at community college.

Yeah, it's NA, but if you're hoping to use the degree internationally or you want to get a second degree for personal enrichment, this isn't a bad option.

[eLearner]

Only thing I'd say about Ashworth not offering financial aid is, to be fair, its prices are very inexpensive and very much less than most other schools in the United States, and considering that they do offer a very low monthly payment plan, it's actually a lot cheaper than what you'd get even with financial aid in most cases in the long run. Its graduates never leave with debt, and I don't know of any schools RA or NA, non-profit or for-profit who can say that.

They did have a very minor issue with the FTC, but that was really just the FTC using them to make an example because the claim they were sued on was questionable at best and something most schools could be sued for. Just a bunch of students who overreacted in my opinion.

A payment plan IS debt.

No kidding. 

In order to graduate from Ashworth you have to fulfill all academic requirements and be paid up in full. So, to allude to what I mentioned earlier, Ashworth's graduates never leave with debt. Given the prices they charge ($49/month and very low overall degree program prices) even if Ashworth grads were still paying post-graduation they would be paying considerably less there than they would at practically every other school in the country, and doing so without interest which is another thing you don't pay for there that you will pay for almost everywhere else.

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Yes, Ashworth and Penn Foster have always been looked down on a little bit

Just keep in mind that the kinds of things you read on message boards and Reddit (ugh) are not the perceptions and feelings of the entire world or even a significant portion of it. What you're getting is a direct concentration of thoughts/opinions based on the subject and genre of the place you're visiting. After all, if what people said at these places were gospel, all NA and for-profit schools would've closed ages ago, nobody would attend, no one would get jobs, the system would've crumbled, but that hasn't happened because that's not reality.

An NA degree will offer some lower utility versus an RA in a number of circumstances, but not anything close to all circumstances like the opposers would lead you to believe. Take the doom charges with a really small grain of salt.

No they don't transfer credits at all...

Sure they do. People do it all the time. A school discussed in this thread (WGU) takes them, and fun fact: WGU used to have national accreditation (DETC, now DEAC) for a number of years in its history, the same accreditor that has been accrediting Ashworth and Penn Foster for many years:

https://archive.wgu.edu/artifact/western...ng-council

There is a guy on the other board who is currently in a PhD program at an regionally accredited school, and before that he was having no trouble getting into RA programs with his Ashworth undergrad degrees, in fact he pulled down several RA grad degrees prior to his PhD program. Lots of schools take credits from NA schools, not all, and many won't, but there are more than enough who will today that you'll find some with not much effort.