Big 3 mentioned on Forbes

[sanantone]

While veterans just returning from war and leaving the military are temporarily at a disadvantage when it comes to seeking employment, in the long run, military tend to have very low unemployment rates. Honestly, all they need to do is check the box with an accredited degree. The quality of the program they attended does not matter. They get veterans' preference for many federal, state, and local jobs. A lot of students at Excelsior and the Big 3, in general, are looking to become officers in the military. So, they aren't out there competing with non-military job applicants. They practically have high-paying jobs waiting for them in the military. Plus, some government contractors tend to mostly hire former military members.

I have no problem with veterans' preference, but I've seen, first-hand, how much of a boost it gives applicants. For example, I took a civil service test for a police officer position. I scored high enough to be ranked #6. After veterans' points were added, I was dropped down to #12. Normally, a couple of people will fail to get through the background check process causing the department to go further down the list, but since they were only looking to hire a few people, I had no chance of going further in the process due to my ranking. Almost everyone at the top was in the military even though some of them did not initially have the highest scores.

This forum is not representative of students at any of the Big 3. TESU is also expanding its on-campus offerings, and most of their students do not test out of their degrees. TESU has started one doctoral program and is looking to create more while also expanding their masters offerings. COSC is designing programs specifically for workers in Connecticut. One has to realize that they have very different markets. As public schools, TESU and COSC do not advertise very much nationwide while Excelsior does. I see Excelsior web ads all the time. As publicly-financed institutions, TESU and COSC's target market is people in New Jersey and Connecticut. Their in-state tuition rates are low. So, they are attracting financially-conscious locals who can't get discounts because they're in the military and probably aren't receiving much, if anything, in tuition assistance from their employers. But, if I had to choose between any of them for completing a degree more traditionally, I would choose TESU due to their non-resident tuition under the Comprehensive Tuition Plan. Excelsior is $510 per credit hour, and that is something I could not afford without going into a lot of debt, even with the Pell Grant. 120 credits with them will cost $61,200 while four years at TESU with their flat rate would cost $37,408.