Online Colleges

[jhayx7]

These colleges, like AIU, how in the hell do they still have their accreditation?!?!? Couple of my co-workers are going through AIU and you can get a 4 year degree in ~2 years.

That's not all, AIU reviews your work exp. and gives you credits based on it. One co-worker got 12 credits because of this. WTF?!?

Each class is only 6 weeks long but comparing my classes to theirs is a joke. It seems like they do a lot of paper-writing on hypothetical situations rather than doing real work.

Who writes 4 papers for a Business Statistics class? WHO, I ASK!

It will be a sad day for a lot of people if these degree-farming, money grabbing, fanny packers get their accreditation pulled.


Cliffs:

^They are up there^

/rant

 

[gwrober]

There was a news story here in TX about schools like that - the local firefighters were using them to get 'degreed' so they can get promoted - but the degree plans didn't match up with a B&M school for experience/learning, and the fire chief nixed the degree/promotion requests.

 

[mugs]

I've never heard of AIU, but I'm pretty sure HR people know what schools are decent, and they know that some guy's degree from AIU or University of Phoenix Online is not necessarily comparable to your Harvard diploma.

Also realize that the college you went to doesn't matter much after your first real job, except that it may provide you with some connections.

 

[S Freud]

I saw a news story about this same thing, they said that people were going through the programs and then finding out that the degrees mattered for squat.

People were really unhappy because they paid all that money and got pretty much nothing out of the deal. Guess that will teach them to try and get a four year degree in two years online.

 

[Whisper]

Most of those schools aren't accredited by any well-known and respected accreditation boards; it's usually something like "The American Association of Online Educational Institutions."

 

[jhayx7]

Originally posted by: Whisper
Most of those schools aren't accredited by any well-known and respected accreditation boards; it's usually something like "The American Association of Online Educational Institutions."

American InterContinental University is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award Associate, Bachelor's, and Master's degrees. This umbrella accreditation includes the following branch campuses of the University: AIU Buckhead; AIU Dunwoody; AIU South Florida; AIU London; AIU Houston; AIU Los Angeles; AIU Online (originating in Illinois); and American University in Dubai.

Did some quick research on the SACS website and pulled up AIU:

Institution Name: American InterContinental University
CEO: Dr. George P. Miller, III
Title: CEO
Address 1: University Central Administration
Address 2: 6600 Peachtree-Dunwoody Road; 500 E
City: Atlanta State: GA Zip: 30328
Country:
Institution Phone: (404) 965-6500
Level: III
Status: Accredited
Public Sanctions: Probation
Candidate: 01/01/84
Accredited: 1987
Reaffirmed: 2002
Next Reaffirmation: 2012
Control: Private For-profit



This explains alot!

Edit 2:

They were put on probation the year before last and they were up for review on Dec 06. Here is the review report.

They were put on probation for another year, citing many compliance reasons. In Dec 07 SACS will review them again, this time they can not be put on probation again. If they do not clean up before Dec 07 they will not be accredited anymore.

Edit 3:

Private For-profit...... That explains it all....

 

[acole1]

Originally posted by: jhayx7
These colleges, like AIU, how in the hell do they still have their accreditation?!?!? Couple of my co-workers are going through AIU and you can get a 4 year degree in ~2 years.

That's not all, AIU reviews your work exp. and gives you credits based on it. One co-worker got 12 credits because of this. WTF?!?

Each class is only 6 weeks long but comparing my classes to theirs is a joke. It seems like they do a lot of paper-writing on hypothetical situations rather than doing real work.

Who writes 4 papers for a Business Statistics class? WHO, I ASK!

It will be a sad day for a lot of people if these degree-farming, money grabbing, fanny packers get their accreditation pulled.


Cliffs:

^They are up there^

/rant

Our prof has us write 4 papers for our buis stats class.

Note that the entire class thinks he is an idiot too...

 

[Whisper]

Originally posted by: jhayx7

Originally posted by: Whisper
Most of those schools aren't accredited by any well-known and respected accreditation boards; it's usually something like "The American Association of Online Educational Institutions."

American InterContinental University is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award Associate, Bachelor's, and Master's degrees. This umbrella accreditation includes the following branch campuses of the University: AIU Buckhead; AIU Dunwoody; AIU South Florida; AIU London; AIU Houston; AIU Los Angeles; AIU Online (originating in Illinois); and American University in Dubai.

Did some quick research on the SACS website and pulled up AIU:

Institution Name: American InterContinental University
CEO: Dr. George P. Miller, III
Title: CEO
Address 1: University Central Administration
Address 2: 6600 Peachtree-Dunwoody Road; 500 E
City: Atlanta State: GA Zip: 30328
Country:
Institution Phone: (404) 965-6500
Level: III
Status: Accredited
Public Sanctions: Probation
Candidate: 01/01/84
Accredited: 1987
Reaffirmed: 2002
Next Reaffirmation: 2012
Control: Private For-profit



This explains alot!

Yeah, and besides that, I know that in Georgia anyways, AIU has physical "campuses" (i.e., office space to offer a few classes). That probably goes a long way towards the accreditation, since I believe it requires classroom space of some sort.

 

[Winchester]

Originally posted by: S Freud
I saw a news story about this same thing, they said that people were going through the programs and then finding out that the degrees mattered for squat.

People were really unhappy because they paid all that money and got pretty much nothing out of the deal. Guess that will teach them to try and get a four year degree in two years online.

I got my 4 year degree in ~2.5 years at a "real" university. Worked my tail off and took up to 25 hours each semester.

 

[NuAlphaMan]

Originally posted by: gwrober
There was a news story here in TX about schools like that - the local firefighters were using them to get 'degreed' so they can get promoted - but the degree plans didn't match up with a B&M school for experience/learning, and the fire chief nixed the degree/promotion requests.

There was also a story about federal government workers doing this through one of these bogus online colleges. Programs like this give some of the better online programs a bad name!

 

[S Freud]

Originally posted by: Winchester

Originally posted by: S Freud
I saw a news story about this same thing, they said that people were going through the programs and then finding out that the degrees mattered for squat.

People were really unhappy because they paid all that money and got pretty much nothing out of the deal. Guess that will teach them to try and get a four year degree in two years online.

I got my 4 year degree in ~2.5 years at a "real" university. Worked my tail off and took up to 25 hours each semester.

I stand corrected, though thats not exactly how I meant it.

I realize that it is possible to get a four year degree in two from a "real" university by working your ass off, I was suggesting that being able to do this online without ever setting foot inside a class room just seems obvious to me.

 

[razor2025]

One of my buddy goes to AIU (about to graduate in few weeks) and he semi-regrets it. I've seen some of his course materials. It's a complete joke. Their math class is equivalent to 9th grade in high school. His reason for sticking with it (even though he's much smarter than his fellow students there) was that "AIU will get me some kind of degree in less time than traditional 4 year of school". GAH!

 

[jhayx7]

Originally posted by: razor2025
One of my buddy goes to AIU (about to graduate in few weeks) and he semi-regrets it. I've seen some of his course materials. It's a complete joke. Their math class is equivalent to 9th grade in high school. His reason for sticking with it (even though he's much smarter than his fellow students there) was that "AIU will get me some kind of degree in less time than traditional 4 year of school". GAH!

For some reason, in AIU, when you major in Business you do not have to take Calculus..

 

[BCYL]

There was a local story a little while back... one of these colleges were going bankrupt and instead of refunding ppl's money, they gave them their degrees instead... Basically just pay to buy your degree, no work needed...

 

[IAteYourMother]

Originally posted by: mugs
I've never heard of AIU, but I'm pretty sure HR people know what schools are decent, and they know that some guy's degree from AIU or University of Phoenix Online is not necessarily comparable to your Harvard diploma.

Also realize that the college you went to doesn't matter much after your first real job, except that it may provide you with some connections.

that depends entirely on your profession

 

[rocadelpunk]

whatever happened to the online university that some guy's cat got a mba?