Any graduates with a university of phoenix degree?

Question

I'm going now for a teaching degree. The principal at the school I work at called the degree a joke. I don't know..I havent found many good things written about it and would like to hear some positives

Answer 1

Please do steer clear of those online, for-profit schools such as penn foster, university of phoenix, capella, ITT tech, sanford brown, kaplan, walden, strayer, devry, keiser, everest and others as they are merely out to 'make a profit':  http://www.capellauniversitysucks.us

http://www.ripoffreport.com and can type into search.

Those schools have that reputation for a reason, and I wouldn't want to waste a dime to find out :)  The school prinicpal saying that that type of school is a joke is very telling of how the masses feel.  Some online, for-profit schools don't even have the appropriate accreditation for the professions such as teaching, nursing or such.  Please stick with traditional colleges and universities that happen to offer online courses.  For US colleges:  http://www.utexas.edu/world/univ

For the teaching field in general, it's best to get a job as a teacher assistant or at least volunteer in a classroom setting of the age that one would like to teach (public schools don't always allow volunteers unless one's child attends).

Answer 2

It's called a joke because these so-called schools are actually big greedy corporate businesses.  This is a major conflict of interest because they don't make money unless they make a sale.  And a sale means enrolling a student.  But real schools have strict admittance procedures to ensure quality students are placed into programs that are capped to a maximum enrollment based upon tenured faculty availability.  Not the case with for-profit institutions.  They need more and more students because growth is a major component of increasing stock price.  Think they can have explosive growth by having the same admission standards as real schools?  Sorry, doesn't work that way.  The end result are a lot of unqualified students who "purchased" their way to school. This is why you will not get any respect from people who attended real schools.  We had to fight our way just to be admitted into a program.  Simply whipping out our credit card didn't and wont accomplish anything with a real school.  

For-profit schools have unscrupulous methods of taking new students in, such as spamming people, telemarketing, and placing annoying ads everywhere.  How would your boss feel about a degree from them when he gets spammed daily by the very same people.  Enrollment counselors are nothing but used car salesmen at for-profits, working on quotas and commission.  They don't even have the educational credentials -- at real colleges, enrollment counselors need at least a bachelors degree, and a masters for graduate admissions.  HS diploma is all that's needed at UoP.  Further, even UoP doesn't take their graduate programs very seriously, as if you want to be an instructor there they wont recognize your "advanced" degree.  How about that?

In any event, these schools make for some hot stock picks, so all is not lost. Just don't be a "customer"!

Answer 3

Have you asked the principal what he based his answer on? Or if he took into consideration ethics or the feelings of his/her employees before making such a statement? I have a feeling he draws his conclusion on the same baseless claims made by other posters here- "that's what I heard", "everyone thinks so", etc.

What makes the University of Phoenix a joke? The fact that it is run by a "for profit" corporation and is growing exponentially both online and brick and mortar? So getting a degree from an accredited University that turns a profit is bad, but getting one from a school that relies heavily on private and commercial donations as well as government funding is a good thing? I am in IT, not business, but I am pretty sure that doesn't make any sense.

The U of P is absolutely of running aggressive advertising campaigns. And their business model does utilize rather static lesson plans for each individual class no matter where it is taught- online, on campus, etc. But if this model is so bad, why are other "prestigious" schools trying to copy it?

Tulane, Florida Tech, Notre Dame, and Villanova (among others) joined together to form the "University Alliance". You can get a "Masters Certificate", which is made to looks suspiciously like a Master's degree, by simply plunking down just over 6k and watching online videos for 6 weeks. This program is not accredited, you cannot get government subsidized loans, but yet no one is bad mouthing them.

Meanwhile, the U of P requires mandatory attendance, participation, and  you have to actually take the classes and submit work- not just watch a 5 CD set sent to you in the mail.

Do I have a degreed from U of P? Yes. Although I received two engineering degrees from one of the top engineering universities in the country, I went back a few years ago and received an IT degree from the U of P. I worked in IT right after college (engineering was boring), and after about 15 years, thought it may be fun to go back to school and get my IT degree. The flexibility of U of P's online system appealed to me. And while several peers initially scoffed at me, two of them signed up within six months to continue their education as well.

Have you been told that the U of P will discredit your reputation and get your resume banned? Well, I must be the exception. I work for a Fortune 100 firm and sit on the board of directors for an international information security organization.

Have you been told you can turn in anything as long as it is in APA format and get all A's? Again, I must have gotten lucky. All my papers were run through their database of all papers ever turned in there (plagiarism checker) as well as checked against search engines for content taken from other sources without citation.

Here's another. They don't have "professors", only "facilitators", Well, that one is 100% correct. But why? U of P is run by the Apollo Group, a for profit company. The employ "at-will" facilitators, not professors. What's the difference? Professors have tenure and cannot be fired- not ideal to a for-profit system. Facilitators, who must meet the same criteria as "professors", are employees of the Apollo group and can be fired. Is this good or bad? Well, it's pretty much indifferent for the most part. Personally, I like have a "facilitator" that has to perform to keep his/her job. Remember Professor Ward Churchill in Colorado who said the 9/11 victims were "little eichmen" who deserved it? They couldn't fire him because he had tenure and threatened to sue. Is it any wonder the traditional academic system is flawed beyond repair?

So the answer to your question is "yes", the University of Phoenix is a joke. A joke that started in 1976, became (and still is) the largest private University in North America, has over 200 facilities across the country, and a 65,000 seat stadium (where all the investors get together once a year to laugh and light their Cuban cigars with $100 bills I guess).

The next time your boss makes such an ignorant statement, tell him your U of P class studied the EEOC last week and that he should be careful as statements like that could be considered harassing and viewed as detrimental to your attempts to further your education and career.

Does your employer reimburse you for your college classes?  

Answer 4

With UOP, it really depends on your field of study and total resume. I have never had a problem getting a job with any of my nursing degrees: Associates from a private college, Bachelor's from a state university, and Master's from an online university (UOP). But note that UOP and online came after I had earned two degrees the old fashioned way.

Call the governing body for teachers in the state you will be working in. Talk to recruiters/employers before you register. Do they require you to attend a certain type of school? Does you school need to be accredited? By any specific bodies? Use this information when you are looking at any school, not just UOP.