Are Graduate degrees from U of Phoenix online reputable?

Question

I'm considering starting work on a Master's of Healthcare Administration through the U of Phoenix Online program (work demands prohibit traditional classroom instruction) and am curious about whether potential employers would consider this a strong positive.

Answer 1

It's ok to slam on a college you don't like, but that doesn't really help with the issue at hand. There are better options than UoP, with a much better reputation, and at lower cost.

* Seton Hall
http://www.shu.edu/academics/setonworldwide/mha/
* University of Delaware
http://www.udel.edu/DSP/degreeprograms.htm
* University of Missouri - Columbia
http://www.mudirect.missouri.edu/
* A. T. Still University
http://www.atsu.edu/online_programs/health_administration.htm


just a few to consider. Don't rule out the state university in your state - many do their programs online or a combination.

Answer 2

A degree from Phoenix University is considered of very low value and completely worthless. They are a for-profit institution. They are there to make money, that is their primary objective! Look at the entrance requirements just to get in, they are relatively very low standard and easy compared to the more stringent requirements at a Traditional University. And the tuition they charge is outrageous!!! Getting your degree from a Traditional Four Year University is the way to go. It will take longer, but at least you are receiving a respected degree that you worked hard to earn!

Answer 3

Coach T knows!
There are better options that UOP out there as he mentions.

UOP is regionally accredited, which is the best institutional accreditation you can get. This will cover things such as professional licensing, credit transfer, admission to regionally accredited grad programs, etc.

The additional AACSB program accreditation that is mentioned is held by less than 5% of colleges, so if you can get into a top 5% school, that is great.

No companies require AACSB accreditation for employment, and only 1 that I know of recently required it for existing employees to receive tuition reimbursement (InteL)

Answer 4

No! Please apply to a state college or university that offers online courses as u of phoenix is a for-profit institution, and they don't even have a course listing on their site though want the student to provide their name and address for the info. Here is a website started by former students of the school: http://www.uopsucks.com and there is a forum too.

Answer 5

I was an MBA program student at UOP for about 3 classes until I realized what a scam that place is. Fortunately, work paid for the classes. I would never, ever invest my own money for tuition at that place. It's all about the money and don't think that real employers are fooled by the name. It should be called "Diploma Mill of Phoenix". My International Business course faculty member's experience/qualifications were that he once managed two Taco Bells. What a joke.

Excerpt from www.uopsucks.com:

"The major complaints with the University of Phoenix are as follows:
Lack of Professional Accreditation for Most Degrees
"Boiler Room" Recruiting Practices
Use of Spam to Recruit
Misrepresentations and False Guarantees by Recruiters, Counselors, and Financial Aid
Poor Customer Service
Poor Quality of Instruction
Poor Technology Infrastructure
Poor Quality of Classmates
Financial Aid Carelessness
General Lack of Respect for the Customer (Student)
Education Does Not Meet Federal Guidelines
Abysmal Graduation Rates
Accreditation: When you ask UOP if they are accredited they will respond that they are regionally accredited. UOP relies on the fact that most people do not understand accreditation or how it works. University of Phoenix has regional accreditation but they do not have top rated professional accreditation for many of their majors... in particular the ever popular MBA. When looking for an MBA program, make sure it is accredited by the AACSB. Check to see if your school is accredited by the AACSB at http://www.aacsb.edu/General/InstLists.asp?lid=2. For more info refer to http://www.onlineuc.net/warning.html .

Recruiting Practices: Working at the UOP recruiting center is like the movie Boiler Room. Recruiters have high goals and are rewarded by how many students they enroll. As such, they use high pressure sales tactics and do anything to get you to enroll. As such, turnover is very high at UOP. Check out how they operate.

Spam: If you've had an email address for the past few years, chances are University of Phoenix has spammed you. Do you really want to patronize any company that uses spam to advertise? How legitimate is a university that uses spam to advertise?

Misrepresentations and False Guarantees: Recruiters and Counselors have been known to make false promises and guarantees to get you to enroll and stay enrolled and they may hide or downplay consequences. They may represent that credits will transfer into UOP, transfer from UOP to another school, that you can start and stop the program at any time, etc. Be careful! Many students have been burned by false representations about financial aid and end up with ruined credit.

Poor Customer Service: Because of the high turnover rates and because of how poorly University of Phoenix treats its employees, it is hard to find someone competent to resolve your problems if you have one. Often, the employees are overworked and unable to give you the time needed to help you properly. Failure to return phone calls, inability to reach supervisors and higher level managers, and the incompetence or powerlessness of the lower level staff will frustrate you to no end.

Poor Quality of Instruction: While there are a few great instructors at University of Phoenix, most are mediocre business people who have no business in a classroom and are there simply to supplement their income. Most will give you an A or B for showing up and turning in all the work. Few instructors care enough to read submitted work carefully for proper grading. Those that do take the time to grade carefully care more about whether or not the formatting and appearance of your report meets guidelines rather than the quality of the content. When you're paying over $1000 per class, you should expect an education worthy of the price you're paying!

Poor Technology Infrastructure: UOP has been in the online education business for several years now. For all of the money that you're paying, you would expect UOP to have adequate bandwidth and server resources to handle the loads, but they never seem to have enough. You're paying thousands of dollars per class - can't they at least get enough servers and bandwidth?

Poor Quality of Classmates: With UOP's learning model, at least half of your instruction comes from interaction with your peers. The biggest problem with this concept is that there is no screening of who your peers are (i.e., no admissions test) and your peers don't know much more than you do (that's why you're all taking the class to begin with). A great deal of your course work is group work, and getting stuck with a bunch of idiots will ruin your educational experience. Additionally, chances are great that potential employers have hired other graduates from UOP that have been less than desirable, and that bad experience has now diminished the reputation of the UOP degree for that employer.

Financial Aid Carelessness: We get a TON of email from people whose financial lives have been ruined by the misrepresentations of the financial aid and counselors at UOP. When you owe UOP money, it is impossible to get things straightened out because you can never get the right person on the phone. If you plan on using financial aid, make sure that you are approved and everything is setup and confirmed BEFORE you start classes. Make sure you get all representations in writing. Realize that if you stop classes or change classes your financial aid is likely to get cancelled or screwed up and YOU will end up paying the bill. UOP is relentless in debt collections, and they do not like to straighten things out even if they are to blame.

General Lack of Respect for the Customer: Once University of Phoenix has you enrolled, they could care less about keeping you happy. They DO NOT guarantee customer satisfaction. In some cases they will allow you to re-take classes for free, but who would ever want to spend the time to do that? UOP's financial aid department does not return phone calls and counselors and help become hard to get a hold of once you have a problem.

Education Does Not Meet Federal Guidelines: In order for schools to qualify for financial aid, degree programs must meet certain requirements, one of which is a minimum number of hours of class time. UOP meets these requirements by requiring half of the total required time to consist of independent group study. While there may be a few legitimate study groups out there, most students can vouch for the fact that they rarely meet outside of class for the required time. Group study records, if any are necessary, are often falsified. The educational value of group study time is also highly questionable. This applies even moreso if your study group is comprised of incompetents.

Abysmal Graduation Rates: UOP's graduation rates are terrible! As low as 2% for the West Florida campus, and averaging only 16%! You can research them here. A University with graduation rates this low definitely has a problem!


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At UOPSucks.com we realize that not everyone has had or will have the same bad experiences that we have. If you had a good experience, then this is probably not a good website for you. We are glad you had a good experience, but unfortunately we did not and we are glad to present a forum for students like us with similar bad experiences. UoP administration has not responded adequately to our complaints so here we are... If you want to read good things about UoP, go to their website. Please realize we have many more complaints and problems than could ever be shown here. Site content is chosen carefully for obvious reasons and we will provide full anonymity for any feedback and comment we receive and post. "