Is University of Phenoix Online worth the money?

Question

I'm going to be graduating high shcool soon and want to start work right away. in order for me to go to college i have to pay for it myself (reason for me wanting to work right away) but i also want to take college classes soon so i can start towards a career. I dont do well with going to campus and sitting in a classroom i'd rather do it on my own time(i know there are deadlines) i was considering an online course and the best i found was UofP i've looked at reviews and its hard to make a decision of going. i'd want to go for my BA in business marketing and my masters in Business adminstratives. any advice, comments, opinons will be great. i know in the end its up to me and i plan to think hard about it.

Answer 1

I would encourage you to investigate other options besides the University of Phoenix. The degree isn't very well respected and it is a lot of money. Check out the publc schools in the state where you live--more and more of them are offering on-line classes. The community college where I attended (in class) now offers many of its courses on-line.

I can tell you that very few MBA programs will consider the UOP BA degree very useful, and you definitely don't want to get an MBA from UOP--it has a terrible reputation. You should also work FT for a few years before you get an MBA as this makes your education much more relevant (I went after a number of years of working).

I would check all the public colleges in your state, and speak with people about how to enroll and what the expectations are. On-line school is hard unless you absolutely have the willpower to sit and do the work, year after year. But, you sound like you are going in the right direction.

Answer 2

If the best you found for online courses was UoP then you didn't look very hard.

UMass has an online bachelor's in business http://www.umassonline.net/degrees/BachelorBusinessAdministration.html

other options include the likes of CalState, Central Michigan, East Carolina, Indiana State, Kansas State, Northern Arizona, Southern New Hampshire, SUNY, UAlabama, Washington State, Liberty, Marshall, Missouri State, NYIT, Old Dominion, UFlorida, UMichigan, West Texas A&M, etc... there are many more.

Your options extend way further than UoP and their kind unless that's the level of college you can get accepted to.

What I would suggest for you though is that you take a single online course at Louisiana State or Brigham Young (transferable, quality, and not expensive) and make sure online education is what you want to be doing before you invest 10s of thousands of dollars.

UoP is incredibly expensive compared to many very much better options.

Answer 3

Hello.
The first thing you want to be concerned with when researching online colleges (actually, all colleges) is who accredits them. There are several accrediting bodies, on the state and regional levels. Some online colleges are not accredited at all, others are accredited locally. You want a college that's accredited by a respectable body (our accrediting body is NEASC in the northeast).

There are plenty of highly respected, fully accredited colleges in the US that offer online classes and full degrees-- many of which offer courses in business. My thought is that you should start with colleges in which you are interested, and go to the individual sites to see what they offer online.

Online learning is a great way to earn college credit, but you need to make sure it's for you. Are you deadline-oriented? Do you work well independently? Do you communicate well in writing?

To be very straightforward-- people's perception of online learning varies. I'd look for a reputable college first and see what you can and can't take online. If that doesn't work, look for another well-known college or University. I actually work in online learning and know that many schools take our online credits without question. However, I am hesitant to recommend U of Pheonix, since the perception of U of P. from people whom I've encountered often lackluster.

Do your research. I know it's difficult, but I'd hate for you to sink your money into something that might not beworthwhile.

Good luck!