What's the difference between schools like Phoenix University and state universities?

Question

Obviously one is private, the other public. But for someone who wants to get, say, a business degree, how do these types of school differ? Thanks!

Answer 1

University of Phoenix is a For Profit corporation that is not respected by employers and has absolutely no selectivity. Many companies (like Intel) refuse to pay for their employees to take classes there because they lack rigor. It is an online university that charges less than prestigious private universities -- but more than respected public universities.

State universities are respected -- but they do vary in quality. For example, the University of California at Berkeley is considered one of the best universities in the world -- while most California State University schools are not very selective or very good. But they are much better than University of Phoenix.

US News and BusinessWeek both publish rankings of undergraduate and graduate business programs.

Answer 2

If you mean the University of Phoenix, it is not only private, but a for-profit, as opposed to traditional universities which are not-for-profit organizations. Therefore, they are much more focused on making money than are other colleges (I've had students who went to info sessions tell me that they never mentioned classes or what you would learn or any benefits to the students and only talked about payment plans). They tend to be very expensive for what they offer.

As far as the educational experience, I've known a couple of people who taught there, and they were basically told exactly what to teach and how to teach it. Everything is standardized. Because of that, they don't really need to hire highly qualified people to do their teaching. I've never heard of anyone with a business Ph.D. teaching there.

In business schools, accreditation by a body like AACSB is very important. The UofP wants it badly and says that they have applied for it, but they are unwilling to make any of the adjustments that all the other schools have made to get it in terms of requirements of their faculty, assessment of outcomes, etc.

Finally, when it comes to employment, while some employers just want anyone with a degree, others won't recognize degrees from places like UofP or other for-profits. If you are looking at it as a way of getting a job, it probably won't help you, but it might be okay if you already had a job and were told you needed to have a degree to keep the job.

Answer 3

For the working adult the University of Phoenix (I assume that is what you mean) may seem like a good choice. From my understanding, it is primarily online and/or very flexible with times. While the world is certainly moving toward accepting online as being a good way to get a degree it just doesn't seem to have gotten there yet. I have not looked into it, but to me the U of P seems more like a diploma mill - again just my perception.

A state university may offer some online classes (I took an awesome history of Rock and Roll class online at a community college that transfered to a small liberal arts college just fine) but the coursework is still done primarily in person. It is the classroom interaction and debates, the group projects, and the intangible studying with people who are "in the trenches" with you taking the class and the impromptu conversations with professors that add to the educational value.

In essence, the difference is in perception and reputation of the school to employers and in human contact/the added educational benefits.

Answer 4

Phoenix University is more like a trade or vocational school that offers online courses. As a result, it is generally much less prestigious than state schools. In addition, credit obtained there and similar schools are usually not transferable.

Bottom line: state schools are more expensive, harder, but garner more respect (like from employers).