Posts Tagged ‘course’
University of Phoenix Sucks
Thursday, April 1st, 2010
One Student’s Account:
“In 2009, the U.S. Department of Education provided a preliminary report to the university that cited untimely return of unearned Title IV funds for more than 10 percent of sampled students. The report also expressed a concern that some students enroll and begin attending classes before completely understanding the implications of enrollment, including their eligibility for student financial aid. As a result, in January 2010, its parent company, Apollo Group Inc., was required to post a letter of credit for $125 million by January 30 of the same year” –BusinessWeek
Subject: University of Phoenix Business Practices
I enrolled in the University of Phoenix in November of 2009 in its Doctor of Management in Organizational Leadership program. At the time, the intake counselor (let’s call him salesman) advised me that the program entailed residencies that were held at various points around the United States. Additionally, he stated that if I could not make one then I could schedule an alternate residency. I explained to him that this was important as I travel internationally quite often and, of course, this would be a logistical problem. Again, this was BEFORE I agreed to register in the program. I completed several courses in the program and my residency was coming up for March of 2010 and informed the salesman that I would need to reschedule my residency as I would be overseas at that time.
Suddenly, rescheduling the residency was a problem. Several parties told me that I could not do it. Finally, when I threatened to quit the program they said I could do it. This was after being brow-beaten by my academic and financial aid counselors on a conference call wanting to know why I could not cancel my travel plans and attend the original residency. At any rate, they finally said I could reschedule but that I would need to WITHDRAW from school and start up again with my regular schedule after the residency.
Let me re-emphasize that rather than simply letting me take another course on the curriculum which, I might add, not every course is a pre-requisite for the next, contrary to what these sales people say, they told me that I would need to withdraw. Any other graduate school worth the appellation would have just let me take another graduate level course however the University of Phoenix forced me to withdraw. The school was stating that I would need to withdraw (fall out of compliance with financial requirements regarding full-time attendance) because the school would not allow me to take another doctoral course instead.
Rather than go through this ordeal every time I might need to reschedule a residency I chose to withdraw. Thus, since the University of Phoenix was forced to return some of the financial aid monies that it received from the government it is now stating that I owe tuition for a course which was supposed to have been paid for and for which this entire ordeal started because the salesman told me that I could reschedule residencies “no problem.” Of course, he disputes this now as one would expect but I can tell you that this institution is driven purely by the amount of churn it can generate through billing the federal government for federal financial aid funds. The actual treatment and outcome of the students is purely secondary which is why the graduation rates are so pathetic.
While I am certain the University of Phoenix might be able to rationalize its billing me for $2,301 in tuition in spite of it being the reason I withdrew, I am just as certain that there are inconsistencies in its accounting of my financial aid application, dispensation, and adjudication through this process. Please look into this particular case and add my official complaint of this University’s practices to the long list I am sure that you have already compiled.
My chief complaints are the following:
The school required me to withdraw to change my residency date
The school “auto-withdrew” me from a course-whatever that is but I question the methodology because the school uses something it calls the “Course Exit Tracking Checklists” to determine attendance or withdrawal apparently which I neither signed, approved, or was made aware of in advance
The salesman than enrolled me in the program ensured me that I could change my residency dates yet never mentioned that I would need to withdraw in order to do so
These and other issues are why the University of Phoenix Sucks.
Tags: apollo group, apollo group inc, class action, course, department of education, financial aid, financial aid counselors, financial aid practices, fine, guilty, I, intake counselor, lawsuit, organizational leadership program, Phoenix, residency, school, settles, Taiwan, U.S. Department, United States, University, university of phoenix, university of phoenix settles, university of phoenix sucks, university of phoenix sued, uofp
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
College & Twitter
Sunday, February 7th, 2010
Some professors are finally beginning to see the light. While most colleges and universities and certainly most professors and faculty view technology as a threat, a brave few are promoting it as a means to improve the educational process and make the college or university experience more relevant for students today. An adjunct professor has just begun to incorporate Twitter into his class format by encouraging students in class to tweet notes back and forth which essentially creates another level of dialogue in the classroom. This method also encourages those who would not normally participate to begin to interact with their peers. However, there were of course some objections from the dinosaurs within the educational establishment who consider this strategy to be another opportunity for distraction. Of course, this possibility exists but just because the methodology needs to be improved does not mean that this is not an effective method to adapt, innovate and make more relevant the 21st century classroom.
Tags: 21st century classroom, adjunct professor, beginning to see the light, class, classroom, College, college classroom, colleges and universities, course, educational establishment, faculty view, light, method, note taking, technology, technology in the classroom, tweet, tweets, twitter, University, university class, university course
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Managing Your Online Class
Friday, January 29th, 2010
Recently, a number of our clients have requested that we manage their online courses for them. These students are employed full-time and typically have a family to support or bills to pay or both making the time and focus required to manage an online course difficult to manage. Because of the growing need for these types of services, we designed an online course management service which transfers the pressure and stress from taking an online class from the student to the writer. For a pre-determined fee we assign a writer who is familiar with the course topic and has a degree in the subject area and that writer then logs into your online course platform such as Blackboard or similar and does the daily or weekly postings or substantive comments that are required by most online classes to show course participation. Additionally, the writer managing the course takes care of any other online tasks that are required such as online exams, group meetings, and related activities so that you can continue to work productively and spend time with your family. While the cost for written work is still charged at the assigned per page rate we do offer a 10% discount to all clients that sign up for the managed course service. For more information email, call or IM and let’s get you out the classroom and into your career.
Tags: blackboard, course, course management, course participation, discussion thread, distance education, family, group meetings, management service, online, online class, online classes, online courses, online quiz, online test, online universities, substantive comments, substantive posts, thread, time, writer
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
