Want to save several thousand dollars and earn your masters degree at a top ranked online university?

Sure you do!

Well, now you can do both. There is a website out there called GetEducated.com and they’ve just come out with a new comparative college rankings of online universities, Top Ranked Consumer Best Buys in Online Masters Degrees Management Education.

Here’s a little of what they included in their rankings.

How about a regionally accredited distance learning masters in management that cost only $4,709?

Yep, you read it right. That’s what you’ll pay if your are a North Carolina resident and enroll at Western Carolina University seeking a Masters in Project Management.

And since I live in North Carolina, and I tell you that Western Carolina is a VERY good school. It’s not in a very populated area like Raleigh or Charlotte, (some say it’s in the boonies, but that’s not true either) but it has a very good reputation.

So how does that compare to the most expense online degree? Well how about spending as much as over $51,000 to get a Masters in Management Information Systems at Carnegie Mellon University?

 Yikes!!!

The average cost of an online masters degree in management is just under $21, 000 according to GetEducated.com’s national survey of online education.

Or how about the University of South Dakota’s multiple online masters in administrative studies, which was ranked number 10 in the survey and is just over $10,000. This is a great example of the budget deals available to you if you take the time to compare online education masters.

So make sure you do your homework; Check out the accreditation, and the cost.

And make sure that you follow the experts advice and check out publicly funded online university systems, such as the University of South Dakota, for the best programs at the best price. Over 70% of government-funded universities now offer online degrees.

Ben

I’ve got some very interesting stories to tell you about diploma mills.

Diploma mills have been a thorn in education’s side since the 1980s, and with the advent of the he Internet it has become 
possible for anyone to get a degree from any site claiming to be a college.

Cases in point:

In July it was revealed that three top administrators in a Regional School District, including the superintendent, obtained doctoral degrees from Breyer State University, an unaccredited online program.

Oh, and the school district paid their $2,900 tuition bill gave them a $2,500 raise! :-0

Several other notorious online degree cases have made national headlines recetnly as well.

There was Laurence Perry, who posed as a medical specialist in North Carolina using fraudulent degrees he’d bought from diploma mills. Perry was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and practicing medicine without a license in 2002 after advising a client to take her diabetic daughter off of insulin, which led to the 8-year-old child’s death.

This month, The Chicago Tribune reported that a Chicago Public Schools instructor and five current or former police officers were on the federal list of suspected buyers of fake degrees from a Washington state criminal diploma scheme.

And the list goes on and on…

A news reporter (I believe it was in Flint MI) with no medical education got approved for a doctorate in medicine and surgery from Ashwood University, which only operates online.

I have no idea where Ashwood is located, but they should be about a couple of floors lower than Hades…

Ashwood University approved the degree based simply on an applicant submitting a list of hospitals although there was no claiming to have worked at them or anywhere else in the medical field. Of course, the degree could only be awarded when the $659 bill was paid, according to an e-mail from Ashwood.

The same reporter also applied at Belford University and they were happy to approve the application for an early childhood education degree…

…even when the submitted background information included “convicted of child porn charges.”

Can you believe this S&*%?

Unfortunately, the diploma mills are still alive and kicking, but whatever you do, DON’T fall into their trap. You’re pay for it for the rest of your life!

Ben

Just five hours after submission of the online application, which included no employment history,
the honors were bestowed — pending a roughly $600 payment, of course.

Hope your classes are off to a great start this semester

I read about this a few days ago and thought it was so cool I just had to share.

(You know how I like to share… )

You can help a complete stranger win a $7,500 scholarship for an online degree at Western Governors University. They have having what they call The Video Scholarship Contest and you can view the vidoes and vote for your favorite.

View all the videos at http://www.wgu.edu/landing/video_submissions.asp.
There are 37 entries in the scholarship video contest. Looks like there was dancing, rapping and singing on these videos explaining why they or someone they know deserve to earn a scholarship and how earning a degree from WGU would change their life.

By voting, you can help select the five finalists and the eventual winner.

Just so you know, WGU is a non-profit, accredited online university. The scholarship is part of WGU’s mission to expand access to quality higher education for busy adults.
Voting is over on Saturday, August 23rd, so get out there and VOTE!

Following the voting period, the five finalists will be announced on Monday, August 25 at noon EDT. Voting will then be re-opened for the top 5 videos and WGU’s selected panel of judges will then reevaluate the finalists and determine the prizes. All winners will be announced on September 3.
All finalists will receive a prize. The entire prize list is as follows:
Grand Prize: $7,500 scholarship (payable at $1,500 every six-month term enrolled for up to five terms) and $500
Second Place: $3,000 scholarship (payable at $1,000 every six-month term enrolled for up to three terms) and $500
Third Place: $2,000 scholarship (payable at $1,000 every six-month term enrolled for up to two terms) or $500
Two Runner-up Prizes: $100 Amazon.com gift certificates (Amazon is not a sponsor of this contest)

The WGU scholarships can be used for students pursuing an online degree in any discipline offered by WGU in its Colleges of Business, Education, Information Technology and Health Professions.

Get ready to smile, laugh and cry as you select your favorite videos. :-)

Well it seems like CSU can - but now the cat’s out of the bag. And that’s a good thing. 

Colorado State University’s graduate engineering distance degrees offered through the Division of Continuing Education have been ranked a “Best Buy” by GetEducated.com.

OK, so what does that mean?

Well, it means that this online degree program has been reviewed and judged to offer a high quality distance degree to a national audience at tuition rates well below the national average.

If you’re looking into distance programs ratings like this are what you should be looking for. Takes some of the quesswork out of it.

The online degree clearinghouse reviewed 46 schools offering 216 distance-learning engineering and allied graduate degree programs offered through regionally accredited universities throughout the nation. Colorado State’s master of science degrees in Civil Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Engineering Management, Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, Mechanical Engineering Materials Engineering and Statistics programs ranked 18th  in GetEducated.com’s list of the top high-quality, low-cost programs.

The survey found that the average cost for distance learners seeking a master’s in engineering or an allied technology career is $23,203. Colorado State’s is significantly lower at $15,600.

And with the shortage of engineers in the United States, if you invest now in online higher education you could insure job security - a very good thing in these challenging economic times.

About the Division of Continuing Education at Colorado State University

The Division of Continuing Education at Colorado State University develops and delivers quality programs and educational opportunities in support of the university’s land grant mission with degrees; online, credit and noncredit courses; certificate programs; and, custom training for businesses and industry, throughout Northern Colorado, Denver, at business sites, and via distance education using a variety of delivery methods. DCE has over 40 years of experience in the field of distance education.

The hot summer days of August are here again, and that means back to school sales and
move in plans for those who attend on campus universities.

For those who are in the cyberworld of higher education, or just thinking about getting that
sheepskin via an online degree program, here’s some interesting news about a diploma mill that
was shut down in 2005, and a list of folks who could (I emphasize COUILD) have attended!
Eight people have been convicted so far in the federal case that was brough against the diploma mill,
with at least two people sentenced to time in prison. It appears that this mill produced degrees
under the auspices of several nonexistent universities, including: 
St. Regis University
St. Lourdes University
All Saints American University
Hartland University 
Concordia University

Even more this mill evidently offered fabricated diplomas from real institutions, such as the University of Maryland, Texas A&M University and George Washington University.

WOW! :-0

This mill launched in 1999 and sold some $6 million of high school, college and graduate diplomas to customers around the world. Man, what a scam!

Anyway, it seems the Feds accumulated a list of almost 10,000 names of people “believed” to have purchased degrees
from this illegal diploma mill. And a newspaper got their hands on the list.

The problem was that it became clear that dozens of the names could be traced to e-mail addresses that end in “.edu,” which meant the possibility that there could be instructors in academe who were hired under false pretenses — a degree from an unaccredited, or worse, nonexistent institution.

So far, that hasn’t been any evidence found that any lecturers or faculty members knowingly purchased degrees from the company. But you have to wonder, don’t you?

You also have to wonder about the accuracy of any list that the Federal Goverment creates… I heard that there where people on this list that had legit degrees and only contacted the mill out of curiosity.

So let this be a lesson. If you go down the diploma mill path it will eventually catch up with you.

JUST SAY NO! 

With the super high price of gas, and the fact that nobody can explain why it is so high, the country is coming to terms with the fact that these gas prices might just be here to stay.

While that is a scarry thought, at least it appears to be increasing demand for online degrees.

Cases in point:

Hodges University’s campuses have seen an online enrollment increase of nearly
150 percent.

At Florida Gulf Coast University, students taking at least one course online numbered 3,872 out of a total of 9,388 students last fall. In the spring, 4,312 students were enrolled online, or about 46 percent of the student body.

Edison College is looking at a 140 percent increase in students who take online classes.

Now, to be honest, no one has officially attributed this increase to the econony or high gas prices. In fact, some colleges point out that their marketing campaigns are the result. (yeah, right )

But I think anyone with half a brain can tell that if you factor in the cost of gas for communting, and the other costs like parking, etc, the cost of online degree programs is become more and more reasonable. And the overall weakness in the economy is causing a lot more folks to consider upgrading their education.

But hey - that’s what I get for thinking

And for you, my little dorm room buddy - here’s some interesting news about the growing acceptance of online degrees by those who have been the most critical - college students.

Of course there are still some people in the world who think that online degrees are easy to obtain and not worth the paper they are printed on. So no matter what, for these people, getting an online degree holds a certain stigma. So they shy away from online programs because they are afraid that employers will think that they did not work hard or learn the right information from an online degree. 

And college kids especially tend to fall into this group. They’ve been conditioned to “go to school” which means on campus.

Now, I have to admit, all three of my daughters have or are attending on campus schools, and in fact it’s much more expensive in some cases to take online courses from the same university where one is enrolled. So there is not much incentive here. But the tide is certainly changing.

In recent years a number of students and employers have moved past this old-fashioned way of thinking and embraced this technology as a legitimate means of educational advancement.

According to recent reports from the Sloan Consortium, an association of online learning institutions, enrollment rates at online schools have increased at an annual rate of 9.7 percent, compared to an overall rate of 1.5 percent for all colleges combined. By their count, almost 3.5 million students were taking at least one online course during the fall 2006 term, and participation in online learning is increasing by 400,000 students a year.

Congress even lifted a rule limited the number of online students eligible for student financial aid, making the transition both convenient and affordable for the masses.

Because of this new mindset and expanding opportunities, online education seems to have come of age, making college available to almost anyone hungry for a degree, and the menu of majors and course topics is endless.

So if you’re a up and coming college student, or some one who has finished their undergrad degree and thinking about your master’s degree you have to decide one main thing - Is an online degree right for you?
While there are many benefits to online degree programs, such as convenience, 24/7 access, self-pacing formats, and more, the process is not designed for everyone.

Most online courses are very challenging, and demand that you work steadily toward a degree within a particular timeframe, and require a serious degree of self-motivation.

As students ponder the pursuit of an online degree, there is more to consider than whether or not they will earn a solid education.

Some students believe that the college experience is something that they would rather not part with, when preparing for their future careers. I can completely understand that. But from my experience with three daughters, some took very well to the dorm and college lifestyle, while others did not. Some think that the social components of the university atmosphere make students more prepared to deal with the world.

However, colleges and universities are slowly putting this idea to rest, beginning to set aside previous notions about online learning, and embracing the new technology. Some students even say that the social part of college, in terms of academics, is done more online than in the classroom.

But it seems that in terms of employment opportunities, students still believe that the name of a standing University or college will provide them with a better chance at employment upon receiving their degrees. But employers are slowly becoming less interesting in this.

In one survey by Eduventures, a research and consulting firm focused on education, only one in three students thought an online degree was comparable to a traditional degree, while 62 percent of employers believed an online degree was equivalent or better.

20 years ago, the only brand of online education in existence was by a familiar set of online universities. But they have increased substantially in recent years, and carried over into traditional environments.

According to elearners.com, there are now approximately 175 accredited online colleges and schools available for prospective students. Not only from small-town colleges with distance learning courses, but many elite universities, such as Harvard, Penn State, NYU, and Vanderbilt.

So it’s time to give it much more thought, I’d say.

later…

Ben 

Don’t know about you, but gas prices are driving me CRAZY!!

In today’s ecomony, high gas prices are actually having a good news / bad news affect on the online degree industry.

On the one hand, high gas prices are forcing educators and students alike to take a much harder look at online degree programs.

For example, the Tennessee Board of Regents has called for a statewide effort to cut down on students’ drive time, asking schools under their jurisdiction to condense class schedules and reach out to students with their online education programs. As a result, enrollment in the Regents Online Degree Program is up 29 percent over last year, and 72 percent of those who have enrolled say gasoline prices are the reason they are pursing online courses.

So that’s the good news - an online degree can save a ton of money in gas.

So what’s the bad news??

Well, because gas prices are so high, and the ecomony is in such bad shape, a lot of folks that could use a degree are finding it much harder to shell out the money to oay for one.

Usually, Universities and two-year institutions benefit to some degree from economic downturns because struggling individuals looking for higher-paying jobs turn to education.

But with today’s gas prices pinching businesses and individuals’ purse strings, fewer are willing to budget for the cost of that education. 

When you think about the fact that in today’s poor ecomony, the hardest pressed group is an adult part-time student who is already juggling a family and a job or two. Often times they just can’t justify the cost of more education.

Sort of a double edged sword. so to speak…

Recently,  Camila Ortega of Fort Stockton got her degree the Sul Ross State University. She did it through their online program.

OK, that’s not at that news-worthy. But what IS worth noting is that Camila is the 22nd person in her family to get a degree…

…from the SAME University!

:-0

I thought that was pretty cool.

She joined her mother, two great-aunts, three great-uncles and 15 cousins in graduating from Sul Ross.

Thirteen became educators, seven also earned master’s degrees.

Members of the Pena and Parada families of Sanderson began attending Sul Ross in the 1950s, and Clotilde Pena Hernandez, Camila’s great-aunt, was the first to graduate, earning a B.A. degree in 1960.

A year later, her husband, David Hernadez Jr., received his B.S. degree, and in 1962, Higino Pena Jr., Clotilde’s brother, earned a B.A.

Eight years later, he completed his master of education degree, while his wife, Virginia, earned a B.A. in 1972 and a M.Ed. in 1973.

Camila’s mother, Ramona Parada, also of Fort Stockton, received her bachelor of business administration degree in 1970 and a M.Ed. seven years later.

At least one family member has received a Sul Ross degree in each decade since the 1960s.

Ortega said that her mom was very adamant about her going to school. 

“Sul Ross has put all my family through school,” she said. “They opened their arms to help me get my degree online.

“I wouldn’t trade this university for the world. It has been a blessing to my family and me.”

Hope all is well and your exams didn’t blow your mind…

I came across this story this other day and thought it was quite interesting.

Most universites know how to reach out new students, Tiffin University is doing something no other school has tried:

They create an online college just to get students to its school.

Ivy Bridge College is an online-only school developed and run by Tiffin University
offering associate degrees which can open up doors to a four-year degree at Tiffin
and other schools.

Just what is Tiffin?

Well, they are an independent, coeducational institution that has been educating
students since 1888, and they’ve achieved national recognition for its accredited
on-campus and online courses.

Tiffin’s Ivy Bridge program is designed particularly to help students who need extra
academic assistance to succeed and will team students with coaches who will monitor
their progress.

Specifically, Ivy Bridge College offers:

Log On Anytime. Students can log on to take classes at any time, setting their own
schedule, and completing the program in as little as 20 months.

Connection with teachers and students. The school is encouraging email contact with
teachers, news group discussions, online chats, and office hours. Students will be
able to connect with each other as well.

A planned path. Ivy Bridge has agreements in place with Tiffin University and dozens
of other colleges and universities throughout the United States. These agreements
make it easier for students to be accepted into and to transfer credits to four-year
institutions once they have completed their Ivy Bridge degree.

Earn a highly prized degree. Ivy Bridge students will earn a Tiffin University degree,
which is authorized by the Ohio Board of Regents and accredited by the North Central
Association of Colleges and Schools Commission (NCA) and by the Association of
Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP).

Applications for new students is currently under way, so if you’re still just thinking about starting with an online course - stop thinking and start doing!