Online Bachelor's Degree ?

Q: My niece has asked me to help her find a way for her to finish her Bachelor's Degree in Human Resources after recently having a baby. I suggested she might find online courses a viable alternative for her and I have looked at a few programs online. She is asking if University of Phoenix has a good program and reputation for online degrees.

A:The University of Phoenix has a solid, though hardly "outstanding", reputation for offering fully accredited degrees via online and site-based programs. It is a very large school with a physical presence in most major US metropolitan areas in addition to its comprehensive virtual campus. It is run for-profit and its focus is mainly upon practical fields like business and education. As such, UOP relies heavily upon part-time, untenured faculty who are practitioners in their fields rather than the academic and research-oriented professors and TAs who typically teach at traditional institutions. The price that is paid for convenience is found in UOP's relatively high tuition and fee structure (presently $475/c.h.-undergraduate), but it remains one of many options that is worthy of serious consideration. Though less well-publicized, many traditional universities also offer fully online programs that are often accompanied by a greater prestige factor and lower tuition bill than schools like UOP. In the area of Human Resources, for example, Indiana State University (http://www.indstate.edu/degreelink/) offers a fully online degree completion program for the in-state rate of $208/c.h. or $2878/semester regardless of residency, provided no on-campus courses are taken concurrently. Kansas State University, UMass-Amherst, and Drexel are just a few among the numerous other schools offering online bachelor's degree completion programs in virtually every field with graduate degree programs likely even more numerous. Schools like UOP meet many learners' needs for convenient accredited degrees, but one should be as careful in considering among all of the degree program options available online as they would in considering programs in the brick and mortar environment. In regards to an online bachelor's degree in HR your niece might want to check the results of our online degree clearinghouse's national surveys on cost and quality among accredited online degree providers. The results are posted online at http://www.geteducated.com/rankings/best_hr.asp There are several cost effective options for a solid quality HR bachelor's including the U of Wisconsin and Baker College. Interestingly our surveys of cost effectiveness have not found the U of Phoenix Online to be competitively priced compared to solid state and land grant non profits. We do best buys rankings in a number of areas, such as the online MBA (see our clearinghouse at http://www.geteducated.com) and Phoenix's tuition rates stand well above the national average. Our surveys on name brand recognition and public acceptance do not rate Phoenix higher than your average state / land grant college so paying significantly more for a Phoenix degree than at some place like the U of Wisconsin may make little sense if one is cost conscious about their education.

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