Best Online College/University?

A friend of mine is a professor of IT at Western Governors. She lives here in DFW and loves working for them. She has her undergrad from Texas Tech & received her masters and doctorate from UNT. WGU got a great write up in Time magazine a few months ago.

C., congrats on going back to school. I did University of Phoenix, but it is a bit pricey, however at the time I didn't have to pay, my job did. I loved it and found it very convenient to do it whenever I had the time. THey also have local campus if for some reason you decide to go there. One in Dallas and one in IRving..

Good luck!!!

Check out Western Governors University. They have great programs and I have talked to few people that have gone through their programs. I will be starting with them in the fall.
www.wgu.edu

Good Luck!

Hi C.,

I attended a Central Texas College online courses, they are a Killen military based college. You don't have to be military but I found that it was very affordable for a 4 class semester I paid $600. Some of the classes are self-paced so that you can do them when you choose. I attended for 2 semsters and fixing to return again. Its crazy cause you find people from all over the place!! You should really look into it the website it www.ctcd.edu Good luck!!

I am currently attending Ashford U. and love it. Everyone has been great! Online classes are very fast paced, but I am learning alot. If you need more info, I would be glad to help you. Good luck in your venture.

Check out the Dallas Community College system. They have some online courses and are very reasonably priced. If you are in Collin County, try the Collin County Community College. Both my 2 youngest have been going there and it's only @ $300 per course. Not sure about prices for online courses, but they can't be too much different.Good luck!

I just went back to school with University of Phoenix. Although it is more expensive than a community college, it's pretty competitive with most other Universities. I choose U of P over the other on-line schools because I'm going for Accounting and in order to take the CPA exam in Texas, 15 of your upper level Acct. credits must be in a classroom setting. With U of P, I can do everything else on line, and in a year or so, when I'm ready for those final classes, they also have the calssroom setting locally. A lot of other online programs do not. SO I agree, it totally depends on what you are going for. I have not had the probelms other people have had with phoenix - everyone has been very helpful and polite with me. Just be sure to do your research on your particular line of study! best of luck and congrats on your decision - it's tough, but worth it!!

I went to Phoenix online but it is very expensive so I quit going there. Tarrant County College has one that I did and it was great! I think honestly any college might have one so you could just look at prices and how the classes go and then decide then! Good luck and Congrats on going back!!!

I think it also depends on what type of degree your interested in. I attended Walden Univ online for my Master's, although they also have some undergrad programs as well. I really enjoyed it, learned a lot. Pricing is about the same as a regular university. The one thing you want to make sure of is that it is an accredited university. Best of luck!

most major state run universities have on-line classes at this point. you might look into unt or utd or smu... or cccc. take one or two courses on-line first and see if it's what you truly want to do then decide if you want to go full force. good luck and congratulations on your decision to further your education:)

While I personally am not enrolled, my best friend is...she chose Univ.of Phoenix, and from what I can tell she is not loving it as much as she thought she would. She was recently hospitalized and the school is cutting her no slack whatsoever!! You need to ask all the questions up front...what if I...(fill in the blank)and understand the acreditation of the degree you want. Will it transfer to an accreditted University for a higher degree? It truly depends on what you want your education in. Ask...ask...ask as you think of quetions write them down so you have them in front of you. Good luck, sure wish I had the time to further my education right now!

You should looking at going through an accredited university's online program. UTA, UT, TWU and UNT are only a few that have great programs. I know someone who did a masters through one and is currently getting her doctorate through another. The work load is pretty intense b/c you don't have the in-class opportunity to contribute to discussions, etc. So, you have to constantly post to boards and there much more writing and papers.

Which degree are going for? If it's undergrad stay away from University of Phoenix division for undergrad degrees... I had nothing but problems with them.. I was receiving both grants and loans, they were expensive, however, after they took their tuition there was money left from the grants that I could get back and took them months, trying to get it straightend out I got the run around, they were rude.... also, when I needed help with one of my classes, the online teacher refused and when I filed a complaint, they didn't care. I would check out the local JC's or if you already have your associates, even the Universities have online courses.

I am attending the University of Phoenix and love it! I have a home daycare here in Forney and it works well with this.

You can start off taking many your basics from TCC and Midland Jr. College online. There are many places to do online. Contact some of the state schools here in Texas to get a list.

Consider the reputation of the college in the minds of employers. I teach in a major university (both classroom courses and some hybrid online courses), and did some research about online learning during grad school.

I've asked a variety of hiring managers and human resources people for their opinion and outlook about online degrees. Many of them have an outdated impression that online degrees are bogus or inferior to traditional classroom degrees. They laugh at resumes with a couple of the big name online universities. This is no longer true, but you can't change their impression by yourself.

If you're going to spend the time, money, and effort, you may as well get a degree that will be fully respected by employers who might not know about the improved quality of online learning across the board.

The community colleges and universities that have online courses in addition to a physical, traditional campus will give you a degree that is exactly the same as if you attended traditional classes. The quality is is usually the same, as well. The diploma looks exactly the same. Quite a few traditional universities have online classes available, and many will allow transfer credits for course held online through other colleges, if they are accredited.

C.,

I wanted to mention DBU (Dallas Baptist University) as another option they have a great on-line program as well as an Adult Education program for those of us who don't fit the typical college age mold anymore. I just have a few classes left over there, but I love it. Good Luck

Kim

I am currently going to school for Business Management. I am 3/4 of the way done, and I've done it all online. I have taken everything at DCCCD (Eastfield) so far, and am starting at Texas A&M Commerce in the fall. All courses are completely online. If you have questions, at least the campus is close by enough you can schedule an appointment with a professor, and the degree is the exact same if I were going in to campus classes. A&M is clearly very well recognized, I work in HR and University of Phoenix is sometimes frowned upon. I realize it is a legitimate degree, but unfortunately employers don't always see it that way...

Check out Amberton University at www.amberton.edu They are based in Garland and offer undergrad and graduate degrees online. Reasonably priced - $675/class. They also offer classes in Garland and Frisco if you were interested in attending. I normally do one online and one in class each quarter.

C.,

Go for it, Girlfriend!

I don't have any advice, but I have heard that older students like us do better in school because we WANT to be there and learn, not because it's just expected of us age-wise!

What are you going to study?

A.

Hi C.! Congratulations on your decision to continue your education! I'm a college professor who teaches online, and answered a similar question to yours about a year ago. You can see my response (and the others) here: http://www.mamasource.com/request/1347710419191463937
Please feel free to PM me if you have any questions, and I'd be glad to help!

Check out Western Governors University, it's non-profit, 100% online and affordable. Here's the web site:
http://www.wgu.edu/
Good luck in your endeavors!