My daughter wants to start school and has her heart set on online classes thru University of Pheonix. They sure do advertise alot, but that's all I know. Would love to hear from someone with first hand info.

I did a mystery shop for them. They are very efficient about getting back to you. However, my "counselor" made 3 grammatical errors in the 20 minutes I was talking to him. That bothered me. I do know somebody currently taking classes, but she just started. It seems rather pricey to me.

From what I have heard, they are a "degree mill" where whoever can pay will get a diploma. No guarantees on quality of education or assistance. What is the price per credit?

Also, because I am currently unemployed, I have been looking for work on major sites and many of the job postings specifically say "U of Phx grads need not apply"!!! Do some serious research before she enrolls....there are some legitimate Universities that offer online courses, where you get a real degree.

ETA, I did a quick search on www.ripoffreport.com and there are close to 500 entries, most of them bad--the biggest concern being
if she enrolls and things don't work out she will owe huge amounts of money.

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"It's not about how much baggage you have, it's about whether or not you can carry your own baggage with grace and dignity."

My husband finished his degree therea year ago and it left a really bad taste in our mouths. It was crazy expensive, he learned absolutely nothing (perhaps he just knew more than the average since he studied his degree field for 4 yrs in the navy), the professors were very hands off - it was rare you could actually get ahold of them when in a timely manner. For our situation - we didn't really have a choice though, he had to do classes online with our family/work schedule and the only college in the area (community) only provided 2 yr degrees.

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If you really want something in this life, you have to work for it. Now, quiet! The're about to announce the lottery numbers... - Homer Simpson

I worked for a company about 5 years ago that offered tuition reimbursement. They had an education fair and I was thinking U of Phx may work for me for my masters degree since I was working full time and had a family. I filled out some information and they called me relentlessly pushing me to enroll. I was not a sterling candidate- was not an outstanding undergrad, etc. It left a bad feeling with me that they were desperate to get my money and actually I ended up leaving the company that gave the tuition reimbursement soon afterwards for a much better job.

I work at a university, so obviously what I have heard is somewhat biased, but I have not heard anything good about them. One good thing that I might be able to say about them is that they have probably pushed a lot of other universities to offer more on-line courses. I agree with Jeeplady: they are considered a "degree mill" amongst other higher education institutions.

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Linda

My personal opinion - the degree is probably not worth much more than the paper it is printed on. I'd file resumes with a degree from University of Phoenix in the "circular" file.

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips