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I am thinking of getting my 4 year degree at APU?

MinnesotaBrant

Philosopher
Joined
Apr 20, 2011
Messages
5,768
Hi,
I was looking for a cheap 4 year degree that I could pay for myself and found American Public University. I am thinking of getting my degree in psychology there. I have a 2 year degree and one other, almost complete 2 year degree. I have recently got a career level job in the social services field and am looking to supplement my credentials.

Thanks,

Brant

Oh, if you are a vet apparently the cost per credit is something like 250$ plus fees.
 
Apparently to get a masters in psychology, you need to have the college regionally accredited in the state you get it or you have to travel to where the college is accredited. I don't know if this makes a difference for getting a 4 year degree though where its accredited.
 
Is this the institution you are referring to? If so, the highlighted text below always makes me a bit suspicious.
American Public University System (APUS) is a for-profit, online learning institution that is composed of American Military University (AMU) and American Public University (APU). APUS is wholly owned by American Public Education, Inc., a publicly traded private-sector corporation (NASDAQ: APEI). APUS maintains corporate and academic offices in Charles Town, West Virginia and administrative offices in Manassas, Virginia. APUS offers associate, bachelor's and master's degrees, in addition to dual degrees, certificate programs and learning tracks.
 
It is for profit school. The difference is that this school is actually cheaper than the non profits. As far as the school itself goes, I gather its a mixed bag, a feeling that I got after reading the reviews left by former students. However, it is fairly highly recommended by former students. Since nobody has ever heard of the school here, I guess I will find out and report about it here. My other alternative is to go to Metropolitan U, a low cost 4 year school. Its quite cheap, however, online credits are quite a bit higher than American Public University.
 
I guess it is accredited in my state since it is accredited by the north central one. Guess I just have to wait to get accepted and move in. On question would be whether to go to the military school or the civilian one. The military psychology degree would be only useful for homeland security.
 
What do you hope to achieve? Weren't you already in a computer degree? What happened to that? To make any headway in psychology you need a Ph.D, nothing less. That's a heavy, long-term investment to make. To be any use at all you also need credentialing and certification from the state.
 
What do you hope to achieve? Weren't you already in a computer degree? What happened to that? To make any headway in psychology you need a Ph.D, nothing less. That's a heavy, long-term investment to make. To be any use at all you also need credentialing and certification from the state.

I just got a career level job in social services, and since I already got a 2 year degree, the last 12 credits I need to get my degree in computer tech don't mean all that much. I really need a bachelors and psychology is a pretty common on. If I decide to go on and get my masters then I will do that. I really don't need the degree for my job though. I am not really thinking of going into counseling anyway, I am interested in becoming a behavioral staff at the future--possibly with the VA. This school, having a military focus, has classes that would be helpful that way.
 
Last edited:
Hi,

Just a few more hoops to jump through and I will be on my way. Apparently new classes start every month so I may start in November and save up some money. I just found the job I was looking at and apparently a PHP salary isn't that much higher than my wage but I am still in it. I could be 60 with a degree or 6o without. I choose the latter.
 
I just got a career level job in social services, and since I already got a 2 year degree, the last 12 credits I need to get my degree in computer tech don't mean all that much.
....

What does this mean? Your last 12 credits for your AA degree were in computer tech, or you're 12 credits away from a BA, or what? If you are already close to a BA in any major, it might be smarter to get it rather than going into another whole BA program. Then you can just take whatever prerequisite courses you need for grad school in psychology.
 
It is for profit school. The difference is that this school is actually cheaper than the non profits. As far as the school itself goes, I gather its a mixed bag, a feeling that I got after reading the reviews left by former students. However, it is fairly highly recommended by former students. Since nobody has ever heard of the school here, I guess I will find out and report about it here. My other alternative is to go to Metropolitan U, a low cost 4 year school. Its quite cheap, however, online credits are quite a bit higher than American Public University.

Forget what former students say. Trump U. claimed to have 90%+ great ratings from former students. Talk to people who actually work in your field, both the people who hire for jobs and the people who make admission decisions for grad schools, and find out what they think of APU. Are APU credits transferable to, say, your local State U.? I don't know anything about this one, but in general for-profit schools are pretty much held in contempt in many quarters and are seen mainly as businesses that rely heavily on their students getting federal grants and loans. There are legitimate, accredited state universities that have a variety of on-line programs that might serve your purposes better.

There's a lot of negative information about for-profit colleges:
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/06/white-house-cracks-down-on-for-profit-colleges.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/22/u...n=latest&contentPlacement=6&pgtype=collection
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/02/for-profit-college-fraud/462219/
http://fortune.com/2016/05/31/for-profit-colleges-salaries/
 
Forget what former students say. Trump U. claimed to have 90%+ great ratings from former students. Talk to people who actually work in your field, both the people who hire for jobs and the people who make admission decisions for grad schools, and find out what they think of APU. Are APU credits transferable to, say, your local State U.? I don't know anything about this one, but in general for-profit schools are pretty much held in contempt in many quarters and are seen mainly as businesses that rely heavily on their students getting federal grants and loans. There are legitimate, accredited state universities that have a variety of on-line programs that might serve your purposes better.

There's a lot of negative information about for-profit colleges:
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/06/white-house-cracks-down-on-for-profit-colleges.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/22/u...n=latest&contentPlacement=6&pgtype=collection
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/02/for-profit-college-fraud/462219/
http://fortune.com/2016/05/31/for-profit-colleges-salaries/

I uh am 12 credits away from a useless to me AS Computer technology degree. Its kind of useless since I already have an AS degree. I can go to metropolitan university but the enrollment deadline for the fall has passed so I would have to wait for spring. Also, even though it is the cheapest 4 year college in the state, I would be paying 330 or so a credit for online credits for, I think, 1980.00 (just a rough guess). I am looking at 1600.00 for 6 credits at APU (Rough guess).
 
Hi,
Yeah, I just ran the magic numbers again and found out I can't afford even community college. In fact I had to borrow money from someone just to pay my bills this pay period. There's no way I will find that money. I guess I will just get that loan out stretch it out as far as it will go, and then try to repay it.

Thanks,


Brant
 
Hi,
Yeah, I just ran the magic numbers again and found out I can't afford even community college. In fact I had to borrow money from someone just to pay my bills this pay period. There's no way I will find that money. I guess I will just get that loan out stretch it out as far as it will go, and then try to repay it.

Thanks,


Brant

Wait. How can you not afford community college but you can borrow money to attend a private, for-private institution? Why can't you borrow (probably less) money to attend a community or state college? Or is the for-profit operation promising to get you loans that you can't get anywhere else? If that's the case, alarm bells should be going off.

Here's an illustration of the potential problem with for-profit schools:
http://www.salon.com/2016/07/19/its...cam_demonstrates_the_madness_of_student_debt/
 
I can't borrow from any institution public or private. I do have news from APU. They ran my transcripts from two community colleges and I only need around 68 credits to get a BA in Psychology. I don't have the money right now but am tempted. As far as online colleges go, I just made a new Linked In account and quite a few people in my company have degrees from online colleges. Just so you know.
 
I can't borrow from any institution public or private. I do have news from APU. They ran my transcripts from two community colleges and I only need around 68 credits to get a BA in Psychology. I don't have the money right now but am tempted. As far as online colleges go, I just made a new Linked In account and quite a few people in my company have degrees from online colleges. Just so you know.

Let's just note that "on-line" and "for-profit" colleges are not necessarily the same. For example, the University of Phoenix is a for-profit business; but Arizona State University, a respected state u., has an extensive on-line division.
https://asuonline.asu.edu/online-degree-programs
 
I can't borrow from any institution public or private. I do have news from APU. They ran my transcripts from two community colleges and I only need around 68 credits to get a BA in Psychology. I don't have the money right now but am tempted. As far as online colleges go, I just made a new Linked In account and quite a few people in my company have degrees from online colleges. Just so you know.

Unfortunately, a BA in psychology basically qualifies you to flip burgers at McDonald's, pull shots at Starbucks, or spend 40 years in a call center. My brother did the latter.
 
I can't borrow from any institution public or private. I do have news from APU. They ran my transcripts from two community colleges and I only need around 68 credits to get a BA in Psychology. I don't have the money right now but am tempted. As far as online colleges go, I just made a new Linked In account and quite a few people in my company have degrees from online colleges. Just so you know.

Did those people in your company get their jobs based on their online degrees, or are the degrees something they did for themselves after they were hired (maybe in hopes of a promotion)? In other words, what do employers and professionals in the field think about the specific degree that you are looking into?

Also, you don't usually borrow from a college. You borrow from a variety of private and public loan programs to pay for college, and the college usually needs to meet specified standards for you to get loans. You can probably borrow money from someplace; the question is whether it's smart for your purpose.
 
Most of the people from my company are sporting on line degrees from places such as Capella, etc. An informal survey showed that they used their degrees to get their job. So, with some careers, they are not so picky. I am not sure what my coworkers are making however.
 
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