Beware of Northcentral

[Armando Ramos]

Reverendrick
Olathe, Kansas
U.S.A.

...My first lawsuit against an NCU mentor is on the court docket for July 15th.

Interesting that he describes it as his "first" lawsuit, which implies there are more to come. Also, he says it's against the dementor, not the school. What's up with that?

Is that the same Reverend Rick who posts at Goose's Dumbass Discussion? Maybe somebody with posting privileges there (obviously not me) can PM him and ask him to post some more info here, where people appreciate it.

Answers to your questions here: My Northcentral University Experiences

Friday, June 20, 2008
1st lawsuit status update
The first court case goes to small claims court here in Johnson County, Kansas. July 15th is on the court docket and the NCU mentor, Steven Muller, has been served.

Repeated contact attempts with NCU have been met with silence. If their choice is to deal with me in court instead of handling the issues like a responsible business would, then so be it.

Some anonymous comments indicate an interest in a class action lawsuit. Please leave a comment with your contact email address. I'll send a private email to connect us together. No private email addresses will be posted on this blog.
Posted by ReverendRick at 10:22 AM 0 comments

Also note this in his blog: NCU administration has an incestuous relationship with the NCACS HLC. And they still only got three years of approval! Wow, without people pulling strings they would have really gotten slammed.

Now we see how the world of accreditation really works--buddies taking care of buddies. But then that seems to be the way the world of federal courts works too, with a judge sitting on the board of trustees of an RA school sending his competition to the slammer. It's all one big crooked, stinking bag of snakes.

I am questioning not only NCU's recent accreditation result, but also the HLC's ability to provide an objective evaluation of NCU.

The president of NCU, Clinton D Gardner, currently serves as a consultant/evaluator for the HLC. Another NCU Board of Trustees member, Michael Horowitz, also serves as an HLC consultant/evaluator as well. 25% of NCU's leadership board has past, present and continuing relationships with the HLC.

This doesn't pass the sniff test, nor the duck test. What we have here is a very smelly quacker. Most likely two. "Incestuous", although inflammatory, appears intuitively obvious to even the most casual observer.

** blog addition - I also discovered that the dean of my school, Freda Turner, is also a current HLC consultant/evaluator as well. Has NCU become a subsidiary of the HLC yet? Inquiring minds want to know!

[Little Arminius]

Apparently Reverend Rick has developed a real case of the ass with NCU. It would seem that he is cutting his losses and searching for a new doctoral program.

Degreediscussion thread on German DL doctorates

From Reverend Rick at DD

Is it possible to independently write a quality dissertation, submit it to a number of schools and have it accepted by at least one university? The unconfirmed example cited at the start of this thread has intrigued me. If true, it's time to round up a half a dozen SMEs and one really good grammar nazi.

While Rev Rick sounds really enthused about the possibility of writing a dissertation and then shopping for a German uni to pitch it to*, he really should refrain from using the word "nazi" in any context. The Krauts are still a little touchy about that.

* IMHO, such a strategy sounds like a real longshot unless Bear still has the contacts to stack the diss committee like he did for Bomber Douglas.

[ham]

While Rev Rick sounds really enthused about the possibility of writing a dissertation and then shopping for a German uni to pitch it to*, he really should refrain from using the word "nazi" in any context. The Krauts are still a little touchy about that.

true...
just call an American segregationist and see...


by the way past should make us proud, not ashamed, but whatever the psychotherapist says...

[Toxic]

Apparently Reverend Rick has developed a real case of the ass with NCU. It would seem that he is cutting his losses and searching for a new doctoral program.

Degreediscussion thread on German DL doctorates

From Reverend Rick at DD

Is it possible to independently write a quality dissertation, submit it to a number of schools and have it accepted by at least one university? The unconfirmed example cited at the start of this thread has intrigued me. If true, it's time to round up a half a dozen SMEs and one really good grammar nazi.

While Rev Rick sounds really enthused about the possibility of writing a dissertation and then shopping for a German uni to pitch it to*, he really should refrain from using the word "nazi" in any context. The Krauts are still a little touchy about that.

* IMHO, such a strategy sounds like a real longshot unless Bear still has the contacts to stack the diss committee like he did for Bomber Douglas.

Don't be surprised if he returns to NoCentral. The nutcase Me Again is now bragging about finishing his dissertation at NoCentral over at DI. Yes, the SAME nut that bashed the heck out of NoCentral just a few years ago.

And Vinipink, the person that had NCU=SCUPS on his\her signature a while back is now in the NoCentral DBA program !!!!

YESSIR, DI and DD are GREAT places to get advice from !

[DBAinAccounting]

And Vinipink, the person that had NCU=SCUPS on his\her signature a while back is now in the NoCentral DBA program !!!!

YESSIR, DI and DD are GREAT places to get advice from !

Hello Toxic,

Few clarifications:
The vinipink person is a he.
True about that he had NCU=Scups on the signature.
Don't like NCU as much as you do.
Going Back to NCU was a business decision to his advantage.
He was a student at Argosy University which turn out to be a very bad school. So NCU despite all the rattle out there, was a better option.
If you can remember the signature line you can also remember that he stated that he will consider NCU again if they clean up there act and find someone to pay for the darn degree, both circumstances happened.
The School is not for everyone, that is true for every place of higher education.
Your opinion is respected, so he hopes his opinion is respected as well.
He will not play double duty, what is posted in DL truth stays in DL truth.

Thanks,

Vini Pink

[Don Dresden]

Going Back to NCU was a business decision to his advantage.
He was a student at Argosy University which turn out to be a very bad school. So NCU despite all the rattle out there, was a better option.

An expensive mistake to start and not finish at all, some mitigation for finishing with a degree, albeit a crap one.

Good example of the old maxim "look before you leap." Once you get knee deep in slop it's often more practical to keep going until you get clear, rather than turning around and starting over.? Anyone thinking about jumping in at NCU really ought to think again.

Tell us about Argosy, if you would. Worse than NCU? Hard to believe the scale goes that low.

[DBAinAccounting]

Going Back to NCU was a business decision to his advantage.
He was a student at Argosy University which turn out to be a very bad school. So NCU despite all the rattle out there, was a better option.

An expensive mistake to start and not finish at all, some mitigation for finishing with a degree, albeit a crap one.

Good example of the old maxim "look before you leap." Once you get knee deep in slop it's often more practical to keep going until you get clear, rather than turning around and starting over.   Anyone thinking about jumping in at NCU really ought to think again.

Tell us about Argosy, if you would. Worse than NCU? Hard to believe the scale goes that low.

So, How did you came to this conclusion if you have not been a student at Argosy or perhaps at NCU, would you care to elaborate?
Please don't say because someone say so~

I guess you never had made a mistake in your life?

Granted NCU is not the best University in the planet, but by experience I can tell you is above many. I am disagreement with many things they have done. But I prefer to deal with a known evil than an one to be known.

For me it was a cheaper to go back to NCU and ended up in a better position financially and academically if I would have stayed in Argosy.
Not everyone have the same circumstances.

[Don Dresden]

I guess you never had made a mistake in your life?

Not sure you caught my drift. I was encouraging others to avoid your mistake by not starting at NCU in the first place. If anything I was commending you for trying to make the best of a bad situation. That shows tremendous character, but it's a shame a shabby school put you in that situation in the first place.

For me it was a cheaper to go back to NCU and ended up in a better position financially and academically if I would have stayed in Argosy.

You said Argosy was "a very bad school." Other than being more expensive than NCU, how was it bad? I ask not because I don't believe you, just that you are the first poster here in my recollection with a gripe about Argosy. Not soliciting negative comments either, just interested to learn about your experience there. It's a popular program, so I'm sure there are others out there considering it who would like to know more from an insider's view.

[DBAinAccounting]

You said Argosy was "a very bad school." Other than being more expensive than NCU, how was it bad? I ask not because I don't believe you, just that you are the first poster here in my recollection with a gripe about Argosy. Not soliciting negative comments either, just interested to learn about your experience there. It's a popular program, so I'm sure there are others out there considering it who would like to know more from an insider's view.

Some Professors at Argosy do not have respect for students, they like to diminish you. I did not required much help, and the doctoral level and you not supposed to get much help, but is nice than we you need some help, the professor is there to give you some directions, not to tell you to piss off. Most of them were recent graduate from University of Phoenix.

As University of Phoenix, Argosy employs group projects, it is a bad thing that you have to carry other individuals weight that do nothing, some of the students did not belong there, I wonder how they even graduate at the master's level?

Very expensive and counting, they required you to be register in advanced. The don't give the opportunity to plan and organized you classes. Professors information is not available and you never know who will teach the class until you go to the class.

At the time it was very inflexible, they required you to travel to Chicago for a residency and you must do it before the 5th class or they will drop you. Is an online school that has half of the classes online and rest to be taken at a campus (hidden costs), Chicago campus and I live in Florida. I question this logic, and why instead of me traveling that far for the residency and for this ground classes just to take it in the local campus at Sarasota, they indicated the program was not the same and they credits will not transfer. So, I raised the issue that why not, if all campuses are under the same accreditation it should not be a problem to take classes and that they should have reciprocity among themselves, but it was a problem.

If you take student loans, they keep your money and leave with the school, they do not send you the difference after you pay the class, they keep all of it and if you don't ask for it they won't send it. And that comes to the second part of it, if you ask for it, then they will register in advanced so, they can keep the money.

Student services, never answers your email and you have to call them to resolve any issue, most of the time a machine will come up to leave a message. It took me two weeks to get a transcript request form sent to me, because they don't have a forms online.

The curriculum in accounting at the doctorate level is very generic, weak, and resemble the same curriculum at the master level, so I was repeating the same classes again, just with a different indicator. I requested to be transfer to Argosy Sarasota, they said the program was different than the online one and they did not guarantees credits to transfer, a new application to fill and bunch of other fees to be paid associate with the campus.

Academic advisors changes every month, while I was there and none of them have an idea was going on. Even when I drop out, I keep receiving email such as this asking me to enroll:

----- Original Message ----

From: Carrie Shoemaker <cshoemaker@argosy.edu>
To: email
Sent: Wednesday, July 2, 2008 2:27:39 PM
Subject:

Hello!

I hope you're having a wonderful summer!

Our biggest start, Fall semester, is approaching quickly. My notes indicate that you had started the application process for Argosy Sarasota's . Therefore, I wanted to be sure to reach out to you. Classes begin on September 2nd.

Please let me know if you would like for me to facilitate a meeting and/or phone conversation with the program chair of the . Some prospective students find this to be helpful when making a decision. We now have an online class demo set up so prospective students can get a feel for the online environment. Let me know if you are interested in viewing this.

Because there are a limited number of spots available in the program, please don't wait to apply. I can email the application to you, or we can fill out the application together over the phone. Our Sarasota campus is the designated distance learning campus. Financial aid is available for those who qualify, and there is still time to apply for financial aid.

Please of course contact me with any questions or concerns as I want to ensure you are equipped with all the knowledge, tools, and information necessary to make the best possible decision for yourself.

Education is the best investment you can make in yourself!

Carrie A. Shoemaker, MBA
Assistant Director of Admissions
Argosy University
Sarasota Campus
5250 17th Street
Sarasota, FL 34235
cshoemaker@argosy.edu
Toll Free_ 800.331.5995 ext. 1558
Direct_ 941.554.1558
Fax_ 941.379.5964
===================================================
Anyway, this is just a taste of Argosy, I can write a Doctoral dissertation about how awful they are. It did not work for me, it may for others.

NCU:RA accredited, online 100%, less expensive (I got a 40% discount) and lock in the rate, one class at NCU for me is $855 , ACBSP. No more loans. Paid in full!

vs.

Argosy: RA accredited, online not 100%, way expensive a class was $2550 plus interest, does not have ACBSP. More loans and interest until I finish.

Disclaimer note: I am not recommending NCU, nor is my intention to defend my position as per why enrolled there. It just worked for me.

Some people have different reasons for their opinions and what have trigger their reactions to certain institutions, some may be correct and some may be incorrect.

[Toxic]

And Vinipink, the person that had NCU=SCUPS on his\her signature a while back is now in the NoCentral DBA program !!!!

YESSIR, DI and DD are GREAT places to get advice from !

Hello Toxic,

Few clarifications:
The vinipink person is a he.
True about that he had NCU=Scups on the signature.
Don't like NCU as much as you do.
Going Back to NCU was a business decision to his advantage.
He was a student at Argosy University which turn out to be a very bad school. So NCU despite all the rattle out there, was a better option.
If you can remember the signature line you can also remember that he stated that he will consider NCU again if they clean up there act and find someone to pay for the darn degree, both circumstances happened.
The School is not for everyone, that is true for every place of higher education.
Your opinion is respected, so he hopes his opinion is respected as well.
He will not play double duty, what is posted in DL truth stays in DL truth.

Thanks,

Vini Pink

Your comments are noted and appreciated BUT I am surprised by your insinuating that things are better at NoCentral. Donald Hecht is still owner and the SCUPS connection still exists, no? They only received a THREE year extension on their accreditation and faculty- staff are being fired ! There is much complaining among students on the forums or so I am told. Is this incorrect? HOW CAN THIS BE AN IMPROVEMENT?