Beware of Northcentral

[chuckzul]

I was one of the original critics on Northcentral in the first post. I've softened my stance a little but most of my criticisms still hold true. I am now half way through the program (DBA) and I can say that communication is still non existent (except the odd mentor or two). In my current class, I've had no contact with the instrutor at all, despite sending him repeated emails. Most of my assignments have not even been looked at much less graded yet. The last time he looked at my work was on 5/23, and I've turned in assignments since then. One of the things that has shocked me lately is in my current job. I work at the University of Kansas and had the opportunity to look at their PhD program in MIS. It is almost identical to the one at Northcentral, even the class names are the same, same amount of credits to graduate, etc. The only difference in U of K's program is that you are required to teach as a graduate TA. Now is Northcentral better or the same as U of K's? Not likely, but it is all about perception. Despite whether you love or hate Northcentral is irrelevant and not really important. What is important is what your prospective employers perception of Northcentral is. Their perception is far more important. Most employers will only check to see that you both graduated, your GPA, and if the school is accredited or not. Since Northcentral is accredited...who gives a rats a$$ whether they give an Ivy League level of education or not? I guess if you felt that strongly about it, it would be important to you personally. U of K has a tuition reimbursement program for accredited universities, and if they say Northcentral fits the criteria, that's good enough for me and should be for 99.9% of employers.

[Don Dresden]

In my current class, I've had no contact with the instrutor at all, despite sending him repeated emails. Most of my assignments have not even been looked at much less graded yet. The last time he looked at my work was on 5/23, and I've turned in assignments since then.

New administration, some old same old. In fact, others have said that it's actually gotten worse. "Chaos" still seems to be the operative word.

What is important is what your prospective employers perception of Northcentral is. Their perception is far more important. Most employers will only check to see that you both graduated, your GPA, and if the school is accredited or not. Since Northcentral is accredited...who gives a rats a$$ whether they give an Ivy League level of education or not?

First of all, sad but true, most employers don't check.

If you are talking about government work (the absolute lowest common denominator), you are right that a horsecrap degree is as good as a fancy one as long as it is accredited. Hopefully you have your career sights set higher than that.

In the real world, perception is important, as you said. Sadly NCU has earned itself a reputation for shabby management, shoddy practices, chaotic administration, substandard academics, etc., etc. It's a shame for hard working guys like you and probably quite a few others, because you are going to find yourself putting your hand over your mouth and mumbling your school name, hoping somebody thinks you said "Northwestern" or "Northeastern" or even "Nova Southeastern."

Then you get to explain how you did it all online and watch their eyes roll. We know that distance learning and online education can be righteous, but somehow it still lacks the solid working class aura that "night school" always had. Offsetting that mindset is where the school's perceived quality is crucial, and NCU just doesn't cut it.

[ham]

I was one of the original critics on Northcentral in the first post. I've softened my stance a little but most of my criticisms still hold true. I am now half way through the program (DBA) and I can say that communication is still non existent (except the odd mentor or two). In my current class, I've had no contact with the instrutor at all, despite sending him repeated emails. Most of my assignments have not even been looked at much less graded yet. The last time he looked at my work was on 5/23, and I've turned in assignments since then.

far from me to defend or justify the school, but my experience ( all accredited universities, no American ones ) tells me that the support you're likely to get is very minimal.
It took me TWO MONTHS to get a reply from a B&M UK university that also offers DE; that happened three times with three different people.
During the course of a long work (E.G a dissertation), support you get is minimal and supervisors let know beforehand how little time they have at your disposal, because there are many other students (and -as registrar told me in confidence- many of these UK B&M supervisor are only paid 10h a week or so...then they bellyache because they are understaffed ).
After 3 weeks and calls, an assignment was 'graded', but you could see it was a rush last minute job to prevent me from complaining about missed deadlines (they are supposed to grade it within 2 weeks ).
Again, UK accredited B&M .

[chuckzul]

Actually I have worked short term in the government (being retired military, it's hard to get that out of your blood). My short tenure as a civilian government employee was not a positive one, so, yes, unless you set your sights and compensation expectations pretty low, government work is not the way to go.

? ? I'm not sure I understand your statement about NCU's shoddy reputation. Amongst who? (Not defending the school necessarily, just gaining clarification). Everybody I talk to has never heard of the school (nor any of the other? universities I've attended). Although, I am curious as to why Embry-Riddle (where I got my MS and, they too have gone "online"), and NCU decided to sever their relationship. I don't even volunteer the information about it being an online school. I get far more negative comments on U of P than anything else.

? ? What concerns me the most is that I have now invested a lot of my time and effort into this endeavor. Am I wasting my time? Is it worth persisting in this or transfer (hopefully) somewhere else? What other online programs offer more "prestige"? Am I screwed if, in the future, NCU loses their accreditation, after I've gotten my PhD? What about teaching (which is what I eventually want to do when I finally decide to "retire")? I have noticed a distinct lack of engagement by the staff and mentors at NCU. If they had a staff shake up, I'm not sure why. There actually were some very good mentors there. One business law class I had, the instructor was exceptional and I learned a lot from her, and she was very tough. I guess I've very confused and concerned about what the furture holds for this institution and if the time I've spent is in vain.

[ham]

What concerns me the most is that I have now invested a lot of my time and effort into this endeavor. Am I wasting my time? Is it worth persisting in this or transfer (hopefully) somewhere else? What other online programs offer more "prestige"? Am I screwed if, in the future, NCU loses their accreditation, after I've gotten my PhD? What about teaching (which is what I eventually want to do when I finally decide to "retire")?

my opinion:
1 if you can transfer to a better abode, do so.
2. 'Prestige': you can easily part 'dodgy' schools (accredited or not ) from others: just run internet searches & steer clear of schools raising diffused, heated criticism, involved in lawsuits, with gripe sites devoted to them, etc. None may know, but someone might, and you might be called to explain yourself over and over; worse, your application may be rejected singlehandedly. It depends on how much you're willing to spend to find a better place.
3. if they loose accreditation after you graduate, none may know, but someone might, and you might be called to explain yourself over and over; worse, your application may be rejected singlehandedly.
4. Teaching: see above.

[Don Dresden]

1 if you can transfer to a better abode, do so.

Easier said than done, especially if you are more than a class or two into the process. Transferring PhD course credits to other programs is a hit and miss proposition, mostly miss.

As a practical matter he's starting over somewhere else, not transferring. That's a tough call for someone knee deep in the program already.

But it's a good warning for people considering NCU. Choose your rut carefully because you are gong to be stuck in it for quite a while. As they say, "cheap and easy" might make for a good date, but probably not someone you would marry. Same with PhD programs.

I'm not sure I understand your statement about NCU's shoddy reputation. Amongst who?...Everybody I talk to has never heard of the school...

I guess no reputation is better than a bad reputation. There's a long list of negative comments about NCU at the start of this thread, and they are easy to find elsewhere too.? The only people who seem to think it's good are current students, or more likely people pretending to be current students. But (tellingly) there are a lot of ex-students out there who think it's terrible.

It's really an odd dichotomy, because pretty much everyone who posts here is a big fan of distance learning. The idea of a 100% DL PhD is terrific. I'm sure a lot of the flak NCU takes is from the reactionary cartel shills who fear the sea change such programs represent.

But nobody is a fan of a good idea badly executed. The idea of a flying machine was a good one too, but a lot of people crashed and burned until the Wright Brothers figured it out. The question is whether you feel lucky enough to get through an NCU program before they crash and burn, and if you do whether you'll still get burned later when it crashes and leaves you with an orphan degree. It's a lot of time, money and effort to trust to luck. The NCA doesn't trust them for more than 3 more years, why should you?

[chuckzul]

Good points, all, but, I feel more trepidation now than I did before. The degree program I'm in now (Business Admin / MIS) is almost impossible to find anywhere else, plus, as I mentioned, I'm half way through and it's doubtful another institution is going to take any of the credits, although, I could try. The worst they can do is say, "no". I am concerned about the "orphan" degree. Would this mean that anybody checking on the validity of the degree is going to find it has no merit? Can the school be sued for not fulfilling it's side of the bargain (i.e. breach of contract) and by awarding empty degrees built on the premise of accreditation? Is there a school that people do recommend?

[ham]

Would this mean that anybody checking on the validity of the degree is going to find it has no merit? Can the school be sued for not fulfilling it's side of the bargain (i.e. breach of contract) and by awarding empty degrees built on the premise of accreditation?

1 you may be called on the carpet to explain lots of things, much like with schools that achieve (or are dropped from) accreditation...or you may not.
2 I am no expert, but if they close up shop or loose accreditation AFTER you've gotten it, I can see no grounds...besides, a university is not a fast food joint...they are not 'obligated' to issue a degree (E.G you might fail classes ), and US accreditation is by its very nature transient...an institution might fail to renew it, and if accreditation was temporary, well you were informed.

[Ben Johnson]

Half done a degree? Finish it. It would be a waste of time and money not to finish.

I suspect Northcentral U. will be doing everything possible to renew its accreditation. Remember that it isn't being censured. Its accreditation was simply renewed for a shortened period of time. The school underwent a lot of reorganization around the time of its renewal and I'm sure the HLC of the NCA simply wanted an early review.

A degree can always be orphaned and life goes on. Schools go out of business every year. Northcentral has too much invested to let it happen - tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars.

[RAW]

More recent posts at Rip-off Report:

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/33...330189.htm

Submitted: 5/2/2008 3:21:22 PM
Modified: 5/14/2008 8:30:14 PM  
Squib
Grand Rapids, Michigan


I took one class at Northcentral University with the idea that it would actually be an Online University. My company paid top dollar for the class of Organizational Behavior and this was actually a Correspondence school.

There was no teaching going on at all at this so called online school. They pose themself as online but you don't get online and listen to any lectures or have any online meetings at all for your class. So what am I paying 400 dollars or more a credit for? They have so called mentors that are supposed to be there to help you. They are not instructing at all because all they do is grade a paper you send in to them. That is another reason I find this to be a rip off. I bought the book for the class and find out I have to write about eight papers to pass the class. I didn't even have to read the book to pass this graduate class. All I had to do was go online and print off some topics and paraphrase to how this relates to my work life to pass this class. So I have to say my education dollars didn't get very far. They did not teach me one thing about organizational behavior.

It gets better. During the semester which started in November they decided to charge a technology fee of 90.00. This fee was implemented in January of 2008 and my class ended like January 14th. This fee was implemented after I enrolled in my course and they were intent on charging me this fee rip off fee even though I was not going to take anymore classes. My academic advisor said I wouldn't have to pay this if I didn't take anymore classes. Guess what they were intent on charging this fee.

I decided not to take anymore classes and they decided that they were going to charge me 50 dollars to withdraw from the University? I ask you folks what am I paying for? Why should I have to pay 50 dollars because I was dissatisfied with this correspondence school? I decided to fight this charge to no avail and two letters to my house saying they would take action if not paid. I decided to write the CEO of the company. He put me off for four days saying he had to review my records. What did have to review as I already paid for my class and only took one? He was intent on charging me the 50 dollar fee as this was fair to him. He said it was in the handbook. I sure didn't get a copy of the handbook when I enrolled. They said it was online. I guess you have to read everything in fine print if you go to school here.

The accounting department said they would waive the technology fee and the CEO came back and said I had to pay a pro rated portion of this rip off fee. I have an email in hand saying the technology fee would be waived and he trumped that and charged me more. So I was ripped off again. If I were to take action on this I believe I would win because of the email from accounting saying it was waived. I decided to finally pay the 57.50 so they would not take my account to collections even though I was very dissatisfied and ripped off. This University did not teach me at all . I have no idea how they got accredited. Please be aware of all the details before enrollling here at this so called online University. Thank you

Squib
Grand Rapids, Michigan
U.S.A.