It is a low-cost online university, and recently was the focus of a favorable report on NPR.
My husband is thinking of completing his degree there, so this isn’t purely academic. 
Yesterday I saw a letter to the editor of the Wall St. Journal by an employer, who said that every time he got a job application from a person who listed a degree from the University of Phoenix, he tossed it in the trash.
However unfair, one would commonly expect a similar reception for a job candidate who had a degree in business administration from “The University of the People”.
There’s a widespread perception that traditional four-year colleges and universities are still the only ‘real’ colleges and universities. That alternative ways of organizing higher education are necessarily fraudulent or at least second-rate. To be sure, that reputation is richly deserved [url=“http://www.moneytalksnews.com/corinthian-colleges-socked-with-530-million-judgement/”]in some cases.
In the long term, though, I firmly believe that online education will eventually be recognized as valid and useful, serving the needs of students who can’t afford to live on campus and pay full tuition. Standards will be developers, accreditation will occur, technology will continue to improve.
Once your out of college for about 5 years or so, it really isnt important anymore.
More important is your job record. So like the example, if the young man manages his trailer court well, he could be hired by someone else by that alone. Then start working up from there.
Or lets say you work for a major retail chain. You work your way up into management there and if on your own time you’ve completed a business degree even from an online source, thats just more in your favor.
In a competitive job market it would come in last among those with a degree listed on their resumes. Think about it, MIT, Harvard, Cal Tech, University of the People. Which three get the interview?
ETA, another thread on this.
Ok, all true. But if you already have a job and are working at a company and just trying to work into a management position, wouldnt it just be another way of showing your trying to improve yourself?
Western Governors University is a good online school. Very low cost as well.
WGU is a better-known, and undoubtably better-regarded school, but at $3,000 a semester, as opposed to $4000 for the entire program at University of the People, it is much more expensive. Yes, even if that is inexpensive compared to other schools.
Thanks for the link to the other thread.
My husband has a lot of work experience, but no degree. He is considering this for work advancement, but also just personal satisfaction.
The trouble is, as I read in a long article in my own alumni magazine, most employers just use filter software to get rid of 90% or more of applications before a human gets to see them. The reason is that they have got rid of most of their HR people. So where do you think that university will rank?
Will a degree actually help his workplace advancement, or does your husband just think so?
Is he trying to advance at his current company, or get hired into a new role at a different company?
The first thing I would do if I was your husband, would be to talk to my boss. “Hey boss, I’m trying to advance my career and I’d like to move up. What do I need to do to make that happen?” Maybe that a degree wouldn’t help at all. If it would, there’s a chance that the company would foot the bill if your husband is willing to keep working there after getting the degree (for some number of years). Best price you can pay for a degree is free, and lots of companies would rather pay for a good school than throw their money away at some online sham school.
Even if he’s not trying for his current company, it might be worth finding a recruiter (I know, 90% of recruiters are scum, I mean find a good one) in his field and see what he needs to add to his resume to move up. Again, could be that he doesn’t really need the degree with his work experience. Could be that he’d get reliable advice that UotP is worthless (as seems to be the understanding in this and the other thread).
One final note: sure, WGU is more expensive at $3k per semester, but you get what you pay for. Consider that a 4 year degree from WGU will be $24k total, which is less than one semester at a LOT of good business schools. Might be worth the investment even if it cuts deep.
Definitely have you husband inquire about tuitions reimbursement at his employer. Most employers will reimburse you a fair amount of money for courses taken twoard a degree. And in most cases, it doesn’t even have to be in the field you are presently working in. I got my own Masters degree that way - with tuition reimbursement from my employer. Didn’t cost me a cent.
I’d also suggest your husband look at traditional colleges with online offerings. Some of them require a certain amount of coursework be taken on campus, but if your husband already has the hands-on type courses like sciences with labs or foreign languages completed, he may be able to finish his coursework entirely online. Not all schools accept transfer credits, but most do. Just make sure to ask before he enrolls.
You might want to take a look at the US News and World Report 2016 list of best online colleges here http://http://www.usnews.com/education/online-education
I chose my MA program from the US News list of schools and was very happy with the rigor of my education.
This stinks of being a worthless “degree mill,” and apparently this one specializes in targetting illegal immigrants. The fact that they were able to purchase air time on NPR to have someone read a pre-written [del]news story[/del] advertizement doesn’t make them reputable.