A friend of mine is looking at an online school to get his bachelor’s in some sort of computer degree. He says it will cost him about $20,000 total. That seems like an awful lot to me, especially for an online college. It is www.accis.edu
Tell me what you know!
(if this is more appropriate to IMHO, my apologies)
Does this help?
http://www.accis.edu/aboutaccis/accreditation.asp
I don’t know. They may claim accreditation, but do the acredititors have standing as well?
The cited agency is not one of the major regional accrediting orgs. But it is listed as a secondary one. Which is of virtually no significance at all. Also, to get “listed” by the US Dept. of Ed. as such is a trivial matter and so never pay that part any attention at all.
The accreditation orgs for some specializations do matter a lot, but it varies a lot by field. In Engineering fields it is paramount. In Computer Science it actually hurts the rep. of the program (it’s intended for the “West Quagmire Teacher’s College” type places).
I would personally not spend money on such a program, hire a graduate of such a program, or admit a graduate of such a program into grad school in Computer Science.
DETC, which accredits this school, is a well-established USDoEd-recognized accrediting body, but it is historically for “trade” or technical schools: only very recently has it branched into institutions giving “academic” degrees (or rather, the trade schools have expanded themselves into college format).
What is normally called “accreditation” in US Higher Education is what you get with one of the mentioned Regional Consortia of colleges, that preexist the DoEd list and are recognized for “academic” schools, even for the distance-ed programs.
A DETC-accredited school is a real school where people do actual working and learning, BUT as ftg has indicated, a baccalaureate under DETC will likely be considered at best second-rate specially if he ever wants to apply to a Graduate School, or transfer credits to a regular college. (OTOH, I would hire a graduate of one of the longer-established DETC programs if he had the skills for the work I specifically want; just that I’d make sure he is aware he may be hobbled advancement-wise by difficulty in going for an advanced degree)
Refer him to this site, where they have some info on the subject: www.back2college.com/library/dist.htm
Normally I’d prefer to refer this sort of subject to the distance-ed boards at www.degreeinfo.com but there seems to be a problem with the site currently.
As to the cost, IF the $20,000 is for the whole usual 120+ semester-hour BA/BS course, it’s high but within the range of a sample I got from the schools in the DTEC site. For example, a school that charged you $150/semester-hour would add up to $18K in tuition alone for 120SHs.
HOWEVER if your friend could find himself a distance-ed program from a state-run college in his state-of-residence, he would likely get a bargain in the tuition rates, and regular recognized-by-all Regional Accreditation to boot. So do encourage him to look into that if at all possible (For example, Kansas’ Fort Hayes State U charges $122/SH for their Virtual-College Undergrads whether resident or not. No CompSci distance degree, though).
Computer sciences can still boil down to various fields, but in regards to programming at least:
Personally, I’m 100% self taught. So one thing I would mention is that a pile of computer and programming books is maybe $500, and if you use a free compiler and already have a computer then you’re already on your way.
Might not get hired at Microsoft right off the bat, but the programming market is fairly fluid if you can make stuff work.
Of course, some people require a classroom environment to push themselves forward–but not having the degree has never been any issue (except getting my first job–but once I got it, it was already paying $50k.)
As it happens, I’m currently “attending” ACCIS. Is it accredited? Sorta, as explained enough.
But I’m only going because I regret not being able to afford to finish my degree. Now that I’ve been working full-time for 6 years, I wanted to get a degree in as simple and cost-effective method as possible.
I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the coursework, etc. I wouldn’t recommend it for everyone. I’m working towards a degree there for personal reasons only. And anyone that wouldn’t hire me because of ACCIS listed on my CV despite all the certifications I have, well, they’re the ones missing out. CS/IS is a field where the degree should matter MUCH less than experience. IMNSHO, of course. YMMV, etc etc.