DeVry 17

[TruthInSatire]

I'm looking into continuing my education. I have nothing but Highschool at this point but am currently doing very well as a self taught programmer. I realize I can't get far or be competative for long without a degree. I'm looking into going to DeVry for the Computer Information Systems (CIS) degree online.

As far as I know DeVry is a favorable place to hold a degree from. In my searching though I've found a bunch of bad press. DeVry the "Degree Mill",

http://www.ihatedevry.com

, credits don't transfer, worthless $60k degree, and so on. I'm thinking most if it is just a bunch of cry baby's that didn't get what they want because they didn't try or they can't sell themselvs or some other extinuating circumstances at DeVry that can't be considered rutine.

On the other hand the first time someone suggested DeVry to me the first thing i thought of was "its a vocational school." I told my dad he said, "you want to be a refrigerator repair man?" Is this how DeVry is thought of by the masses or are we just uneducated? hehe. I know they are accredited but i'm just wondering, after all is said and done, I tell a potential employer i have a degree from DeVry, how will they weigh it?

Thanks!

A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.
-Douglas Adams (1952-2001)

 

[Onyxpurr]

Well I don't know about research and doctorate degrees, however Devry does offer bachelor's and master's degrees. Also, when I asked upon entrance for my masters (and regardless that i had graduated from Devry with BS, I still had to take an entrance exam to get into Master's program) they were looking into offering doctorates.

 

[Thadeus]

Not-for-profit has different meanings to different people:

Seventeen presidents of public universities and systems will earn more than $500,000 this year, up from 12 last year and six the year before, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education's compensation survey. Tuition at four-year public colleges rose 10.5 percent this year.

At private colleges and universities, the number of presidents earning more than $500,000 rose from 27 to 42 in fiscal 2003, the last year for which data are available for the private institutions.

Johns Hopkins University President William Brody's total compensation of $897,786 topped all college presidents.

The University of Washington's Mark Emmert is the top earner among public presidents, with a package that will total $762,000 in pay and benefits. University of Michigan's Mary Sue Coleman was third among public presidents, with $677,500, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The median salary for presidents at public institutions was $328,400. This is the first year the Chronicle has computed a median salary for those presidents, so it can't say for sure whether the median increased.

But it has tracked median salaries at private schools, which last year rose 19 percent to $459,643 at private research universities.


And football Coach salaries:

$2 million-plus
Bobby Bowden [Florida State]
Mack Brown [Texas]
Bob Stoops [Oklahoma]
$1.5-$2 million
Barry Alvarez [Wisconsin]
Frank Beamer [Virginia Tech]
Kirk Ferentz [Iowa]
Phillip Fulmer [Tennessee]
Glen Mason [Minnesota]
Mark Richt [Georgia]
Nick Saban [LSU]
John Smith [Michigan State]
Bill Snyder [Kansas State]
Jim Tressel [Ohio State]
Tommy Tuberville [Auburn]
$1-$1.5 million
Mike Bellotti [Oregon]
Lloyd Carr [Michigan]
Pete Carroll [Southern Cal]
Larry Coker [Miami]
Bill Doba [Washington State]
Ralph Friedgen [Maryland]
Keith Gilbertson [Washington]
Les Miles [Oklahoma State]
Gary Pinkel [Missouri]
Rich Rodriguez [West Virginia]
Frank Solich [Nebraska]
Joe Tiller [Purdue]
Ron Zook [Florida]
$500,000-$1 million
David Cutcliffe [Mississippi]
Urban Meyer [Utah]
Gary Patterson [Texas Christian]
Mike Riley [Oregon State]
Less than $500,000
Gregg Brandon [Bowling Green]
Dan Hawkins [Boise State]
Terry Hoeppner [Miami University]
Joe Novak [Northern Illinois]

 

[Onyxpurr]

Did a little research... go ahead and google for devry and you should get plenty of information. However one site partciularly interested me. You can read into it what you want, but please if you are ensure to read ALL responses.

http://badbusinessbureau.com/reports/ripoff82107.htm

 

[kHz]

Just where does salary data fit into this discussion?

 

[CajunCenturion]

kHz - It speaks to non-profit. A public non-for-profit university can pay its head football coach $2,000,000 salary and expense it out. If the salary were only $750,000, then the university would have to account for that extra $1,250,000. Since it can't be profit, it would have to spend it somewhere.

That being said, there is another side of the coin as well. Take LSU for example. Two years ago, Nick Saban was the head football coach, earning in the $2M/year range. However, the athletic department brought into the university considerably more than that, not just in football related revenues (ticket prices, bowl game revenue, etc) to the athletic department, but to the university in general. That's what happens when you win the national championship. Alumni giving went up substantially as well, and that money was put into academic areas of the university.

It is not as simple as it appears on the surface.

Good Luck
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[Onyxpurr]

Hmmmmm, Cajun, makes you wonder why tuition is still increasing at an alarming rate regardless of institution...

 

[TruthInSatire]

thanks Onyxpurr, i saw that article. one of the first "anti devry" sites i came accross.

I was thinking the same thing kHz. I'm interested in quality education, not how much the staff makes.

all things considered, with the number of graduates devry has, there are only a handfull of complaints...

A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.
-Douglas Adams (1952-2001)

 

[CajunCenturion]

Because Professor salaries, lab equipment, building maintenance, security, administrative costs, etc, etc are on still increasing, while tax revenues ear-marked for higher education are on the decline. I know of two universities currently in the process of linking the entire campus together with wireless networks and 'smart' classrooms.

Remember, one 1 school per year wins the national championship.

Good Luck
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[Onyxpurr]

Even though one only wins, why do most pay those incredible salaries?

 

[CajunCenturion]

Because winning in athletics brings money into the university.

Good Luck
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[Onyxpurr]

Because winning in athletics brings money into the university." --yes, but where is that money going to? academics? or more sports?

 

[CajunCenturion]

Some of it goes back into the athletic department, which helps pay the high salaries, and some of it goes into the general fund. But what winning program also do is spur pride in the alumni which causes an increase in alumni giving. It is easy to help support a winner. Where the alumni giving money goes is often up to the alumnus.

Good Luck
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[kHz]

The University of Nebraska football and men's basketball are the only two sports that make money. The football program support the other 23 sports in the athletic department. I understand why they *think* they have to pay somebody $1-$2 million a year, because if they win then the apparel sales and other merchandise brings money into the university as noted by CajunCenturion . But at the same time, big money is spent on NFL coaches who are then fired after a couple of unsuccessful seasons (see SF 49 head coach - 2 season record 9-23 - fired).

There is such a win now philosophy that is unrealistic but fuels large salaries for somebody who is unproven in the field. The SF coach was successful at Oregon in college for a few years, but had never worked in the NFL, yet he was paid very well for his two years. Even though he had a bad record with the 49ers, he will get another head coaching job at a Division IA university or another assistant coaching job in the NFL. Most coaches fail but seemingly fall into another well paying job with another team. (must be nice)

Back on topic. DeVry may have a good program, but I still do not believe they should be able to call themselves a university without meeting the definition. My undergraduate college made the transition to a university after my graduation, but they couldn't call themselves a univeristy before meeting criteria. I am very confident they were closer to meeting the qualifications of a university than Devry, yet they were still a college; and DeVry is a university?

 

[Thadeus]

Most importantly, not the players.

But this isn't the point I was trying to make.

CC does rightly point out the Non-Profit angle, which I did intend.

But also, I posted it in response to the comment:
"I don't think a for-profit entity matches the definition (above) of a university. " - KHz

I don't know if it matters that DeVry is for-profit. A university is big-business and there are profits enough to be spread around. The "for" or "not-for" status relates to taxability, not quality.

 

[CajunCenturion]

I understand what you're saying kHz, and I agree with you, but to compare athletics at the university level to professional sports is comparing apples and oranges. Two completely different dynamics in play.

I agree with Thadeus. The for-profit, not-for-profit distinction is largely for tax purposes, and should not be used in any sort of qualitative way.

But even so, don't underestimate the value that a good athletic program brings to a university. It is a revenue stream, an expensive stream, but still a revenue stream for the school.

Good Luck
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To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read FAQ181-2886
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[spamly]

A university is an institution made up of more than one college. It has nothing to do with profit. For instance, the University of Minnesota includes:
Agricultural, Food & Environmental Sciences, College of
Architecture & Landscape Architecture, College of
Biological Sciences, College of
Continuing Education, College of
Education & Human Development, College of
General College
Graduate School
Human Ecology, College of
Law School
Liberal Arts, College of
Management, Carlson School of
Natural Resources, College of

The University of Saint Thomas includes:
College of Arts and Sciences
College of Business
Graduate School of Professional Psychology
Graduate Programs in Software Engineering
Programs in Engineering and Technology
St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity
School of Education
School of Law
School of Social Work

 

[Onyxpurr]

http://www.gwec.org/member.cfm?MID=124&MTYP=2

http://www.ncahigherlearningcommission.org/commission/

 

[carrr]

As a veteran of Florida State University, I can attest that the former University president Sandy D'Alemberte was proud to note, openly and often, that FSU was most definitely a "for-profit" operation.

Tired of waiting for an answer? Try asking better questions. See: faq222-2244

 

[kHz]

DeVry can be the DeVry Institute of Technology. That is fine. However, they do not meet the definition of a real university. A perfect example is a group of technical schools that changed their name to 'Hamilton College.' Before the name change they were known as 'Nebraka College of Business,' as well as other names (there are a number of schools in Iowa that belong to Hamilton College).

http://www.hamiltonia.edu/

I just don't subscribe to their ideas and philosophy. They also offer a bachelor's degree via some '2 + 2' program. I just don't believe these types of schools who switch from technical schools to add college and university to their names are bona fide programs of study; regardless that they receive accreditation. I would really like to know what the requirements are that allows them to achieve accreditation and how they can be designated a university.

I earned my B.S. and M.S. the old-fashioned way. I find it personally deplorable that someone can enroll in UoP and immediately earn 60 credit hours toward a bachelor's degree for "life work.

 

[SQLSister]

These schools have to meet exactly the same requirements for accredidation as other insititutions with the same accrediation. So if a regional accrediation agancy approved them, they as every bit as real a degree as a degree from UVA or Shippensburg University or any other university. Whether you approve of the school or not is irrelevant, the degree is still a degree.

Now, in actuality, some universities are more prestigious than others and the degree is more meaningful to most people. But this is true no matter what the subject. A BS in Political Science from Longwood University is not as well thought of as one from Harvard. But that doesn't mean I don't have a real BS degree.

Universities can also offer life experience credit and many do. Ask anyone in the military who earned a degree in their off hours at one of the universities on the base if they couldn't get life experience credit. Does that make their BS degree less of a BS degree. No.

And what difference does it make? If I have 20 years of database programming experience, should I have to meet a the requirement to take database programming 101? Or is it better for me to concentrate on learning the things I do not know? And I have seeen MBA programs which offer some life experience credit. So how is that different?

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