Seeking best deal for a graduate degree one-line, slow pace, low price

[hallux]

My company will reimburse class fees up to $2,000/year for any degree from an accredited school and I am looking at on-line MBA degree from Excelsior and WGU. Does anybody have any recommendations for programs where I can take up to 6 years to complete? I know that sounds really slow, but I would like to do the program part-time. I have had good experience with on-line education for IBM certifications and the project mgt PMP.

I would prefer that the cost to me be under $1,000/year, so I am looking for a program where the total cost would be under $3,000/year. This would make it difficult to do the WGU option since it is over $6,000/year. I plan to stay at my company for many years and frankly it is not as though I will immediately get promoted or a raise due to my additional education. I am in this for the long run and want to learn now so I can be qualified with an advanced degree and knowledge when the opportunities open.

I completed a BA in Spanish Literature, minor in Language & Computers in 1994. Since then I have worked in systems administration and data warehousing positions. I know there are going to be gaps in my education, especially marketing and finance, so if you have recommendations on how to build my foundations before starting a program, I am open to your ideas. Thank you in advance.

-Hallux

 

[kmcferrin]

I haven't looked at WGU for a couple of years, but the last time that I looked they were just under $3000 for 6 months, and that it was basically an "all you can eat model." You pay for a 6-month semester and take as many classes as you can manage. That's definitely more targeted towards someone who wants to get it done as quickly as possible rather than taking their time.

I think the biggest challenge that you will face is that most of the "online universities" are for-profit institutions, so they will tend to be more expensive than traditional classes. Your best bet will be to find a traditional non-profit (i.e., "State") school that will offer online classes. Most of them do nowdays, though perhaps not for graduate programs. But with most graduate programs the bulk of the work is directed self-study, if I'm not mistaken.

Whatever you find, please post back here. I'm really curious to see what comes up because I've been kicking around similar ideas myself. I have almost arrived at the conclusion that my best option is to go with WGU and just go power through it as fast as I can.

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[hallux]

Well I did visit my alma mater website and reviewed the independent study classes. I actually finished the last three classes of my BA with independent study (back in '94) and did well with them. I will investigate to be sure they will be reimbursed, but the price per credit is low at about $150, with the foundation classes offered as 2 and 3 credit courses. For all five classes (Business Ethics, Stats, Principles of Acct, Marketing Mgt, and Financial Mgt) the tuition cost is $2,142 and books estimated at $759. This is the closest option to my goal, which still may be achievable if I am able to spend less on the books through buying used, borrowing or finding earlier versions of the same books on-line.
Since my company will pay 70% of the tuition cost, up to $2,000, I can expect to get reimbursed up to $1499 by the company for these courses and my max cost will be near $1,400 tops. If I spread this out over 2 years (Aug-Dec 2011 and Jan-Dec 2012), I can definitely stay under my prefered goal of $1,000/year my cost.
The next step is to investigate the next stage of education - the core MBA classes. I noticed that Excelsior offers tuition discounts to Military Family and my father is retired military. I will check into that next. If I decide on the WGU option, then I will see how this will work out. I figure that if I can prepare my business foundations outside of a high dollar program, then I can spend more time on core classes once I start in the program full-time. I noticed that WGU states on the website that it is not intended to be a part-time degree option. Hmmh, will keep researching.
Until next time,
-Hallux

 

[hallux]

Well my manager and I have both been discussing master options and he went ahead and signed up for the WGU program. So now I can get his feedback on the program. He's determined to finish his master's in 12 months, by about the time I complete my 5 courses.

My first class from BYU independent study is Business Ethics. I ordered the paper copy of the on-line material and am glad I did that. I grew up using paper and like to write notes on it. It arrived ready to fit into a 1" 3-ring binder. I take it with me to the gym and read through it while I walk on the treadmill. So far I have completed 1 of the 12 lessons and am mostly done with the second. I read the first lesson 6 times and that's helping for the material to sink in.

Does anybody have suggestions on retaining information?
My best solution so far is to keep reading multiple times, then it actually starts to make sense. I have never studied ethics as a course before, it's interesting to learn. At some point I may make up flash cards for review, but since each chapter is building on the previous material, I may get even better familiar with the main ideas by the end of the course. In brick/mortar college I would organize study groups for the more difficult classes to review the material outside of class and that worked well for me. I am not sure how to do this with an independent study class.

As far as military discounts go, there are none available to me since my father retired from the military over 30 years ago.

I am enjoying the class and it's good to back in the groove.

 

[hallux]

I completed the business ethics class in early November with an A-. As a method to retain the information, I read each chapter 5-6 times, then used my version of "mind mapping" to connect the concepts on notebook paper. I also took an ethical question and ran it through an analysis to reinforce the concepts. Good practical application. I actually really enjoyed the class and felt it was useful for me.

Once I was reimbursed for the tuition from my company, I signed up for another independent study class - Principles of Accounting (ACCT 201). This is really different. There is video instruction, 75+ hours of video instruction, a huge textbook and slides. An impressive amount of material. Only issue now is that I tend to start watching the videos at night and fall asleep. I guess it's my own fault for choosing Accounting for my next class

-Hallux