In last 10 years the online education has become incredibly popular. Students who wouldn’t otherwise get a chance to attend college are now enrolling at DeVry University, University of Phoenix, or Westwood College. As the popularity of these schools spiked they began to receive sharp criticism in specific areas.
- Loan Defaults – 11.6% of students that receive loans end up in default (7% of brick and mortar students end up in default).
- Enrollment Quotas for Recruitment – recruiters at traditional brick and mortar colleges aim to recruit the best possible students for their school. Recruiters at online universities are salesmen who aim to bring in as many students as possible. The universities normally have an open enrollment policy that grants admission to anyone that can pay.
- Validity of Work Completion – all work is handed in and completed online which means that the person receiving the degree doesn’t have to do any of the work.
- Schools are Public For Profit Entities – Several online universities are traded as public stock. The creator of the University of Phoenix, John Sperling, became a billionaire through the Apollo Group (the parent company of the University of Phoenix).
- Accreditation Concerns – Many online universities promote degrees that are unaccredited. People that own online universities have gone as far as to buy accreditation from struggling schools.
Given the evidence, what do you think?
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