I decided to return to school after I got sick of my job. Since I was married and had two children I thought it would be impossible to attend a University or even a community college. I searched around until I found University of Phoenix.
I received a call from a counselor who spent nearly two hours on the phone with me....yes two hours!....getting to know me and and trying to help me decide what I wanted to return to school for.I made an appointment and signed up. The application fee was under a hundred dollars and I had to purchase the first book as well....all total it cost around 112 dollars. Then I registered for my own website where I could check out your grades,GPA,future classes,etc.
All of the counselors there are very helpful.Whenever I have a question, I can always reach one of them by phone or email and they are very quick to reply to emails.It is evident that the teachers and counselors are genuinely interested in your success at UOP.The financial aid counselors are great....they are always on the lookout for scholarships for their students. What is really great is that most of the counselors and teachers are students as well, so it shows that they have faith in the school.
The classes are held at night and sometimes on Saturdays for four hours...once a week. There are also other ways to do the classes...online,flexnet or one-on one with the teacher.These options are a bit more pricey.
Once in the classroom,you form a Learning Team with up to five other classmates. The work is a lot easier because of this. You are required to meet with your Learning Team for five hours during the week through emails, IM's,phone calls or in person. That pretty much depends on the team project for that week. This is done on an honor system so its not like you need to show documented proof of the meetings.In the beginning, you may have individual presentations to do and some team presentations. Some classes do not have FINALS! As far as the presentations go, it is very helpful if you know how to use Powerpoint. This is a big thing at UOP. However, it is pretty simple to learn and you can always find someone who is skilled in it and willing to teach you.
The school offers writing and math classes to the students on the weekends. This is really helpful for students who feel they need a little more help than others or who have been out of school for a while. There is also a Center for Writing Excellence where a student can submit a paper for review before submitting it to their teacher.
The website is great as well. You can keep track of practically everything related to school. Here is a list of the things that can be found on your website:
Schedule and Grades
Summary of Transfer Credits Evaluated
Student Program Summary
Payment/Receipt History
Account Summary
Order Transcripts
There are also links to the Center for Writing Excellence,National Testing Programs,Prior Assessment,Math Lab,Proficiency Assessment and different site tools such as downloads and tutorials...just to name a few. Dell gives UOP students a nice discount on computers and a link to their website can also be found on the website.
UOP uses American Psychological Association (APA)format for paper writing. You must purchase the book (new for around 40 dollars with shipping-better prices can be found on Ebay) The format takes a little getting used to, but the teachers do take the time to answer questions about it and go over it with the students.You can also purchase APA software format (around 35$).You can usually find a couple classmates to split the cost of the software or find information online at www.apastyle.org
Also, when I initially signed up for the school ,I wasn't informed by my counselor that I had to buy a computer. Yes, you do need one, because there are a lot of paper to write and you have to keep in contact with your team members.
UOP has recently switched over to rEsource which means there are no books to buy (with the exception of the Little Brown Book- the book on how to use APA format) because they can all be accessed online. The cost is 60 dollars per class for undergrads and a little more for grads.
Truly a great way to get a degree in a short time. Also,UOP has all the accreditation that a school should have. University of Phoenix is accredited by and a member of the The Higher Learning Commission (HLC).
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