I am wondering if this was written by a WGU PR flack, It certainly attempts to gloss over unpleasant facts
Over at the Business Week blog, there are few positive and negative comment about WGU that are worth reading. The one I found most interesting was this defense of WGU by “Russel.”
Bold is my emphasis, Green. my comments.
Well, since the average student for WGU (36) are well above the normal for most other colleges (28) that fall in the Carnegie Large category, the normal metrics for graduation rate aren’t really relevant. Yes there is only a 2.6% grad rate for students attending 4 years, however most of us only need a few credit hours and then the rest of us since we are adults have a lot more on our plates than just going to class everyday, so it takes us longer to complete. However there is a 70% first year retention rate which ranks high in this category. or reflects the fact that WGU courses are prepaid, a semester at a time. Also if you research your own thought provoking question you would see the first falsehood where the Johann Neem says that Washington States Community college tuition are half they are actually more expensive…their average tuition alone is $4,000/yr and that does not include books or tech fees, whereas WGU has a flat rate tuition of approx. $6300/yr which includes everything (except required malpractice insurance and other program specific requirements). this is an odd answer since WGU does not offer facilities it has no need for tech fees and avoiding books is not reassuring to an eventual employer. Also do I really need to point out the article you are using for thought provoking is over a year old….get something more relevant…How about Tom Brokaw’s news report this year or the Today Show this year, or Good Morning America this year….how about any other PR fluff? ..Shall I go on…Oh by the way out of those other schools who boast about their graduation rates how many of them qualify for National Honor Society….Every WGU Student does since the lowest grade you can complete a course with is at a minimum of a “B”? this is at best BS and at worse fraud … first, the last time I looked the “national honor society” is a high school honor society. Even then WGU doe snot offer “B” it offers pass fail. So why do you “have it out” for a college which is proving itself day in and day out, maybe just maybe, because your envious of us who do and those of you who can’t do anymore??
All the other pieces on the site are the typical WGU, “I am a student and …” WHY WON’T WGU post some numbers and some facts:
Faculty:
Who works there and what credentials do they have for the subject matter under their responsibility?
Who teaches hands on subjects such as physics, chemistry, biology and programming labs?
Administration:
What salaries do WGU administrators get, INCLUDING, remunerations from firms providing WGU’s online texts and tests?
Students and Graduates:
Is students do not buy books, what books are they able to use when they need reference works? Or can they only use the web.
What proportion of students ever finish? What proportion go on to get a job in their field of study?